Business as usual in my world. Snow and ice storms. Bad roads. Freezing cold. Going to work, eating, and sleeping! That about covers what I've done the past month! Except for turning 32 last week. Birthdays cease to be exciting after age 24! The only thing I look forward to is food. Specifically my mom's wonderful lasagna.
I forgot to take pictures the day of, but here's my after b-day leftover lunch. Note my sexy new Starbucks coffee mug. I have an addiction to buying coffee mugs at Starbucks. Seriously.
For my cake I made key lime cupcakes.The recipe is found here:
http://www.bonappetit.com/magazine/2008/09/key_lime_cupcakes. Naturally I subbed Pamela's gluten free baking mix for the flour. They were good, but the cake kind of had an unusual spongy texture. Also I never add food coloring to a recipe. Just not necessary in my opinion.
Here is my new favorite breakfast! I go through breakfast "phases" where I eat the same thing for a month or so every weekday morning. This month it's Lundberg Brown rice cakes with peanut butter, with a side of plain yogurt mixed with frozen raspberries (slightly thawed). It's so good! I swear I crave peanut butter and rice cakes all the time! I decided buying a big thing of plain yogurt and mixing it with the berries is #1 cheaper and #2 way healthier than artificial flavored yogurts. I don't even add sweetner at all! One bag of fruit and one tub of yogurt lasts a whole week! :)
Today culinary adventure involved using the remaining chicken from the bird I roasted for dinner a few nights back. I decided on gluten free chicken noodle soup. I first heated olive oil in my pan, added garlic, mushrooms, and carrots and sauteed for a few minutes. Then I added a box of Kitchen Basics chicken broth and some cooked Ancient Harvest gluten free pasta shells. I simmered until the carrots were soft, added shredded chicken and continued simmering a few minutes. It was really good! I also added some Bragg's seasoning blend. It's kind of similar to Mrs. Dash.
Well now I'm off to eat some dinner and get ready for another week!
Last month my daughter and I took a trip to D.C. so I could try on bridesmaid dresses for my cousin's wedding. While there I found a cupcake place, Hello Cupcake. I picked two cupcakes to try, de lime and de coconut and gianduja. They were fabulous. I have a less than flattering picture I could post of me stuffing a cupcake in my mouth but I'll spare you! Anyhow I knew I wanted to have wonderful cupcakes like these again and soon. My best friend and I love to get together and bake so we decided to have a cupcake party! 
The first cupcake I decided to make was key lime. I found a recipe on line at Bon Appetit. The only change I made was skipping the green food coloring. I didn't find a vivid green cupcake to be necessary. These cupcakes were phenomenal. The icing is out of this world. I could have eaten the entire bowl. It is however a great thing that I don't get paid to decorate cakes because my first try with the piping tip and bag was a epic fail as you can see! 
Finding a recipe that came close to the chocolate hazel nut ganache of the Hello Cupcake was harder. So I improvised. On the Food Network website I found a chocolate ganache cupcake recipe by Ina Garten. I made the recipe as written but after the cupcakes were out of the oven I piped a bit of Nutella in the center. Then I dipped them in the ganache and sprinkled them with toasted hazelnuts. Not as good as the ones in D.C. but fabulous none the less. 
My best friend of almost 30 years Vanessa made a root bear float cupcake and a peach mango cheesecake recipe. Both were spectacular! We have so much fun when we bake together! We always get together before any major holiday to do some baking so be watching for some Halloween creations! 
