Zucchini Nut Muffins

Yes, that's homemade icing!

I got into a baking mood this past Saturday.  Last month I made Red Vel-beet Cupcakes, so this month I wanted to make another cupcake/muffin with a new veggie!  I Googled "zucchini muffins" and this recipe was first on the list: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/zucchini_muffins

I added walnuts and skipped the raisins/dried fruit.  They turned out to be pretty tasty!  I made some in mini-muffin pan and some regular sized.  Think I like the bite size the best.

I whipped up some icing from scratch so my boyfriend could eat them like "cupcakes". Great warm with melted butter too!

The only bad thing about these muffins is that they're too good and I demolished most of the minis... you'll see them on my hips this week.  You know what that means...time for a Diva Derriere challenge!

Au revoir!

Red Vel-beet Cupcakes

I discovered this fantastic recipe from the blog Coconut Lime and have been meaning to make them for a while now.

Since it was Independence Day and all, I envisioned making red velvet cupcakes with white creamy frosting and blue sprinkles (the whole red, white and blue theme). This idea was totally spontaneous and I made it to the store around 4pm. Not too many holiday choices for decorating cupcakes, so no sprinkles today.

The cupcakes came out beet-ifully! Not as red as I expected, more on the chocolate side (which is fine by me). No food coloring in this recipe!

Also used her icing recipe, but mine didn't really "thicken" up so I added a bunch of powdered sugar and let it cool. I really try to avoid any store-bought icing (its all filled with chemicals). I don't have a mixer either, which would solve a lot of problems. Hand mixing icing burns some calories.

However, I had success with my handmade icing... the day after it had been sitting in the fridge. (Baking Tip from Lolly: Let cupcakes AND icing completely cool, at least 2 hours, before icing.)

 Tonight I made a new batch and added chocolate chips to 1/2 the batter. Super chocolaty!

 This one has the super creamy cool icing. YUM!

Now that I've eaten a few too many of these creations... it's time for another few sets of Hoe Downs before bed.

Au revoir!

P.S. I plan on doing a 45+ minute T-Tapp workout tomorrow to torch the added sugar from my new cupcake addiction.  Tomorrow is also the last day of the 2010 60-Day T-Tapp Challenge!  I can't wait to see everyone's progress.  Good luck!

Late Night Snack: Organic Corn Bread

I recently purchased organic corn meal and pastry flour to make my own GMO-free good-for-you corn bread at home. Growing up in the south we used to eat corn bread at least once a month with butter and honey. It was such a treat!

So last night I attempted to bake my own batch of organic corn bread from scratch. BUT I made a HUGE cooking mistake and used baking soda instead of baking powder!! Have you ever done that?! The bread turned out to be inedible... and my boyfriend literally spit it out. Haha! Baking disaster alert!

I decided to try the recipe again (around 11pm) after we figured out what I did... and of course, it turned out to be none less than amazing!

I topped mine with some of this little Honey Ridge Farm Apricot Honey Creme sample we got at the T-Tapp Retreat last October.

Au revoir!