velvet

so the cold snowy weather and daniel leaving for dallas today led me to indulge myself in a few hours of baking rather than doing homework. this week was red velvet cupcakes (in honor of v-day of course). and they're gluten free! not my favorite recipe but the icing was pretty freaking AMAZING! it's a little ridiculous how much food coloring goes into them. i feel like my skeleton is probably pink from it. and now i have two dozen cupcakes in my fridge. i should probably invite people over since its just me and my very sleepy little kitten for the next few days and i shouldn't eat all those cupcakes. but i secretly don't want to share. but i will. ps i think rocky is hibernating for the winter. he's going on hour 9 today of his nap. seriously jealous of his life. of course he doesn't get to eat cupcakes, so there's something.

Ingredients

 

·       1 cup of butter

·       1 1/2 cups of sugar

·       2 large eggs, at room temperature

·       2 1/2 cups of gluten-free flour blend

·       4 tablespoons of cocoa powder

·       1 teaspoon of baking soda

·       1 teaspoon of salt

·       1 1/4 cups of milk

·       1 teaspoon of white wine vinegar

·       2 tablespoons of red food coloring

·       2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

·       Cream cheese frosting

·       8 ounces of cream cheese, softened

·       4 ounces (1 stick) of butter, softened

·       3 3/4 cups of powdered sugar, sifted

·       1/8 teaspoon of salt

·       1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

 

Preparation

For the cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Stir together dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt).

Mix together wet ingredients (milk, vinegar, food coloring, vanilla).

Add creamed butter and sugar, mix in eggs.

Alternately mix in dry, wet, then dry ingredients.

Bake for 18-22 minutes or until tops are just dry on top. Makes 2 dozen.

For the frosting:

Mix cream cheese and butter.

Add salt and vanilla.

Slowly add in powdered sugar.

a little loopy

So I went to new mexico this weekend to get some fillings taken care of and ended up getting these babies taken out.

Gross, huh? I brought them home for Daniel to see. Luckily I haven't been in too much pain cause I had some vicodin leftover my my emergency room visit but the drugs do make me a little strange. I was thoroughly convinced yesterday that I had gotten on the wrong plane and missed my flight to Philadelphia, but luckily I made it home. And I'm deathly afraid to eat anything hard so I'm really hungry. I am really grateful that my brother in law Chris could take care of everything for me. Its been hard lately because I seem to have all these random health issues that we can't really afford to take care of, so it was nice to get some stuff done for so cheap. And it was great to see Chris and Steph and get some snuggle time with my nephews. Hopefully one day we'll be able to afford non-crappy insurance and won't have to fly clear across the country to get stuff done. As for now I'm attempting to go gluten-free soon hoping that will ease some of my stomach issues I've been having - wish me luck!

So lately we've been trying to figure out where we'll be after I graduate. I hate not knowing and I must admit I've been freaking out about the fact that we might not be in Philadelphia in a few months. I absolutely love it here and wish we had more time/money to be able to do everything I want to. Me and Daniel hope to move back here someday when we can afford to live in a little nicer of a place! I can't believe I'm so close to graduating (yet still so far). I can't wait to be done with school (FOREVER!) but I remember after graduating from BYU the little identity crisis that comes with it. You've been a student you're whole life and then . . . done. Not looking forward to that again. Hopefully I'll have a job which will prevent that!

Oh and p.s. I'm still a bit loopy so don't hold me accountable for any of this.