Easy, shortcut Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes!

A wonderful treat for the holidays!

So you're rushing and trying to throw together a dinner party for the holidays and after putting all your time, energy and heart into the turkey, ham, potatoes and casserole, you're falling short on passion and energy for dessert! Well do not be afraid! Here's a quick easy recipe for DELICIOUS Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with a yummy honey cinnamon cream cheese frosting!

Here it is!

What you need:

-A box of Spice Cake mic (I like the Duncan Hines Deluxe Spice Cake!)

-1 can on pumpkin puree (Try Libbys or Trader Joes Organic Pumpkin)- Dont use pumpkin pie filling!

-3 large eggs (or egg substitute)

-1/3 cup vegetable oil (or you can do what I did and do half of the 1/3 applesauce and half vegetable oil

-1/3 cup water

-1/2 tsp cinnamon

-1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

What to do:

Preheat oven 350, grease muffin cups. 

Blend all ingredients together using an electric mixer until just combined, careful not to overwork your batter. 

Pour into muffin cups 3/4 full.

Bake for 18-22 minutes. Check after 18 minutes with a toothpick- if comes out clean theyre ready! Its better to under cook than overcook!

COOL before frosting!

FROSTING!! Yummm...

What you need:
-1/2 cup butter
-5 oz cream cheese
-1-2 tsp cinnamon
-1-2 tbsp honey
-2-4 cups powdered sugar
-1-2 tbsp milk (for texture)

What to do:
Cream together the butter and cream cheese. Add the cinnamon and honey. Beat in the powder sugar and milk adding the sugar slowly until desired texture! :) Use the star tip of a icing/frosting tool to create those pro looking frosted tops! I also sprinkled some festive sugar sprinkles for the holidays :)

Hope you enjoy this cupcake as much as i did!! :)
xoxo

Some new pics of me from work!

Photographer: Jeff Gotlieb!

More to come! :)

Photographer: Dove Shore

A delicious and successful dinner it was!

Well what a wonderful weekend I had! :) Spent the entire Friday whipping up some delicious thanksgiving recipes for the Fundraising dinner friday night! Cooked several dishes and had such a blast doing so!

Yes there was a little drama though- when we tried to transfer the food to the event room we were unpleasantly surprised by the fact that management had locked the room!! They forgot to tell late night maintenance! :( Luckily... I managed to track down emergency maintenance and phew he had the magic key to open the doors!! Thank the lord! I wasn't sure how I could fit the amount of people into my own living/dining room! :S

Anyway... here are some pictures I managed to take of the food! Could only take a couple coz people were diving in so fast into the food!!! Scroll down to see some of the favorite dishes of the night and the recipes (as a lot of people have requested them)!

Thanks to all who attended and made the night so wonderful! Also thank you to all who donated to St Germaine Childrens Charity- you have made some San Diego children extremely happy and thankful! Will be going out there again soon and will take some photos! :)

Thanks!!

So in this picture you see the pumpkin spice cupcakes w/ cream cheese frosting, pumpkin pie (courtesy of Michael Fox), the stuffing cups and mac & cheese cups, there are the yams, cranberry sauce, and gooey pumpkin pie butter cake bars! :)

In this picture to the right you see the cornbread muffins in a basket, the honey glazed turkey, the gravy, the sides tray (cream corn, mac & cheese, whiskey glazed carrots), next to that is the orange honey glazed ham, the rosemary sage stuffing, then theres the favorite bacon chives mash potatoes, and finally the gravy! :)

The Cupcakes get their close up! :P











RECIPES

Bacon Chives Mashed Potatoes (4-6 servings)

What you need!
- 4 golden yukon potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
- 1 3/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 heavy cream
- 4 tbsp sweet cream butter
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 8 slices of bacon cooked really crispy and then crumbled by crunchy them in a paper towel in your hands (draws excess oils and fat)
- 1/2 lb sharp cheddar cheese
- handful of gruyere cheese
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh chives

What to do!
- Place potatoes and salt in heavy 4-quart sauce pan and cover with water by 1-inch. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, cook until potatoes are tender when touched by a fork. (about 20 minutes.) Drain and return to cooking pot. Add the cream, butter, remaining salt, pepper and place pan over medium low heat and mash with a masher to incorporate ingredients beware not to over mash- be gentle, you want a light fluffy texture.  Add the bacon, cheese, sour cream and chives and stir thoroughly until nicely combined. Season to taste with italian herbs, paprika or some garlic powder! (I used all of those! :P) Serve warmed and enjoy!!

More recipes to come of the TURKEY and an easy, extremely quick version of the pumpkin spice babycakes!! :)

Thanksgiving- a time for thanks

SO thanksgiving is coming up and I just wanted to let everyone know what Im doing to help a wonderful charity called the St. Germaine Children's Charity. For more info on this kind place and their mission click on the link.


Thanksgiving is a time for thanks; to be thankful of your family, your religion, your faith, your opportunities, your friends, your health and the wonders we are blessed with each day. However there are some out there who are ever so thankful for the things they have but in reality are victims of others rage and disrespect. These victims at the St Germaine Children's Charity are as young as newly borns and as old as 18. They are bright, smiling, thankful children whom are heroes to us all and particularly me, for being strong and surviving some of the most unforgiving, hurtful acts of abuse.

On Friday 19th of November 2010, I will be hosting a fully home-cooked Thanksgiving meal of about 10 or more dishes (incl. turkey, ham, potatoes etc) for several people within San Diego Community who have dedicated their time and kind donations to the Charity. I will be collecting donations at the dinner for the charity and donating it the following morning where, unlike most charities, the centre in la jolla will put the money straight into benefiting the children (and not into administration). 


In a way its yummy food and drinks and fun for donation! Some may ask- well why dont you just give the money you'd spend on the food to the children? Well its not just a dinner, its a gathering of friends who are far from their families. Its a gathering of kind people willing to give their time and money to a wonderful charity. And hopefully because of the generosity of many of the dinner guests, we will collect more than the money spent on dinner! :)

If you'd like more information on how to donate please email me at ellesset@yahoo.com or paypal it to that email! It is a wonderful charity for unlucky but heroic children! Please find it in your heart to not only be thankful for your blessings but be thankful for the strength of these children and for your capability to be able to help these children today!

busy busy bee

Hey everyone! So asides trying to cope with the crash of work that my University has bombarded us with, Ive been shooting quite a bit too!! :)

Here is a behind the scene picture from Wunder Management's shoot with Jan Kaar! :) Make up by the beautiful Nikki Star :P

Also! The next day was more excitement! Shot for BVIKA Swimwear and Runway Icon's feature spread! Dont have all the pictures yet but check out these!! Photo:Runway Icon!

Some new pics!

Some new pics! Fantastic Photographer: Ben Duarte. Make Up & Hair: Jodi (I absolutely loved the make up she did!)

Hope you all like these :)

Seventeen Editorial Images!

Hey everyone!! Just got a glimpse of some of the pics from my Prom Seventeen shoot!! Dont forget to grab the Seventeen Prom issue on newsstands christmas eve!! :) Hope you like them! :)

Behind the Scenes Jeff G Shoot

Check out this behind the scenes video of my shoot with photographer Jeff Gottlieb! Keep an eye put for the upcoming post of pictures!! :)

Tearsheets from Apparel Magazine/news!!

Check out my pictures in Apparel News! :)

Bottom left corner! :P

Bottom

Top left!

Bottom left!

Nasi Lemak Twist

If you dont know already, I grew up in the beautiful, always sunny Malaysia (in SEA). Something that I really miss from home is the famous much loved Nasi Lemak for breakfast (or any time of the day!). So even though i was very limited on ingredient available to me here in the US I tried out this recipe! Everyone loved it and it was super easy to make as a lot of the stuff is found in stores! 

For the Rice!
- Jasmine rice
- Coconut milk
- Salt

Cook rice as direction on bag say except instead of using water, use coconut milk! mmm it'll smell amazing!

For the Sambal!
- Sambal Olek (found in most groceries)
- Roland Red Curry paste

Mix together 2 part paste 1 part sambal olek

For the Egg!
- One egg

Crack the egg, flip egg and poke the yolk with you spatula, put on plate after about 10 seconds (you want the yolk to be firm but still run when you cut through it

For the Chicken Curry!
So this time since I was running short on time and unable to get to a store with the right type of ingredients for authentic homecooked curry I went for the quick store bought option.
- Quality Red curry sauce (Rolands is pretty good and its a product of malaysia! :P)
- 1 tbsp Garlic
- 3/4 cup Onions diced
- 2 Potatoes (i used russet) sliced
- Carrots- sliced
- 1 1/2 tsp Red curry paste or curry powder
- Chicken fillets or a half a chicken or if vegetarian add more vegetables like eggplant, green beans, peppers etc.

In a pan, heat vegetable oil, toss garlic and onions in until golden brown.
Put potatoes and carrots in pan and chicken.
Cover with pan top until chicken is pretty much cooked through.
Add red curry paste or curry powder & stir.
Add the sauce and let simmer for about 8 minutes or until chicken and vegetables are cooked through. If the curry is too hot/spicy add coconut milk or regular milk (it has a cooling effect)

Finally, once you plate everything, serve it with sliced banana so that if things get a little too spicy the banana is there to cool things down!

So there you have it! My quick fix, make do with what you got, Malaysian Nasi Lemak- It was a hit here!! :)