Baking Exploits

I have done my fair share of baking in the last few days, and felt compelled to share. Well, not the baked goods. I felt compelled to eat those. But I want to share the recipes!

First, I baked some strawberry cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting.
Why, you may ask, did I bake these cupcakes? Because I saw this picture:

See? Now you want to bake cake too.
Oh, and I was also bored. Josh went to see the Eagles in concert, and I was homebound with the babe.
The recipe came from Smitten Kitchen ... click HERE to check it out.
I decided to go with individual cupcakes, so that I could bring treats for my small group girls on Thursday night. If you decide to do the same, really spread that batter out. I only made 12 cupcakes, and they overflowed a little ...

Not super pretty ... but they still tasted AMAZING!
And, in my opinion, everything is enhanced with a little buttercream frosting.

Ya, they got uglier. AND ... tastier! They got the seal of approval from my high school small group, so that was a win in my book.
THIS has become my go-to recipe for frosting, btw.

Next, I whipped up a batch of cookies for Josh's birthday (which is today! Happy Birthday, love!)
It was a cruel joke of God to make me a diabetic who loves to bake, that also has a husband who doesn't care for sweets. So whenever I bake, I have to make sure there is someone around to help me eat them ... with the exception of these cookies. Josh grew up eating them around Christmas, and they are his no-sweets exception.

Here is the recipe:

2 1/4 c. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 c. shortening
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 T. milk
Mix flour, salt and baking powder; set aside. Cream shortening and sugar together in a large bowl. Add eggs and vanilla. Last, mix dry ingredients with milk to creamed mixture. Roll dough out onto floured surface; cut out shapes. Bake on ungreased cookie sheets for 8-12 minutes @ 375 degrees. 

After cookies are cooled, ice with a simple frosting of powdered sugar, water & food coloring. 

I hope that I didn't just reveal some treasured Cash family secret. If I did ... well shoot. Y'all are stuck with me.

I sent these cookies to work with Josh tonight, so that his people could partake (and so they would be far from the diabetic ... see the strategy?). But one of Josh's co-workers also has a birthday this weekend, so I made Jared his favorite cake too. A cheesecake. THIS was a little outside my comfort zone, but I decided to go for it. 

I didn't realize, however, that it would need to cool for SIX HOURS. I was leasurely eating my one-egg-and-bacon brunch this morning while reading the recipe, and then sprinted out the door for eggs (I had six in the house, but needed seven. Ugh.) 

Mine ended up looking fairly pretty (I forgot to get a picture before I ran out the door with it), but I have no idea how it tasted. It's a dangerous idea to make a new recipe and then send it out unsampled. But I live on the edge. 

Side note #1: Yes, I am indeed obsessed with Smitten Kitchen. Sue me.

Side note #2: Sorry my pictures are from Instagram. The iPad is usually just an arms reach away, and I can email pictures to my computer instead of having to wait to borrow Josh's.

Lunch Lady

I have really terrible eating habits when it comes to lunch ... if there aren't dinner leftovers, I usually just stare at our fridge hoping that someone will reach out and hand me a salad from Panera. But, since that has yet to happen, I usually end up eating something terrible like nachos. This had to change -- not only because I am a few pounds heavier than I would prefer, but more so because of the way that kind of food makes me feel. Trust me, I believe there is a time and place for nachos. But fatty, starchy foods just suck the life right out of me.
I have already solved this problem for breakfast -- I wasn't eating in the morning, mostly because I didn't know what to make. Now, almost every morning, I have been drinking a smoothie of: frozen bananas, Greek yogurt, peanut butter, spinach and milk. Lean, full of protein, and I get lots of good green spinach eaten before 9 AM. (Don't stress ... you don't taste the spinach. Click HERE for a link to a recipe).
I have learned the one trick to eating more healthy food: make sure there is plenty of it around. In tasty and convenient forms. I have been working really hard to create dinner menus that are tasty, semi-healthy, and Josh-approved. But I had not put any effort into taking care of myself when it comes to eating lunch.
So, when meal planning for this week, I added a lunch to the list. If I just make one or two things at the beginning of the week, I can eat on them for several days. The best part of this lunch food endeavor? I can indulge in all the flavors and foods that Josh won't eat. So I eat better tasting food, and it's better for me. Holla!

This week I decided to make:
1. Quinoa salad with curried cauliflower, pine nuts and raisins. O Lord, it is so freaking good. Here's a picture ... and click HERE for the recipe.

Not the prettiest looking food, but DELICIOUS. I didn't use any red quinoa (it's expensive), and I was short on raisins, since I had eaten most of them when my blood sugar was low. Next time, I would use less quinoa (for a higher goodies to quinoa ratio) and maybe a little more curry.
2. Lettuce wrap sandwiches. Saw it on Pinterest, and ended up at THIS website. Really, it's just sandwich stuff on lettuce instead of bread. This is PERFECT for me, because then I don't have to worry about giving myself insulin for carbs. I put turkey, avocado, tomato, cucumber and mushrooms on mine. No soggy bread from the tomatoes, and it tasted great!

After coming home from the farmer's market yesterday, I put away loads of fresh produce, herbs, cheese, meat and milk. Then I stopped and stared at my fridge, moved almost to tears. I am so thankful for all those good eats ... I try not to forget what a luxury it is! Thankful for the margin in our budget to eat healthy, great places to find organic food, and the internet to help me cook it all!

Roasted Grapes = Manna From Heaven

Made THIS for dinner tonight with a friend. And it blew my mind.