Hoops and Home: Midnight Madness...Let's get baking!

My husband has been coaching college basketball now for 8 years and we have NEVER had a midnight madness celebration. Not like the big schools. Both schools (we've been fortunate not to have to move around - yet) have always had a fall break during the week of October 15th. Which means no students, which means no celebration for the players;(.

Well, this year, things are going to be a little different. That is, if the wives have anything to do with it!

Keeping with the theme of keeping my daughter involved in her daddy's super hectic career, I decided to put together a cupcake treat for the guys. I figured it would be a fun way to start a new tradition, while also getting to be a part of the team and helping the guys get excited.

Mini Blueberry Lemon Muffins

Well, what started as making 'midnight madness' cupcakes turned into a slightly larger affair. I thought, 'why not take this idea a little further?! Let's get the other girls involved!'. So I contacted Tina Brown, our head coach's wife, and asked if she would like to bring over her two daughters to help join in. She thought it was a great idea and then took it another step further. She suggested "why not make something healthy too?!", valid point - you know since they are training and getting ready for the season. She then went another step further, not only should the guys get baked treats, they should also get a dinner. What a wonderful idea! So, after practice on Friday, she's going to have a pasta dinner ready for them, along with bags of all of the food.

Unfortunately, I am not going to be here for midnight madness. Before this idea came to me, we booked a flight to visit my parents in Atlanta. We leave Wednesday, three days before the 1st practice. Which in baking terms, means not a whole lot of time to get all of this stuff together before we leave or before the items go bad or lose their freshness!

So, I got to baking. I had to plan it just right. I couldn't give the guys cupcakes that had been baked a week before hand, they could go bad or not be as fresh. So I changed the 'menu'.

Getting ready to bake:)

I went from cupcakes for 20 guys too, banana bread, cookies, mini muffins and a spicy snack mix. Apparently, I went a little crazy because in three days, I made 20 mini loaves of banana bread, 2 lbs of spicy ranch crackers, 110+ mini blueberry lemon muffins, 100+ chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin cookies.

Who would have thought, with just a simple cupcake it would turn into so much more!.

I hope we do this again next year and all of the years to follow. I definitely want my daughter, and the other coach's daughters, to be excited for the season to start and not to dread it. This is my way of helping this happen.

Best of luck to all of you this season! Good luck and I hope you can find ways to enjoy the season with your guys!!