Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes!

I think John had a very happy 24th birthday with these cupcakes (inspired by this Smitten Kitchen recipe)!

Ingredients:

1 c. Brooklyn Chocolate Stout
2 sticks softened, unsalted butter
3/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
2 c. flour
2 c. sugar
1.5 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
2/3 c. sour cream (PLEASE....not low fat....just....no)

8 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate, chopped
1/4 c. corn syrup
2/3 c. heavy whipping cream
1 shot. irish whiskey

4 c. powdered sugar
1 stick softened, unsalted butter
1 shot Bailey's
1 shot heavy whipping cream (or...more Bailey's!)

Directions:

Bring stout and 2 sticks butter to a boil. Let cool

Shift together cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

Whisk together eggs and sour cream. Add to cooled stout/butter mixture. On low speed, whip together dry and wet ingredients until just combined. Mix rest of the way by hand.

Fill 2 lined cupcake sheets 2/3 the way with batter. Bake for 27 minutes on 350, or until done. Let cool.

After cooled, remove center of cupcake with an apple corer or round cookie cutter.

For Ganache:

Melt unsweetened chocolate in a double boiler. Add corn syrup while on the heat. Remove from heat and add heavy cream and whiskey. Beat until smooth. Chill until the consistency of Play-Doh, then fill cupcakes.

For Frosting:

Beat butter until fluffy and white. Slowly add sugar, until the consistency of toothpaste. Add cream and Bailey's, whipping until combined. Add more liquid or sugar, depending on desired consistency.

Frost cupcakes.

Pass out.

48 Hour Vegetarian

Yup....I was accidentally a vegetarian for about 48 hours, and I ate pretty damn well! The highlights:

Breakfast: #1 irish oatmeal, almond milk, almond butter, dried cranberries, raw honey and cinnamon. I die.

Breakfast #2: goats milk yogurt, berry medley, blueberry museli

Lunch #1: salad with sesame sauteed tofu and Trader Joe's Goddess Dressing (my fave-sies)

Lunch #2: smoothie of almond milk, frozen berries, apple, orange, and cranberries.

Dinner #1: mojito, chips, salsa, guac, and garden veggie fajitas with salsa verde and creme fraiche

Dinner #2: hummus, pita, merlot, farfalle with butter and basil, salad, and William Sonoma's vermouth chicken

Oops, that last one doesn't count. It doesn't matter though. If you can get your hands on the William Sonoma Chicken Cookbook, PLEASE make the vermouth chicken recipe. Except, please do NOT sauté that chicken in 3 tbsp. of butter. That is just way too much....1 tbsp. was fine for me!

Chicken Noodle Soup II

Well, it's that time of year again. The time of year when John says "Will you make me some chicken noodle soup sometime?", which translates to "I'm turning around and going back to the grocery store so we can get the ingredients for you to make chicken noodle soup ASAP." My life is tough.

I usually go with the more Italian herbs. This time, though, I wanted a little bit of a lighter taste, so I went with French herbs and lemongrass. I live life on the edge.

So here's the recipe for the most recent batch of Chicken Noodle Soup. It should be noted that I'm BS-ing 80% of this recipe...and really it's just whatever I grab and however much of it I grab. My middle name is "Risk-taker".

Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:

3 1/2 boxes of Swanson's Organic Chicken Stock (I believe this is the top rated America's Test Kitchen stock?)
6 c. water
1 rotisserie chicken, meat removed
4 celery stalks, halved and sliced
3 carrots, peeled, quartered, and sliced
1/2 yellow onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 c. dry egg noodles (or a mixture of whatever sort of noddles you like...we used the "grab bag" selection at John's house, which included various sizes of penne and egg
Salt
Pepper
3 tbsp of herb, including tarragon, dills, lavender, thyme, parsley
1 bay leaf
1 stalk of lemongrass

Directions:

1) Bring chicken stock and water to a boil with the bay leaf and lemon grass stalk. Add noodles and cook until al dente. Turn off. Add chicken and herbs, salt and pepper and simmer on low.

2) Meanwhile, sautee over medium heat celery, carrots, onion, and garlic in butter and olive oil until very, very soft.

3) Add veggies and simmer on low for  at least 30 minutes.

This soup is always best the next day!