Carrot Cake Cupcakes, Cupcake Stabilization, and the Menu for the Week

On Tuesday and Thursdays, the hooligans go to Tae Kwan Do, and we arrive back home right at dinner time. Now that the time has changed, I can push dinner back a bit, but it’s still a time crunch to get dinner on the table as quickly as possible. I love to use the crockpot on those days, so that all I need to do is throw together a salad or cut up some fruit to complete the meal.

This week’s menu uses the crockpot for two of the five nights:

For the Chicken Pot Pie Soup, I substituted a cup of fatfree evaporated milk (from a can) for the half and half, and my first grader made biscuits (all by himself, except for putting in and taking out of the oven) instead of the pie crust.  It took thirty minutes from the time we arrived home from Tae Kwan Do until we sat down to dinner. I think you could probably make it in the crockpot, as well, by leaving out the two cups of water.

So since I had all these easy meals, I decided to make from-scratch Carrot Cake Cupcakes to give as teacher gifts for Easter.  I used a recipe from my King Arthur cookbook, similar to this King Arthur Carrot Cake Cupcake Recipe.  Mine had only 2-1/2 cups shredded carrots, 8 oz crushed pineapple(drained), and 1 cup shredded coconut, but otherwise was the same. It was doggone delicious, though, so let your conscience be your guide as to whether to substitute in the ingredients I used.

Cupcake-and-Box

I found some really cute boxes at World Market that were 3”x 3”.  A package of six was $4.99.Cupcake-Box

When I bought them, I had in mind using snack mix or cookies to fill them, so when I decided on cupcakes, I realized I needed to make a cupcake holder to insert into the boxes.  It’s really quite simple.

I cut cardstock to 4-3/4” x 4-3/4” and scored it an inch in from every edge. I snipped one corner line in each corner, and cut out one side piece so I could slide my punch in far enough. CUpcake-Insert-Cut

I punched out a 2-1/2” scallop circle, then put adhesive on all the corner pieces and assembled a little stand.  I adhered the side piece I had cut out back onto the two corner pieces, too, for stability.Cupcake-Insert-ready

Then it slid right into the box, ready to have a cupcake in it!Cupcake-Insert

Cupcake-in-box

Now there’s a life skill I bet you never planned to learn today…cupcake stabilization. And don’t judge me for those giant marshmallow carrots…Thundercloud insisted we needed to add them.

Happy Easter, y’all!

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About Megan

My various hats: mom to three crazy teens and one quirky dog, wife of 27 years to my retired GI Joe, and high school math teacher. After my husband's retirement from the Army, we've settled in the Pacific Northwest. Crafting, cooking, photography, and reading keep me sane (that's a relative term!) and I hope you'll enjoy following along as I navigate the chaos of life!
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2 Responses to Carrot Cake Cupcakes, Cupcake Stabilization, and the Menu for the Week

  1. Chrissy says:

    These are adorable!! I love how you made the cupcake box! Genius!

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