A Junk Food Junkie turned Clemintine Crazy

I hate to admit it, but we are a house full of

Junk Food Junkies.

Straight up snack-a-holics.

Although I'm so not proud to admit that, it's the truth.

I'm trying to be better. It's just so hard when this is staring you in the face.

And trust me, this is light. We had a massive file 13 cleaning a few weeks ago. It was down to left over Easter candy and apparently some Christmas Sweet Tarts that Santa forgot to put in the little one's stockings.

Anyways.

It seemed as though the littlest one in this house had more of an addiction to this crap than any of the rest of us. She got into such a bad habit of opening up this drawer every morning, noon, and night and sneaking a snack. Yes. She is only 22 months old, but very demanding about what SHE wants!

I decided it was time to rid the house of this junk and start anew.

Two things happened.

I decided to start exercising again and I decided to look for a healthy alternative cupcake.

It's funny. 

How come your body decides these things after sitting for 3 days of being sick and not wanting to move a muscle in your body, and when you finally do decide to do something about it (i.e. order a DVD online to be shipped within 10 business days) that by that said 10 business days comes around, earlier said exercise motivation has gracefully left the building.

Well, it's almost here. The DVD that is. I think I've checked FedEx 100 times today to see if they had delivered the package yet. Never mind the fact that I was sitting within 10 feet of my front door and I would have definitly seen the FedEx driver come down my circle driveway, walk up to my door, and ring my door bell.

But what if I missed him while I was taking out the before mentioned cupcakes from the oven?

What if he/she snuck onto our property like the SWAT Team on National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation?

Or...What if he/she followed Google Maps for our address and ended up on the other end of our road, knocking on someone elses door that doesn't even know who Jillian Michaels is?

What a tragedy that would be.

(Hold on now I'm paranoid I missed him, I gotta check it just one more time! Nope. Not here yet)

Another funny thing about all of this though, is that today as I was sitting down looking over my favorite pages on Facebook, I noticed a post from

Four Marrs & One Venus

It was a picture of a Jillian Michaels DVD.

What! Someone else is just as crazy as I am?! Someone is going to get their Shred On?!

Yep!

Jen from Four Marrs & One Venus has started a page on Facebook for all of us crazy enough to take this on. If you're interested in joining in, you need to go to her Blog and check it out, she'll get you connected up.

So anyways, back to my littlest one in the house. I decided it was time to get rid of all of this junk food that was within her reach.

So instead of the junk food drawer looking like it did, now it looks like this.

One lonely bag of Cuties. But now, Sophie's favorite snack.

I don't mind her getting into the drawer now and grabbing a snack of her own. And she's finally learned how to peel them all by herself. She is a rather independent little thing.

And now that she has taken on a whole new approach to snacking. It's time to start looking at some new cupcake ideas.

I happened to be searching for something to make for dinner and I went to one of my favorite go to websites Taste of Home.

I remember my mom always getting this magazine when I was a kid. I always thought it was so cool all of the different recipes that were published and how they always hid that little toothpick somewhere in the magazine. I'm still to this day shaking my head at why I could never find that dumb thing. I wonder if it was just a ploy to get readers to look at every page in the book searching for that non-existant ticket to wealth, you know, kind of Willie Wonka Golden Ticket-esq wouldn't you say.

But for me, it's a go-to for a much needed update to the dinner time blah's.

I happened to come across a Clemintine Cupcake recipe.

I thought to myself, this sounds interesting, and I know I have the ingredients. I'll give this one a shot!

I was so excited to see further down in the recipe that it was listed as one of their Light & Tasty recipes.

I'm totally game now!

This recipe turned out really well, although, I think that you could probably make it even better by using a sugar free cake mix as a substitution, and I may just have to give that a try. Not that the whole cupcake will be sugar free, but I'm sure it would save you some grams and some calories.

But for now, we'll stick to it as is. Here's the recipe as written on Taste of Home, with a few little notes added in for good measure.

I hope that you will enjoy this cupcake. I hope that you will join me in the 30 Day Shred along side Jen at Four Marrs & One Venus, and finally I hope that all of us will be able to get the Oompah Loompah song out of our heads!!

Have a great day!!

  

• 1 package (18-1/4 ounces) white cake mix
• 3/4 cup water
• 4 egg whites
• 1/2 cup clementine juice (about 5 clementines)
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 teaspoon grated clementine peel
• 4 clementines, peeled, sectioned and membrane removed (this was the most difficult thing to do...I ended up 4 clemintines into it, using a small can of mandarin oranges drained instead. They worked just fine! An orange is an orange is an orange right? Well for me it was!)
• FROSTING:
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon grated clementine peel
• 5 to 6 teaspoons clementine juice
• GARNISH:
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips (you could also use dark cocoa candy melts, that's what I had on hand so that's what I used)
• 24 clementine sections with membrane (about 2-1/2 clementines)

 

• In a large bowl, combine the first six ingredients; beat on low speed for 30 seconds. Beat on medium for 2 minutes. Fill paper-lined muffin cups half full. Place one clementine section in the center of each; gently press down into batter. Chop remaining sections; sprinkle over batter.
• Bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.
• For frosting, in a small bowl, beat butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the confectioners' sugar, clementine peel and enough juice to achieve spreading consistency. Frost cupcakes.
• In a small microwave-safe bowl, melt chocolate chips; stir until smooth. Dip clementine sections halfway into chocolate; allow excess to drip off. Place on a waxed paper-lined baking sheet; refrigerate until set. Place one on each cupcake. Yield: 2 dozen.

Nutritional Facts 1 cupcake equals 238 calories, 9 g fat (3 g saturated fat), 7 mg cholesterol, 176 mg sodium, 40 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 2 g protein. 

Sweet, Savory, and Shout Outs!

I don't know about anyone else around here, but I'm hot. Right now, it is a balmy 82 degrees in my house. Why? Well because it's 91 degrees outside in Ohio in March, and I'm cooking up a storm in the kitchen. Oh, and I REFUSE to turn on the air conditioner. Did I mention it's March??!? I've come across so many great looking recipes in the past few weeks that I decided today was the day to work on a few of them. I'll be posting them over the next few weeks so make sure you check back to see what's been going on in my kitchen.
(And to let all of you know, after writing this today, I broke down and turned the Air Conditioner on. I just couldn't help it anymore. Who can bake properly in 90 degree heat!)
Today I worked on a recipe that I first saw over at White Lights on Wednesday. It's a recipe for
Maple Bacon Popcorn

Not only is it sweet and crunchy, but look at those beautiful little morsels of bacon!

When I first read that I thought, "What in the world could make popcorn better? But of course! Bacon AND Maple Syrup!"

This sounded like the type of recipe that my dear hubby's friends would go crazy over. (If you wonder why just read this post.)

Scroll on down to the bottom of this post for the recipe. It is the original recipe from White Lights with my slight changes added in.

Now, onto the even more exciting news of the day!!


Today I'm very proud to announce that Cups by Kim has been nominated for

The Liebster Award!!

Kristin over at Grateful Belly nominated me for this blog award! You definitly need to stop by her page and check out the AMAZING creations she has. Trust me, you will be ready to lick your monitor!

So what's with this award? What now?

Stand up. Jump up & down. Squeel with joy. Sit back down and first off, thank the blogger who nominated you. So Kristin, Thank You!!

And now?

It's time to pass this award on to 5 new bloggers.

Here are my picks.

1. Amanda at Soft & Stiff Peaks

Amanda was one of my first ever followers and has alot of great recipes and ideas.

2. Addicted To Recipes

This a new blog that I've been following. So far what I've seen looks amazing!

3. Morgan at Mighty Delighty

Morgan has taught me so much about decorating cupcakes and cookies.

4. Paige at The Sweet Spot

I happened across this blog a couple weeks ago and have already caught myself drooling over some of her posts!

5. Mimi at Eating with MiMi

She does a great job at planning menus. I envy her organization of meals (instead of having to run to the grocery after work!)

So to all of my Liebster Nominees I say Congratulations and keep up the good work!

Be sure to pass this on and proudly display this award on your Blog for all to see!

I also want to thank each and every one of you for stopping by this blog. Whether you've just come across it from one of the many link parties, or if you're a long time friend or follower, I really want to thank all of you. If it weren't for you, this blog wouldn't be here. Heck, this business wouldn't be here. And to all of you who linked up to Sweet & Simple Sunday #1, I hope to see you all back again next week, and make sure you bring some friends!!

Peace. Love. Cupcakes.
Kim

Maple Bacon Popcorn

Ingredients:

8 slices of bacon, fried. Reserve drippings

2 Tablespoons maple syrup (I added another 2 Tablespoons)

3 Tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt (I only used about 3/4 teaspoon. There was enough salt from my bacon)

1/2 cup popping corn

1/4 cup cooking oil (only use this if you don't have enough drippings to equal 1/4 cup)

Directions:

1. Fry the bacon in a skillet until brown and crisp. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate to drain and cool. Once cool, chop into small pieces and toss with the maple syrup.
2. Measure out the reserved bacon grease into a measuring cup. If you don't have 1/4 cup of grease, add vegetable oil to make a full 1/4 cup.
3. Put the cooking grease/oil in a large pan and add the corn kernels. Sprinkle with the sugar and 1 teaspoon of the salt. Heat the stove to medium heat, cover the pan with a tight-fitting lid and wait until you heat the first couple of kernels pop.
4. Once the popping begins, use two pot holders to hold the lid on the pot and shake the pot, then return to the burner. Continue to do this often throughout the popping process, everyone minute or two. This will help ensure the sugar doesn't burn.
5. Once the popping is done, remove the lid and salt the popcorn with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Use a large spoon to stir the popcorn. Pour in the bacon and maple syrup mixture. Toss together and serve.