Mission: Cupcake ~ Week 11

This week I uncorked a bottle of Barefoot bubbly and made Raspberry Cupcakes with Champagne Buttercream Frosting. Sounds fancy right? But they were actually incredible easy to make despite how swanky they sound. The cupcakes were super moist and the fresh raspberry puree gave them lots of fruity flavor {in addition to the raspberry extract}. And the frosting surprisingly tasted quite a bit like champagne despite only containing two tablespoons in the entire batch.

I felt a tidbit funny giving Jayden one of these cupcakes given the champagne factor, but I decided the trace amount in each one wouldn’t hurt him…and he LOVED them {he must have thanked me 5 times for making them and letting him eat one}. And the best part is, there’s LOTS of bubbly left over for mimosas tomorrow morning!  

Medicine in a Glass

This morning I awoke to the sound of rhythmic banging and clanging from outside our window {apparently they are building a retirement community at the bottom of our hill…at 7am}, so I almost started the day super grumpy. But then J came in and woke me up with a good morning kiss, opened the blinds to let in the sunshine and presented me with a glass of his latest super smoothie concoction…how can a girl wake up in a bad mood after that??? Anyway, so my breakfast was a blend of carrot juice, beet juice, spinach, blueberries, strawberries, bananas, flax seeds, chia seeds, and cinnamon…basically everything under the moon. And it was delicious! I think it actually helped me avoid my usual throbbing headache as well.

 Today is also my brother Jake’s birthday {happy happy happy birthday brotha!!}, so we had a delish dinner downtown at the Yardhouse, where we managed to fill up on half price appetizers…first time I’ve ever left that place spending less than 30 bucks!! After dinner we walked around downtown for a bit…the boys got cigars {and I tried to dodge the smoke}, and we ended up at Dublin Square {Irish Car Bombs and Buttery Nipples all around!} The highlight of the evening was the homeless man we kept running into…who with each subsequent appearance managed to wet his sweat pants more and more. Gross. Gotta love downtown SD J

And now all these crazy boys are in the jacuzzi...in my backyard. And I'm going to doze off....Happy Birthday Jake!

Café Merlot

Tonight we finally redeemed the Groupons we purchased as a present for J’s mom’s birthday {her birthday was September 1st...just a few months late}; a cooking class at Café Merlot, located in the Bernardo Winery. The theme was all about seafood and buttery chardonnays, which is perfect if you are a fan of seafood and aren’t banned from drinking. But despite the fact that I couldn’t partake in all of the food and beverage, it was still a great time with J’s folks and we cooked some bomb mussels {probably has something to do with the pound of butter we added to the pot!}. 

I didn’t actually try the mussels since I am afraid of all slimy foods, but they were a hit. I did, however, very much enjoy the fried calamari, shrimp and corn chowder, and cracker assortment J And the highlight of the evening {for me} was meeting the owner of the Mira Mesa Chic-Fil-A…love that place! She hooked me up with some free food, so I left this evening one happy camper…well, if there is such thing as a happy camper J

Oh, and highlight #2 was J downing some wine from the Chardonnay box. JK...we did use the boxed wine in the mussels, but they actually served some pretty delicious wines...I mean, so I heard J

Weekend Wrap Up

These last few days have been a crazy mixture of pain, productivity and pleasure in the Trapp household. J got an MRI on Friday night, while I was treated to a gourmet meal at my parent’s house {fresh snapper from Anthony’s, yum!}. I woke up Saturday morning with a pounding headache and almost had to miss a lovely church bridal shower {glad I sucked it up and went!}. J’s parent’s came over in the afternoon, and with their help we managed to spread the majority of the mulch in the front yard, paint the chair rail for the nursery and get the house tidy. And when the work was done, our friends Keri and James came over {with dinner no less!} with their 9 month old son Bradley. I swear that kiddo gets cuter every time I see him! And they also brought Gracie these cute little kicks…

 Sunday morning I woke up feeling great, so we started the day off with some d-lish banana and blueberry pancakes…but as the cooking progressed, so did the throbbing in my head…and ears…and neck. I ended up in bed all morning with a migraine. Boo. BUT, J’s parents saved the day again and helped get the chair rail up in the nursery while keeping Jayden entertained. I was useless. Things got a little better by the afternoon, so we headed over to the neighbors for a BBQ and playdate with their adorable tots. Soooo happy to be in a neighborhood with lots of fun young and growing families like us!

Happy Monday J

Mission: Cupcake ~ Week 10

Ten weeks in on this mission and I’m still going strong (and you all thought I would give up J)! We’ll see how long it lasts as my due date approaches…

This week has been CRAZY busy, especially with J out of commission, so I really needed a recipe that was quick and easy (and didn’t make a huuuuge mess…I am so tired of cleaning my kitchen!). My cousin Shannon tried this one out last week and said that not only was it easy, but it was super yummy as well. When I scoured my fridge & pantry and realized that I had everything I needed to make this cupcake without going to the grocery store, I was immediately sold.  Plus I love crumbs. And cinnamon.

So here are this week’s Top to Bottom Crumb Cupcakes: aka DoubleCrumblicious cupcakes (dubbed by JB), a moist yellow cupcake sandwiched between cinnamon sugar butter crumbs…and I’m talkin LOTS of crumbs! They definitely reminded me of a coffee cake, and if you aren’t opposed to sweets in the morning, would be served up nicely in the AM with a cup of java. And Shannon was right, these were super easy to make and were among the best I’ve tried so far. All of my willing taste tasters also concurred that these were one of their favorites, if not their VERY favorite one so far (the lemon poppy seed cupcakes are a close second!). These ones will be hard to top!



And here is the recipe for these little gems!

Awkward and Awesome Thursday!

Awkward:

When the checkout clerk at Vons keeps staring at your protruding belly and then finally asks “Is your belly button pierced?” Nope, but thanks for noticing my preggo outtie.

Having dinner guests over and when you finally announce “Dinner’s ready, come and get it!” no one budges. That excited about my cooking are we?

Office/cubicle lingerers. The conversation is clearly over and yet these people are still standing at your office entrance staring awkwardly at you. “Big gulps huh? Wulp, see ya later…”

Awesome:

InStyle’s virtual makeover tool. I took one of Jayden’s baby photos and turned him into Sarah Palin! Kinda weird…but fun.

Chili Cheese Fritos. My ultimate weakness.

Slipping into your PJ’s immediately upon returning home from work…aaaahhhhh relief J

P.S. Check out my amiga Amber’s blog, stylethrifted.wordpress.com, if you are hungry for some more awkward & awesome’s!

J Jarred his Pickles

We are officially hillbillies. Or living on the prairie in the 1920’s. I don’t know a single 20 or 30 year old that actually pickles his own cucumbers…or makes their own homemade jam. Well, until now. Jason’s project of the evening was canning the pickling cucumbers we received from our weekly CSA, which he learned how to do from the video at the link below (you should seriously view this…it’s quite entertaining watching this guy’s enthusiasm about cucumbers). The cukes are looking pretty good (see video below if you are curious what a cuke is), but now we've got to wait 3-4 weeks before the pickling is complete!

http://video.about.com/localfoods/Canning-Cucumbers--Pickles-.htm

Speaking of the CSA, we received our second shipment this week and everything is looking delicious as anticipated. We also ordered a crate of fresh strawberries (which is where the homemade jam comes in). Yum yum!

Home Improvements: The Nursery is Painted!

This past weekend was supposed to be devoted to getting the baby nursery painted and getting the chair rail up (now that Jayden has finally moved out!). Well, things got slightly de-railed when J came home Thursday night barely walking and in pain from tweaking his knee at softball…the same knee that he had surgery on a few months after we started dating for a torn ACL L This could be bad…

Anyways, I have been waiting a looooong time to get this nursery started, so I wasn’t about to delay it yet another week. So I opened every window in the room to ventilate the fumes (preggo + paint fumes = not really recommended) and got busy. And fortunately my father in law came over on Saturday and did all of the rolling…I am soooo thankful that he was willing to help. So I may have an achy back and sore neck, but I have a painted nursery to show for it! And the best part is, I am super happy with the colors! Sometimes going to Lowes and picking out colors based on how they look on paper does work (Amber and Anna take note, haha! J).

So here is a little sneak peak. Still a lot to do so I’m not revealing until the final product is complete!

Home Improvements: Jayden’s New ‘Choo Choo’ Room

I have been waiting very (im)patiently for J to finally finish painting Jayden’s new room because I know how much Jayden is going to LOVE moving into his new space. Ok, maaayyybe that’s not the real reason. It might have something to do with the fact that once Jayden moves out of his current room, I can get started on the nursery…maybe J 

As soon as we found out we were having a baby girl (this was in February), I immediately immersed myself in nursery decorating mode. The honey-bee theme got thrown out the door (so much for my economical approach of “honey-bees are neutral, so they’ll work for boys and girls”…the “girl” card changes everything! So I’ll discuss the nursery later…back to Jayden’s room. So J has been working for over two months on this room & he has done an absolutely amazing job on all the details. I never knew I married such a handy man! So the room isn’t completely done yet (still needs all the little touches), but you get the idea…it’s definitely coming along & Jayden is finally moved in and getting comfortable in his new space. Btw, the train actually goes around the room! How COOL is that??

Btw, if anyone is looking for some great nursery/kids room inspiration, check out laybabylay.com…loving this blog right now!!!

Mission: Cupcake ~ Week 9

Back to the sprinkles & chocolate with this week’s experiment; butter cake cupcakes, slathered with a sticky fudge frosting. These babies were definitely on the rich side, and were served best with a tall glass of milk…they kind of sucked all of the moisture out of your mouth. And speaking of moisture, I felt that the cupcake itself was unexpectedly (helllllooo, butter cake!) a little too dry. Maybe they needed more butter. The chocolate frosting was sweetened with a can of condensed milk, which gave it the “stick to the roof of your mouth” gooey texture. It was definitely delicious, although it never thickened up like the recipe said it would. So the frosting dripped all over place while I was topping the cupcakes, which left quite the mess on my counters (I had to scrape the sticky stuff off with a spatula!).

All in all, I’d say they were a good cupcake, but definitely not on the top of my list. The shiny frosting looked pretty though…and I finally got to break out the rainbow sprinkles!! J

Prick Prick Prick

I hate needles. Not so much the pain of the needle going into my skin (that’s no biggie), but rather the thought of the needle piercing through my vein and sucking out the blood. I literally have to self inflict pain on another part of my body to distract myself while it’s happening. As if pregnancy didn’t already come with enough uncomfortable moments, you get sent constantly to the lab to get blood drawn (and it’s not like the labs are calming places…more equivalent to jail cells I’d say). I was particularly NOT looking forward to today’s visit, so I had been putting it off for a loooong time. Not only do you have to get pricked, but an hour prior to the bloodsucking you have to force down a bottle full of orange sugary nastiness and endure the stomach pains that ensue. And now I just pray that the results for gestational diabetes come back negative so I don’t get shipped off to the lab for another fun round.

And now that I am in my third trimester, I get to look forward to all sorts of fun (according to my weekly baby updates from babycenter.com). Welcome heartburn, constipation, hemorrhoids, dizziness, trouble sleeping, back pains and contractions…oh, and another 11 pounds tacked on to my arse. I suppose it’s all worth it for that precious little bundle that’ll arrive in a couple of months. I’ll just keep staring at these ridiculously cute shoes and adorable dress

…I feel better already J

Like a Kid in a Candy Store

Today we received our first installment of local organic produce from the CSA and I don’t think I’ve seen J this excited for a looooong time (well, maybe since the nut milk experiment J)! I have to admit, everything looks super fresh and very delicious. 

This week’s box includes: Lettuce, Spinach, Sugar Snap Peas, Pickling Cucumbers, Soft Squash, Swiss Chard, Sweet Onions, Basil, Strawberries, Blood Oranges, & Apples. We couldn’t help ourselves to some of the strawberries and apples straight away… and we are going to try out a recipe this week for spinach basil pasta salad to use up some of our ingredients. So far so good! 

Mission: Cupcake ~ Week 8

Well this week I attempted to go somewhat healthy by selecting a cupcake with lots of fruits & nuts inside…and I ended up with something that more closely resembled a dense muffin. Which was just fine, if that’s what you were expecting. So I definitely gave everyone the warning BEFORE they tried these to not expect a deliciously decadent cupcake (which actually resulted in some people declining them all together...not that I blame them. It’s kind of like eating low fat ice cream…if I am going to eat ice cream, it better be the full fat delicious varietal!). 

So here they are; Harvest Cupcakes...a cinnamon & nutmeg spiced cake batter crammed with pecans, walnuts, almonds, dried pears, apricots & cranberries. These hearty muffins would be great for breakfast, as several tasters confirmed. I also got a little brave this week & exchanged the icing from the recipe with a cream cheese frosting, and then topped each muffin with the fruit & nut mixture. They sure look purdy right??    

Holiday in Palm Springs

This weekend we redeemed a mini vacation in Palm Springs (hence the lack of posting!) that we won from a CYT silent auction event back in November. And in true Murphy’s Law fashion, the temperature remained at a scorching 100 degrees Thursday through Saturday, and cooled to a pleasant 85 degrees on Sunday, just in time for us to come home to some cloudy, drizzly weather in San Diego. But the sweltering heat didn’t keep us from enjoying the area & doing a little sightseeing. Thursday evening we visited the street fair in downtown Palm Springs & browsed the local craftsmanship & farmers markets…and came home with 50 lbs of oranges! I don’t think there’ll be any vitamin C deficiencies in the Erpelding/Trapp households for quite a while.

Friday we strolled the El Paseo shops…which mostly consisted of hovering over Jayden’s every move as we browsed some wacky art galleries so that he wouldn’t break anything (and consequently so that we wouldn’t end up having to default on our mortgage for some overpriced heinous statue “they” call “art”). Then we had some delicious lunch at Sammy’s Woodfired Pizza, and spent the afternoon lounging poolside (wishing I had a frosty margarita in hand L). The highlight of the day for me was playing a round of Texas Hold ‘Em using a package of Starburst as the chips...the yellow ones consistently made their way into the betting pot while the oranges were held in reserve, although mine kept mysteriously going “missing” from my stash. Btw, it became painfully obvious that the yellows were everyone’s least favorite flavor…and yet there were by far more of these in the two packages that we purchased than any other flavor…strange. Anyway, the evening ended with a few sweaty but super fun tennis matches & a late carne asada dinner.

Saturday we visited The Living Desert, which, after about half an hour, turned into a mission of finding the nearest water misters & shady benches to cool off on. I even had to coerce Jayden a few times to leave “the dark” (that’s what he calls shade) so that we could keep moving…but he did really enjoy the impressive choo choo display and carousel. 

They also have a discovery center, where I surprisingly learned that some (weird) people really are interested in Ants. It’s true. And the day concluded with more lounging poolside (this time with a virgin pina colada!), tennis, cards & yummy food.

We had such a great weekend relaxing & spending time with the family. And for Mother’s Day, Jayden promised me a trip in June to Catalina, so I have another mini vacay to look forward to J What a sweet boy!!

We Be Hippies

Okay, more like my husband be a hippie. I know I talk a lot about how J is super into eating organic and healthy, but this week it’s been kicked into high gear. Well more like overdrive. We recently watched the movie Food Inc. (a surgery recovery present from mama Trapp), which discusses the corruptive practices in the food industry…and how virtually almost EVERYTHING we eat is either genetically modified by science, pumped full of hormones & antibiotics, or laden with pesticides & chemicals…or in most cases all of the above! So we’ve taken an interest in eating more locally grown produce in addition to attempting to purchase all organic. After quite a bit of research we’ve joined a local CSA (community supported agriculture) and signed up to receive weekly boxes of organic, fresh produce from a local farm. Sounds pretty sweet…I’ll let you know how it goes.

But that’s not all. I came home yesterday to find a bowl full of nuts soaking in water. J has now started making his own nut milk (made from literally milking the nuts through a nut bag…please tell me I’m not the only one who finds that humorous…hehe…). Anyway, so he made almond milk & it turned out to be quite the hit with Jayden.

As if those two things weren’t enough, I came home last night from shopping & discovered a compost bin in our side yard! Aaaaannnd, we bought the groupon of the day, which is a delivery service for Organic meats & cheeses. So there, I think the Trapp household has done our part this week to save the environment (and our bodies). 

Goodbye Curls!

Sunday was a very momentous day in the Trapp household; Jayden received his very first haircut! We were a little hesitant to cut off his super cute curls (which always made an appearance in humid weather…or near the beach), but with the hot & dry weather we’ve been having lately, his hair started looking slightly out of control.

So off to Supercuts he went with daddy! I wouldn’t have been surprised at all if both of them came back with their original locks in tact…Jayden isn’t really the best at sitting still. But it turns out that he does quite well with two young ladies swooning all over him J One to actually cut his hair, and the other to entertain him…lucky guy! So here is the new Jayden…he looks so much older to me now. Not sure if I’m liking this grown up little boy! Oh well…the curls will grow back J