Apple Dump Cake Pancakes

So I woke up yesterday morning with another one of my slightly unusual pregnancy cravings. I wanted pancakes and apple pie, don't ask me I generally dislike apple pie even. But I decided it had to be done and quickly as my little man does not like to wait for his 'num nums'.

Last week while searching on Pinterest and Google I came across a recipe of how to convert a plain box of cake mix into pancakes and let me tell you I am addicted to it. So yesterday morning I modified it to suit my needs, here is what I came up with.

Apple Dump Cake Pancakes
1/2 box of cake mix (white, yellow, funfetti whatever plain flavor you have on hand)
1/2 cup flour
2 tbsp brown sugar (NOT packed)
2 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of ground nutmeg
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup quick stove top pie filling, recipe to follow (can substitute can pie filling but I never have that on hand)

So lets start with the quick stove top pie filling as it needs to cook down while you gather the rest of the ingredients.

Quick Stove Top Pie Filling
1 granny smith apple cut into 1/4" chunks
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
mini pinch of nutmeg

Dump all the ingredients into a saucepan and bring up to a gentle boil over med/med-high heat. Cook for roughly 8-10 minutes until the water and sugar create a caramel sauce around the apples and the apples are fork tender.
Pull off the heat and cool.

Now back to the pancakes....dump all ingredients into one bowl, stir. Simple as that no need to do wet and dry bowls just mix all together. Gently fold in the pie filling, if you went with a canned pie filling you might want to chop up your apples a bit as big slices won't work as well here. Now here is the real trick to pancake making stop what you are doing and let the batter rest at least 5 minutes. You heard me don't go making pancakes right away.

Now turn on your electric griddle if you have on to 300 degrees and allow it to preheat, if you are doing this stove top I'd say over med/med-high heat but you hopefully know your stove best to know what temp works. Spray with cooking spray and get to making pancakes. Now I do find these take a bit longer to cook on each side than the traditional buttermilk pancakes so be patient and don't try flipping them too soon. They will be slightly gummy still in spots due to the apple pie filling 'sauce'.

Enjoy! We sure did. They are truly sweet enough to eat on their own but a little syrup and butter never hurt.....or if you are pregnant like me wait till your child is taking a nap and smear it with a little frosting YUM!

My husband had these cold later when he got home and exclaimed BEST apple pancake he had ever eaten! Now that makes me smile as we are big time apple eaters here :)

Are you ready?

Are you ready?

Such a hard question to answer am I ready to open the new shop, YES and NO. Starting to get into the swing of things and having a ball making new stuff up but I also know its a short lived high as soon my attentions will be to full on baby prep.
Am I ready for this new baby? I like to say I am as ready as I can be, but sometimes I wonder if that is true or not. Sure all his clothes have been washed, folded and put away for weeks. Sure his bed that he won't sleep in for a month or so is set up. But no I still don't have a rocking chair/glider and no we still don't have enough cloth diapers for both boys (YAY for 2 in diapers).

But at the same time this is going to be an amazingly fun new adventure and that I AM ready for.

soooooooooooo back to shop business. Later today/tonight you will see some items actually make it onto Etsy, so EXCITED! I do have to warn though I apparently couldn't spell when I ordered my packaging so there is a spelling error but because I failed to catch it in time you will gain. Any orders bought between now and the Grand Opening will be eligible for a 10% discount with coupon code WHOOPS. Sure the product is just the same but I'm a tad embarrassed that I didn't catch the mistake before they arrived.

You will see a few everyday items going into the shop but I am also putting a BIG focus on the 4th of July as I will be on maternity leave during those festivities. If though for some reason you do not see a color combo you had hoped for feel free to email me or contact me thru Etsy and I will see what I can do. The closer it gets to July though the harder it will be for me, so keep that in mind.

And just in case you missed the sneak peak on Facebook, you should be following me on there by the way (Lollipops on FB) here is a quick sneak peak of a few items to be posted.

Also if you would like to keep up with any and all news as I know Facebook has been crappy lately please shoot me an email at lollipops.cp@gmail.com, subject: newsletter to be signed up for any and all news. I promise not to SPAM you

Red, White and Blue Sale!

Make sure you stop by Mommy's Little Treasures, my other Etsy shop, to find some awesome sales on everything Red, White and Blue!!! You will find some adorable earrings, a rosary or two and even some super special seasonal bracelets!

Crafty Randomness - Cake Stand and Pearl Ribbon Necklace

Looks like I am in full crafting mode. So this weekend I completed a few projects, did a little work on items in the shop but then also had some fun with other things, like what you ask?

Well how about a posh pearl and ribbon necklace!

Isn't it just precious, but I couldn't stop at one so I made another!!

Here you can see me modeling it, okay you get my neck mostly but hey it was the one day I said no to makeup so my face was not included for your own safety ;)

So by now I was pretty pleased with myself figured out how to make those gorgeous necklaces I love so much, I had to do something else crafty and only had a little time left before my son woke up, so what is a girl to do? Spray paint!! Actually I didn't do the spray painting, my sweet husband did, afraid of all those nasty fumes affecting the baby baking in my belly.

Why were we spray painting? Well I saw this adorable Cake Stand  on The Brown House's blog and just had to try it out for myself. I did tweak her design a little as she modge podged on some craft paper and we spray painted. I also was unable to find the tin burner covers like she used but I did find a pizza pan, which I think should hold up better as its sturdier on its own. The rest of her directions I followed.
*Note if you do use gorilla glue like she did and as did I it will leak while being weighted down, I even put on less than it looks like in her picture and no it does not dry clear :/ BUT it holds up very well so that makes me happy!

So now that I woke up to a perfectly glued cake stand I had to make come cupcakes to put on it! These are some boxed funfetti cupcakes I dressed up with lime zest and juice in the mix and festive cupcake wrappers brought from Pick Your Plum (addicted to this crafty deal of the day site). O and don't forget my yummy coconut frosting, I again cheated and just added some coconut extract to vanilla frosting, yes it was a lazy morning. Isn't it just perfect! And kudos to hubs and doing an amazing job on that pink paint.

So now I am not sure what else I will be doing this week, mostly as we leave in a few short days for a mini family vacation before the new baby arrives. I will post more as I go and if ever you need/want a tutorial about any of the craft projects I have done. Leave me a note and I will try my hardest to get them all done.

Dream, Play, Create!

Crafty Randomness - Teething Necklace

Okay so I have been doing some serious slacking with posting updates but I am going to try and get better.

So here is a sneak peak of an item headed to the shop soon, well if I can get past this 3rd trimester laziness. Made it on a whim this afternoon and have to say I am in love!

So now that I have made one that I love, made another earlier this week that's pretty blah in comparison. I am wondering what other colors I should make. Help me with my color inspiration block!

I am also working on a few other DIY projects that won't end up on the shop, so if and when I get them completed I will try and write up and photograph a simple tutorial so you all can become your crafty nerdiness on too ;)

until then.....Dream, Play, Create!!!!

Welcome

Welcome! Welcome!

I plan to share any and all crafting awesomeness I come across or come up with, with the occasional life moment tossed in to keep it real. Posts might be random at first until I get into the full swing of things.


So how about a little information on me?

I have been crafting from a very early age. My mom bless her heart is a freak of a crafter in my opinion, she has changed her course of what she does so many times and every time gets completely whole heartedly involved in it, which I do admire, its just crazy. Growing up with her as a mom, meant always being around crafts in their many forms from toll painting, to jewelry to sewing. You name it my mom has probably done it and could give you more opinions on the craft than you could ever want. My childhood home is a cross between a Michael's/Hobby Lobby and Joann's. This place is filled to the brim with craft items its insane, but my mom wouldn't be who she is without all that stuff.

I have been very careful over the years because of all of this to not get too crazy with my crafting, but I have found the need to craft coming into my life more and more with each day that I am a mother. Its an amazing way for me to stay sane with all the crazy that comes with raising a little man and having another on the way (due early July). I do still try and keep things to a minimum since we move every couple of years thanks to husbands job, gotta love construction. We actually just moved up to the very wet state of Washington a couple months ago, so much better than the humid Louisiana we just left.

Well that is about it I think, check back soon for more of what I have coming to the new Etsy shop and for awesome crafting posts and any deals I might find.