The Best/Easiest/Best Cupcakes Ever. EVER.

Happy my birthday to you! 

Last Wednesday that is. The 12th. But still! Imma keep on celebrating.

I present, the BEST friggin' cupcakes I have ever, EVER had. And trust me when I say, I have had a LOT of fridgin' cupcakes. 

Like, a lot. 

It's pretty much a large part of my charm/curves.

And yet despite my cupcake history, I can tell you: these are the best. When this recipe is made into cake, this is the best cake. It is delicious, spongy, not too dry, not too crumbly: it essentially just rocks. 

I found it on a blog I love to follow: Cupcakes and Sprinkles. It was a recipe for "The Best Chocolate Cake" and as soon as I read it, I knew I wanted to make it. However, at the time, the reason I was even LOOKING for cake recipes was for my little brother's birthday. 

And he has very specific tastes. 

"Yellow cake with chocolate icing" he insisted for the hundredth time. 

"What about chocolate cake? With vanilla icing?" I pleaded. 

"I mean I guess..." he eventually said. "I just like yellow cake with chocolate icing more..."

Ha, great. As if I could do what I wanted to do NOW. When he was being all nice and adorable. So, I decided I could still make this recipe. Just with some yellow cake adaptations. 

Which meant, instead of the called for chocolate cake mix and chocolate pudding, I was going to bust out a yellow cake and butterscotch pudding.

Oh yeah? Didn't I mention? This uses cake mix. 

For all of you who I just lost by saying the words "mix"- I am going to have to BEG you to try this recipe. It is really really worth sacrificing to semi-homemade-ness. Please give it a try, just because it has so much delicious to it that you will never, ever, regret it.

Please and thank you :)

The Best Cake EVER

Recipe Source: kevinandamanda.com & cupcakeswithsprinkles.blogspot.com
 

1 box Cake Mix
1 pkg Jell-O Instant Pudding
1 cup Sour Cream
1 cup Vegetable Oil
4 Eggs, beaten
1/2 cup Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla
(If chocolate cake, add 2 cups Mini Semisweet Chocolate Chips) 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

2. In a very large bowl , mix together everything except chocolate chips if attempting chocolate cake. Batter will be thick. Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour batter into cake pan(s) of choice. 

3. For cooking time, use the cooking times on the back of the cake box as a guide and usually add 10 mins to whatever it says. Then do the toothpick check, and if it’s not done, check on it every 5 mins after that.

*I made a yellow cake with yellow cake mix and butterscotch pudding. The recipe originally called for devils food and chocolate pudding. I really want to make a cherry cake with french vanilla pudding or a carrot with butterscotch. So many options! Let me know what you guys try but, whatever you do: MAKE THIS CAKE!

Happy My Birthday To You! And the Winner is...

Today, I turned 24! I played laser tag with my friends and ate ice cream like a real grown up and truly felt all the blessings I have in life present around me.

It was glorious. More on that tomorrow morning. After sleep. And caffeine. 

Laser tag really takes it out of you.

The important thing right now is the winner of our giveaway. Ladies and gentleman, our winner is: Mercedes J Kamencik!

Mercedes submitted via my facebook page and said along with her submission: "I am just really starting to begin my food journey to healthier eating and a book like this would be fantastic to help me along the way!

To all of you who submitted via facebook and e-mail with interest in the book, I encourage you to look into it yourselves! While scoring a free copy is always fun, buying a copy for yourself might well be worth it! I promise, this book has a ton to offer a family with food allergies and dietary needs. 

Thank you, all of you, who submitted for a chance to win! I really loved doing a giveaway so, I think we'll have to do this again soon :)

New recipe Friday! Get excited. <3 Meg

The Science Of Cooking Giveaway! HURRY!

Hello again! This is just a reminder that I am giving away a REALLY cool book about the science of cooking and you have until 12 PM (EST) to enter before I pick the winner and post later this evening. To recap for those of you just joining in on the fun: 

For some reasonJoy Bauer (for those of you who don't know, that's the nutritionist from The Today Show!) and her people think I am a responsible/interesting blogger because they offered me a chance to promote her new cookbook on my page! Specifically Joy's book Food Cures which I could give a copy away to my readers after a review. 

My readers being you guys. 

So get excited! I am pretty much excited FOR you! This book is INSANELY cool- it has all kinds of recipes to create a flexible diet to any stomach/health issues (lactose, gluten free, etc) as well as an index of foods to help with certain nutrional balances, stomach/health symptoms, and descriptions of the overall science behind food working within your body.

A serious hat's off to Joy and her team for doing all this research and creating such a great book. They did a top notch job here. To whoever wins this, it's a great treasure in the kitchen, illuminating so much about cooking and nutrition that I had never realized. I may be a novice but, I really do think that even an expert hand in the kitchen would find this book worthwhile. I really want my own now that I have been sneaking peeks into the reader copy!

To enter for a chance to win the giveaway, you have to "like" my page on Facebook if you haven't already (click here or on the icon in the sidebar) and leave a comment on the page about either your interest in the science of food or your personal need for more nutritional balance! Or (which seems to be the preference) you can write me at clutzyscribbler@yahoo.com with your information! Make sure to leave your full name (if it's not on your facebook account/email) and submit by 12 PM EST TODAY!!! In slightly less than 4 hours the giveaway closes!!!  I will then reveal the winner tonight in my birthday post! Then we can iron out the minor details like where you'd like me to ship you Joy's book.

  Best of luck to all of my readers! AGAIN, if you don't have FB or you have questions regarding the contest, write me an e-mail at clutzyscribbler@yahoo.com and I can enter you that way or answer whatever I've neglected to explain. 

3 and a half hours left! Here goes!

My First Ever Cookbook Giveaway! & Walkin' Tacos (The Epic End of Summer o' Stress 2011 and Beginning of a New Era: Fall)

It's fall here in DC and suddenly I find myself looking around in confusion wondering where summer went. I have stopped travelling long enough to have all luggage and bags unpacked. I have finally tackled the laundry and unpacked all the moving boxes. The next wedding I have to plan into my life isn't until New Years Eve. I look back at what transpired this summer and in my head all I see is a chaotic blur of equal parts fun/fab friends/sunshine/adventures/many lovely Weddings that all choked me up.... and stress/moving boxes/airplanes/hospitals/floods/hectic-ness.

I am both sad it's wrapped up and amazed I survived. Torn between savoring every photo and moment and trying to block it out. In the bad sides, the only thing missing was the plague of locusts. On the good, the only thing missing was more time to savor each blessing that came my way. Of which there were/are many. Or more time at the beach with my family.

Definitely that last one but, even if I had spent my whole summer with my family at the beach, I am sure I would still be grumbling that it wasn't enough time. I am a very lucky, very blissed out, gal when it comes to the blessings and people in my life. Especially my family. I only spent one week going around Chicago/Wheaton/Wisconsin this summer with my family and it was definitely not enough time.

The point of all that rant I suppose was these 3 things. 

1) I am sorry I vanished at points throughout the summer and then again for end of August/Apparently ALL of September. We'll just pretend September didn't happen. It seems like it was on fast forward anyway, I'm sure you all understand.

2) I love you all for being so patient with me and understanding of the few inches away I was from cracking under stress and grasping at the summer fun moments while I could. I know you all never ask anything of me as a writer/foodie/blogger but, the few posts I promise you need to be provided. The lack of consistency is my fault and I apologize. I know I come off as foodie/flake but! I am trying.

3) While at our lakehouse though, my mom organized one of the coolest meals I have ever seen. Pioneer Woman did a post on these recently too, (although hers were more involved and called "pie" which I don't get). They are a great, summer, meal that I look forward to for my next (hopefully calmer) sunshine season.

Walking Tacos.

What's that you say? Just an ordinary Fritos bag. But why is there a fork sticking out of it?

A Doritos bag? That's still not food, Meaghan! You've been gone from blogging too long and don't know what you're posting about!

Okay, I'll stop writing in the 3rd person/being weird. What appears to be an ordinary bag of chips is no such thing when you peek inside! Ta-da!

The insides reveal something akin with a taco salad but wrapped up inside individual chip bags! Basic idea: make all the fixin's for tacos but neglect to get tortillas or hard shells. Simply set up a taco bar for you/your friends/your fam and let people dump taco ingredients into bags of gently crushed chips.

Holy yum.

These pics are from the Walkin' Taco bar my mom set up at the lakehouse from 4th of July weekend. Yes, that's how long it has taken me to upload the pictures and write a post. I've already felt guilty enough, ok! Give me a break. 

The lovely thing about Walkin' Tacos is that you can make the meal disposable for easy clean up without feeling like a giant waster for using paper plates and napkins. It's just using the chip bags as dishes! Our lake is usually filled with 30-40 of our friends and family (mostly family, yes we are Irish Catholic) so meals like this one keep my mom sane. We chopped up some watermelon, cooked about 4 lbs of taco meat, and set up the taco bar for everyone's enjoyment.

Trust me/look at how good that looks. No one was complaining. I tried Doritos and Fritos (2 bags, but this is a safe place, no judgement) and both of them were amazzzzzing. Want to give it a try with chicken instead of beef and Ranch Doritos sometime soon too. Yummmmmmmm.

Alright, that's enough of that now. I am sure you will all be anxious to make Walkin' Tacos so I can stop talking about their amazing factors and we can talk about my giveaway! That's the good part, after all! 

Despite my own guilt/reservations about my skills as a blogger, for some reason Joy Bauer (for those of you who don't know, that's the nutritionist from The Today Show!) and her people think I am doing something right because they offered me a chance to promote her new cookbook on my page! I was so excited, I probably spent the most spastic response back they've received to date and so the cycle of confusing e-mails began! Ha, eventually though it was accomplished that they would send me Joy's book Food Cures and I could give a copy away to my readers after a review. 

My readers being you guys. 

So get excited! I am pretty much excited FOR you! This book is INSANELY cool- it has all kinds of recipes to create a flexible diet to any stomach/health issues (lactose, gluten free, etc) as well as an index of foods to help with certain nutrional balances, stomach/health symptoms, and descriptions of the overall science behind food working within your body.

A serious hat's off to Joy and her team for doing all this research and creating such a great book. To whoever wins this, it's a great treasure in the kitchen. I really want my own now that I have been sneaking peeks into the reader copy!

To enter for a chance to win the giveaway, you have to "like" my page on Facebook if you haven't already (click here or on the icon in the sidebar) and leave a comment on the page about either your interest in the science of food or your personal need for more nutritional balance! Make sure to leave your full name (if it's not on your facebook account) by 12 PM EST on Wednesday, October 12th and later that night for my birthday post (yes, 10/12 is my bday! To quote Hannibal, I love it when a plan comes together), I will reveal the winner! I'll then ask you to e-mail me and we can work out the minor details like where you'd like me to ship you Joy's book.

  Best of luck to all of my readers! If you don't have FB or you have questions regarding the contest, write me an e-mail at clutzyscribbler@yahoo.com and I can enter you that way or answer whatever I've neglected to explain. I am sure I am forgetting something, this is why I shouldn't be allowed to drink Diet Coke. Hyperactive blog posts are always my most scattered/least informative.

I look forward to hearing from all of you guys and can't wait to reveal the winner! Good luck to all of you and SO EXCITED to be back in the blogging game!

Thank you again to you readers who continued to support me, write me, and believe in me through my absence as well as a big thanks to Joy Bauer and her team for believing my blog to be a good spring board for their amazing cookbook and supporting me throughout this process. 

Giveaway #1! Here we go :)

Stupid New Blogger! Oh, & Nutella "Ravioli"

Okay! So, screw new blogger! I updated it before I went out of town LAST week and it didn't post and that post (with pics!) is gone. And now this weeks is gone too. 


So screw it. I am going away (again, guh) and will just be pulling this from the archive for now. Google/blogger/computer savvy people can expect to hear from me in the meantime. Hopefully I can post again soon!


Please enjoy these little treats! And know I sympathsize with you if you too are having a rough (to say the least) adjustment with the new look/functions of blogger.... 


Blogger is both my beloved web tool and my mortal enemy. Grrrr.... anyway! We're moving on to delicious delicious Nutella raviolis! 

If you've ever been to Italy, you know that they have absolutely the best pastries around every corner. I studied in Florence for a semester so, perhaps I have a biase but, if I could live on one food for the rest of my days, I really think it would be anything the small chain "Forno" in Florence cranked out.

Just so...beyond delicious.

In coming back to the states, you become blatantly aware of the fact that bakeries here and bakeries there are very different. Here we have donuts and cakes, there they have pastries and tarts. Sure, there is some overlap. And Italian American bakeries have tiramisu and cannoli. But, I have searched bakeries since being home and have yet to find anyone who has Sfoglia or any of the Nutella treats that were common in italian bakeries and cafe's. 

If you're one of those people who roam the earth unaware of the deliciousness of Nutella... please, take my advice, and go buy a jar today. Just smear it on an Eggo Waffle and be amazed at the pure joy of the taste. 

In italy, Nutella, or rather, hazelnut chocolate spread, is extremely common. They make it themselves or buy it in jars like we do, but unlike us, it's incorporated deeply in their dessert cuisines. 

Sfolgia is a simple square that you could buy for 1 euro that is essentially a layer of flakey, buttery, pastry, then Nutella, topped by more pastry, that you bake so the Nutella becomes more substantial itself and, combined with the pastry, is pure bliss. When i came back home and started cooking up things, I became kind of crazy about trying to recreate this treat.

Lots of batches, attempts, and goings. And this version, these little beauties, are by far the best result to be had yet. 

Made with basically pie crust and nutella alone, they're great pop-able treats. Served with a drizzle of chocolate and some icecream, I am pretty sure these could be considered a sin.

But really, how fun and cute are they?! 

I'm obsessed. And they quench my thirst for italian pastry. Make and Enjoy :)

Nutella Ravioli:

-Pie crust

-Nutella

-1 egg

-powdered sugar (confectioners sugar) for dusting

Lay out your pie crust. Using a glass with a diameter of about two inches or a cookie cutter of similar size, cut yourself some small circles which you lay out on non stick cookie sheets. Dallop a teaspoon of nutella in the center of each disc. Fold over (into half moon shapes) and using a fork, press sides shut. Brush with egg, bake about 10-12 minutes at 350 or until golden brown. Let them cool completely, dust with powder sugar, and serve! 

Pretty much a smash :)

*UPDATE* Featured Here! Go Check it Out :)

DC Earthquake- I'm All Shook Up

This one time, there was a magnitude 5.9 earthquake in DC.


While I was at work.


Oh yeah, that was yesterday.


People are joking about how it was really not a big deal but, as I was in the city when everything started to shake, glass started to crack, bricks topple into the street and onto cars... it seemed like an attack had happened somewhere in the heart of the capital. Which caused me to have a heart attack before I realized, of all things, that it was an earthquake on the east coast. 


Really? Really?!


After calming down and realizing it was just a natural disaster not a national disaster, I waited out the vibrating and then was evacuated from my building with the rest of my coworkers. 


Came home to where my dog was soundly sleeping as though the house hadn't shaken, roommates all home and a flutter with earthquake talk.


Needless to say, it was a big deal. At least conversationally, ha.  So, where were you when the earthquake struck? I was in my office having a panic attack. But otherwise! Good times?


Also, the following conversation really happened to me this morning. My co-worker can back me up if you don't believe me.

B.L.T. Dip: Worth Killing For

So. This is pretty much the best dip ever. 


Seriously.


My roommate, Em, is in love with this dip. Spread on rye toast, wheat thins, triscuts, and bagels.... it's addicting. I even made it into chicken salad by using tablespoons of this dip instead of mayo. And look how pretty it looks.

See! Look how pretty! 


And it tasted EVEN BETTER!


Seriously.

So, pretty much you must make this dip. Because it is delicious. Pure pure delicious.

Go now, my loves. It WILL change your life.

B.L.T. Dip

-1 cup mayo

-1 cup sour cream

-1 cup (cooked) bacon, diced

-2 ripe tomatoes, diced

Combine all ingredients, chill for an hour. Serve with crackers. 

Pizza Throw Down

So, my friend and I had a cook off: who could make the best pizza. Our friends judged us- not something you usually want. However, in this case it was all in good fun.

And fun it was! Julio is an exceptional cook- while I blunder around the kitchen and the results are messy but, usually successful, he is strictly talented and competent in the kitchen. Therefore, our cooking styles in an improvised competition were well suited for the entertainment of our friends and competition.  

Messy vs. competent. Both results delicious, just with various amounts of dishes left over, as well as diverse flavors.

I of course had to make some of my Chicago deep dish.

Julio made a greek pizza- with lamb sausage and feta.

I mean... holy yum!

We each also made a second pizza. I made my favorite, an Italian inspired pizza that always goes over well, he made a Duck pizza with fig jam.

There's that greek pizza again...

My deep dish pan was new and too big for my crust amount. Plus, I balanced it poorly. The middle of my pizza was therefore a soggy soggy mess. A devastating blow in a competition. Luckily, my other pizza performed well!

Julio thought his Duck and fig pizza was too sweet. He was happy with his greek pizza though (and I thought both were amazing for the record)

All pizzas were in! The judges went into my room to calculate their decision and it was: 

Julio! By 1 point.

To be honest, just LOOKING at the pics, I think you guys can agree, he totally deserved the win. If you had been there to try one of each, I KNOW you'd agree. My first pizza was Chicago Pizza goo, ha. Not enough to keep me in the game. The fact that I lost by only 1 point was pretty much amazing in itself, I'm pretty sure it's just because the judges both happen to be my best friends.

Hey, I'll take a biase though ;)

We have already had a second throw down in the new house this past weekend! I am sure you'll be getting recipes and pictures for this newest round. And stories to boot.

In the meantime, you have GOT to try some of Julio's pizzas. They are TRULY amazing- I can't say enough how awesome all these flavors are. Give them a try for yourselves and post back any positive results! And if you guys start to have your own throw downs, I'd love to see those pics and recipes too! 

Love you all and Happy Cooking!!

Julio's Winning Pizzas:

#1

Crust

Garlic Thyme Duck Confit

Fresh Thyme

Goat Brie

Fig jam (which in Julio's opinion/the opinion of some tasters was way too sweet, suggested you cut it with tomato juice. However, I just want to say I thought it was amazing)

#2

Crust

Ricotta

Feta

Lots of olive oil

slices of lamb sausage

kalamata olives

Fresh thyme

Oregano (not fresh)

Last shot of our old kitchen! Will have to take some pics of the new kitchen at the house...

City Life vs. Wheaton Life

I can’t believe it but, it’s almost been a year since I moved to Washington DC. I’ve really just got to say, this city is amazing.

I had never been here before moving. Which was quite the experience, by the by, moving to a city I had never SEEN at the drop of a hat. However, my life shifted, entirely. I got this totally wrong for me but totally amazing job offer, seemed to FEEL called to take it even if it was what I never wanted, and so it was all I could do to shift with the new turns of my life. Even if, as I can assure you they didn’t, the paths I was being pulled toward didn’t make sense to me.

And I am now so glad God presented such a path. That my family supported it and worked it out for me, that everything has been so spectacular for me here, so RIGHT for me here, since I moved.

I digress. Sorry. I am just pretty much ecstatic with how my life bloomed into something I couldn’t imagine. Life’s funny like that, huh?

Prior to living here in DC, I lived in a smaller suburb of Chicago. Accent on the suburb.  Wheaton is my home, despite the other cities I’ve lived in, residences I’ve taken up, and places I’ve worked- Wheaton is where my roots end. Florence, Dublin, DC- they all have pieces of my heart, have been a home to me in some way. However, Chicago is the place that comes to mind when I think “Home”.

Going from my life in the suburbs to living in a big city is always an adjustment- the comparisons often being jarring/hilarious.

Frosting for the Cause: Pineapple Dump Cake

I don't know if you know about Frosting for the Cause but, it's amazing. It's a truly amazing group of food bloggers- organized by one REALLY amazing food blogger- Paula. I did this post, the following post for her site and wanted to share it here on my page as well. I waited a month before doing so in order to not steal the thunder of Frosting for the Cause by sharing the recipe here. I hope you guys enjoy it and will go join Frosting yourselves. Love to you all:

I had several options to choose from while writing this post as to an inspirational person in my life who suffered through cancer as I have had several loved ones go through the very particular horrors of the disease. While most were surviving, not all were so lucky. As I sat down to begin outlining this post, I found myself struggling to pick the story of just one, a single person I love, a single person who fought what always seems like the losing battle, just one person who won, or who lost, who inspired me.

As I am sure many of you know, choosing one story can be difficult. Especially if you are so deeply entrenched in the lives of so many amazing survivors or loved so many who are no longer with us. This was my exact pondering as I scribbled in a notebook a little over a month ago trying to come up with the story I wanted to tell. Oh yeah, and a recipe to go along with it.

You guys all make it look so easy ;)

However, I was seriously struggling. I had a lot of stories to tell but, none stuck out in that moment. Couldn’t I just tell them all? Write a novel for each one? That’s what my Grandpa Moylan, Aunt Karen, Aunt Peggy, Kendal, Kara, and John deserved. So, I sat. Scribbling in a notebook on the DC metro. (Read, drawing comics aimlessly and worrying about what to write). On my way to some dinner thing my coworker helped put together. A benefit, you know the type. An auction and fancy cocktails followed by some speakers with a dinner.  

At the time, this meant I had worn a dress to work and that I had to wear my work heels for approximately 4 more hours than I normally like to. Little did I know that what it would come to be the inspiration for my post that I had been searching for.

The benefit was a sponsored Camp Kesem event. I had never heard of it either, no worries. George Washington students organized the “Camp Kesem GW’s 2011 Share the Magic Benefit Dinner” and raised $11,000 in just that one evening auction and meal as they told one of the most inspiring stories I had ever heard.

 

Just to be clear, these are students, guys. I was a student not to long ago. While in undergrad, I worked two jobs, worked toward my two hard earned degrees, did a LOT of goofing off, volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, did Relay for Life committees each year, and probably spent 1/3 of my life on Facebook. Things I never, ever, even kind of did? Threw benefits. Organized expensive events. Wrote to speakers for their time. Got donations. Organized, marketed, publicized, and budgeted entire summer camps.

If you ever want to feel like a slacker, talk to these students at GW and so many other campuses who are a part of the Camp Kesem Summer Program.These GW Students worked so hard on this event and SO MANY OTHERS to raise money to have a summer camp for the children of cancer patients.

Did I mention? It’s for free. A week long summer camp, entirely free to the families and child. $0.  For as many kids they can get to sign up. I mean, that’s insane. That’s a LOT of fundraising. Not to mention work. And yet, this students work like dogs throughout the entire school year to provide a week of summer paradise to children they don’t even know but who are dealing with cancer in their family.

Cue inspiration flowing freely through my notebook.

 

I found myself moved to tears as a young camper who’s camp nickname was “Pasta” described what it meant to her to have that week every summer with kids who were all going through the same things. Kids who understood. What it meant to have some time to be a kid and goof off at a camp, away from the hospitals and worry for her parent, but also a place where she could talk about those exact fears and have a group who understood and could laugh with her,  pray with her, for her, and above all be there for her.