Tag Archives: cheese

Cupcakes Worth Celebrating

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It’s an exciting day around here, Adam’s semester is officially over!  He took a final this morning, marking the end of this portion of his schooling.  They finish school early because they have two months off to study for an important exam.  Then they start back again mid-summer, this time on rotation in the hospital!  He’s celebrating by playing poker with the boys and I celebrated by making the boys a batch of cupcakes.  And boy am I glad to have a reason to celebrate, said cupcakes are the recipe I’ve been testing/obsessing over the past few weeks: ‘Smores cupcakes.  The recipe is at the bottom of this post and I totally won’t blame you if you skip right to the end.

For those of you who are still with me, lunch –

I packed a toasted Bagel Thin, topped with a slice of 2% Swiss and Crofter’s Strawberry Fruit Spread,

and a sliced Gala apple.

I don’t think my Biochem test went as poorly as I was expecting, but my nutrition quiz was pretty gosh-darn awful.  It’s too late to really fix my grades for this semester, but I’m excited to work hard the next few weeks just in the interest of feeling better about myself.

When I got home this afternoon I made myself a plate of baby carrots with blue cheese dressing for dipping.

I’m glad I ate a snack, one with a veggie natch, because dinner was a no-go.  I did so much “tasting” while I baked that I ate enough sugar to give myself a migraine!  Whoops; #healthylivingbloggerfail!

But what a way to get a headache…

‘Smores Cupcakes, serves 15

cake ingredients

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 and 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 and 3/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 6 sheets graham crackers (4 rectangles = 1 sheet)

filling ingredients

  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 large egg white
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 1/8 tsp cream of tartar

frosting ingredients

  • 8 oz 1/3 reduced fat cream cheese, softened
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1 and 1/4 cup confectioners sugar
  • 10 oz semi sweet chocolate chips

cake directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line muffin pans with 15 liners.
  2. Place graham crackers in a baggie and use a rolling-pin or a sturdy cup to crush them into a homogenous mixture with a rough sand texture.
  3. Stir together flour and baking powder in a small bowl.
  4. In a medium bowl, cream together sugar and butter.  Beat in eggs, one at a time.  Then stir in vanilla.
  5. Working in batches, mix flour mixture into wet ingredients.
  6. Stir in milk, then fold in crumbled graham crackers.
  7. Spoon batter into cupcake pan, filling each liner about 3/4.
  8. Bake 20minutes, until tops of cupcakes spring back to the touch. 
  9. Set aside to cool.  Cooling can be sped up by placing baked cupcakes into the freezer for 1-2minutes.

filling directions

  1. Place sugar and water in a medium pan over medium-high heat.  Cook, stirring constantly, until sugar has completely liquified.  Remove from heat.
  2. Place egg white, vanilla, and cream of tartar in a **clean and dry** bowl.  Beat until soft peaks begin to form.  A stand mixer would be preferable, but I’ve definitely done this using a handheld mixer and lots of patience.
  3. While mixer is running, carefully stream sugar syrup into bowl.
  4. Beat, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, until stiff peaks form and mixture is glossy; 7minutes.

frosting directions

  1. Place chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl.  Melt, microwaving for 30second intervals and stirring in between.  You want to stop heating when the chips are mostly melted, as they will continue to melt as you stir.  This step can also be done in a double boiler.
  2. In a medium bowl, cream together butter, cream cheese, and sugar.
  3. Pour melted chocolate – it only needs to cool for a moment or two – into frosting.  Beat, scraping down the sides of the bowl, until the mixture is incorporated.

assembly directions

  1. Lay cooled cupcakes on a flat surface.
  2. Use a spatula to transfer filling to a pastry bag fitted with a medium piping tip.  A plastic bag with the corner will work as well, but be carefull not to cut the hole too large or the pressure will force out the piping tip.
  3. Push tip flush into the top of a cupcake and pipe until you feel increased resistance.  Repeat, piping 3 holes into each cupcake.  It’s ok if you make some craters because the thick frosting will cover them up.
  4. Apply frosting liberally.
  5. Consume!

Note – you will probably have leftover frosting and filling, even after all of the cupcakes have been assembled.  Both are fabulous stirred into plain Greek yogurt or eaten with a spoon 🙂

Frosted

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I’m having a blogger conundrum – I’ve made immediate plans to hang out with the husband and I want to go be with him, BUT I had a fun day I’d really like to blog about.  Let’s compromise: good content, quick and boring post.

We had some errands to run this morning before the fun, so I grabbed a 2% Pineapple Chobani to eat in the car.

I’m never going to stray with Mango again, this is sooo much better!

Then we headed to our fun activity – a cake baking/decorating class at Delish!

Delish is an adorable bakery in our neighborhood that also does cooking/baking classes upstairs.  When Groupon offered a 50% of deal a few months ago I jumped on it.  It took us a while to find a class we were both excited about, but cake decorating definitely fit the bill.

We watched the owner bake two kinds of cupcakes and two kinds of buttercream, and learned a few buttercream tips that I can’t wait to use.  We took a few tastes and in total I’d say my bites added up to one small cupcake.

Next they did some cake layering and icing demos and let us loose.  The husband was shockingly talented at writing in icing, must be those future surgeon’s hands!  We each got our own cake to layer and frost.  Mine –

Adam’s –

It was a lot of fun.  If you live in the area I’d highly recommend taking a class at Delish.

The two-hour course got our hunger worked up so we walked across the street to Blue Monk for lunch.

Our friend Danielle is a bartender there and we’ve heard nothing but good things.

Good things that we’ll now echo, because our food was delicious!  I ordered an appetizer special, the veggie Napoleon.

Grilled zucchini and tomato, layered with house made lemon ricotta and sliced baguette.

This was light but filling.  The texture was great and you could taste the fact that the ingredients were high quality.

I also split the famous duck fat frites with Adam.

Swoon!

And snagged a few bites of his duck reuben.

It was good, but my veggies definitely stole the show.

I think I needed a bigger lunch after my small breakfast though (especially after the smell of baking cakes revved up my appetite), so I ended up making myself a snack when we got home.

1.5 oz of tortilla chips, 1.5 oz of 2% sharp cheddar, corn relish, and jalopenos.

Is there a Nachos Anonymous?!

Finally, the plan for the evening is Scrubs reruns and pizza!  I know that sounds dull to some, but this combo is so exciting to the husband and I that I actually talked about it in my wedding vows!  I can’t wait!

Have you ever taken a cooking class?

A Breakfast of Sorts

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Last night’s meal must have gotten in my head because all I could think about for breakfast was a quesadilla.

A whole wheat tortilla, loaded with 2Tbsp of 2% sharp cheddar, and pressed on the George Foreman.

I sliced up a Gala apple too.

Apples are a breakfast food!

But I suppose dessert isn’t a breakfast thing…

Meh, I march to my own beat.

Smoothie Sucker

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At least once a week I put “smoothies!” on our meal plan for breakfast.  I would say the ratio of smoothies made to smoothies listed is something like 1:10.  Why am I such a sucker for the allure of morning smoothies?!  They sound so refreshing and tasty, but I never actually have time to make one, leaving me breakfastless and cranky.

Thankfully today I packed a pretty breakfast-y lunch, so I pulled that out a few hours early.

A berry flavored Revolution Foods squeeze packet,

and a 2% Mango Chobani.

With a small coffee (that large cup is half full) with two creamers.

I loved the new fruit packet flavor (on sale at Buffalo Tops!) but I wasn’t thrilled by the new-to-me Chobani.  I was expecting to love it because Pineapple is so good, but the texture just seemed strange to me.

Speaking of fruit, we had a fun lab today – finding the ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) content of different food items.  It was an interesting lab; always nice to practice something that actually relates to my profession.  P.S. Tang has .023mg of vitamin C per mL.

I was a busy bee after lab, with work to complete, a trip to the health center, a date with the gym, and finally an impromptu lunch date with Adam.  I was at the health center for a required physical before I begin working in the hospitals during the Coordinated Program next year.  After I get a PPD test next week there will be nothing between me and clinical work!

Next up was the gym.  I’m not going to lie to you guys, this visit was hard!  I did interval sets on the treadmill, 1minute walking/3minutes jogging.  I hit 3miles just around my 9th set.  With a quick cool down for a total of 3.25miles and 35minutes.

Since I ate my lunch for breakfast, I made an impromptu lunch date with the husband.  Adam was my savior and drove my drippingly sweaty self home for a much-needed shower.  We set a timer as I got out of the car (he had to sit out in front of the house) and getting upstairs, undressed, showered, ready to go, and back downstairs took me 11minutes and 5seconds.  And I even made an outfit change!

Go speedy!

Yes, that picture is at Wegmans.  Yes, we do have a hot bar problem!

I know we should try someplace new, but we love all the options and the price is right.  I’d much rather take a bunch of little different bites than have one choice in bulk.  Today I got a random mix of tofu, chicken, and slaw,

with pretty much every kind of roasted veggie.

The veggies were fantabulous as usual, but I ended up leaving behind most of the other side; my slaw had ham in it!

It was great to spend some mid-day time with Adam, and even better to get to head back to school with some yogurt pretzels to munch on during my night class.

Having a snack definitely made the time go faster.

In no time at all we were home eating burritos.

It helped that I pre-made the filling yesterday so the burritos came together in a cinch.

We topped whole wheat tortillas with sautéed mushrooms and onions, black beans, corn relish, sliced jalopenos, and some shredded 2% sharp cheddar.

Then we pressed them in the George Foreman like what we see them do at Moe’s.

Plus a side of scoops tortilla chips with spicy salsa for authenticity.

Perhaps I should have saved this meal for May 5th?

And since I’m a bottomless pit, I’ve got a mug waiting for dessert.

I stirred hot cocoa mix into some 0% Plain Oikos, then topped with brownie crumbles and toasted coconut.  I haven’t tasted it yet, but I can pretty well guess that it’s going to be amazing.

I hope this means I’m all set up for sweet dreams!  But first, some reruns of “Iron Chef” on Hulu.

How often do you make smoothies?  How often do you purchase them out?

Why So Serious?

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No post yesterday, I was busy at the orthodontist getting a new retainer.  Unsurprisingly, losing my ability to snack without dealing with mouthgear or to freely sip diet coke all day put me in a sour mood.  It didn’t help that my orthodontist accidentally sliced open the side of my lip, the effect of which is twofold – 1) I look like the Joker; 2) I’m not even wearing the retainers today because I can’t open my damn mouth!

Breakfast was restricted to something I could eat with a straw –

Leftover vanilla coffee, maple syrup, Silk Vanilla Almond Milk, and lots of ice.

I couldn’t figure out what to pack for lunch, so I ended up ordering a nice flat quesadilla.

The Taco Bell workers were surprisingly accommodating and agreed to add all of their veggies (lettuce, tomato, and onions) to my cheese quesadilla.

I could only manage to eat half of it though, and even that took me 45minutes!

By the time my second nutrition class was over I was hungry and cranky.  In a not-so-nutritious move, I ended up carefully shoving chicken fingers and fries into my sore mouth.

My plan was to hit the gym between my afternoon class and Music, but a research presentation crisis took me to the library instead.  Just as well, since my greasy platter of food left me wanting to throw up anyway.

But I surprised myself by making it to the gym after my night class.  Normally my motivation wanes as the day goes on, but I knew I needed the mood-boosting effects.  It helped that he let us out of class an hour early!  I did 20 (difficult) minutes of jogging on the treadmill, followed by a quick cool down, for a total of 25minutes and 2.4miles.

When I finally got home at 9pm, I needed to spend some time in the kitchen, prepping for Adam’s lunch and tomorrow’s dinner.  I also had a few school loose ends to tie up for tomorrow, pushing this post even later.  As soon as I realized my early bedtime was shot, I begged Adam to take me to 7-11 for a diet pop, where this happened –

Cherry/Coke slushies make me giddy!

Now as soon as I hit publish I can’t wait to get showered and get in bed!

What is your slushie flavor (combo) of choice?

It’s Rebecca Black’s Favorite Day

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Minus starting any homework yet, my afternoon has gone according to plan.  Class – gym – nachos – Missing.  Once you add a shower and doing the dishes into that list I don’t feel too bad that I’m a bit behind schedule.

I’m not sure that pushing the gym back to after class will be a regular thing; when we got there today all of the ellipticals were occupied.  Not a big deal, but I don’t like to run two days in a row.  I still ended up having a good workout –

  • 20(+ish) minutes jogging on the treadmill.  I didn’t take any breaks this time and I covered 2.5miles, booyah!
  • 20minutes on the elliptical, level 6 random.  I did a mix of backwards, forwards, sprint intervals (and dying).
  • quick session of abs work and stretching

By the time I got home and got myself and the dishes clean, it was after 3o’clock and I was just sitting down for lunch.  Good thing I made a lunch worth waiting for –

2 oz of corn chips + 2 oz of extra sharp cheddar + a big handful of arugula + black beans + jalopenos

+ tomatillo salsa stolen from Moes + Oikos 0% plain Greek yogurt

Oh baby!

I swear I can’t taste the difference in the 50% reduced cheese when eaten on salads (so why not eat one with a little less fat?!), but for melting full fat is the way to go.  This dish blew the other day’s baked nachos out of the water.

If things go according to plan again, we’ve got a fun(ish) evening planned.  Hope everyone has a great afternoon!

What are your nacho topping must-haves?  I always go with black beans and jalopenos are essential.

Skipped But Not Forgotten

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I was gone last night, but the blog was not forgotten!  Actually, what didn’t happen was dinner 😦  Our plan was to get Wegman’s hot bar then do some grocery shopping, but unfortunately my class ran until the very last minute and by the time we reached Wegman’s the hot bar was bare.  When we finished getting groceries – Adam’s hosting poker night this weekend so this was a quick but essential trip – it was almost 10 and I determined bedtime made more sense than dinner. 

Thank goodness I had it together enough to make breakfast before we left this morning.

Sludge smoothies for all!

For two smoothies I blended –

  • 1+ cup frozen blueberries
  • 2+ cups frozen spinach
  • 2 cups orange juice w. calcium and vitamin d
  • approx. 2 Tbsp honey

Yumtastic!  The way our mornings have been running this year smoothies have seemed impossible, but they really are one of my favorite breakfasts.

Adam dropped me off at campus and once I swallowed my sludge I headed to the gym.  Unfortunately I forgot my water bottle, and I’d look a little funny rehydrating with my sludge, so I ended up buying a G2.

I managed to get in a nice treadmill workout before my Biochem lab; 20minutes of jogging with a short warm up and cool down.

I still had to pause the machine to die a couple of times, but my overall running speed was faster than last time.

Lab went by quickly and easily, I finished off an assignment in the break, and then I headed to a final meeting for the service club I’m a part of.  Easy peasy.  And lunch was good.

A salad base of arugula with 1oz of 50% reduced sharp cheddar and black beans,

topped with 1oz of crunched up tortilla chips and Stubbs bbq sauce.

BBQ sauce on salad is where it’s at!  Seriously kids, try this.

Adam came to pick me up and we headed to Moes to get him lunch – I packed him a salad too but forgot to pack him dressing or a fork, whoops! – where I stole a few of his chips.

Now we’re home for what looks like a fun and easy afternoon 🙂

How often do you skip dinner; once a week, once a month, never?  Why do you skip it?

Dreaming Day

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After it’s auspicious start, my day continued to run enjoyably.  Definitely not a Monday’s Monday!

The weather was (mostly) fine, I got an 82% on last week’s big test (lower than I’d like, but 10points higher than the last one), and there were lots of delicious eats.  Like lunch –

Into 2 Tbsp of Smuckers Natural Peanut Butter with Honey,

I dipped baby carrots,

and a Fuji apple.

Oh man, this apple!  It was beyond sweet and crunchy, best apple I’ve had yet this year!

Not quite enough food though apparently, because my stomach growled all through my second afternoon class.  I’ve got another big, important test on Wednesday and I needed to be note-taking not dreaming of dinner!  Sidenote – when I get bored in class I totally work on my meal plan for the upcoming month; there are always so many new recipes I’m excited about.

The day felt like Spring instead of Winter – finally! – but by the afternoon the wind was howling.  It was loud enough that my teacher had to pause a few times because she couldn’t talk over the nose.  Thankfully one of my friends graciously offered to drive me home, so I didn’t have to worry about blowing away.

I was blown away however (ha!), by my tasty dinner.

What better way to get in your greens than with homemade veggie nachos?

I piled corn chips with 50% reduced sharp cheddar, fresh arugula, black beans, and canned jalapeno, then baked at 450* for 10minutes.

Plus plain 0% Oikos and green salsa for dipping.

The salsa was stolen on a Moe’s run and it totally made the nachos.  I would love to find green salsa that I could purchase like a not-a-creeper, but our store only sells one kind and it is way too spicy for us.

I ended with a fun dessert, clotted cream fudge.

I don’t have a better picture because the wrapping was a little intense, but I ate half of the box, aka too many servings.  We bought this on a whim but it was great; it tasted sort of like extra soft caramels.

two questions for a good Monday

  1. What do you day-dream about?
  2. Is there a brand of (not super spicy) tomatillo salsa that you recommend?  Preferably one I could order online.