Mangia Monday!

I actually meant to post this a couple of weeks ago.  You know, when I actually did it.  But things have been busy in our household and the next thing I knew, it was September 19th. 

One of the things I love most about late summer is tomatoes.  I look forward to tomato season all year long.  I love them on sandwiches, in sauce, as little snackers for dipping into hummus.  So, two weeks ago we picked up a bag of the little rosy beauties, along with some bell peppers and basil.

Summer's succulent bounty

I had a recipe for roasted garlic tomato sauce from a canning magazine that I had been dying to try.  So I spent a few hours prepping the ingredients and making a bunch of sauce.  It was delicious and not only did we have it for dinner that night, but I have plenty of it in the freezer so I can enjoy fresh tomato sauce in the cooler months ahead. 

Have I mentioned how much I love fresh tomato sauce?

Then, because I clearly didn't have enough going on, I decided to make cupcakes.  Remember my last post about Pinterest?  Well, I found a baker's blog that is out of this world (check i am baker out) and wanted to try out making flower cupcakes.  They were OK.  I'll show a picture, but only with a disclaimer.  For one, I am not an artist, and I think cake decorating is an art.  That said, I'd like to learn and improve, knowing that while I'll never have the flair of some, I should be able to do a decent job.  I also think it's important to note that it was a hot day and I had been cooking for quite some time, so my kitchen was warm.  This made the frosting a bit thin.  I should have cooled it longer in the fridge.  Live and learn.

On the subject of disclaimers, I should also point out the obvious.  Remember how I said I'm not much of an artist.  Well, I'm also not much of a photographer.  I'm trying to get better, but I know my photos leave a lot to be desired.

Anywho...here are the decorated cupcakes:

 These are supposed to be flowers.  Really.  If I had talent, I wouldn't have needed to put the little white dots on to make it obvious.  But, hey, Rome wasn't built in a day.

I'm still working on my decorating technique.  In fact, I made another batch of cupcakes this past weekend.  I foresee many cupcakes in my future as I still have a long way to go.  This makes The Dark Knight and The Hubby very very happy.  I'd say it pleased The Little Girl, too, but I have to hide the cupcakes from her or she will want to devour them all.