Tuesday of last week was “Pasta & Cupcakes” day. This was one of the pasta recipes the kids (8 – 12-year-olds) made. It was a favorite, we’ll see if the teens feel the same about it this coming Tuesday.

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Marissa gave me two valuable gifts for Mother’s Day last month. The first, is she guest blogging for me for two days, which you’ve already seen.  The second, a mother/daughter night out, I cashed in on last night. It became urgent to spend my gift ASAP because we just learned, the day before, that Marissa received a long sought-after internship at San Francisco Magazine.

Ironically she already has a 10-day trip for the wedding of one of her college roommates to San Francisco planned, she leaves for that today. Then she’ll be home for only 6 days before she needs to go back and report for her new position! It is a whirlwind (actually more like a tornado) around here now!

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Half of these cupcakes are topped with homemade Samoas and the other half with store-bought cookies

Yesterday in class we made the Samoa cookies, today we are using those cookies to make some seriously out-of-the-world cupcakes. I would say, “Hey, don’t let the 7 1/2 sticks of butter (nearly 2 pounds!) between the recipe for the cookies and this recipe for the cupcakes scare you off”… but I would be lying, it totally scares me! According to my math (and my math is iffy at best since I married a CPA and I rarely use that part of my brain), that is about 2 tablespoons of butter per cupcake! So let’s just agree that one cupcake would serve as your dessert for several days and not buy into the guilt. They taste delicious and I recently got some tips for storing frosted cupcakes so I’m hoping they’ll last for a while. That’s if we don’t eat them all first!

Speaking of guilt, I’m going to add a little “Linda’s Psych 101” into today’s post. This is what I feel about “guilt”… it is a wasted emotion. I’ve heard it said that “The Jewish people invented guilt, and that the Roman Catholics perfected it.” I would have to agree, and here is one Roman Catholic who wants to abolish it!

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Yesterday, May 30th -Memorial Day 2011, was the first day of our 2011 Summer Classes. It marks the beginning of Les Petites Gourmettes’ 17th year. Seventeen years, that’s a long time! But it’s only about half as long as Girl Scout Samoa cookies have been around.

Today in class, the kids made homemade Samoa cookies, well kind of.  More like the top layer of Samoa cookies, the caramel-coconut-chocolate part, minus the crispy bottom cookie part. I’m including the full recipe (bottom and top portions) here.  The only reason we skipped a part was because of time restraints. We are going to use the cookies for our Samoa cupcakes that we are making today.  That recipe will be posted tomorrow.  If you want to make the cupcakes and if you don’t still have a box of Girl Scout Samoa cookies in the cupboard, and don’t want to make your own, you can purchase Keebler Coconut Dreams Cookies instead.

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A huge helping of gratitude, love, and prayers to all those we remember today… all the courageous men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom and democracy.

To help remind Americans of the true meaning of Memorial Day, the “National Moment of Remembrance” resolution was passed in December 2000. It asks that at 3 p.m. local time, all Americans “To voluntarily and informally observe, in their own way, a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to ‘Taps.”

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Remember last weekend when I told you we’d been to a graduation party for Megan, who is my BFF Laura’s daughter? What I didn’t tell you is that Laura’s husband and Megan’s dad, Jack, is a fabulous cook, especially when it comes to BBQ and smoked meats. 

Jack made the most delicious smoked brisket and sausages for the party. But there was something that actually rivaled Jack’s main course – Megan’s appetizer.  She put out these “out of this world” jalapeño poppers. Turns out the recipe is from The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl by Ree Drummond.

I had heard of Ree before, and of the cookbook, but I hadn’t made anything of hers. Big mistake!  After tasting and now making those poppers and looking over her blog, I am a fan!  And I’m not the only one, Gourmet Live (the recently shuttered Gourmet Magazine’s reincarnation) just named Ree as one of the “50 Women Game-Changers” of the food world. She is #21, well ahead of some big names you will recognize (Paula Deen, Ina Garten, Cat Cora, and Nigella Lawson).

So, thank you, Megan, for turning me on to the Pioneer Woman and these poppers!

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Here is the recipe I made yesterday on the Valley Dish, especially for Memorial Day weekend. (And here is the LINK if you would like to watch it online.) 

PLEASE don’t be scared off by the long laundry list of ingredients. There are six different condiments/toppings for your sliders, and each one is very easy to make, you can do as many or as few as you like.  Seriously, when I say easy, I’m talking about slicing a couple of tomatoes, drizzling them with olive oil, and sprinkling them with salt and chives, that’s easy! Or laying slices of bacon on foil, sprinkling with rosemary and pepper, and tossing in the oven, super easy! And I guarantee your family and friends will be impressed, Enjoy!

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I’ll be on Channel 12 Valley Dish today at 3:30 making a memorable Memorial Day Turkey Slider Bar with fabulous toppings. Tune in if you can, if not, the recipe will be posted here tomorrow…

Instead of a traditional birthday cake, I made Connor cupcakes this year. Since we were going out to dinner instead of eating at home, it seemed easier to pack up a few cupcakes to have at the restaurant rather than an entire cake. Connor’s favorite ice cream is Cookies ‘n Cream, so that was the inspiration for the cupcakes. It is unanimous – these are winners!  It takes about 1 1/3 package of Oreo cookies to make 2 dozen cupcakes.  If your family is like mine, no one will complain about the 2/3 package of extra Oreos hanging around.

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Yesterday it was red velvet waffles, today we have banana waffles. The red velvet just about hopped out of the waffle iron themselves, the banana waffles stick a little bit because of the fresh banana in the batter, so be patient while getting them out of the iron. Just pry them a bit with a fork and they will come out in one piece. And if you waffle iron doesn’t have a light to indicate that the waffle is cooked through and ready to remove, just wait until the steam stops, that is another way (the old fashioned way) to let you know it is ready.

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Happy Birthday to my handsome, talented, kind, caring, loving, and wonderful son, Connor! I am so proud to be your mom and I absolutely adore you! (this sweet picture was taken last month at my Dad’s 80th birthday party by Sloane’s friend, professional photographer Robert Westerman.)

I woke up early to make Connor his birthday breakfast and thought, “My baby is no longer a teenager, I feel so old!”  But then I realized that I really don’t feel old at all! That is just something people say and then for some stupid reason you automatically say it to yourself.  What I actually feel is happy and proud to have raised two cute and innocent little children into such amazing adults – that doesn’t make me feel old – it makes me feel privileged and lucky.

Instead of the traditional homemade birthday dinner of his choice, Connor requested a birthday breakfast, specifically, waffles.  So I made two waffle varieties and served them with bacon, melon, and juice. Waffle #1 is red velvet, the recipe is below. Waffle #2 -banana waffles – will be posted tomorrow.

Before we get to the recipe, I want to share some “waffle tips” with you. This applies to waffles of all flavors, not just red velvet, and banana.

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