Here’s a look at my pantry:

• Top Shelf- Less frequently used kitchen items, canning supplies
• Next Down- Sauces, oils, food in jars
• Next Down- Canned food, snacks, breakfast
• Next Down- Carb Row (pastas, grains), Cupcake Supplies
• Floor- Bulk items, food storage

Here’s a closer look at how I organize my cupcake supplies:

• Bins to organize my supplies by function and type.
• Clear plastic to easily see whats inside each one.

Here’s a look at Carb Row:

Spice Rack on Door:

• Typically organized alphabetically minus a few items due to fit
• Blended spices on bottom shelf
• I keep baking spices separate, most of these are savory

I’m not an organization guru, but I do try to pay attention to where things get put away.

Do you have any kitchen organization tips?

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But my struggles (aka learning opportunities) could be your gain. I’m going to continue my sale. I’m want to see how Google Checkout works. Let me know what you think. These bags are good for grocery shopping, holding knitting projects and for lugging stuff to work.

Here are pictures of the last cupcake canvas shopping bags I have left. They are on sale for $8 and that includes taxes + shipping to the US. I have one of each.

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Their website is nice and simple. It features cute shots of kids eating their vegetables with Pop’rs sprinkled on top. I thought the pop’rs would make great cupcake sprinkles and I had a birthday coming up that required a special cupcake, so I decided to place an order.

You have to order the Pop’rs in a set. The set has eight different flavors; Cocoa, Cinnamon, Raspberry, Strawberry, Color Burst, Butter, Taco and Buffalo. Since this was my first try, it didn’t bother me too much that I had to buy a whole box for $29.95 + shipping. But I must admit that it did seem a little steep.

I was coming up on two weeks since my order and the product still hadn’t arrived. And I was getting nervous. I put the shipping address to my office because in Arizona you don’t anything shipped to your house unless you’re there to pick it up. (it’s so hot here that things literally melt when left on your doorstep).

On day 10 after my order, I placed a call to the number. No answer. What  I heard sounded like a simple answering machine. So, I decided not to leave a message, but to email instead. I sent the email and didn’t get a response until the next day. And it was kinda vague.

I think it shipped. I will check. (no name attached)

Now I had all sorts of ideas floating around my head. Was this a small company that got picked up by a huge machine like Rachael Ray and they couldn’t keep up and they were going to shut their doors before I got my sprinkles and I was out $30 bucks? Was this just their idea of customer service? What’s going on here! I sent another email requesting confirmation that my product shipped on Day 11 and didn’t hear back. Ugh!

Then on the afternoon of Day 11, I received a call from Jim. He works for the manufacturing company that distributes Pop’rs. He asked me about my email. I told him my situation and he offered to ship me a box of sprinkles overnight from Wisconsin! And he called me the next day to confirm that the package arrived. Can you believe it!?!

Within an hour of that phone call, the box was delivered to my office. How cool! We immediately tore into the package. We decided to be bold right out of the gate, we sampled the buffalo flavor first. And guess what? It totally tastes like a buffalo chicken wing. I’m not kidding!

So, what was the big fuss about? Why did I have to get this package come hell or high water? It was Holly’s birthday. She had been leaving me subtle and not so subtle messages for a whole month. She wanted cupcakes and she wasn’t shy about wanting them to be delicious and unique. Heck, she even said she wanted a blog post!

I think adding these sprinkles was a huge hit. There were times I’d walk by her office and see people with heads tilted back taking shots of sprinkles and pounding their chests like King Kong afterwards (men are so strange).

Happy Birthday Holly!!!!!!!!

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My favorite kitchen essentials are my OXO non-slip bowls. I’ve got two sets of the three graduated sizes. I like that they’re light and stackable. Most cupcake (cake) recipes call for the butter and sugar to be mixed separate from the dry ingredients. These bowls are the perfect for sifting flour and other stuff. Finally, these bowls have a pouring tip on them. When I’m making a cake recipe that’s runnier, I don’t have to scoop out the batter; I can just pour it out.

Another cupcake essential (or pet peeve) is good baking cups. I hate it when a cake sticks to the liner. I’ve had my share of using Reynold’s Baking Cups and I think that if I was only making cupcakes every now and again, they would be fine. But I’m baking every week and I’m not always baking the nice and simple box cake recipe: Sometimes cake recipes are dense, sometimes they’re sticky and other times they’re just messy. My favorite baking cups have been Beyond Gourmet Unbleached Baking Cups and for fun these Fluted Baking Cups. I’ve got two sets of silicone baking cups, but I think they’re a pain to wash.

Finally and I blame this blog, for my mostest essential baking item. My camera. I use a little point and shoot Kodak and I love it. It’s got two settings that I use most when shooting food; Auction and Bright Flower. I feel that it shoots a picture that’s clear and I don’t have to play with too many settings. I use a few free photo editing packages to clean up the pictures, but for the most part I like how it takes pictures. You might like to read this blog post about how to take pictures of food too, Photojojo.

So, what I want to know from you is what can you not live without in your kitchen?

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Part of my lack of participation could be that I’ve already got my tree up and presents wrapped.

This morning I’m enjoying a cup of coffee and slice of my favorite pie. It’s a recipe my Moo Moo gave me years ago and it quickly toppled over pumpkin, and pecan pies. I always fuss over my pie crusts. For whatever reason, I can’t seem to get the ridges on mine to fold evenly. I recommend a pie plate that’s pretty enough that you don’t have to do the work.

Buttermilk Pie

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 tablespoon grated lemon zest
4 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 stick butter, melted
1 unbaked 10-inch basic pie crust shell

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar, flour, and lemon zest. Whisk in the eggs, 1at a time. Stir in the buttermilk and melted butter. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the pie shell and bake until the top is lightly browned and the center sets, about 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature. Slice the pie into individual servings.

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So, what does the Junior League do besides sip wine?

We volunteer and raise money. We support several charities in Phoenix with our volunteering wo-man power. Each person who joins the League is responsible for ‘clocking’ several volunteer hours. We do it all. We clean houses for terminally ill families, we work with women who are recently out of jail and help children who have been abused.

Last year several women, on their own dime, put together a trip to New Orleans to meet up with a Habitat for Humanity project.

But, what about the wine?

OK! That does happen (a little). Another great part about the League is that I’ve gotten an opportunity to build friendships with great like-minded women. We get together several times a month to plan out our next project and there are times that a little sippy-sippy happens. It’s great to blow off steam and and to share in each other’s joy.

Here is how CareCard works?

Individuals purchase a Care Card for $50.

Participating retailers offer a generous 20% discount on regular price merchandise to cardholders for the specified week of shopping, some restrictions may apply.

100% of the Care Card sales price goes directly to the Ryan House and to The Junior League of Phoenix’s community programs.

How can I order one?

This CareCard program is for Phoenix, AZ only. If you would like to purchase one, you can get here by following this link: http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=123985.

Here’s where your money will go: http://ryanhouse.org/index.html

 Thank you!

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C4, that’s appropriate. They’re spicy and sweet and delicious.

To tote these little babies, I got a chance to use a new cupcake tote I found at Fry’s. You may think it’s overkill since I already have one, but this one holds 24 cupcakes snugly in double decker fashion.

I love it.

If you check out the C4 recipe on Vanilla-Garlic you’ll see several variations. I chose to top mine with dark chocolate frosting and then sprinkle them with cinnamon spiked powered sugar.

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