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Just like everyone else, I’ve had a major cupcake fetish for the last few years. USA Weekend ran a bunch of really simple but delicious-sounding cupcake recipes last week, and I’m planning to make some for next weekend, when we have company. But I got to enjoy some cupcake goodness a week early at a fellow blogger’s birthday party. Ashlee, who used to blog about weight loss at Ash is Fit and now has a cooking blog (and published a cookbook!), Ashlee’s Cooking, had a backyard barbecue to celebrate her 25th birthday.
Ashlee and her husband prepared a fabulous summer dinner for the guests. There were hamburgers, cheeseburgers, turkey burgers, gourmet mac ‘n’ cheese, veggie kabobs and so much more. But the cocktail-inspired cupcakes she baked, well, took the cake. Above is the margarita cupcake.
The limoncello cupcakes. I had my first limoncello(s) at an arts benefit two weeks before I left Pennsylvania, and I just loved it. Ashlee was kind enough to encourage us to take several cupcakes with us, but I can’t share photos of the pina colada or mudslide cupcakes, because, I, uh, ate the garnishes on the way home. Her presentation was also amazing – her cupcake stand was four or five plates high, and there were plates of cupcakes all over the table, too. If Ashlee’s cooking blog is not already on your must-read list, it should be, because she will be sharing all of her delicious cupcake recipes over the next few weeks.
If you can’t get enough cupcakes (I can’t!) visit the blog of the woman who wrote the recipes for USA Weekend, Three Many Cooks. I really enjoyed this post about the cupcake craze … you have to check it out:
Given a choice, cakes are nice, but cupcakes are adorable. (Think puppies vs. dogs.) And cupcakes are easier. With cake, there are knives and forks and plates. Cupcakes? Peel that sucker and eat it like a banana. Cakes mean decisions—slice or sliver, end piece or center? It’s the stuff of fights. “His piece is bigger than mine!” Blessedly, a batch of cupcakes are as different as Oreos. After the oohs and aahs, you pass ‘em out, and that’s it. Everybody’s happy.
We even want to serve cupcakes at our wedding. We’d cut into a small, two-tier cake, and then serve the guests a variety of flavors of cupcakes – so cute! (And in the interest of full disclosure, cupcakes usually cost less than a cake costs per slice.) And when I want to online window shop, I go to Etsy and search for “cupcake.” (Ashlee’s dog Pumpkin even wore a cupcake collar rumored to be from Etsy!)
Wait, isn’t this a weight loss blog?
What do cupcakes have to do with weight loss? Ironically, I did not start baking until after I started to lose weight. Before, I would just go buy those doughy chewy delectable Lofthouse cookies, shovel in three at a time, and think nothing of it. Cooking at home because a necessity for me when I started to lose weight, because with all due respect to Jared, I could never afford the Subway diet. So once I started cooking, I wanted to learn to bake. Seeing what went into a from-scratch cupcake taught me to savor the treat, not just wolf it down. Baking my own cupcakes gave me a whole new respect for food. And, when you bake your own, you can make healthy substitutions like apple sauce for oil. (Not that that makes cupcakes a health food, but every little bit helps!)
In the interest of full disclosure, my diet was pretty unhealthy the whole time I was in Jacksonville. We ate out at least once a day, and because we were in celebration mode, we didn’t always make the healthiest choices. I didn’t document many of the meals because I wasn’t focusing on anything besides enjoying our time together, but I had to blog about a few of the places we visited.
When I visited Jax in October, we drove by Cupcake Girls Dessert Company, but it wasn’t open yet. We ate at a restaurant in the same area, though, so I went up to the door to peer inside. The owner was working and opened the door, telling us she’d be open in a week or two. I’d been excited to go back ever since — just look at the decor!
The selection was amazing, and we had a hard time picking two. In the end, we split a Gabbie cupcake (tiramisu cupcake) at the store and took a Mimi (creme brulee cupcake with brown sugar meringue icing) home.
The tiramisu cupcake!
The creme brulee cupcake. We did not eat it until two days after we brought it home, but it was still delicious. The lopsided icing happened when we were bringing it home in the hot car — all of the Cupcake Girls’ cupcakes are done up beautifully!
Cupcake Chardonnay isn’t a dessert wine, but I couldn’t resist eating it with a cupcake. It’s delicious and tasted even better with chips and hummus. I would like to try Cupcake’s Pinot Noir eventually. Another reason Florida is awesome: You can buy beer and wine in the grocery store! (You can’t in Pennsylvania.)
The other meal I wanted to share was one we stumbled upon by accident. We were driving through a super cute neighborhood, Five Points, and we were both starving. We stopped at Deco Bistro, and when we stepped inside, I grimaced. The interior was stunning, but it looked too expensive for two frugal people who are planning a wedding.
The lunch menu was actually very reasonable, though, and we both ordered what ended up being the best $8 meal I have had in a long, long time.
The across-the-border panini was grilled chicken breasts, jalapenos and guacamole on ciabatta and it was amazing. Amazing as in, I will go back and never stray from this choice because I couldn’t bear not to order it. The fries were delicious, too. And $8?! You cannot even get lunch at Panera for $8! I’d love to go back and try something off the dinner menu, but those prices are waaaay out of our budget for awhile.
From left: Buffie, Kassia, me and Suzie pose with our delectable cannoli
Yesterday I took a trip with some former coworkers to The Philadelphia Flower Show. We opted to eat lunch at The Reading Terminal Market, and sadly, the line was too long for cheese steaks. Actually, that was probaby a good thing, because I opted for lighter fare, a turkey Caesar wrap from a kiosk whose name I can’t recall. I was just excited that it offered diet lemonade, made with Splenda.
The turkey wrap left room for the amazing cannoli pictured above, from Termini Bros. Bakery. We got two each of the ricotta (which had chocolate chips) and vanilla cream. They were so good, my knees went weak. I’m sure one bite had more than a day’s worth of calories, but I don’t think I can go to Reading Terminal Market and not eat a cannoli.
Fashionably Fit 