A Sunday of Productivity

I'd love to say that my life has been so full, I've been completely incapable of sitting in front of a computer to blog.  But that is a little bit of a lie.  the truth is, I've been idle.  I like to think of it as idyll, because it's been peaceful and enjoyable to be under the comfy covers by 8:30, curled up with a good ebook.

Oh, right, the ebook.  I never thought I would be that technological with my reading, because I do so enjoy reading actual books, but my phone has a nook app, and it's backlit.  So... I've been married to it.  I've spent my "free time" the last 2 weeks in the world of Percy Jackson.

Hellooooooooooooo, Perce!

And would I love to tell you that my obsession with Percy Jackson is due to this guy ------->

Because... Seriously.  Damn.  (and he's over 18, so it's okay for me to be a smidge cougarish over here.)

But it's not.  The fact that Percy got the most adorably impish and perfect face for the movie is not the reason I love the stories.  And the casting of Percy and the big three gods is about ALL the movie got right, but I'm not going into that.

No, I'm into these stories because I am a Greek Myth Nerd.  When I was very young, my mom had a copy of Edith Hamilton's Mythology.  I read it all the time.  I was fascinated by the awesomeness of the stories.  They had everything, adventure, death, power, good versus evil... It was great stuff.  (she also had a fantastic book of Celtic Myths and legends that I adored as much.)

When I was in elementary school, I fell in love with Perseus, the hero of Clash of the Titans.

"Be in awe of my awesome Farrah Hair."

 The original, because Harryhausen monsters are the best, and I still have nightmare visits from Calibos.

Harryhausen is the Bomb with Phantoms, yo.

I took Latin in high school because they didn't offer Greek.

I LOVE ancient literature.  Ask any of the women I made crossdress to put on an all female version of Trojan Women for my senior Theatre project.

So, when I found out Rick Riordan, writer of the Tres Nevarre books (another one of my guilty pleasures), wrote kids books, I was sold.  I read these books the way I'd read Harry Potter books.  As a genuine Kidult.  An adult with the wide-eyed awe of a child.

Then, see, they stopped for a bit.  And the stories came back, but I didn't pick up the Lost Heroes books.  Until about 2 weeks ago.  And now, I've read all three of those, too.  And, since I couldn't bear the thought of waiting a full year for the next lost heroes book to come out, I've been devouring the original series again in ebook form, thanks to gift cards from students.

So, for the last two weeks, when I haven't been at my soul-sucking job, I've been fully immersed in a fictional world of gods and monsters and magic.  (and also, I read on my lunch breaks at my soul-sucking job.)

And THAT is why I didn't blog about my Sunday of Productivity when it happened.


It started simply enough with a pin.  Apple Fritter Cake.  About a month ago, I repinned this with every intention of making it.  And it sat in the back of my head.

"Hey, Robyn," it whispered, "I'm full of cinnamony goodness.  I'm crispy and gooey and sweet and hearty.  I'm what you've always wanted in a dessert."

And I'd remind it that there wasn't a churro involved, so it wasn't the perfect dessert.

"Put vanilla ice cream on me, serve me with a warm cinnamon churro..."

The Apple Fritter Cake is pretty persuasive.

So last Sunday, I was determined to make the cake.  I bought the apples and I prepared to make history with the best dessert to ever emerge from my oven.

Also, bout 2 weeks ago, I saw another pin, for homemade laundry soap.  And then, on Friday, my mother suggested we make Beef Stew.

So I said "Why not do all three?"

There is more to this Sunday than you even know...  So I shall segue awkwardly into the next part...

In late September, one of my dearest friends suffered a spinal injury.  She is currently residing in a rehabilitation center in Chicago.  She's lonely there.  And I have to go visit her.  It's not a "want" it's a compulsion, a need, a calling from God that must be answered.  This happened to me once before, when another dear friend lost her mother.  Two weeks later I was on a road trip to Macon, Georgia, to spend Christmas with her, so she didn't have to do it alone.  It's a pulling feeling in my gut telling me it's the right thing to do.

So, I must get to Michele. 

So, my Sunday began at the grocery store picking up the items for beef stew, apple fritter cake and laundry soap.

The Apple Fritter Cake recipe can be found here:
http://nerdybaker.wordpress.com/2011/11/18/apple-fritter-cake-and-ufos/

The soap recipe can be found here:
http://whynotsew.blogspot.com/2010/08/how-to-make-homemade-laundry-detergent.html

I started by grating the soap.  And starting the meat.

THIS IS DANGEROUS, so don't forget which pot is which...

 Once the stuff in the laundry pot started boiling, I whipped it up in about 10 minutes.  I used old Purex bottles from my recycling bin, so I didn't have to worry about cleaning out milk jugs.  The soap works.  The clothes smell clean, not fragranced, but cleaned.  After a few days, though, it's a bit chunky, so i shake the crap out of it before using it. 

Then it was time to drain the beef and rinse it.  I always do this with meat.  I always drain it and rinse it, to get off the grease and fatty stuff.  Here is the meat browning:

 After that was done, I tossed it in the crock pot with one can of corn, liquid in, one bag of frozen stew veggies (Kroger brand), one can of family sized Campbell's tomato soup and one can of water (from soup can.)  Then I put in red pepper flakes, chili powder and a ton of shallot pepper.  then I left it for 6 hours.

Have I mentioned Penzey's Spices?  www.penzeys.com/   Bookmark it.

 Then I began the Apple Cake.

I was SO EXCITED!!!!

Here are pictures:

Here is what I have to say:

I doubled the amount of apples.  Because I love them.  But I kept the other measurements the same.  Except the cinnamon.  I don't measure cinnamon, I just pour until an inner voice says "It is done."  I don't think there is ever enough.

The cake itself is bland.  It needs nutmeg.  Put nutmeg in there.  Up the cinnamon to at least double.  But also, the cake is AWESOME.  It is moist and perfectly textured.  I'm going to try it with a million different fruit fillings.

My glaze was very runny, but I have trouble with glazes, so that might have been me.

It was also a pretty big hit with my most difficult critic... The little brother.  He is the Anti-Mikey.  He is very picky.  He doesn't like anything.  But he liked this cake.

In the midst of ALL of this, I google mapped my trip and checked out hotels on hotels.com

I am terrified about this trip.  I am not an affluent person, so this is a scrimped trip.  I plan to drive straight through because I do not have the budget for a hotel stay on the ride up or down.  It's Houston to Chicago.  I've done Houston to Macon so many times, and that's a few more mile, I'm confident there.

But Penny, my precious car, is giving me fits right now.  her tie rods are doing something i have to fix, and her check engine light is on for the upteenth time, and I have no idea if she's feeling well, although she has a new transmission, and accelerator pedal thingy (I'm not car-literate)

So, next weekend will be all about me fixing up Penny post payday to prepare.

And I'm excited.  I love road trips.  I love solo driving because no one can roll their eyes if I feel the need to sing a mix of show tunes, country and alternative rock loudly.  I'm stoked to go to Chicago, because I have never been (and a little worried I'll get lost for the same reasons)

But on top of all of this, I am determined.  Because I NEED to do this.  And I will do this.  Everything is going to work out, and it's going to end with an awesome, tearful, much-needed reunion with one of my besties followed by long periods of gossip truly worthy of Wesleyannes.

In fact, this trip, as daunting as it seems, is the only thing keeping me going at my soulsucking job right now, because I'm losing my mind there, every day I feel a little less equipped to be a teacher.  I force myself out of bed because I have to, I have to go make money so I can go on this trip.  It's a quest, even.  I have a quest, and I will not be deterred by monsters or ill-mannered children or helicopter parents or coworkers who say hateful, hurtful things about me in front of my students.  I will not fail.

Well, this is the longest update EVER, and I'm officially done typing.  I need to get back to "sea of Monsters" now.  They just found the donut shop.  And donuts sound kinda good...

Remember this:

Today is Make a Difference Day.  You can make a difference in someones life with something simple... a smile... a kind word... (A comment on this blog entry)...

Reach out today.  It doesn't take a doctor to save a life.


:o)
Robyn

Et tu, Brucake?

Well, it's October, and all my draft posts with ideas and random vignettes have pretty much expired, so you're just getting this regular old post.  I've lost 5 pounds this week.  It hasn't been easy avoiding stuff.  Tuesday was a staff meeting complete with vast amounts of sweet desserts including my most favorite candy of all time.  Bottle Caps.  I love them so much, I think they can even be called my "most favoritest."  I took the box, but, it's still over half full and I've been giving it away to people to eat some, too.

So, yeah, I've been dieting, which I hate to do, but, really, I was just in a funk and had nothing better to do with my life than see how much weight I can lose in six months.  I'm already down 5 pounds, so I'm thinking I'll be super model skinny before you even know it.

But don't worry.  I still managed to make some cutey cupcakes today.

Randomly, it's Clergy Appreciation Month, and I'm trying to come up with the perfect cupcake to give to my ministry team at church.  I go to a Lutheran Church, so they have this thing about wearing red on Reformation Sunday, and I think I might go with Red Velvet cupcakes.  Last year, I did little Halloween one.  They were tasty, but also, generic.  Sooooo... If anyone knows of the best red velvet recipe ever, I'm taking submissions in the comments below. 

So, on to today.

A few days ago, I was in Kroger.  And I came across these killer cupcake decorations... literally...

Wilton always tempts me to make cupcakes with their kitchy little decorations for the holidays, and I can usually resist, but , DAMN, these were too awesome...

Royal Icing Knife Decorations by Wilton.

Aren't they adorable in that sorta twisted way?

So I bought them.

But I couldn't eat cupcakes because I'm calorie counting or some bupkiss like that.

Then I remembered the one point cupcake.  You take a cake mix, usually the "low sugar variety" and mix it with a 12 ounce diet beverage.  Voila!  50 calorie cupcake!

So I whipped up these cupcakes. 

And I frosted them with 3/4 tablespoons of light, whipped, frosting (40 calories)

And I got Red decorating gel, and I used gel icing color in copper to make the candy apple red a little bloodier.  And...


TA DA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

The cake mix didn't make a full 2 dozen cupcakes, so there were extra daggers.  So I made an e, tu, Brucake.  Let that sink in for a moment.

Yeah, there we go. 

AND! 

Then Fall, Caesar... 

And in life news, I'm in the praise band at my church as a rotating vocalist.  There are 4ish of us who rotate in and out with the regulars.  Today I am just beginning the upswing on my recovery from laryngitis.  And I was pretty much sotto voce to put it nicely.  (In my technical terms, I sounded like peter brady when it was time to change).

I didn't want to tank the couple of female vocals heavy songs we did today, so I said a little prayer that my voice would recover long enough for church.

It didn't happen.  It was reedy.  And gravelly, and I had trouble sustaining notes for any decent amount of time.  

So I was disappointed that I didn't get my prayer answered :o(

And then, people came up to me and told me how great it sounded.  So...

obviously it was much easier for God to much with their ears than cause super vocal healing.  And now I know next time to just be like "Lord, let them hear Mariah Carey though I be William Hung.  Amen"  And He'll make it so.

The End.

Koolaid Cupcakes, Diaper Cakes and Bears, OH MY!

Yesterday was Saturday.  It was my designated baking day.  At 8 am, I got up, took a shower and cut my hair.  Just the bangs, this time.

I have a problem.  I'm an emotional hair-cutter.  When I feel bored, stymied or otherwise strongly emotional, I'll start thinking that I should cut my hair.  I get the idea in my head, and it sticks there, more effectively bouncing around than "Call me, Maybe"  Wow, I'd never seen the video.  Can he come mow my lawn, please?  Anyway, I've been feeling restless and insecure lately, and convinced a haircut was exactly what I needed in my life.

So, I went to cut my hair on my way into the shower, only I stopped, right before I actually sawed into my hair and decided I'd just try to trim the bangs for a while.  True to me fashion, I cute them too short and now am irritated with them.

But, the need to cut my hair is mostly gone.  (Except, I'd look so cute with just below my chin chunky layers...)

And after that, It was time to head out to church to start on the epic task of diaper cakes for unwed mothers.  Saying unwed mothers always makes me think of RENT.  "Remind her those unwed mothers in Harlem need her legal help, too!"

You're looking at her bangs, aren't you?  They're like... 80s miniskirt short

Anyway, our women's group meets once a month to do good things, and this month, our good thing is helping to facilitate a baby shower for 15 unwed mothers, whom I believe are all under the age of 24.  According to the charities website, they also offer support for the father's to help them face and deal with the responsibility of the babies.  Good stuff.

So, when we were originally talking about helping to throw a baby shower for these girls, a majority of whom are not being supported by their parents, I said "I'll make diaper cakes!" because, I like diaper cakes.  They're cute.  And I made a couple before, as gifts.  See:

This pink one was a gift for a coworker having a baby girl.  I'm still super impressed by how beautiful it turned out.  It's like... gorgeous, right?  Pin it or something.  I took the picture with a really nice camera, too, that caught the nuance of all the tulle.







This blue one was for my friend, Jessica's baby shower.  I didn't have a good camera, so all the adorable baby blue tulle doesn't show.  But it was super cute!

So, I was like "I'll make 25 diaper cakes!" because I was thinking I'm superwoman.


But somehow, during planning and translation, it ended up that the women's group itself would make the diaper cakes.  And the 25 also dropped to 15.

So, we asked our congregation to bring diapers for the cakes.  We ended up with 2000 diapers in size one and two.  And then, we had a "workship" activity (If you're interested in what "workship" means, tweet @mikecelebrating for an enthusiastic answer) where the entire congregation rolled the diapers in rubber bands (An integral part of the diaper caking process.)  Which, thank goodness.  If my ORIGINAL PLAN had gone through, where each woman in the group did thier own thing, I would have been rolling diapers for at least 4 days straight, and then assembling them, whilst speaking in profanities in 3 different languages.  (I usually only know the bad words in any language that's not English).

Thank GOD things did not go according to my plan.  Instead, a group of about 40-50 people rolled 2000 diapers in about 15 minutes.  And then, a group of 6-10 women gathered to do the crafty parts.

Without these women... this would never have happened:

On Display and Safe from harm above the cabinets in our ministry center

Seriously?  HOW CUTE ARE THESE CAKES?  The bears are the best.  Aunt Kat found them, and I want to snuggle them because they remind me of Joaquin Phoenix in Brother Bear.  And honestly, Joaquin Phoenix always inspires me to hug. 

Bear hug!

I'm lying here, waiting for a hug from Robyn

And so, that is what I did with my Saturday.  I ASSEMBLED with some other women (yes, avengers reference) to do something awesome.

So, today, I decided to bake all laid back style and what not... With Koolaid Cupcakes.

What are Koolaid Cupcakes?  I'm glad you asked.  Cupcakes with no redeeming nutritional value Whatsoever.  And AWESOMELY DELICIOUS.

First, you mix the cake mix.  I used a white cake mix.  I straight up didn't feel like being creative, I just wanted a little piece of damn cake, so don't judge my shortcakes, or tell me i'm not really an artist.  I never pretended to be one. 

After you do the cake mix, you add one half of a package of koolaid. Do not be tempted by blogs and websites that say the whole package.  They lie.

The other half of the package goes into the frosting.  This is classic white frosting.

BAKE!

FROST!  And then I topped with green and purple colored sugar.

The cake is a sweet cherry flavor with a hint of sour and the frosting is a tart cherry with just enough sweet not to be too gross.  It was freaking perfect.












And now, my friends, I bid you farewell.  For it is BEER SOIREE night.  And I have a lot of drinking to do.  (Follow us: www.facebook.com/SNBTS)

:o)
Robyn

50 shades of Garbage

On the ride to work the other day, the DJs on my alt rock radio station were discussing the most likely neighborhoods in Houston to have adulterous couples, as based on that Cheaty-cheater dating website that I won't link to.  In a matter of phone calls, the conversation dissolved into a caller who brought up that 50 shades of garbage bullshit, which I won't capitalize out of protest.

So, here's this woman, calling my alt rock station, where I go to hear that awesome kind of alternative pop music that's the aural equivalent of Hershey's kisses (Delicious with very little substance) to turn it into a whine session about how she's sexually frustrated and needs a red room of pain with nipple clips.  This is not the Garbage I turned in to hear.

And that's when my general dislike of the 50 shades books went from generally being annoyed at how pedantic childish writing gets on best seller lists to being generally concerned by my generation.  Because, let's face it, my generation has some things to answer for.


Like Twilight.  I blame you, people I grew up with.  Our refusal to become full-fledged adults has led to a weird prolonged adolescence that leads to women in their thirties choosing Team Edward or Team Jacob.  And now it's led to women my age experiencing a sexual awakening over a book that reads like a 16-year-olds porn fantasy fueled fan fiction.

Have I read it?  I tried.  I read about half.  After that, I had to stop before I sprained my eyes from rolling them so much.

Was I offended?  Nope.  You don't know me well, internet, but I will let you in on this, I am not easily offended by anything of a sexual nature.  And, I've read my share of Jackie Collins and, TBQH, Anne Rampling /A.N. Roquelaure (AKA Anne Rice).

But I cannot fully condone adults over the age of 21 reading these books and making them a freaking pop-cultural phenom.


First of all, if I noticed Grammar errors, then let me assure you, the book is horribly edited.  If I was annoyed/irritated or bored by the shabbily constructed sentences, they have to be downright horrid.  Also, can we please stop just saying girls are smart and well read and actually show a character who is smart, well read, spunky, strong or with a great personality?  This girl is another freaking Bella Swan, stumbling through life, unaware of what the world has to offer until a complete jackass starts to date her, tells her how to live, and what to do, and opens her up to the world of S&M and multiple orgasms.  Oh, and Ana has to bit her lip in indecision/coyness/anticipation on almost every page.  And If I had to read one more interplay where Christian was like "Let me spank/screw/restrain you." and she's all "no! no!  please!  don't!  stop!  nono!  please don't stop!" I was gonna vomit.

Look, I've seen women portrayed well in erotica, and this ain't it kids.

So here's my point, because I have one...

My generation of Kidults, who cling to some weird bastardization of a Peter Pan complex and continually see themselves as 20 something idiots who need a strong man to tell them how to live their lives makes me sad.

Also, i just found out that this book started out as TWILIGHT FAN FICTION online.  And now, my respect for it has tanked even more... (we were already in the Marianas trench in my esteem here, 50 shades of garbage)...

I just wish we would all grow up some.  It's a sad, sad, sad world when I feel more adult than my contemporaries, based on the garbage spewing forth in pop culture.  And an even sadder world when I feel grammatically superior to published authors.

That is all, people

Things I've done recently

Pinterest made me hungry.  (Follow Me?)

I was minding my own business trying to not leave the comfort of our lovely sitting room.  I was perusing Pinterest and I have so many foodie friends, that I just couldn't help but get a craving for some nummy treats.  Since I hadn't eaten yet today, i decided to follow the trend of mini-egg soufle type recipes on pinterest and make up my own.  It was super easy.  I didn't follow any recipe, I just went with it.

I found some stuff in the fridge and stirred it all together in a bowl, then put it in a muffin tin and baked in on 350 for about 25 minutes.

Here are the ingredients. 

6 Medium Free Range Cage Free Eggs
pico de gayo (prob a half cup)
a splash of milk (prob 1/4 cup)
1/2 a package of turkey bacon pieces (maybe 2/3 cup)
a good dose of cheese (prob a cup)
Penzey's Shallot Pepper (a good sprinkling... 2 tablespoons?)
Italian blend herbs (prob a tablespoon)

It went over well with the fam, everyone ate it.  And here are some pictures courtesy of my brother's spectacular camera and featuring the cake dish my mother bought so I could take pretty pictures for the blog:

tThings I would do differently:

• More Cheese.  Cheese is like the best invention ever.
• Shorter cooking time:  fluffy and a little moist is okay by me.
• Photograph before they cool and fall slightly.

All-in-all, I'm not displeased by my foray into the egg cupcake.  Now I'm going to tell you about the awesomeness that is the Strawberry shortcake cupcake.

The Strawberry Shortcake cupcake was born of a perfect blending of ideas from all the women who head up the Sunday Night Beer Tasting Soiree.

At first, I was trying to come up with a good memorial day dessert for our church picnic.  I was trying to figure out how best to do those shot glass desserts that are all the rage at casual dining spots.

Robyn: Don't you think I could just do it in cupcake form?  Like a strawberry shortcake cup cake, made with an egg white cake, and topped with strawberries and whipped cream?

Sister (part-time genius): Can't you shove a strawberry in it and then cook it?

Robyn: Sound delicious.

Mother (Full time genius): The strawberry will moosh and goo.  You should use a Strawberry jam or preserve.


So.... Here you go:


Make an egg white cake mix.  Put it in cupcake liners.

Spoon one spoon of all-fruit no additives preserves into the center.

Bake.

Top with a white butter cream (Crisco style not butter based) and shove a fresh delicious strawberry on top.

Watch parishioners enjoy.  There were reports of licking fingers and lips clean during eating.

Yeah.  No pictures exist :o(  but it happened.


And finally!!!!!

Graduation cupcakes....

I made cupcakes.  Topped with white icing and threw this bad boy on top:

 (http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Graduation-Caps)

I might be able to get my sister to upload the pictures.

On a side nite, Nestle After Eight mints are freaking delicious!

Anyway, HAPPY SATURDAY, CUPCAKES!


-Robyn

Crazy...

So, I set up this blog with the initial plan to never be too political, or too radical, or too outspoken.  So I blow it all on one post, and end up with 100 different hits on it.  That's some crazy stuff dude.  But I'm not letting my head get to big about it.  Only 3 of the people who read it made any kind of comment, so I'm assuming 97 people found it accidentally.  And that it's really just the same old same old... But comments are nice, just, by the way.

Today is a lovely Sunday, if you're sitting by a giant window looking outside, like I am, in the comfort of artificially cooled air.  Because it's hot outside.  Like Satan's ballsac hot.  (It's the lest warm of his extremities, so i'm not being too overly dramatic.)

This afternoon, I whipped up some tart cherry scones.  I'm sure they are delicious.  I haven't eaten one yet, but they smell fantastic.  I didn't make it from scratch, because it's hot.  And i'm enjoying the look of the wind in the trees.  Even if it's like nuclear blast wave hot (not for the faint of heart, btw), in temperature.  So I purchased sticky fingers brand.  And it smells perfect.

Also cooling?  a pink lemonade cake.  Which I will use to make cake bites.  In fact... it should have cooled sufficiently to begin.   I shall return, "'tis but the work of a moment."

Wow.  Well, first of all, the cherry scones are delicious smelling.  The cherries inside are good, but the scone is rather like... a flavorless biscuit.  I know, I know, it's a scone, but I figured the cherrishness would run through it.  I figured wrong.

I also figured wrong when it came to the cake bites.  Cake bites.  I read all about these in one of the books from the "hello, cupcakes" people.  They are little cut outs from jelly roll cakes, dipped in warmed over frosting.  If you warm store frosting just a little to a creamy dipping texture, it dries really pretty, they said.  They put these little cake bites on forks, so you can just eat a bite and move on.  I thought "I can do that, like petits fours."  So I got stuff to make it. 

Here is a picture of one of the "emotipops" from "cupcakes, cookies, and pies, oh my!"

https://twitter.com/#!/whatsnewcupcake/status/167667586287419392/photo/1

Here are the only four surviving cake bites I managed to walk away with:

First of all, dipping a piece of cake you've cut is effing hard.  Second of all, my super smart idea to use appetizer forks?  It was a super STUPID idea.  Also, yeah, it was just Epic Fail.  Here's the ones that didn't fall onto the floor or counter whilst dipping:

 I threw that shit into a pile and was like "Soup's on, Mother Fucker."

And I left it for family to eat it.





These are the scones, by the way.

in other news, I feel like I've sung the word "Forever" until it's lost all meaning.  That is all.

-robyn

Save on Gas

So a friend told me to post this.

To save up to a dollar a gallon on gas, you can spend up to 1000 dollars at Kroger in a month.

OR - buy gift cards.  I'm a Starbucks whore, seriously, i drink the tea all the time.  so, I buy Starbucks gift cards at Kroger.  For a 25 buck card, I get 50 points.  EXCEPT, until April 10, when i get 4x points.  so for that same gift card, I get 100 points.  And, since we have a Thursday dinner date with the fam... We buy 25 and 50 buck cards and get 100-200 points a time. 

And the discount is 10 cents for every 100 points.

On a normal day, you can get 2x points.

But, if you watch... they do 10x points.  And when you get that, grab that schtuff up. 

Buy gift cards for food, drinks, clothes (old navy, macy's jc pennys, target) home improvements (Loews, Home Depot) MOVIE TICKETS... Whatever you are planning on doing anyway, stop by Kroger on the way and purchase in advance.  You might as well use the system while you can. 

That is all. :o)

(I think Randall's has a similar system in Texas.)

Veggie Cake

I was at work less than an hour when a shoe flew at me.  A shoe.  "WHO THROWS A SHOE?"

I have already reached my days limits on tantrums.  And it's barely after 1.  Less than 4 hours to go today, thank Heavens.

I don't want to leave lunch and go back to work today.  It's a Monday.

But on to my happy place.  Here is a veggie cupcake recipe I probably got from epicurious.com or allrecipes.com a while back.  Zucchini Chocolate with Chocolate chips.  I'd frost with a light vanilla buttercream.  Or, for fun, maybe a zesty orange.


Ingredients
 1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons instant hot chocolate mix
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup olive oil
1 cup and 3 tablespoons white sugar
1 EXTRA LARGE egg
1/3 cup sour milk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2/3 cups grated zucchini
 2/3 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees 


cream together the butter, olive oil and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the sour milk and vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture, just until incorporated. Stir in the grated zucchini and chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the top of the cupcakes springs back when lightly pressed. Cool in pans over a wire rack for at least 10 minutes before removing from baking cups.