Personal Cupcake Challenge

You know that feeling when you're awake at 4:30 in the morning working on a project and you just wanna quit but you're so close to finishing the excitement of seeing all your hard work pay off pushes you through?

No?

Just me?

Ok, what about when you're running, the race is almost over, you're pretty much spent and then you see the finish line and people are cheering you on and you get that one last burst of speed you didn't know you had- that feeling. Maybe a couple more people with that one.

Anyways, I got that feeling yesterday from making cupcakes. Unless you're on Cupcake Wars, I don't think people normally get an adrenaline rush from making cupcakes. But my sister gave me a challenge: make banana split cupcakes (from a recipe she gave me) with fewer calories. She's trying to loose weight but, like any sane person, doesn't wanna be stuck eat cardboard. Did I mention the recipe she gave me was 600 calories!!!! Holy crap!!!

Banana Split Cupcakes; theirs and mine

If you look really quickly, mine look like little ice creams, so that's a plus. On the downside, they look NOTHING like the originals...

However, I'd have to say, I killed this challenge! You wanna know how many calories are in these miniature little beauties? 87. EIGHTY SEVEN!!! That means you could have six of these little things and still not have taken in as many calories as only one of the original recipe!! snap, I did good.

Some notes:

-dipping didn't go well, maybe i needed more nonpareils. Or maybe I needed to let the chocolate set longer. Either way, the chocolate kept falling off into nonpareils so that only the first ones looked cute.

-the vanilla frosting that I used, while it was less caloric, fell right off the little cupcakes- I would recommend something else. 

-overall, the biggest change I made was to the batter itself, my go to cake recipe for anything and everything is Better Homes and Garden's Busy Day Cake. It never fails! 

- i ended up making 43 cupcakes instead of just 40, which is what the following numbers are for.

Here are the ingredients and calorie counts: 

Here's the original recipe if you're not on a diet and loves bananas: Banana Split Cupcakes

Maymester

So that's it! Finished my first and last Maymester class! To be honest, it was a little bitter sweet. Of all the classes I've taken for my masters and in my undergrad, this one has been one of my favorites. So it was sad to have it end so quickly... especially since I have another stupid research class to take in July... fun...

The class I just took was Social Network Analysis. Doesn't the name sound daunting and exciting at the same time?! I thought so. And, even the first couple of days in the class, I really had no idea what I was doing. My teacher was talking a mile a minute about all of the fancy calculations and analyzations you could do with this program to find out all sorts of information about social networks and it just went right over my head! Luckily, the more I played with it, the more I understood it. And now I think it's the coolest program in the world- besides Pinterest- I'd die without Pinterest. (Just kidding, but really.)

Here's an example of what kinds of things I've been looking at:

runDisney Twitter-sphere

The above graph is a visual representation of runDisney's Twitter community. Using the program NodeXL, I've been able to see the different groups of people who tweeted about runDisney. The sizes reflect their importance in the network. I also got to analyze their Facebook fan page and their YouTube presence. It was so cool!

I know this post is a little on the nerdy side but it was seriously so interesting! I think it was one of the most useful classes I've taken so far- which might be because the whole social/ digital/ interactive media thing is kinda my scene (do I even have a scene as a student?).

Lemon Ice Box Pie

So last week I made these cupcakes. One of the problems with them, despite the mismatched decorations, was the copious amounts of leftover frosting. I supposed that could be seen as somewhat of a blessing- you know for those cold, lonely, nights when you're curled up in bed watching the Notebook, by yourself. But alas, it just takes up too much space in my fridge! Sooooo... I made a pie with it!!! One of my better ideas I must say.

Welp, I didn't have enough frosting to make a denser pie and, and to be honest, I didn't have a blender to make a proper crust either. I don't know what you would call this then, a wonder in the making, maybe. Seriously, it is that good!

The crust was made of chocolate spritz I had made weeks and weeks ago. They were particularly bland so I thought they were make a good crust. Unfortunately, I don't have a food processor or blender or rolling pin anything fancy like that to crumble up the cookies with so, I just put them in a plastic bag and attempted to crush them with my hands... that didn't work so well... they just kinda broke into small pieces. That made for a pretty crunch and rugged crust. That's why I said it was a wonder in the making! ;)

The frosting was made of powered sugar, butter, lemon juice and yellow food coloring. To it, I added whipped heavy cream and actual whipped cream, like from my freezer. It had a creamy consistency and I knew it would never solidify in the fridge so, in the freezer it went!

And it came out delicious!! My boyfriend, who doesn't like sweets, said I was converting him with it! ha! It was only a matter of time, Mwahaha!!

Cupcakes and Cocktails

Hi!

Well, as per usual, this post is almost too after the fact for it to be worth it but, I made that silly promise to myself so, here it goes!

I had a premonition last week. I'm sure that I'm using that word wrong because people don't normally have premonition about cupcakes, do they? I guess, if you're a dessert loving foodie, you probably do!

Anyway, because my boyfriend was going to be working last Thursday and I was going to be alone (which would have been simply terrible- being alone makes me depressed and moody!) I decided it would be brilliant to have a little girls evening with my sister. What makes this a premonition? Well, I haven't gotten to that part yet!!

Drum roll please!!!


Image this-- sweet, buttery cupcakes, matched perfectly to a girlish cocktail! oh, my goodness!!

I can't actually take all the credit for this idea. I actually signed up for a Thirsty Thursday newsletter. That's when the idea hit me; I would match a recipe from the newsletter to a cupcake recipe! Well, that's all well and good if the newsletter actually comes, which it didn't. Not to happy with Cooking Channel right now.

So then it was up to me. BTWs, I know nothing about mixing cocktails. I don't even drink that often because I'm such a super lightweight that I would barely enjoy it before I fell into a tipsy rant about oh, I don't know how freaking HOT the apartment is.

So yea, I was pretty sad that my whole cute idea was about to be spoiled because I didn't get an inspirational newsletter. Silly ,silly me. The Internet is one giant inspiration vacuum! I'm even on Pinterest for heavens sake! So I off I went into the wilds of the Internet hoping something yummy would just jump out at me!

What I found was Skinny Girl Vodka. That means lo-cal liquor to compliment my hi-cal cupcakes (if that's not a match made in heaven, I don't know what is!). AND! They have recipes right there on the site! The one I decided on kinda depended on what I already had in my kitchen. I ended up going with the tangerine flavored vodka and a drink they called they pom-tangerine (mostly because I have some crystal light cherry pomegranate in my cupboard). To match, I decided we'd go with a citrus theme and do lemon cupcakes!

The Pom-Tangerine

No, it doesn't have Blue Moon in it. That's just the only clear glass I own... (I'm actually pretty proud of that glass. It was a prize from some party Mellow Mushroom had in Athens last year.) Sorry about the picture quality, it was night-time in my apartment (aka the lighting was dodgy) and I took it with my smartphone. Oops! All in all, it was pretty good. The first time I made it though, I put in wayy too much of the sparking water. I know because that's about all it tasted like. The second time was much better though! As for the vodka itself- we sampled that too (you know for research purposes...) It was pretty good. That doesn't make me that comfortable however, knowing that I spent $22 on it and it was only "pretty good." It wasn't overwhelmingly tangerine-y but it wasn't as full and smooth as I expected a $22 bottle of vodka to be. I guess the "you get what you paid for" saying still rings true because I did pay for a low calorie, flavored vodka; so with that in mind, I guess it would have to be a little bit pricey. And I guess that explains why it wasn't full-bodied; it was full calorie-d.

So on to the cupcakes!

I'm sure you can tell, they are pretty different. Like, I didn't even decorate them the same! I thought (and I don't think you can tell this from the picture) that the recipe had a glaze below the frosting- it didn't. And I couldn't find lemon-shaped hard candies at the store, anywhere! So I improvised. :) What I ended up with was blue and yellow sprinkles and orange lifesavers. Tipsy Girls Approved! And, no worries, all the left overs were pretty good too! 

Till next time!

Valentine's Day Recap

In three words: less than perfect. Me and my boyfriend have been having a hard time because of all the hours he works. (Does that make me selfish, that I feel like he doesn't have time for me between work and school?)

Anyway, it started off pretty rough and slowly got better. I guess the reason why I still describe it as less than perfect is because the bad stuff sort of tainted my whole day.

What he got for me:

• three pink balloons
• peanut m&ms
• a teddy bear

What I got for him:

• breakfast,
• lunch,
• dinner!!

Basically, i guess, he wins because I didn't really get him anything. I just made him food- tons and tons of heart shaped food all day long, because I can.

Breakfast, which I didn't take a picture of because it was just too darn early to be awake anyway, was a bagel with cheese and a heart-shaped egg. This was the general idea:

It's safe to say that's nothing how mine turned out. In fact, it took me three tries until I finally got something that cooked all the way through and looked remotely like a heart!

Lunch was a whole heck of a lot bit easier. It was just pizza! I shaped it into a heart though and cut all the meat and veggies in hearts too! Again, because I can. ;) 

I also took the liberty of making a separate dessert just for lunch. They were called boyfriend brownies- appropriate! Yea, well, they turned out nothing like the picture! I was more than a little disappointed until I ate one- the sugar coma convinced me they were delicious despite their odd appearance.

Dinner was my favorite (mostly because it was THE BEST dinner that I think I've ever made). I made a WHOLE roasted chicken, parmesan green beans, heart-shaped roasted potatoes (you knew that was coming) and italian herb bread with roasted garlic.

Paula Deen's Lemon-Pepper and Rosemary Chicken

Because the chicken was Paula Deen's recipe, it was obviously delicious (could be the mass amounts of butter, but who cares about health on a holiday!) The meat was so moist and juicy and the skin was perfectly crispy. By the way, this was the very first whole chicken that I have ever cooked, EVER. It was a disgusting process. Do you know what an uncooked chicken feels like- cold and wet and it's heavy like a little baby (which basically means I was contemplating vegetarianism at this point). It seriously took everything I had to clean and stuff and lather that thing with butter as fast as I could so I could be rid of it! Good thing it turned out better than I ever could have hoped because that probably would have been my first and last whole chicken otherwise, Thanks Paula!

Roasted Potatoes

I added the link for the potatoes because she had them in a marinade for a while, normally I just through them on a pan with some seasoning, toss, and go! I didn't, however, follow her seasoning suggestions. To be honest, I completely forgot what I put on these little cuties (but seriously, how precious is that heart shape, c'mon!). I think it was something like chives and onion salt and oregano. It was basically a little of everything tasty that I have in my puny small cabinet. And they turned out wonderful! Yea!

Here the rest of the spread:

Yes, those are Christmas china and why yes, everything is on a coffee table. Welcome to college! I think flowers spruced it up a little though ;)

Dessert was a drink I found called "love potion." It was so tantalizingly perfect, I had to make it. *Not my image (duh, it's too professional looking!)

Sprite, raspberry sherbet, pink lemonade, and vodka

And for dessert, I tackled... molten chocolate lava cake! ohmygoodness!!!

Molten Lava Cake

 Definitely SO GOOD!!! Because it was Valentine's Day, I didn't want just good, I wanted great. So instead of making a couple individual cakes, I decided to make one, giant lava cake, for us to share (awww, isn't that cute!) I couldn't really find a recipe for just one cake, or a recipe that would allow me to divid all of the ingredients without wanting to pull my hair out (how am I supposed to divid 5 eggs by two, they don't make half-eggs!). This is the recipe that I ended up finding and using. It's by lululu at home. Originally the recipe was supposed to make 6 cakes. Well, halved the recipe and poured the entirety of that into one large mug, and stuck it in the oven. Of course, it takes longer to cook now than 15 minutes (it's more like 20-25) but I just waited for it to rise and for the top to be set, as she says in the recipe, and VOILA! a perfectly giant lava cake for two! The picture up there is the final devastation. Yep, we weren't able to finish it because we had eaten so much dinner already and that lava cake was ginormous! 

So that was the end. It was a pretty good day all in all, and most certainly a delicious one. I hope everyone else enjoyed their special days! If anyone actually read this, this is the time I would ask how your Valentine's day went. But, as of yet, no one is out there... so... yea.

ttfn!

So I suck at this blogging thing

Maybe I should have made "keeping up with my blog" one of my New Year's Resolutions; maybe then I would have been better at it! And I have SO many thoughts I wanna share (with whom, I have no idea since no one reads this thing!). Since I have to this point in time missed the mark on how blogging works, and New Year's is way over, I'm going to make a new promise, right here, to:

• Write at least 3 times a week
• Be relevant, try not to always write about things that happened WAY in the past
• pictures are good
• music is cool too
• links, gotta love links

That's all I've got so far, kinda did that on the fly too! And since absolutely no one (and I mean no one...) reads this, I don't need to worry about responding to comments on anything... (sad crickets chirping...)

Anyways, going along with this whole promising to write three times a week thing- I'm gonna try and write about Valentine's Day tomorrow morning (totally breaking my whole "stay relevant" rule but, hey, who's out there to read this and find out!? Yea... that's what I thought.)

Good Night!

When life gives you lemons... bake!

I've had a really really bad weekend. Actually, it's been a rough past five days.

Let me start by saying, I'm a people person. The more crowded a place, the more at home I feel. The more the merrier, I guess. And I absolutely hate being alone! Bad things happen when I'm alone, like I get depressed. Even if it's a sunny, beautiful day, if I'm alone, I'll just sit inside and mope about how lonely I am and how I have no friends and how unfair life is. I'm probably the only one like this but, after I've sat in a dark, lonely apartment for a day, everything after that just compounds to make me even more depressed and I just can't seem to shake the awful feeling of worthlessness.

That's how my life has been since Wednesday. I haven't really been surrounded by people so I've lapsed into utter depression and helplessness. After I while I start to believe that I am the source of all my problems- duh! I kinda am! And so, on top of being lonely, I blame myself for any rift that comes between me and my boyfriend.

Out of everyone in the entire world, he is the one I tell everything to. I feel so at home with him, so comfortable, so safe.

So then here's how it goes: 1) I get depressed 2) He does something small to make me sadder like doesn't hold my hand in public 3) automatically I assume he doesn't love me- cuz that makes sense (NOT!) 4) Everything is ruined. I cry which makes him sad. 5) I blame myself for making him sad and being the worst girlfriend EVER.

It's a bitter cycle and I'm not proud of it. How does it ever get fixed? To be honest, I'm not really sure it does get fixed. We just both decide to forget anything ever happened and move on. Nothing changes and I get depressed again and mess things up again. My only salvation: cooking (or rather, baking!)

I absolutely LOVE baking!! When I'm stressed or sad, baking is where I turn to make things seem a little sweeter (pun intended, yes I went there). This weekend was so bad, I made cookie bars and quick bread, the same day, one after the other! Needless to say, my apartment smelled delicious!!

I don't have any of my own pictures but I made these two recipes (off of Pinterest): Caramel-glazed Apple bread and Chocolate Chip Salted Caramel Cookie Bars. First things first, yum!!

This is the picture of the bread from Pass the Sushi. Apples!! It has apples in it which means it's gotta be healthy, right! (apples totally negate all the butter and sugar and pecans, right?) And I loved it! It wasn't as moist as I expected but the taste- good gracious it's good!! Seriously, forget slicing it, I'm just gonna take a fork to the whole loaf!

Also not my image. This comes from Two Peas and Their Pod. There's no pretending this is healthy. And I'm ok with that. Because it was sooo good, I could've eaten the whole pan!! My only problem was that I had the wrong kind of salt. Did you know not all sea salt was created equal? I didn't. This recipe definitely needs the chunky kind, like the kind that Starbucks used to decorate their Salted Caramel Mocha Frappuccino (my fav drink by the way). Fine salt just makes the whole thing taste like I added too much salt. Sad day. That being said, it was still wonderful and extremely addictive.

So, where does that leave me. Slightly heavier than I was at the beginning of the week but still not happy. I think I'll make something pumpkin today! I have class again tomorrow and hopefully being back into my routine will pull me out of my funk.