Oatmeal Raisin Cranberry Balls

So for some reason every time we visit my in-laws, my mother-in-law always gives us food to take home. Always.  have several jars of peanut butter from her, she has given us cold cuts, leftovers- you name it. The last 2 times we saw them she gave us oatmeal. I don't personally like plain oatmeal but I do like oatmeal in some baking.

So begins the month of oatmeal baking.

I planned to make cookies here but I have a new weird thing happening to every cookie I make these days, they don't spread out. I need to research why. So balls it is! So these were called "easy oatmeal cookies" . I subbed apple sauce for oil and added crasins to them.

After they sat for a day they seemed a bit gummy, i don't know if thats the oatmeal I used or the apple sauce. They were tasty tho. I might look for another recipe for next time tho!

They were best when dipped in my morning coffee!

Ginger Cupcakes with Ginger Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

We had bad asian movie night with a few friends last week. Of course I needed to bake something to go with it. Hubby wanted ginger in some form. I did a bit of research and decided on a mix of a few recipes I found. He wanted it to be straight ginger chewy candies so he even stopped in Brooklyn's Chinatown for me after work one day and got me some of these.

Turns out they are a bi&^h to cut into small pieces. It took KC & I 2 days and about an hour each of snipping little pieces of ginger candy into powdered sugar until we had what the recipe called for. Actually we were a bit short because I just couldn't snip anymore.

Ginger Cupcakes.


1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup finely chopped candied ginger or ginger candy
1 teaspoon grated ginger root1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 eggs
3/4 cup milk


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Prepare a muffin pan with paper liners. 
In a small bowl, mix together flour, ginger, baking powder and salt. 
In another large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together sugar and butter until well combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Alternately beat in flour mixture and milk, making three additions of flour mixture and two of milk, beating until smooth. 

Stir in candy.

Bake in preheated oven for 23 to 28 minutes. Took me about 25 min in my oven. 

For the frosting I took my basic cream cheese frosting recipe and added 
1 tbsp grated ginger root
2 tbsp orange zest

They came out much better than I anticipated! The ginger candies melted into the cupcake and made for a really nice flavor, slightly spicy but not overpowered. The frosting cut the spice a bit too. really yummy. So yummy I have been eating them with my morning coffee. Don't judge me. :) 


They went over really well with the friends that came over as well. Oh and the movie we watched RoboGeisha was so bad it was good, esp. with food and friends to share it with. 

Damn I Read A LOT This Year!

Last year a friend of mine asked how many books we thought we read last year, so I decided to keep a list of all of mine. Apparently I read a lot because the final count was 64 books in the year 2010!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

The List:

Hunted by PC Cast & Kristen Cast

Tempted by PC Cast & Kristen Cast

Divine Misdemeanors by Laurell K Hamilton

Undead and Unworthy by MaryJanice Davidson

Undead and Unwelcome by MaryJanice Davidson

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctrow

Chasing Harry Winston by Lauren Weisberger

Scent of Shadows by Vicki Petterrson

The Taste of Night by Vicki Petterrson

The Touch of Twilight by Vicki Petterrson

Black Magic Sanction by Kim Harrison

Flirt by Laurell K Hamilton

City of Souls by Vicki Petterrson

Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris

Grave Surprise by Charlaine Harris

An Ice Cold Grave by Charlaine Harris

Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay

Dearly Devoted Dexter by Jeff Lindsay

Dexter in the Dark by Jeff Lindsay

Dexter by Design by Jeff Lindsay

Kitty and The Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn

Kitty Goes to Washington by Carrie Vaughn

Kitty Takes a Holiday by Carrie Vaughn

Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris

Kitty and the Silver Bullet by Carrie Vaughn

Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand by Carrie Vaughn

Cheat The Grave Vickki Peterrsson

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

Bullet by Laurell K Hamilton

The Van Allen Legacy by Melisa DeLaCruz

Kitty Raises Hell by Carrie Vaughn

Kitty's House of Horrors by Carrie Vaughn

Kitty Goes To War by Carrie Vaughn

Undead and Unfinished by MaryJanice Davidson

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling

Burned PC Cast & Kristen Cast

Real Vampires Hate Their Thighs by Gerry Bartlett

Grave Secret by Charlaine Harris

Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews
Unbound- Anthology
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
The Notebook by Nickolas Sparks
The Wedding by Nickolas Sparks
The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer
The Carrie Diaries by Candace Bushnell
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Neverending Story by michael Ende
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
Glass Houses by Rachel Caine
Dead Girls Dance by Rachel Caine
Midnight Alley by Rachel Caine
Feast of Fools by Rachel Caine
Lords of Misrule by Rachel Caine
Carpe Corpus by Rachel Caine
Fade Out by Rachel Caine
Kiss Of Death by Rachel Caine
Between a Heart & a Rock Place by Pat Benetar
Ghost Town by rachel Caine
On The Edge by Ilona Andrews
Moon Called by Patricia Briggs
Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs
Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs