Food for Thought

This week was the first time in my life that I was not looking forward to seeing family in South Carolina. Unlike my surprise visit only a month ago, I wasn't loaded down with Black & White cookies or fresh bakery bread. On this trip, just carrying my heart was heavy enough.

When my cousin Lisa called last week with the news that my Uncle Bill had lost his valorous battle with cancer, the sadness that I immediately felt for my aunt and cousins was overwhelming. I knew that the beautiful "snowglobe" surrounding their world had shattered and this family that I love so much would now be changed forever.

How much food does it take to mend a broken heart?

In times of sorrow, why do we always turn to familiar and comforting foods to help ease the pain?

Macaroni & cheese, potato salad, egg salad, smoked turkey and cheese, baked ham, fresh rolls with lots and lots and lots of butter, double fudge brownies, cheesecake, chocolate cookies and fresh lemon pound cake with a fluffy light vanilla buttercream. It's good. It's comforting.

That's why it's called comfort food.

Everytime I visit my "home away from home" in the South, I come away with some kind of a life lesson learned, or maybe a gift. Like my all time favorite chocolate cookbook, or my new Le Creuset Dutch Oven, otherwise known as "Big Blue".

But on this trip I came away with inspiration.

To live a better life.

To be better.

To take my uncle's philosophy on life,and find a way to adapt it to my own.

Because arguments are a waste of time.

Make fudge instead.

Dive into your life.

Make lots of friends along the way.

Remember to stop to smell the flowers.

Every.

Single.

Day.

Blow caution to the winds and enjoy what you have today.

Right now. In this moment.

Accept help from others...especially when you know you can't reach the pedals by yourself.

Try a Starbucks Iced Venti Skinny Pumpkin Spiced Latte.

Just do it.

Don't bring a bad day at work home with you. Leave it outside the front door.

Because behind every door lies an opportunity..........

..........for you to be better.

Whenever possible, always upgrade your rental car.

Remember that the pathway home is never a very far walk....

...especially when you have a friend beside you.

...unless of course, she is riding a bike.

Life is short. Drink of it well.

...and use real cream in your coffee.

Watch over and protect those you love.

Keep in touch with your family and friends, no matter how far away they live, tell them that you love them.

Life is short. Tell them often.

Tell them now.

Remember that every once in a while, it's o.k. to take a moment to throw yourself down, kick up your feet and scratch your back.

And maybe even eat a bug or two.

Hug someone really, really tall.

But if you can't.............just hug a pumpkin.
That will feel good too.

Never.

Ever.

.....eat two portions of Fiber One Yogurt before leaving for the airport.

Remember that although change is hard,

changes can be good.........

And "making a change" is always the best,
so challenge yourself and Be Amazing!

Love where you live.

Love what you do.

And if you don't......what are you waiting for?

Do what makes you happy.

Do it now.

Pray to understand that where one life may conclude,

.....another life is just beginning.

And always remember that no man in the sunset of his life ever said, " I wish I had spent more time at the office".

Especially not this man.

Who had no regrets and truly lived his life to the fullest.

Every. Single. Day.

The question is.....

Do you?

Come over to the Dark Side........We have Cake.

I was definitely on the Dark Side this week.

I just couldn't shake it. I think I had a kind of a "baker's block".....sort of like having writer's "block" I guess. This post was much easier to write than it was to come up with a birthday cake idea for my 8-year old nephew. I mean, I had NOTHING. No ideas. Zip. Zilch. Nada. My only consolation was that he is the type of kid that takes pleasure in just about anything, so it made me really want to put a little extra effort into making him something special.

But I couldn't think of anything.

Of course when I made the mistake of asking him what type of birthday cake he wanted, he thought for a few seconds and hesitantly said, "I don't know..........maybe a Scooby-Doo cake?" I immediately focused on the fact that he hesitated before answering me. It gave me the necessary reason to believe that he really didn't care WHAT type of cake he had. Also, I needed a reason to justify my decision not to bake a Scooby-Doo cake. Call me crazy, but I have never been a fan.

I still didn't have a clue of what I was going to do. I had almost decided to just bake him a baseball cake when my friend Michele gave my baker's "block" a little shove. When I told her that I couldn't come up with any good ideas for an 8-year old's birthday cake, she stared at me disbelievingly, then slowly and distinctly started spewing the names of Star Wars characters. Chewbacca, Luke, The Death Star, The Millenium Falcon, Darth Vader, C3PO and R2-D2. Wait...R2-D2??.........................R2-d2!!!!!!!

That's it!

R2-D2, of course! My nephew's bedroom has a Star Wars theme and if he is knee-deep into Star Wars play mode he will almost always answer to the name Luke. What was I thinking? It was the perfect solution except I wasted so much time trying to make a decision, now I didn't know how I was going to pull it off. I only had about 2 hours that night to start it and 2 hours the next morning to finish so I threw some cold water on my face, took 800 mgs. of Motrin, donned my Wonder Woman apron and quickly downshifted into "vortex mode". The clock in the hallway had just struck 11 p.m. when I was whipping up the Devil's Food cake batter. I poured it into four 4-inch baby spring form pans and popped them into the oven.

After baking and cooling them, I leveled off all but one of the cakes. Since the cake needed some additional stability, I used plastic straws as a means of support through the center of all the cakes. Then I stacked and crumbcoated it with vanilla buttercream and put it into the refrigerator for an hour or so to "chill out".

Now I needed to design R2-D2's "legs", but I knew it couldn't be done with cake......too crummy. Having worked with Rice Krispies and marshmallow before, I knew that the mixture would hold up to sculpting, so I made enough to fill a 9 x13" pan and let it cool completely. I measured the length I would need on each side, then carved it out.

After I shaped R2's "legs", I covered everything in white fondant and attached the legs to the body with lollipop sticks. Then I lightly covered R2 with Saran Wrap, patted his little round head and left him tucked away in a corner of the counter until the next morning.

(Note: Remember, fondant does not like to be refrigerated.)

The next morning (after several cups of coffee), I used a beautiful royal blue colored fondant to cut out various shapes for the frame. Then I sipped mixed vodka, a dab of black food coloring, a dab of blue food coloring and edible silver dust to get a very glossy silver-gray color that I used to paint on R2's "head". Then I finished R2's body with a touch of red, blue and black fondant pieces.

And the little guy started to come to life....

As I've said before, riding by on a fast horse, you would miss the little imperfections (that I see) in some areas of R2's little body...........at least I hope you would.

Just a random musing here...

If Darth Vader went to grade school,

this could be his eighth grade photo.

Cue the Stars Wars music...

Ah-h-h-h. That smile means a sweet success!

Happy Birthday Cody!

Love you buddy,

and

May the Force be with you!

The 3 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake

Just when I thought it was safe to go back into the kitchen.....

I received this recipe from my good friend Sheila who lives in Florida and is a fellow Chocoholic. After reading through the recipe, I wondered why hasn't anyone come up with this before?? Turns out, they have. It's all over the internet under a variety of different names. Chocolate Mug Cake, Dangerous Chocolate Mug Cake, etc. In any case, the recipe is so simple I decided to give it a whirl.

4 Tablespoons of Flour (not self-rising)

4 Tablespoons of Sugar

2 Tablespoons Cocoa

1 Egg

3 Tablespoons Milk

3 Tablespoons Oil

3 Tablespoons Chocolate Chips

1 Capful of Vanilla Extract

1 large Coffee Mug

Add the dry ingredients to the mug and mix well. Continue mixing while adding egg, milk and oil. Add the Chocolate Chips and Vanilla Extract. Place the mug in the microwave and cook for approx. 3 minutes on High Power. Now, depending on the size of your mug, the cake may puff up and rise over the top . I used a HUGE mug, so there was no mess to clean up. Remove from microwave and allow to cool a bit before tipping it out onto a plate. (Try and restrain yourself from using a straw)

Please note that I made a slight change to the recipe by using Canola Oil instead of Vegetable Oil, the difference being that Canola Oil is lower in triglycerides and has a lower ratio of saturated to unsaturated fats than Vegetable Oil (C'mon...like it matters right? We're talking about 3 tablespoons of oil and I'm eating a big gooey piece of Chocolate Cake here). I also substituted 3 tablespoons of roughly chopped semi-sweet chocolate for the chocolate chips hoping that bigger pieces will equal bigger flavor........

AND IT DID.

This recipe is perfect for two people............unless of course you are incredibly selfish and are also a member of Chocoholics Anonymous. It occured to me that in addition to serving it plated, you could also eat it right from the mug. Wow! Ingenious, right?? To top it off I added an 1/8 teaspoon of Coconut Extract to about a 1/2 cup of fat-free whipped cream and garnished it with some toasted coconut.

Sounds delicious right? Well, after a hard work-out at the gym today I was feeling guilty, so I attempted to figure out the amount of calories in this sinful treat.

4 Tablespoons Flour = 105 calories
4 Tablespoons Sugar = 96 calories

2 Tablespoons Cocoa = 40 calories
1 Egg = 54 calories
3 Tablespoons Milk (lowfat) = 12 calories

3 Tablespoons Canola Oil = 360 calories (that's right!)

3 Tablespoons Chocolate = 180
Capful or 1/8 Tsp Vanilla Extract = 8 calories

For a Whopping Total of 855 calories

(Wow, could that be right?)

or you could share it with one other person at 428 calories each,

or share with two other people at 285 calories each.

Yikes.

So I started thinking, what if I substituted unsweetened applesauce for the oil, Eggbeaters for the egg and Splenda for the sugar?

3 Tablespoons Unsweetened Applesauce

15 calories vs. 360 for the Oil

1/4 cup EggBeaters

30 calories vs. 54 for the Egg

5 Tablespoons Splenda

0 calories (that's right!) vs. 96 for the Sugar

(I increased it by 1 tablespoon)

Using these ingredients should cut about 441 calories from the entire recipe making this "slenderized version" only 414 calories OR if you are sharing with one other person......207 calories each AND it tastes delicious too! Rich and chocolate-y with half of the calories. In my opinion, there aren't enough chocolate recipes out there that cater to those of us who may be a little "calorically challenged" (although No Pudge Brownies are fabulous!), so this one is definitely a winner with me.

Now after all my substitutions, experimentation and careful calculations, my question to you is just this..... if this entire Mug Cake is now only 414 calories...

.........do you still have to share? :)