Where's my camera?!

Remember how I said I wouldn't promise to update my blog, yeah that was for a good reason. We have been at my moms for a few months now and life has been hectic...to say the least. Anyway, on to the cupcake. Saul's favorite cake of all time is yellow, I know I've made yellow cake before but it was soooo dry! Nothing worse then your cupcake crumbling as you're trying to eat it.
I've been searching and searching for tips and tricks for a moist yellow cake until I found a great recipe on allrecipes.com What I usually do is find a recipe that looks good and tweak it until I love it. This recipe was so good that it surprisingly didn't need any adjustments. So here we go...

Here's the batter before baking.

All baked up and yummy. I love that it came out the same great yellow color as the box mixes.

I forgot to mention that I made flour fudge frosting, yum!

This was a perfect combo to satiate me :) I can't forget that I need to apologize for the crappy pictures. I had to use my moms brand new camera and I had no idea what I was doing with it. Not to fret, I've found it since then.

Here is the recipe for those who are interested in this yum yellow creation

David's Yellow Cake

Ingredients
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups white sugar
8 egg yolks
3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Directions
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 2 - 8 inch round pans or put liners in 24 cupcake tins. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
2.In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the milk, mixing just until incorporated. Pour batter into prepared pans.
3.Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until tops spring back when lightly tapped. Cool 15 minutes before turning out onto cooling racks.

Can't forget about my big ol' baby ;)

Quick post for easy chili!

Okay so, I made this chili last night and it is seriously one of the better chili's I have ever made! I do enjoy my yummmo white turkey chili (will post later) but nothing beats a cup of red chili on top of 1/2 baked potato with 1 tablespoon yogurt cheese.

20oz (1.3lbs) ground turkey breast
1 small onion, chopped
1 (28oz) can diced tomatoes or whole tomates chopped
2 (8oz) cans tomato sauce
1 (4.5oz) can chopped green chilis, drained
1 (15oz) can black beans, drained
1 (15oz) can garbanzo beans, drained
1 (15oz) can red kidney beans, drained
1 (15oz) can white or great northern beans, drained
1 (15oz) can whole kernal corn
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken stock
2 1/2 Tablespoons chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Brown ground turkey and onion in a pan sprayed with cooking spray. Drain any fat from the turkey and put everything in a crock pot. Cook on high for 4-6 hours or low for 6-8 hours.

Super easy and delicious!

Over Oats!

Last week was an extremely blah week for me, even though I exercised I felt like crap. I don't know what it was but thank goodness that feeling has gone and I am feelin' good...okay kind of tired since my love bug is popping another tooth. That's okay though, I drink my water and take my vitamins and I feel a-okay!

I keep hearing (and reading) that eating oatmeal for breakfast is the best way to go, it keeps you fuller, longer and is relatively low in calories. I don't know about the rest of you but most mornings I am not in the mood to cook oats for 20 minutes! Add on to that that I refuse to eat oats cooked in water, I don't know what it is but the thought makes me wanna hurl.
So, I read somewhere about soaking oats overnight then draining the water and microwaving them....minus the water and you've got an idea I can get on board with.

So before I go to bed I put 1/2 cup of rolled oats (not a fan of steel cut, yeck) in a container with 3/4 cup of fat free milk and 1 teaspoon of honey or 1/2 packet of stevia. Cover and let it meld and soak overnight. In the morning take the lid off and microwave for 2-3 minutes. Add some berries (or grated apple), some kind of chopped nuts (in this pic I have red walnuts), and whatever seasoning you desire (nutmeg, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice) and you've got breakfast!

I go to sleep happy as a clam knowing that I'm waking up to this deliciousness!
If you're an egg eater make sure you eat a few egg whites with this or if you despise all thing eggs (like me) eat 2 slices of low-sodium turkey bacon or drink a quick protein shake.

That's it for tonight...

::Cupcake Hiatus::

I will never be done with cupcakes, ever. I love love love them...and that's part of my problem.
I'm not talking about anyone else here (ahem, husband) but after I lost ALL the baby weight from Zeke I completely lost my motivation. I started eating whatever and not working out and ended up gaining back a few more pounds then I'd care to admit (currently). I told myself I was going to lose weight during the holidays and HAHAHHAHA that didn't happen!

Here's how I found my motivation. I was feeling fat and blah (what's new) and started thinking of the women I know who are fit. Read: NOT skinny but fit, in shape. I know plenty of unhealthy skinny people and that's not what I want. I do not want to be a skinnier version of fat me, I want to be a fit new person. So, I thought about all the women I know who are in shape and what's the common denominator? Eating clean. I decided to pick up a copy of Tosca Reno's book "The Eat Clean Diet" and by the time I was done reading it, I understood. Everything I eat has to do something for my body and if it doesn't, it doesn't belong in my mouth.

What you look like on the outside is 80% due to what you eat, 10% is exercise and 10% is genes. I got that from her book and it has stuck like glue! I am not saying we are doing this full throttle for the  rest of our lives, committing to that is too overwhelming. We are taking this one day at a time. I mean, we already feed Zeke 98% clean so why not just push the good eating to mom and dad. Youu'd think we would have done it already, right?!

Since this is not a diet or a resolution for the new year we began our journey on December 30th. It has been 3 weeks of reading, learning and cooking! We eat so much food it's ridiculous, except now it's not so much eating as fueling our bodies. Please remember we are still fat but, we're working on it!

Today I decided to make our own protein bars! I love Clif builder bars but, they are about $2 each and I am entirely too cheap to pay for them very often. So here I went...


Does this look like a lot of ingredients...? Okay, it kind of is but I had all of it in my house. The only thing I didn't picture is yogurt cheese (see next).

To make yogurt cheese, you take a big container of lowfat plain yogurt and line a fine mesh sieve with 4-5 layers of cheesecloth. Dump the yogurt in the sieve and put it over a bowl, then let it drain overnight.

This is what it should look like.

Tastes just like cream cheese =)


Mix all the dry ingredients together...

Then all the wet ingredients. Mix the wet into the dry with oiled hands and load it into a big pan.

Bake 15 minutes then cool and cut into bars or squares ;)

Yes, that is chocolate! To me this is more like a protein cookie and I plan on eating one everyday.

Adapted from Tosca Reno's Eat Clean Diet Cookbook...
Ingredients
1 cup vanilla whey protein powder
1/2 cup quinoa flour
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup oat bran
1/2 cup ground flax seed
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup Sucanat
1 cup dark chocolate chunks
1 1/2 cups yogurt cheese
1/4 cup canola oil
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla



Directions
Combine protein powder, flour, oats, oat bran, flax seed, wheat germ, sea salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and agave nectar in large mixing bowl. Stir in dark chocolate chunks. In another bowl combine yogurt, oils, and vanilla. Mix well and add to dry ingredients. Combine well - best to use clean dry hands.

Place mixture in 9 X 13 pan coated with cooking spray. Bake for 15 minutes at 375. Allow to cool and cut into bars. Place on cookie sheet and bake for another 15 minutes.


Here's my sweetheart sharing baby carrots with me.
Join us on our journey...won't you?

Happy Turkey Day!

Okay, it's a few days past Thanksgiving day but...you know me! I hope everyone's day was great and that it was filled with lots of delicious food and especially some good sweet stuff ;)

I didn't do too much cooking this weekend, a bit burned out from my mini pies. For Thanksgiving day I did manage to make roasted vegetables and key lime tarts and for Turkey Day part 2, I made yeast rolls! Yeast rolls how I love thee. They are so fluffy and light and just too much deliciousness...they actually remind me of elementary school. Good times.

So, since I didn't really make anything too great to share I thought I'd post a couple pics of a cupcake I made a while ago. And when I say a couple of pics, I mean it. There are only 2. I really need to tie my camera around my neck to force myself to take pictures, come to think of it I don't think I took any on Thanksgiving! Uh-oh...

Snickerdoodle Cupcake


I made these for my sister Susan's birthday since she is a lover of the snickerdoodle cookie. The cake was light and cinnamon-y.


Now, I know this picture is small but I'm pretty sure it was taken with a cell phone...I know, I know. I made a boiled icing with a bit of cinnamon sugar on top, very yum!

And a pic to reminisce Zeke's first Thanksgiving...

All things mini!

I know what my problem is. When I say I'm going to update my blog more often, I never do...like I'm jinxing myself. So, I'm not saying that anymore and we'll see how it goes ;)

A friend on FB (Sherree) posted a link to a great blog called "Our Best Bites" with a specific entry about mini-pies. As soon as I saw them I knew I had to make them ASAP. First off, here's the link http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/09/single-serving-pie-in-jar.html

On to the deliciousness...

Guess what kind of pie I'm making first?


I could have sworn I took a picture of just the crust in the jar but I guess not...



Here are the pies with filling already in place


...a few with crumb topping (also known as Dutch apple pie)


Or here I am making a mini lattice!


All yummed up and ready to eat.
Enough for 2 but when things are this cute everyone will want their own.


Have you ever made a pumpkin pie from the pumpkin?




One thing I really love about these pies is that you do not have to pre-bake them. You make them and then pop in the freezer until you get a hankering for a jar of hot pie. I also plan on making mini-chicken pot pies, will post pics when I do.

My freezer is like pie heaven...



I did manage to make a healthy dessert (if you can believe that). My sister is on Weight Watchers and didn't want to partake in my baking shenanigans so I decided to make some point friendly brownies for her. If I told you the ingredients (all 3 of them) you would not believe me; so I will not divulge that info unless asked ;). Let me just say for 2 points each they were chewy, fudgy and GOOD!





Did I mention this was going to be a long blog??




The fam and I were going to watch the Charger game at a friends house and I felt like making something new to take. Since I've been in the mini mood and really didn't want to go the carb-y route (cake, cookies, etc) I decided on cheesecake. Now, when I googled "mini cheesecakes" for inspiration I found lots of results of mini-cheesecakes made with a special cheesecake pan. Sorry but I'm not interested in buying new equipment unless absolutely necessary. I decided to take the plunge and figure it out on my own and wouldn't you know it worked.


Crumb crust in mini muffin tins.


All cheesed up


I was already slicing and dicing apples so I just went with an apple pecan topping.


Everyone seemed to enjoy them!

If you haven't become an "official" follower of mine and like my blog, please do so! It makes me feel special :)

And you know I can't end a blog without...

No need for Hostess!

A week ago or so my mother bought me Martha Stewart's Cupcake book and there are so many ideas in there! Usually I am inspired by a recipe but add or subtract to make it my own but when I saw her cream-filled cupcake I had to make it. I used to make a dark chocolate cream-filled version but am not sure where my recipe is currently. Anyway, it was my grandma and grandpa's 60th wedding anniversary so we all went out to dinner and I decided to make up these bad boys for this special occasion.

Jumbo Cream-filled Cupcake




Plain Jane...

Hollow it out!

Handmade oven mitt by cousin Becca!

An "S" on top so no one forgets who made them =)

Cream center deliciousness!

Last but not at all least