Akedo Titans Tournament - Ezra Style

Mom: So, my kids are growing up too fast. We are away from them too much every day, all 4 of us at different schools. Ezra doesn't invite people into his world often so when he does we show up. We participate in the tournament, we make a video, and we make sure he knows that we want to be invited back!!
#autismfamily

Ezra Karate!

Earlier this year Ezra decided he wanted to take karate. We were quite surprised! But he loves to go and has been sticking with it for a few months now. He has even made a few stripes and one belt. 

We are pretty sure he is taking it for the wrong reasons (to beat up his older brother). But we love it for all the right reasons: discipline, routine, practice, taking responsibility... Improving his motor skills. 

Grandma and grandpa got a great punching/kicking stand for him to practice on. Observe the master at work!

Family Kitchen

Tytus and I have started planning a few new meals and ideas for filming. We are at the stage of "family" now that keeps us busy almost every day of the week.

Tytus and Ezra both have several things each week for us to keep up with Karate, Boy Scouts, Youth Group...To name a few.

Nowadays we all occupy the kitchen during mealtimes. Even now Ezra has learned a few things he can cook by himself. Although he prefers not to. We've noticed that along with gas prices groceries have also gone up.

We are not going to compromise the quality of meals we enjoy. Rather, move to be more "kitchen ninja" than before.

Tytus has quite a few "camps" to enjoy this summer but then he says he is ready to get back at it (making videos).

If you do stop by from time to time, leave a comment on something you may want to see. We are hoping to add more "tips, tricks, and kitchen hacks" as we see people enjoy those types of posts.

Hope you had a GREAT 4th of July and summer so far!

Ezra's BATMAN! Chocolate Cupcakes with Reese's Surprise!

Ezra recently had his 4th birthday party and with this came the usual choices like cake, cupcakes, or cookie cake. There's also deciding if I was going to make some spectacular creation like a previous Dinosaur Train Cake, Jake and the Neverland Pirate Cake, or this one I pulled off in Liberia West Africa Estevam Turns ONE! over 8 years ago. I thought the heat alone was going to melt the homemade marshmallow fondant off that cake!

We (wife and I) have had great cupcakes over the years and I thought it was time to go that route again. The theme was BATMAN! And we found some nice cupcake topper rings with the Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman logo. Even if the presentation is not going to be "spectacular" like previously mentioned cakes, we still want it to be special.

People always tell us, "You always bring great food to a party or dinner without being told what to bring! How do you do it?" Really its simple, we cook the food we want to eat! (And we trust our taste buds.)

I decided on a chocolate cupcake with a chocolate buttercream icing and a Reese's Mini Peanut Butter Cup surprise in the center! For this recipe I was hunting down something different, or better, when I ran across the Brown Eyed Baker's recipe for Ultimate Chocolate Cupcakes!

With cooking and recipes I don't try to "re-invent the wheel". I find the "wheel" I like. If I can't find one I like, THEN I invent the "wheel" I want!

I found the "wheel" I wanted with BEB's chocolate cupcake! If you are in this culinary world as a hobby, or a career, hopefully you get to the point where you can just look at a recipe or list of ingredients and KNOW that's what you want. I was looking over BEB's recipe thinking...

• "chocolate & coffee, Mmmm" (good baking flavor combo even if u don't like coffee)
• "I like the technique for...creaming, melting, mixing..."
• "Vinegar? Hmmm...this is looking like a modified Red Velvet Cake recipe (without the food coloring) and I like THAT"

For my son's birthday party I wanted to make the cupcake more my own. Or maybe OUR own. So I tucked a frozen Reese's Mini Peanut Butter Cup in each cupcake before baking. Freezing it helps maintain its structure during the baking period.

I was very pleased with this cupcake. Chocolate flavor, moist, held together, baked properly, and it was a hit with both kids and adults. 

I made my own buttercream frosting and skipped the ganache in BEB's recipe. But I would encourage you to try her whole recipe. The only reason I changed other aspects of it was to get the "wheel" I wanted.

Here is the recipe again: Ultimate Chocolate Cupcakes -- Brown Eyed Baker has a great site with more than just baking recipes. Go check it out.

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