Hello friends! Recently I was watching Food Network and they were showing how to make Swiss meringue buttercream. My mom asked me to make it to see what all the fuss is about, so I went on the hunt for the perfect recipe as well as the perfect cupcake to pair with it. I ended up adapting a simple vanilla cake recipe and taking general ideas from many buttercream recipes. Here's what I came up with:
The Lineup (Cupcakes):
2 1/4 cups AP flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 box instant pistachio pudding mix
8 tbsp. butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
Splash vanilla
1 1/4 cups unsweetened almond milk, room temperature
(Buttercream)
4 oz. (1/2 cup) egg whites
1 cup sugar
16 tbsp. butter, cubed and softened
Seeds from 1 whole vanilla bean
The Play-by-Play:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line 2 cupcake pans.
- Mix flour, baking powder, salt, and dry pudding mix in a small bowl and set aside. Add a splash of vanilla to almond milk and set aside.
- Cream together butter and sugar in a large bowl until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, mixing in between.
- Alternate adding flour mixture and milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Mix until just combined and smooth.
- Evenly distribute batter between 24 cavities, filling about 2/3 full. Bake 16-18 minutes until springy to the touch. Cool completely.
- Over a double boiler, combine egg whites and sugar until all granules dissolve and whites reach 160 degrees Fahrenheit on a candy thermometer. Place bowl in an ice bath to bring down to room temperature.
- Pour egg mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a balloon whisk and beat on medium high for about 10 minutes until soft peaks form. Add vanilla beans.
- Quickly add butter piece by piece while mixer is still going, mixing until combined and before buttercream starts to break down.
- Pipe buttercream onto cooled cupcakes. Enjoy!
I wish you all the best,
Erin
Hello friends! This week I want to do another "get to know me" post, and after seeing Fern (The Fern Life on YouTube, I'll link her video at the end) do this, I want to answer these questions, as well. Here we go!
- How did you get your YouTube (or blog) username?
- I love the term "stream of consciousness" to describe sharing random thoughts, and I love the idea of celebrating little, everyday things, hence the "streamers," so it's a celebration of little random thoughts.
- If you could change your name to anything, what would it be and why?
- I love lots of name, as you probably know, but I think of all of them, Ingrid suits me best. Ingrid is a name that people either love or hate, which is pretty much how people receive me as a person, and I love that. I think it would be very fitting.
- If you could go back in time and give your younger self advice, what would it be?
- There's nothing wrong with being different. Someday you'll love being different, so embrace it now and enjoy it longer.
- How old were you when you learned to blow a bubblegum bubble?
- I distinctly remember watching Dora the Explorer with my brother and accidentally blowing a bubble when I was about five, and I was so proud.
- What did you want to be when you were little?
- A teacher, then I went to work with my mom (a kindergarten teacher), and that changed very quickly.
- What do you order at Starbucks?
- I really only get Starbucks when the holiday flavors are out, so either an iced chestnut praline latte or a chestnut praline hot chocolate. Trust me, it's amazing.
- When's the hardest you've ever laughed?
- I go into hysterics at my own jokes (or bad puns), so much so that I cry and can't breathe. For example, I was driving past a cemetery with my mom and there was a line of geese walking through the grass. My mom said, "Think they're visiting a loved one?" and I replied, "Maybe. Think it was fowl play?" and proceeded to laugh all the way home.
- If you could play any musical instrument, what would it be?
- Piano; I love the classic sound and versatility of. Plus, being a singer, it would be really helpful.
- What's your favorite thing to do when you're upset?
- What's your favorite movie?
- I can't answer this. I have categories I separate movies into, so picking one overall favorite is near impossible.
- What's one food you can't live without?
- I'm going to maybe cheat and say carbs, that way I can encompass all the lovely breads and starches I love.
- What's your favorite dessert?
- Cheesecake, hands down. There's never a bad time for cheesecake.
- What's your favorite pizza topping?
- Traditional topping: pepperoni. Specialty pizza: buffalo chicken. I love anything buffalo.
- Would you rather have the power to read minds or be invisible?
- Read minds. It's rare that people are always honest, so reading their thoughts is a guaranteed way to know if they're being honest.
- What did you do for your last birthday?
- Not much the day of, but went to a concert to celebrate a few days later.
- If you had one personal "selfish" wish, what would it be?
- I would wish for my dream life: dream house, wonderful husband, my own successful business, ideal number of kids, etc. because not knowing stresses me out, and it'd be nice to know I'd be happy forever.
Fern's video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmSCa1X_OdU
I wish you all the best,
Erin
Hello friends! It's been a while since I shared a recipe, and I have some knockout Swedish meatballs I want to tell you about. These little guys have amazing texture and flavor, and are super easy to make. Here we go!
The Lineup:
2 lbs. ground turkey
1/4 cup dried minced onion
1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs
2 egg yolks
1/4 tsp allspice + 1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 tbsp. parsley, chopped + more for garnish
salt & pepper, to taste
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup flour
4 cups beef stock
3/4 cup sour cream
Egg noodles, cooked to serve
The Play-by-Play:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, line cookie sheet with aluminum foil.
2. Combine turkey, onion, Panko, yolks, spices, parsley, salt & pepper in a large bowl.
Roll meat mixture into 1 1/2 in. balls, place on tray. Bake 20 minutes.
3. While meatballs are cooking, melt butter in large skillet. Add flour to melted
butter, whisking 1-2 minutes. Slowly add stock, whisking constantly. Simmer about
3 minutes, until slightly thickened. Add sour cream and whisk to combine.
4. Take meatballs out of the oven, place directly into sauce. Cover and simmer 10
minutes.
5. Serve meatballs over egg noodles, top with extra sauce and parsley. Enjoy!
I wish you all the best,
Erin
Hello friends! Yesterday I saw that Alena and Amelia, two namers on YouTube, created this Ultimate Baby Name Tag, and I had to answer it over here asap. Here we go!
- 1. What is your own name and do you like it?
- My name is Erin, which I don't like because it's so common and plain, and my middle name is Violet, which I love.
- 2. If you have children, what are their names and how did you come up with them?
- 3. If you had a baby boy right now what would you name him?
- Declan Oliver - I love so many Irish and Scottish names, and Declan is in that sweet spot of not being too popular yet, but still familiar and easy to pronounce.
- 4. If you had a baby girl right now what would you name her?
- Isla Wren - Just like Declan, Isla is in that popularity sweet spot and is familiar and easy to pronounce.
- 5. What would you name boy/boy twins, boy/girl twins and girl/girl twins?
- BB: Beckett Theo & Calvin Scott
- BG: Gray Caledon & Scarlett Waverly
- GG: Stella Ingrid & Luna Tess
- 6. What would you name your ideal number of children using all names that start with the same letter (or one letter for girls and another for boys)?
- I would have two girls and one boy named Adeleine Grace, Audrey Linnaea, and Andrew Griffin.
- 7. What would you name a boy and a girl using only names from your family tree (or the names of close friends and loved ones)?
- Nathan Theo & Hailey Victoria
- 8. Create a name for your child (You can choose the gender or do one name for each gender) using a.) a combination of your name and your significant other's name or b.) a combination of your parent's names.
- I don't have a significant other, and I can't come up with anything good combining my parents' names.
- 9. You enter a witness protection program and must choose a completely new name for yourself. What name do you choose and is their any special significance as to why you choose it?
- Ingrid Kay - Ingrid is a name I love and (I think) has a bit of mystery to it, which is fitting, and Kay is my grandmother's middle name, and I think I would need her with me because I would be a terrible spy and she would be great.
- 10. If you could create one rule parents had to follow when naming their children, what would it be and why?
- Please choose a name that your child won't be ashamed of telling others as an adult; Rainbow Puff may consider changing her name when she's 18.
- 11. Name a boy and a girl using only nature and place names.
- Hudson Fox & Brooklyn Flora
- 12. Name a boy and a girl using your own first and middle initials. If you don't have a middle name, select an initial of your choosing.
- Eli Vance & Esme Victoria
- 13. Name a boy and girl using names from the most recent data of top 100 baby names in the US.
- Gavin Isaac & Ruby Olivia
- 14. Name a boy and a girl using names from the most recent data of top 100 baby names in the UK.
- 15. Name a boy and a girl using names from your favorite TV shows and movies.
- Larkin Jude (Hairspray, The Fosters) & Nora Wendy (Friends, Full House)
- 16. Name a boy and a girl using names of characters from books and literature.
- Ezra Felix (The Beginning of Everything, Finding Audrey) & Cosette Grace (Les Mis, The Fault in Our Stars)
- 17. Name a boy and a girl using rare letters, Q, X, Y, and Z.
- 18. Name a boy and a girl using names that, for whatever reason, you would never use in real life.
- Caledon Michael & Linnaea Wren - I love both Caledon and Linnaea, but I'm not sure people would ever pronounce them correctly, and I don't want to put that on my kids.
- 19. If you could rename a celebrity baby (or celebrity baby sibset), which one would you pick and what would you rename them? Alternative: choose the name of a friend or a friend’s baby that you don’t like or whose name you feel doesn’t suit them and rename them instead.
- I pick the Busby girls; the Busbys are a reality TV family who have one older daughter and one set of all-girl quintuplets. I don't have a particular issue with their names, I just like the challenge of styling a sibset that has quints.(Note: I'm going to challenge myself by keeping their initials and finding new names to fit them.)Their names are Blayke Louise, Olivia Marie, Ava Lane, Hazel Grace, Parker Kate, and Riley Paige. In that same order, I would rename them Bailey Lauren, Oakley Madelyn, Addison Leigh, Harper Gabrielle, Peyton Kara, and Reagan Paisley.
- 20. Any last names? Do you have any names that you didn’t get to mention in this video that you have been liking recently, heard recently, or were reminded of during this post that you didn’t get a chance to mention? If not, what’s the coolest name or the worst name you’ve heard recently?
- I don't want to share any other names I love just yet - I'll be posting my Top 100 Names in a few weeks, so you'll have to wait and see! As far as cool names, I recently watched a name video on YouTube, and the mom had twins named Louis and Linnaea, and Linnaea happens to mean "twinflower;" how cool!
A special thanks to Alena and Amelia for creating this tag; I'll link their videos for you to see their answers.
Tag Questions: https://youtu.be/we5EjhvQ3OQ
Alena's Answers: https://youtu.be/imcyATuV8GM
Amelia's Answers: https://youtu.be/A8Q-rQA8sfQ
Please answer these questions in the comments or leave a link to you answers. I love hearing from you!
I wish you all the best,
Erin
Hello friends! I'm starting a new series of posts that I'm calling Radio In My Head (inspired by an Aaron Tveit album), which is essentially me telling you what I've been loving and listening to all month. More than anything else, my music favorites are always changing. I've been singing for as long as I can remember, and I love all kinds of music, so I think this might be interesting to see what changes over time. I'm going to give three artists/groups that I've been loving in general, and five songs/singles that stand out on their own in my mind. Here we go!
Artists
- Celtic Thunder - Celtic Thunder is a vocal ensemble from Ireland, and they were recently in my city on tour. I went for my birthday, and, as always, they were fantastic. Some of my favorite songs they do are "Now We Are Free," "Caledonia," and "Come by the Hills."
- Kenny Holland - Kenny Holland is a musician I found on YouTube, and he is absolutely incredible. He has several singles, EPs, and an album, most of which I now have, but what I really love is that he does covers on YouTube with his five sisters, and my heart melts every time I watch. He seems like a genuinely good guy, which is so sweet. Some of my favorite songs of his are "This Dance," "The List," and "Matter to You," which is on his EP coming out in November.
- Pentatonix - If you've been here for a while, you know that I adore a cappella music (I was in an a cappella choir for a few years), and I love Pentatonix. They have just released another Christmas album, and it is amazing. Some of my favorite songs from the album are "O Come All Ye Faithful," "The Christmas Sing-Along," and "Hallelujah."
Songs
- "Closer" (The Chainsmokers feat. Halsey) - For the longest time, I didn't know what I thought about this song, but now I can't get enough of it. I love the relaxed vibe and punchy melody, and I sing along every time I hear it.
- "Into You" (Ariana Grande) - I'm not the biggest Ariana Grande fan, but the vocals on this song are ridiculous. Her belt range is incredible, and this song is just so fun.
- "Little Moon" (MacKenzie Bourg) - This song is the opposite of the first two I talked about, with a more acoustic feel, but I absolutely love it. It's such a sweet song, and it makes me wish I had someone to sing it to.
- "Run Away With Me" (Kerrigan-Lowdermilk, cover by Aaron Tveit) - This is the only show tune I have for this month, but I listen to it constantly. It's from the musical The Unauthorized Autobiography of Samantha Brown, which can be found in full on YouTube, and it's another song that has me wishing for someone to sing it to.
- "This Town" (Niall Horan) - This song is very similar to "Little Moon," again rather acoustic and quaint-sounding, but I love the vivid story it tells.
What have you been loving listening to? Tell me in the comments!
I wish you all the best,
Erin
