Cupcake Addiction

2012-02-16T09:00:00.000-06:00

Anyone who knows me well (or is familiar with my facebook statuses during deadline times) knows about my obsession with cupcakes. So of course on Valentine's Day, I had to make cupcakes for the kids. They are made with organic ingredients. They do contain fruit. I did use whole wheat flour. That does not make these cupcakes healthy. Just want to put that out there. They are delicious, though!

Whole Wheat Banana Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Adapted from this recipe at Lisa's Dinnertime Dish

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 stick butter, softened

2 ripe bananas, mashed

3 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup half and half or milk

2 cups white whole wheat flour (I almost always use this)

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Measure WW flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium size bowl and whisk together. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add mashed bananas, eggs, vanilla and milk. Add the flour a little at a time until it is fully incorporated. (The whole wheat flour will make a relatively thick batter for a dense cupcake.) Use an ice cream scoop or spoon to scoop the batter into lined cupcake tins. Filled 3/4 full, this recipe makes 15 cupcakes. Bake 20-25 minutes.

For the frosting:

2 sticks salted butter

2 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla

2 tbsp half and half or milk

Cream the butter until fluffy. Add the sugar a little bit at a time until it is all incorporated. Add the cocoa powder, the vanilla, and the half and half or milk. Beat at a high speed for three to five minutes. Just a note here: I'm a lazy baker, but sifting the sugar really makes a difference in whether the frosting has lumps. Personal experience talking.

And just in case you are worried that this blog is going to be all about cupcakes...yes, it's tempting. I do love cupcakes. But this green smoothie is what we had for breakfast this morning. I'll share my recipe for it soon.

Secret Confessions of a Romance Writer

2012-02-13T09:12:00.000-06:00

In the last six months of 2011, my family ate take-outmore times than I want to admit. (I don’teven want to think about the times my 18 year old son went on his own, but Icontend that no one should be held responsible for an 18 year old boy’s eatinghabits, especially after two-a-day football practice). Frankly, if we went back further, the lastsix months were probably better than most because—God bless them—our church wasworried that my children would get rickets and cooked dinner for us many ofthose nights.

I’m not sure when the bad eating habits started. I’m guessing it was somewhere between playpractice, soccer practice, writing deadlines , and church activities. We just got too busy to eat right. It was easierto drive through somewhere or pick up Chinese food or a pizza orsandwiches. Without me noticing it, myhusband somehow made the switch in his afternoon call from, “What are we havingfor dinner tonight?” to “What do you want me to pick up for dinner tonight?”

If I don’t know exactly when the fast food frenzystarted, I do know when I started thinking about changing it. Really changingit, like the kind of line in the sand that you know will stick kind ofchange. July 12, 2011. I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I didn’t know the full extent of it that day--that was more the shockand awe day. I guess you could say thatI was lucky, if getting cancer can be considered lucky. My cancer was found at Stage 1. (More on that later) And it was the wake-up call I needed. I had known for a while that we couldn’tmaintain the pace we were setting, but I didn’t know how to change it.

Cancer changed it for me.

With six months on the couch, more or less, I’ve had alot of time to think and plan and research. One thing I know we have to change is our diet. Other things, too--which I’ll be exploring infuture blog entries--but number one is to stop putting toxins in our body withpreservatives and foods that humans werenot meant to eat. But how? The general plan is to change our family overfrom a fast food, take-out diet to a whole foods, organic diet. I plan to eat more whole grains and lessrefined sugar, too.

So I just got the all clear from my doctor after mythird and hopefully last surgery. Ifigure this is as good a time as any to let you in on a secret .

I really don’t know how to cook.

Slightly Crunchy Stephanie

Cupcake Addiction

Secret Confessions of a Romance Writer