Therapeutic

My Tuesday started with a massive headache.

This comes as no surprise. It was Tuesday, after all.

And Tuesdays are just, like, sooooo stuuuupid.

Instead of raging my way through the work day, I really tried to keep it all in check. And channeled the energy elsewhere.

Running with these ladies, to be exact.

Kim and her friend Carrie! Due to my weirdly rotating work schedule, this only happens every other week or so, but it’s always a fun conversation and distraction from my regular workout routine.

We all ran and took our turns venting for 6 miles. It was therapeutic. And I felt fabulous afterwords.

Until throwing myself directly into Bulls and Cubs traffic afterwards. This left me slightly wound up again.

Luckily, there are ways to de-stress at home, too.

Comfort food helps.Or something that, in my frugality, sort of resembles it. A cheap and healthified Mexican dinner for this chick would be a quesadilla stuffed with the refried beans my roommate bought and now refuses to eat (it’s a texture thing), skimping on cheese and overloading on hot sauce. And a side of brussels sprouts to make my mother proud.

It is almost Mother’s Day, afterall.

As a side note, can we talk about how the quesadilla maker could be the greatest invention of all time?

There’s also the option to give your mind an escape.This puzzle is really coming along, kids. The roommate and I have grand plans to spend one night in this weekend in hopes of putting the finishing touches on this baby.

We’re wild.

But I’d like to have it done sooner than later. No joke, I had a dream about it last night. My roommate had deconstructed it. At this point, that may even be considered a nightmare. 2000 pieces is no joke, kids.

Because the day was a doozy, I even went the baking route.Other than obvious reasons of loving cookie dough and the cookies themselves, I really do enjoy the process of baking. Not quite sure the logic behind this, but it makes me feel all happy inside.

Or maybe that’s just the sugar high talking?

Because there’s a friend with a baby coming soon, I thought I’d send some love her way in the form of the Cookie Butter Stuffed Cookies debuted a few weeks ago. Recipes aren’t repeated in this kitchen often, but when everyone raved about them, how could I not?

I made a smaller recipe this time around. But thankfully, there’s still one this morning that was purposely left out of the care package. And it has my name on it. Expect me to have a sugar crash at my desk around 3pm.

After all that, my annoyance from the day finally subsided. Right before it was time for bed.

Funny how that works.

Oh Tuesday. You won again!

Cupcakes For Any Occasion

I found myself on an emotional roller coaster this last weekend.

Ok, that’s a little dramatic.

Ok fine, that’s ridiculously overdramatizing things. Thanks for calling me out.

I found myself feeling moments of cheer and moments of sadness.

There. That’s more accurate.

The peanut butter filling. It's mostly peanut butter and powdered sugar. And really does taste like the inside of a reese's. I should know. After rolling an entire pan of balls out (balls!) and throwing them into the freezer to harden, I kept sneaking them. Which means we ended up with two cupcakes without the peanut butter center. Whoops.

On Saturday I attended a house party. I love house parties. Because usually I know quite a few of the people. I save money. And inevitably, the roommate and I will get control of the music and make poor song choices the rest of the night.

Party rockin’ in the hoooouuuusssseee tonight…

I poured in the batter (it was super thin) and my roommate plopped the peanut butter middle in. Go team!

But this wasn’t the most cheerful reason to have a party. It was a going-away party for one of my favorites. A college friend. A close confidant. A running buddy. A champagne brunch kid. A shoulder to cry on when I’m sad and one to punch when he pisses me off (don’t worry- I’m much too weak to do any harm).

His decision to move back to the area where he grew up was not a popular one in our group of friends. We all used the words “stupid” and “big mistake”. But that was mostly out of selfishness and we know he wants to end up there and we’ll have to support that decision if we like it or not.

Perfection! I suggest, if you do the toothpick trick to test for doneness, poke the side. Otherwise, you just get peanut butter all over your toothpick. Not that I would have done that, or anything.

Whatever. He’ll be back.

And then there’s the flip side.

Another guy friend, also a college friend and champagne brunch participant, was celebrating his birthday over the weekend and at the same party.

Buttttteeerrrrrrrr! When making buttercream from scratch, it's very important to whip the butter before adding anything else. Makes it a little lighter. Also, I cut mine with a little bit of milk (skim, because that's what I have around). Makes it a wee bit healthier (possibly a stretch of my imagination) and easier to work with.

And I love me some birthday celebrations.

Birthdays are your one special day. Or your one special week. Or, in my case, my one special month… 

And they should be reason enough for a big celebration. And what’s a celebration without cake? I don’t let that happen. Because I want you to know, as my friend, how important you are to me. And for some reason or another, I tend to think the only way to convey this message is through buttercream or chocolate. Or both if you’re lucky.

Never skimp on the icing. NEVER. Also, invest in some decent food coloring. Wilton makes the BEST dye for bold and bright colors.

So I was browsing the interwebz one day, I ran across these from Love in the Oven. My instant reaction was a double take and “say what now?!?!”

Chocolate. Peanut butter. Buttercream.

My roommate felt the same way. We rolled up our sleeves and got to work.

I switched out the chocolate cake recipe for one from the Hershey’s website I had used before. This was done because it’s good cake and I also didn’t have the sour cream needed for the original recipe. It’s all about working with what you’ve got, ya know?

Also, we went with plain vanilla buttercream. Just in case other people weren’t as nuts about peanut butter confections as we are. So considerate, right?

Done and done and done.

Cut the tip off of a ziploc bag. Throw in a big scoop of your two colors. Pipe on like you normally would.
Word to the wise- pipe colors that would look ok if they mix a little. It's going to happen as you're squeezing the bag.

Sure, cupcakes may be an odd thing to tote along to a keg party. And birthday candles are a weird thing to have handy in your purse.

But when have you ever known me to be completely normal?

I am so sorry for really sucking at not cutting through it very well. But you get the point. Chocolate cupcake. Peanut butter filling. Plenty of icing. Perfection.