Korean BBQ, Farmers Market, and Roasted Chilies OH MY!

This weekend was jammed pack full of fun for us! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend also. We filled our time with going to a local farmers market Saturday morning, there are a ton of them all over Denver but this was the first one we've gone to since the move back. I was able to get all of my vegetables for the week and more for all under $20. It is so awesome having access to fresh food and I thank my lucky stars everyday that we live in a city that promotes healthy living. 

After the farmers market we went to a local Hatch, New Mexico chili vendor, if you're unfamiliar, Hatch has some of the worlds most famous Anaheim peppers. Ed and I drove through Hatch about 7 years ago when we were first married but never actually stopped to get any peppers (Rookies!). The smell of fresh roasted peppers is amazing and I highly recommend experiencing it once in your life. We were able to get our hands on two bushels for $35! I thought it was a bargain and I have a coupon for next year to get $5 off my bushel. I can't help myself from couponing. Once we got home the real fun began, I stemmed, seeded, and skinned almost all of the peppers and got them ready to go into the freezer. We are now set for the winter, in fact, we may turn green from how many peppers we will actually be eating.
On Sunday we were invited to our friends, the Lee's, for Korean BBQ. Which gets to the point of this blog. They cooked all the main courses since, well, we have no idea how to make Korean BBQ, and one half of them is from South Korea. Instead I was tasked with making dessert, and boy did I make dessert!! I had a few different ideas I was throwing around this weekend, I wasn't sure if I wanted to make Green Tea cupcakes with Pomegranate Frosting or Sesame Cupcakes, I was really trying to stick with the Korean BBQ theme but in the end I couldn't find a lot of ingredients so I opted for Cherry Limeade Cupcakes that I saw online earlier last week. 

This recipe is relatively simple and only took me about an hour and a half from start to finishing frosting. They were an absolute hit at dinner and today at work. Anyhow, here is the recipe and some pictures, I hope you enjoy! 

Cherry Limeade Cupcakes
(Makes about 24 cupcakes)

The Best White Cake Recipe Ever
1 jar of Maraschino cherries (no stems)

Follow the recipe for white cake but instead of buttermilk I used the juice from 2 jars of cherries to make a full cup. I also chopped up the cherries, coated them in flour and added them into the batter right before dividing into cupcake liners.

Lime Cream Cheese Frosting
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Lime juice to taste
Green food coloring to desired level 

1 Jar of Maraschino cherries w/ stems for topping

Make the frosting! Combine cream cheese and 1/4 butter with electric mixer until smooth. Add in the confectioners’ sugar a little at a time until incorporated. Add the vanilla extract. Beat until fluffy. Pipe however you desire and top with a cherry!