Food Is Just Too Good.

This is me in every morning:
        "YES! I AM GOING TO EAT SO HEALTHY TODAY! LALALALA..."

Totally have myself all worked up. Feeling good. Ready to dominate the day. And then I get to work. Did I mention I work with food? Yeah, well, that's when my secretly evil inner self yells at me to eat something. Just a little something to hold me over until lunch in a few hours. So I have a roll so it'll fill me up enough. Then a chicken strip, then a fry... or 2... or 10.

And then this is me:
        "OMG, WHAT DID YOU DO?!?!?!"

Blah. This is how every day has been going for a while now.  I have managed to lose 20 pounds now by eating healthier and doing the HCG diet but I'm really starting to give into the delicious food. And it doesn't help that I'm a boredom eater. Every time I pass the fryers, I have to get a little bite of something. And it doesn't help that we ALWAYS have delicious freshly made Otis Spunkmeyer cookies coming out of the oven (even though I managed to resist today *(woot)*)!

Right now I'm just sitting on my bed watching TV and trying to resist the temptation of the chili dog from Wienerschnitzel that is calling my name in the fridge. And I just happened to remember I have a ton of delicious cake batter with brownies and sprinkles mixed in from freaking Cold Stone!

I NEED to lose at least another 40 pounds soon for the wedding next summer! I refuse to have wedding pictures of myself like this to haunt me for the rest of my life. Plus we're going on a cruise to Alaska in September and even though I'm not going to be wearing shorts and tank tops like on other cruises, it would still be nice to be able to go swimming in the pools and hang out in the hot tubs without having to be self conscious about myself in a bikini!

I will NOT let food win! But seriously, food is just too good.
 

Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes

OMG these cupcakes are fantastic.

I'm really not a fan of beer let alone Guinness, but I had to try this recipe. And I'm so glad I did! I made them for James and his friends the Wednesday or maybe the second Wednesday after St. Patrick's day and I'm pretty sure they loved them. Beer and cupcakes... what's not to love?

Ingredients:

• 1 (12-ounce) bottle Guinness Stout
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the Guinness, milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Mix in the sour cream.
• In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cocoa, sugar, flour, and baking soda. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet Guinness mixture.
• Butter 24 muffin tins and divide the batter among the muffin tins.
• Bake 25 minutes, until risen and set in the middle but still soft and tender. Cool before turning out of the tins.

Got the cupcake recipe from My Baking Addiction. They have a recipe for the vanilla frosting but I like this vanilla buttercream frosting by Glorious Treats better!


Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter (salted, or unsalted)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (if using unsalted butter)
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (best quality available)
• 2-3 tablespoons heavy cream, half and half or milk.

Directions:

• In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, beat butter (on medium speed) until completely smooth (30 seconds to a minute).
• Add salt (if needed).
• One cup at time, add 2 cups of powdered sugar, beating after each addition.
• Add vanilla, and beat to combine. 
• Add about 1 tablespoon of cream, and continue beating.
• Add the remaining 2 cups powdered sugar, one at a time.
• Add an additional 1-2 tablespoons cream until desired consistency is reached. If you want to pipe the frosting on cupcakes, the frosting should be nice and thick. Continue to beat another minute or so. The frosting should now be smooth and fluffy.

*Don't put this frosting in the fridge (unless it's very warm or has too much liquid and only do for about 10 minutes)! It gets too hard and you can't pipe it onto the cupcakes!

Lemon Cupcakes

These cupcakes were so good. I didn't feel like making the batter from scratch that day so I just cheated and used the yellow butter cake mix and added some lemon extract. But I DID make the frosting from scratch which is the best part! I got this recipe from Glorious Treats and added my own little lemon twist to it.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup (1 stick/8 Tablespoons) butter (set at room temp about 10 minutes, but should still be cool)
• 8 oz. cream cheese (directly from fridge)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (always use pure vanilla extract if possible)
• 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon extract
• 4 cups powdered confectioners sugar
• 1 to 4 Tablespoons heavy cream, heavy whipping cream (or milk- although I do like the richness that cream adds)
• Yellow food coloring

Directions:

• Place butter in a large mixing bowl and blend slightly. Add cream cheese and blend until combined, about 30 seconds.
• Add vanilla extract and powdered sugar and blend on low speed until combined. Increase to medium speed and beat until it begins to get fluffy.
• Slowly add the heavy cream, a little bit at a time until desired consistency is met. (Don't add too much if you want the frosting to stay in place when piped on cupcakes.)
• Beat until fluffy, about 1 minute.
• Add your desired amount of food coloring and mix until blended.
• Use at once or keep refrigerated. (This frosting will keep well in the refrigerator for several days, but you may need to re-beat it for the best texture.)

RANDOM POST! Veggie Chips

I love these chips. They're such a good alternative to regular potato chips for someone that is *TRYING* to eat healthier like me. I got these from Costco for like 4 dollars for this huge bag!

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes. The best, most ridiculous breakfast ever made. They're so addicting and sweet. James only wants these when I ask him what I should make for breakfast in the morning. Good thing I don't since I'm trying to lose weight.

Ingredients:

CINNAMON FILLING:

• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, just melted but not boiling
• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon

CREAM CHEESE GLAZE:

• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 2-ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

First of all, for my pancakes I didn't use cream cheese because I was cool and forgot to get some at the grocery store the night before. So I used the half of can of cream cheese frosting I had in the fridge and didn't use the powdered sugar. I still used the butter and the vanilla extract. I think it's better than the recipe but that could just be me :)

Directions:

• Prepare the cinnamon filling. In a small to medium sized bowl, stir together the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. Scoop the filling into a quart-sized heavy zip-lock bag and set it aside.
• Start to heat up your griddle to medium heat. In a small pan, heat the butter over low heat until melted. Turn off the heat and whisk in the cream cheese until it is almost smooth. Sift the powdered sugar into the pan, stir and add in vanilla extract. Remove from heat and start making your pancakes.
• Mix up your pancake batter. I just use Bisquick. Spray with nonstick spray. Place about 1/3 cup of batter on the griddle - try to spread out a little bit so they're not small, fat pancakes.

• Once they start to bubble, squish up your cinnamon filling again real quick in case it separated a little. Cut a small corner off of your zip-lock bag and swirl it in the pancake batter just like a cinnamon roll. (see above)
• Once the cinnamon swirl mix has started to melt into the pancake batter, flip the pancakes. Quickly but carefully.
• Cook the rest of the way and place on a plate. Heat up your glaze again, if needed and drizzle over hot pancakes. You can add a extra cinnamon filling in between your pancakes if you want extra. There's nothing wrong with that!
• Enjoy the cinnamon-sugar party going on in your mouth :)

White Chocolate Covered Double Stuff Oreos with Crushed Candy Cane

Ok so I made these before Christmas but I had to post them again because they're so good and easy to make! They're white chocolate covered double stuff Oreos with crushed candy cane!

Ingredients:

• 2 bags of white candy chips or white chocolate (you can get them at Michaels)
• 1 box of double stuff Oreo cookies
• 3 candy canes, crushed
• A little vegetable oil

All you do is dump the candy in a pot and turn on low or melt setting on your stove. Once they've started melting start stirring so it doesn't over cook and get clumpy. If it does, just add a little vegetable oil and stir quickly. Once the candy is completely melted, drop the Oreos in and cover them with the candy. Use a fork so get them out, center them in the center of the fork and tap the fork lightly on the edge of the pot to get the excess candy coating off. Place on wax or parchment paper and immediately top with the crushed candy cane. Wait until they're dry and chow down!

If you can't find candy canes or peppermints, or you don't want the minty taste, you can just top with sprinkles or more crushed Oreo!

My First Attempt

So! This is my very first attempt at making a blog and I'm not quite sure what I'm doing! I customized my profile to be just about as girly as possible but I'm still not sure how it will turn out so bear with me for a little while until I get the hang of this!

I will soon be posting my yummy treats and recipes to go along with them! But this isn't just about that. I will be posting other stuff about my diet and just other random life things! I love photography so there will probably be quite a few random pictures posted on here as well! And I make my own jewelery so everything I make will be posted on here with a link to it in my Etsy shop!