Crisis Averted
Look what I picked up today.
Crisis.Averted.
Now if only Whole Foods hadn’t been out of almonds.
What foods can you not live without?
Chocolate Banana Cupcakes in a Flash
Yesterday I was feeling a bit antsy (writing for 2 solid hours will do that to ya) and was suddenly struck with the desire to bake. The only problem was, I didn’t have much time. Because going on an outdoorsy run was on the afternoon schedule and there was no way I was taking a rain check because it was perfect running weather (aka cloud cover, moderate temps and no wind).
So I consulted my dear dear friend, Foodgawker. Because when you need a recipe, Foodgawker is the ultimate place to go.
I came across a chocolate banana cupcake recipe within a matter of seconds and had everything it called for on hand. A trip to the grocery store was not an option!
I used this recipe and made the following modifications:
- 1/2 cup sugar instead of a full cup
- 3 tablespoons cocoa powder instead of 3/8 cup (what kind of measurement is that anyways?!)
- almond milk instead of moo cow milk
- no canola oil
**I didn’t use oil simply because I forgot, but if I were to make these again I would use the oil to increase the moistness level.
Excuse the blind shadows, like I said, I was in a hurry 🙂
I was praying that these didn’t fall like a certain red cupcake I know.
And when they didn’t I breathed a giant sigh of relief. Really.
In fact, just the opposite occurred. Check out that cupcake giant in the front row!
Oooh, baby!
Although the recipe also came with a peanut butter brown sugar butter cream frosting recipe, I opted to use another peanut butter-less recipe. Why, you ask? Remember how my nut butter supply is dwindling? Yeah, that’s why.
This problem will be taken care of tomorrow. Promise.
I used this frosting recipe, except I halved it and reduced the sugar to 1/4 cup. Note to self, if you mix butter cream frosting by hand and in a rush, the butter won’t fully mix/melt. Ooops.
Oh and contrary to popular belief, a ziplock bag totally functions as a frosting gun.
What I learned from this experience:
- Cupcakes can successfully be made in under an hour
- I need a mixer. Just kidding those are expensive…
- Pay attention, even if you’re in a rush, lest you forget an ingredient
- No pastry bag, no problem!
- Older bananas mash much easier than new ones…
- It doesn’t matter how subpar you think you’re baked goods are, when you bring cupcakes into work, everyone will jump all over you to get one. Or two. Or three.
P.S. I wanted to ask you all what you think about blog posting schedules. Do you post at the same time everyday. Are you more apt to read a blog that posts at the same time daily?
Happy Thursssday!
Mission: Meatball
The real title of this post should be “Mission: Meatball & Other Random Musings.” Actually every post I write should include “and other random musings,” but by now you probably all know that without me saying it. I’m glad we know each other so well.
It’s a somewhat crazy week for me. Paper due Monday, paper due Tuesday and paper due Wednesday. Yikes, that’s a lot of paper writing. Remind me why I’m writing a blog post instead of writing paper #3.
Anyways, my point is: don’t be worried if I keep disappearing this week. I’m off cranking out papers. And eating SpaghettiOs.
Wait, what??
Let me begin with a story. A story about a girl who grew up eating SpaghettiOs (with franks, mind you) and went off to college only to continue eating SpaghettiOs. Only now it was with meatballs and the microwave and usually at 2 AM. I swear, I don’t know who that girl was. I only heard stories about her and the scar on her hand from a dangerous encounter with a piping hot microwaved meatball that escaped from the SpaghettiOs bowl.
Okay seriously, though I always loved SpaghettiOs and just because I’ve refined my tastes and understand that SpaghettiOs are basically just a can of junk doesn’t mean I don’t sometimes miss those soft noodles and creamy red sauce.
Solution: Isa’s “Spaghetti-Nos with Mini Lentil Meatballs”
Because I’m a sucker for re-making junk food I ate when I was younger.
I’m also on a mission to find the perfect meatless meatball, so this recipe was right up my alley.
And then I let Joey do all the hard work. I’ll say it’s because I was busy writing a paper, but let’s be honest, I probably wasn’t. Just like right now…
These were the closest we came to SpaghettiO noodles and sadly they weren’t soft enough for my liking because someone was being impatient. But the sauce was pretty dead on in taste and the meatballs, while not quite as sturdy, were nice and crispy on the outside and packed a flavorful punch.
I’m not even going to pretend I didn’t stand over the stove and scrape the crispy pieces of meatball that were stuck to the bottom of the pan off and repeatedly burn my tongue. Actually, between hot oatmeal and fresh off the stove soup, I’m pretty sure my mouth in permanently burned. When will I learn?
Am I the only one who wishes someone would invent a new packaging method for tomato paste?? I only use 1 tablespoon out of that jar and end up throwing it away. Maybe I should invent a new method!
Overall, I’m not sure this meatball recipe was “perfect” but it was probably my favorite so far. Just wait till I’m graduated and have lots of free time to spend making meatless meatballs.
In other news, my yoga attendance has significantly decreased as of late and nothing made this more obvious than my sore arms and tight hamstrings today after having gone yesterday. I swore my arms were going to give out during every chaturanga, which is weird considering I’ve been making an effort to lift at least twice a week!
Funniest thing I heard all weekend? Joey asking me “Do we have peanut butter?” while at the store on Sunday. I just starred at him. Does he know who he was talking to? Oddly enough, I returned home to find a dwindling supply of nut butter in general. Which I further depleted during lunch.
I think Joey and I are in agreement that celery is really just another device for nut butter eating.
The only good thing about “dwindling” nut butter supplies is the promise of oats in a jar random container.
I tried something new for breakfast. A dough-y oat smoothie. Aka blended overnight oats.
Creamy.
While I missed the chewiness of regular old overnight oats, this oatmeal-smoothie fusion was kind of fun.
All I did was combine 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup almond milk, 1 tablespoon chia seeds, 1/2 tablespoon maple syrup, a splash of vanilla and a dash of cinnamon in the blender then stuck the whole thing in the fridge overnight, then in the morning I added another 1/2 cup of milk and blended it all together.
Topped as usual.
Anything with the word smoothie immediately strikes fear to my heart because it usually doesn’t keep me full. This worked just fine for me in terms of satiety.
I’m off to write!
Lauren Loves Good Food 