Got It!

Got my copy of Martha Stewart Cupcakes a few days ago - very happy!  The recipes look delicious, really creative, and pretty user-friendly.  I know what I'm doing this weekend...

Buying!!

MUST have this super-cute cake pan from Williams-Sonoma, will have to start looking for a really dark chocolate cake recipe!

Cook Books

Martha Stewart has a new book coming out next month - all CUPCAKES!!  Looks like it will be the same size as the Cookie book and the Everyday Food book.

I use this book all the time.  Even non-vegetarians love the food that comes from it.  Lots of ideas and tons of flavor.  By Deborah Madison, I have a few of her books and they're all great.

Also notable is her book Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, which I use as a reference constantly.

And last, but not least, anything by Mark Bittman, but right now I'm using How to Cook Everything or How to Cook Everything Vegetarian almost daily.  

Gross

Have fallen waaaay off the Fit Day thing this week, have NOT followed the plans to reach my target weight for July, have probably GAINED weight in fact!  Baked muffins today for a breakfast tomorrow morning, will start dieting again on Tuesday.  

Used the Blueberry Muffin recipe I got from the NY Times, but when I got started I realized I was out of blueberries, so had to do some improvising and turned them into raspberry peach. Turned out great!  Super moist because you mash half of the fruit before you add it to the batter.

Happy May-long BITCHES!!!

Kitchenaid

Oh, and I changed my mind about the Kitchenaid - I didn't realize the green one wasn't the big one, I'll have to sacrifice esthetics for function this time.

I WANT

Must have this Martha green Kitchenaid mixer.  Will use it EVERYDAY!!!!  Wait, maybe that's a bad thing...

Vegan Cupcakes

Received most recent Amazon order, including Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.  LOVE IT!  I decided I would make an effort to use less animal products in baking and cooking and I was pleasantly surprised at how well my first attempt at baking turned out.  I had no idea how things would turn out - will the cake be airy and moist, will they rise, what about taste?  I tried the Basic Chocolate Cupcakes on page 37, and turned them into Cookies and Cream Cupcakes by adding Oreos to the batter and un-buttercream (I used Earth Balance).  They were fabulous and delicious, and nobody believed they were vegan!  Recipe said it would make 12, mine only made 11, whatever.  I filled the cups a little more than the suggested three-quarters full to be sure they'd be nice and high.  Only used five Oreos in the batter - not ten like suggested.  

The Black and White

Being a huge fan of the Black and White Cookie (and unfortunately not a NYC resident), I've had to start looking for an alternative to going without, while I'm trapped in my real world.  With SO MANY recipes out there to try, I've used a different one each time I've attempted them, ditching the ones that aren't quite right.  So far, the ones from www.nytimes.com are the best (big surprise), and I make them REALLY big, just like the ones you get in the city, so the batter doesn't usually stretch as far as 24 cookies.