*The colours and symbols use here are for Star Trek The Original Series

To pull these off, you'll need the following:
Cupcakes (any kind)
Icing (buttercream or a thick enough kind to support the weight of the fondant disk)
Fondant
Gel colours in: Royal Blue, "No Taste" Red, Golden Yellow and Leaf Green
A black food colouring pen (I used the AmeriColor ones, but Wilton has some also)
A circular cookie cutter about the same size as the top of your cupcakes
A heart shaped cookie cutter about the same size in height as the circular one
A paring knife

DIRECTIONS:
1. Once your cupcakes are cooled, top with fair amount of icing, but don't pile it too high and try to leave the surface kind of flat (it will flatten out more once you add the fondant disk).

2. Colour a small amount of fondant red, the same amount of fondant royal blue, and then a third time about the same amount a bit of golden yellow and a tad  of leaf green.   Work the fondant thoroughly untl the colour is well blended for each "batch".  For the green/yellow batch, keep adding tiny amount of each colour until you've reached t desired greeny yellow that was popular in the 60s (if you're too young just think back to your grandma's house OR watch an episode of the show! :))

3. Roll out each of the red, blue and green/yellow fondant pieces to about ¼ inch thick.  Use the circular cookie cutter to make circles from each colour.  If you're making 12 cupcakes, do 4 of each colour.  Set these fondant circles aside to allow them to firm up a bit.

4. Colour a fair amount of fondant golden yellow and knead it thoroughly until he colour is well incorporated.  Then roll it out to about ¼ of an inch thick.  Use the heart shaped cookie cutter to cut out as many shapes as you have cupcakes. (If you're making 12 cupcakes, cut out 12 hearts.)

5. Take the first heart aside, and cover the rest with plastic wrap on your counter so that they don't firm up too much before you get the chance to carve them.   With the paring knife, trim the heart to form the shape of the Starfleet insignia.  (With the point of the heart facing the top, trim a little off the right side flattening out that edge a bit, then do the same on the left, but make this side slightly curvier.  Then carve a curve into the bottom to resemble the pictures in this post.)  Put that shape aside, and move onto the next heart, leaving the rest under the plastic wrap until you get to them.  **As you complete each shape, put it back under the plastic wrap with the remaining heart shapes.

7. Stick each yellow insignia to its corresponding coloured circle, and then gently place a circle on top of each of the iced cupcakes.  Press down slightly to even them out.

MAKES: about 20 cups!!
TIME: 45 - 60 minutes

INGREDIENTS:
1 lrg onion, chopped (approx. 2 cups)
4 stalks of celery, chopped (approx. 1 cup)
2 carrots, peeled & chopped (approx. 1 cup)
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 1/2 tbsp fresh ginger, chopped
1/2 head of green cabbage, roughly chopped (about 2lbs)
1 lrg zucchini, washed and chopped (with skin on)
1 28oz can of diced tomatoes, NOT drained
1 19oz can of white kidney beans (cannellini beans), drained and rinsed
10 cups of vegetable broth
1 tbsp Bragg's liquid aminos (or low-sodium soy sauce)
2 tsps of apple cider vinegar
1 bay leaf
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried thyme
salt & pepper to taste
Optional: 1/8 - 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a large pot, water sauté the onions, celery and carrots for a couple of minutes until they start to turn clear (add about 1/4 cup of water - instead of oil - in with the onions over medium heat). 

2. Add in the garlic and ginger, stir and cook for a few minutes more (add a bit more water if needed) until the onions are clear, the carrots and celery are fork tender and the aromas of the garlic and ginger are filling you kitchen.

3. Add all remaining ingredients, stir and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. 

NOTE: I added 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper and it gave it quite the kick, so if you're not used to heat, I would suggest 1/8 of a tsp if you do choose to use it!

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION:
per 2 cup serving

Calories 131, Total Fat 0.2g, Trans Fat 0g, Cholesterol 0mg, Sodium 811mg, Total Carbs 27.4g, Fiber 9.5g, Sugars 10.5g, Protein 6g, Vit A 68%, Vit C 66%, Calcium 14%, Iron 10%

What made him choose March 9th?  Well, Blissful Bridal Boutique was having a HUGE sample sale on their wedding gowns that day.  I had heard of the sale about a month before it happened.  It was all over the radio.  Knowing that sometime in the next few years a wedding was likely in the cards for us, I thought to myself: Hmmm, 75% off a designer gown?  Is that really a sale that I can pass up?  So not wanting to seem like a crazy person, I casually mentioned the sale to Señor and asked him what he thought.  To my surprise, he agreed it was a logical thing to attend and encouraged me to get there as early as possible.  He also told me not to worry, that he would take the kids to their sports that morning.

I felt really awkward asking people to come with me to shop for a wedding gown when I wasn't even engaged.  But I really wanted someone there with me.  Well I ended up with three people: my mom, my future sister-in-law turned bridesmaid, Melyssa, and my friend Mel turned maid-of-honour (or matron of honour?  I hate the word matron...).  The sale was from 9am - 4pm.  Señor said I needed to get there as early as possible to get the best selection so we lined up at 7:30am.  In the freezing cold. 

All I kept thinking of was the episode from Friends when Monica shops for her dress and pretty much assaults other crazy frantic women to get it.  This is what I thought I was in for.  When we got there, there were about 5 "brides" ahead of us. (I use quotations here because I think it's fair to assume that not every person buying a dress that day was actually a bride...ahem.)  We waited outside for about 45 minutes until they let us inside the building to wait some more.  To get in to the boutique, there was a long, narrow stairwell that lead to it.  All of the "brides" along with their entourage were sitting and standing in the stairs, waiting.  Then 5 minutes before 9am, one of the store employees explained to us that only 10 "brides" along with the people they brought with them would be allowed on the floor at a time.  They could choose 3 dresses to try on.  First to arrive at the dressing rooms (there are only 2) first serve.  If you didn't find your dress out of the 3 you tried on, and you wanted to look some more, you had to go to the back of the line.  By this time, the line was trailing into the parking lot...

To keep track of the "brides", we were all given numbers from 1 to 10.  I was number 5 and we were lucky to be in the first round on the floor.   We split up and found 3 dresses that we decided I should try on.  I was the third person to arrive at the dressing room.  (Which was a miracle, since those women were absolutely insane.  I was being shoved and blocked and given the nastiest looks.  It was kind of funny actually.)  When it was my turn to go in, I was accompanied by the seamstress that works there.  She tied me into the first dress and instructed me to lift the front of it, then she would open the curtain for me and I could go out to show my mother.   So I reached down, picked up the front of the dress, and as she opened the curtain of the dressing room, I took one step out and nearly tripped over Señor, who was right in front of me, on one knee, in a suit, holding a ring.

Now, Señor is a shy person.  So for him to be proposing in public was HUGE.  I looked up at my mom and bridesmaids and they were smiling in a way that told me they were all in on it.  Then I looked around the room and noticed that all the crazy ladies had stopped rifling through the gowns and were looking at us.  Then all at once (it seemed) they said: awwwwwwww!!  Then as the people waiting in the stairs wanted to know what was going on, and someone explained it to them, we heard another wave of awwwwwww!!  It was pretty great.

So obviously, I said yes.  And luckily, the gown I came out in when Señor was down one knee is not the one I bought.  I did find a dress that day though.  But you can't see it.  Not till after the wedding :P

(I did ask Señor what he'd done with the children, as he obviously didn't have them with him, turns out he left them with his brother who had instruction on when and where to take the kids for their sports if Señor hadn't made it back in time...which he did.)

The week following the proposal, I was less than 2 weeks away from a craft show, less than one week away from our St. Patty's Day party and had Señor's brother and my future sister-in-law Melyssa staying with us for the week.  They are getting married in August and Señor and I are both standing in their wedding.  So needless to say, very little craft show prep happened, less than desired St. Patty's Day prep happened and A LOT of wedding planning occurred!

Finally, those first few days of "bride brain" passed, and I was finally able to focus on becoming Irish for a day.

After the party, it was go-time.  I had less than a week to prepare for the Sudbury Keepsakes Spring Craft Show and I was nowhere near ready.  But of course, I worked it out like I always do and even found time to train my little helper!!

The show went well and I am looking forward to the next show in October.

In the midst of the craft show craziness, I had a cake to make - another retirement cake for a co-worker! This time, though, I had some help.  My friend Brandon promised to come help me out on the Sunday night, to have the cake ready for a surprise lunch last Monday.  All I had to do was bake the actual cake on the Saturday night.  But, after coming home from the craft show that day, spending some time with the kids and then sitting down to relax (before heading back to the craft show the next morning), I completely forgot!  That is until Brandon texted me on the Saturday around 9pm to tell me that he'd remembered to pick up the fondant and that he got it on sale!  Well!  Trust me when I say I've never baked a cake faster in my life.  And it turned out great.

Then on Sunday, Brandon arrived at my house and we got to work. (I'm determined to teach him everything I know about decorating cakes and cookies for some reason.)   We didn't really come up with this design ourselves. We Googled the idea and came up with this combination of a bunch of our findings.  And as you can see, we chose the most difficult flags to replicate :P

For the distressed look of the suitcase, we coloured the base fondant a tan colour and covered the cake.  Then before putting the straps and flags on it, we put some globs of brown gel food colouring in random spots on the cake and then with paper towels, we spread the food colouring around, making sure to keep some areas darker than others.  It was super easy and we're kind of geniuses :P  Oh, and the retiree's reaction to the cake went smashingly. 

After the cake making, all I had left for the month of March was to organize and prepare for my family's Easter dinner, which I host as a potluck every year.  Of course, working full-time, prepping and doing the craft show, and returning to work full-time made me sick, actually sick, so all this prep was done with a fever behind my eyes.  Miraculously, everything went great, I felt much better by the weekend and everyone left my house happy with their bellies full of food.

So the craft show is done.  Easter is over.  I recently finished a course in creative writing.  With a hall & dj and other major things already booked for my summer 2014 nuptials, the wedding planning can be put on the backburner for a while.  I should feel like I have nothing to do right now, right? Wrong.  With an application to prepare and send in by the April 10th deadline for the Sudbury Keepsakes Christmas Art & Craft Show in October, and a shop to set up on Etsy.com, I still feel pretty busy.  To top it off, I figured that since I just finished a class, I should take another one!! But what, oh what should it be!?  Well, with my job being safe for now, but certainly not forever, my fiancé thought it would be a good idea to take some courses that would allow me to qualify for a wider spectrum of positions within my workplace.  Logically, I just couldn't argue this.  So I signed myself up for the first course of the Bookkeeping Certificate Program: Introduction to Accounting.  After getting my books:

I immediately regretted my decision. There are 5 workbooks there.  Five.  For one class.  And it's accounting.  Accounting.  My accountant brother seemed pretty excited about the news.  At least I'll be able to ask him, or my other accountant brother (they seriously both work in accounting) for help if I get stuck.  I'm choosing to block out the pain and float through this course as quickly and efficiently as possible.  And luckily it's through Independent Learning so I can work on it around my current schedule.

And so, while I should be reading the first pages of my course book, adding items to my newly established Etsy shop, preparing my next craft show application or even making items to be sold, instead I've chosen to alternate between writing this post and reading Batman: Arkham City.  I'm totally off to a great start :/ Batman rocks.

MAKES: 10 cups, 5 servings of 2 cups each
TIME: 45 minutes

INGREDIENTS:
1 tbsp oil
1 med. onion, chopped
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried thyme
4 cups vegetable broth
4 cups tomato juice
3 cups basmati rice, cooked (1 cup uncooked)
black pepper and sea salt to taste

NOTE: If you are using full sodium varieties of broth and tomato juice, skip the salt.

DIRECTIONS:
1. Combine oil, onions, carrots and celery in a large pot over medium heat.  Cook until onions are clear and carrots are soft.

2. Add garlic, oregano and thyme.  Stir and cook for about 1 minute.

3. Add vegetable broth, tomato juice, cooked rice, black pepper and sea salt.  Stir to combine.

4. Bring to a boil then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

5. Serve.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION:
per 2 cup serving

Calories 216, Total Fat 3.3g, Saturated Fat 0.5g, Sodium 810mg, Total Carbs 43g, Fiber 2.7g, Sugars 11g, Protein 5g, Vit A 113%, Vit C 66%, Calcium 6%, Iron 13%

MAKES: approx. 8 cups
TIME: 45 minutes

INGREDIENTS:
1 tbsp oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup chopped celery (about 2 stalks)
1 cup chopped, peeled carrots (about 2 medium carrots)
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 cups vegetable broth
1 19oz can of Cannellini beans, drained
1 medium potato, peeled and chopped into cubes
2 cups kale (packed), washed and roughly chopped
1 1/2 tsps of Herbamare or sea salt
3/4 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp granulated garlic
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp ground oregano
1/2 tsp dried parsley
1/4 tsp dried thyme
black pepper to taste
green onions, chopped (optional - not shown)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat and cook the onions, celery and carrots until the onions are translucent (about 5 minutes). 

2. Add the garlic and cook for a minute more.

3. Add all the remaining ingredients except for the green onions.  Bring to a boil, then simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.

4. Top with chopped green onions (optional) and serve.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION:
per 2 cup serving

Calories 282, Total Fat 5g, Saturated Fat 0.5g, Sodium 1500mg, Total Carbs 48g, Dietary Fiber 10g, Sugars 9g, Protein 11g, Vitamin A 225%, Vitamin C 85%, Calcium 16%, Iron 22%

Then, Brandon went over to the smart board and began the power point presentation.  The things people would miss about me included: "her unique sense of humour", "how she picks on Nathan", "how she buys too many bananas so she makes cupcakes out of them that her coworkers have to eat", "her Honey Boo Boo impressions", "her near-Vulcan logic and efficiency" and " her incessant need to compare her coworkers to different band members". (I have a co-worker who VERY closely resembles Liam from One Direction.)

Finally, as the last slide, with one click, the line: What is Krystel going to miss about us? With a second click came this picture of me pointing and laughing and the caption: Pranking Nathan!!!! (and as a result, everyone else!!!!!)

Faces = priceless.  I wish I had it on camera, I really do.  The whole thing just played out beautifully!  So to make the "prankees" feel a little better about being duped, I brought, of course, cupcakes!!

To make these black forest cake inspired cupcakes, start off with a batch of chocolate cupcakes.  Then carve a hole into the top-centre.  I used one of those grapefruit spoons for this part and it worked wonderfully.

Fill each cupcake with some cherry pie filling, then pipe (or scoop) a good amount of coconut whipped cream onto each one. 

Top with sprinkles and serve to "prankees".

Nothing like adding a little humour to the workplace...and topping it with sprinkles.  Oh and my fabulous "going away" card?  It's hanging over my desk :)

INGREDIENTS:
1 tbsp oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large stalk of celery, chopped
3 leeks (sliced lengthwise, cleaned and chopped into half-rounds from the white part, to the light green part)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsps ginger, minced
8 cups vegetable broth
3 yellow potatoes, cut into cubes
1 1/2 tsps powdered rosemary
1/2 tsp thyme
a pinch of cayenne
black pepper to taste
1 - 2 tsps of Herbamare (or sea salt) or to taste depending on the type of broth used

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a large pot over medium heat, combine, oil, onion, celery and leeks.  Cook until onions are clear.

2. Add garlic and ginger.  Stir and cook for another minute or two.

3. Add all remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 - 20 minutes, or until potatoes are fork tender.

4. Serve.

NOTE:
If you can't find powdered rosemary, just grind up some dried rosemary with a mortar and pestle.  (Or crush some in a baggie with the bottom of a mug.)  I like to grind up quite a bit at a time, use what I need and keep the rest for another recipe :)

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION:
per serving (approx 1.5 cups each)

Calories 184, Total Fat 2.3g, Sat Fat 0.4g, Sodium 622mg, Total Carbs 39g, Fiber 3.5g, Sugars 4.6g, Protein 3g, Vit A 14%, Vit C 27%, Calcium 4%, Iron 8%

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups cooked brown rice (or brown/wild rice blend)
2 - 28oz cans of diced tomatoes, not drained
2 - 19 oz cans black beans, not drained
2 - 12 oz canned whole kernel corn in liquid, not drained
1 med. onion, chopped
2 tsps minced garlic
1 tbsp oil
2 tsps chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

DIRECTIONS:
1. Start cooking your rice.  Once that is going, start on step 2. 

2. Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Add chopped onions and cook until clear. (about 5 min)

3. While the onions are cooking, open all cans but DO NOT drain liquid.

4. Add garlic, chili powder, cumin, oregano, onion powder and crushed red pepper flakes.  Stir to combine and cook for 1 - 2 minutes.

5. Add diced tomatoes (and their liquid), black beans (and their liquid), corn (and their liquid), salt & pepper to the pot.  Stir to combine. 

6. Bring to a boil then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

7. Remove lid, add cooked rice and stir. Simmer for another 15 minutes.

8. Serve hot.

NOTE: Soup will get much thicker as a leftover, like a chili or stew.  If you want it more liquid, just add a little water before re-heating.  Or, eat as a dip with corn chips, pita wedges or crackers!

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION:
per 1 cup serving

Calories 278, Total Fat 2.4g, Sat Fat 0.5g, Trans Fat 0g, Sodium 1285mg, Total Carbs 57.5g, Fiber 12.5g, Sugars 11.7g, Protein 11g, Vit A 30%, Vit C 38%, Calcium 8%, Iron 54%