Cupcake Trifle and Health update

First of all, an update on all things health related. If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I am a long time sufferer of migraines, and they have been seriously plaguing me the past few weeks. I finally made a chiropractor appointment, and then the same day I called the chiropractor, a migraine specialist in Carmel found me on Twitter! I made an appointment with him as well. Tuesday I had my first chiropractic appointment. She checked my spine, took Xrays, and hooked me up to some electrodes for a decompression treatment. Wednesday I went back in and she showed me my Xrays. Basically, where my neck should be curved, it is almost completely straight, thus putting a lot of extra pressure on my spine, from the extra perceived weight of my head. So she took me out and did my first adjustment. OH MY GOD. It hurt sooooooo bad! We both knew it was going to, and she tried to make it as quick as possible, but I was in tears when I left the table. My bones have been locked in that position for awhile! I did another treatment and back to work I went.

Thursday was my appointment with the specialist. It was so quick and easy. I was lead into a dim meeting room, instead of a bright patient room. I had a discussion with the doctor--how my migraines appear, how long they are present, how they hurt, where they hurt, etc. He concluded that I have Occipital Myalgia, which basically means that the nerve in the back of my head is being pinched by my muscles. He put me on preventative meds and I'm going to have a nerve block done to stop the pain. We meet again in 6 weeks to see what's working and what's not. Overall I feel pretty positive about the appointment, and I really think I'm going to start feeling better soon.

Yesterday, I was invited to a coworkers family Fourth of July dinner. J. had to work until 10 and my parents were at the lake with friends, so I was going to be by myself. I decided I was going to bring my favorite chocolate cake recipe, in cupcake form. Unfortunately, the cake is an old fashioned layer cake and the batter was just too thin to translate into cupcakes. The frosting was also too thin, and couldn't cover up the flat cupcake tops. They were soooooo ugly! Just before I was getting ready to leave, a Twitter friend suggested I put it all in a bowl and put Cool Whip on it! What a fantastic idea! I had some heavy cream I needed to use up, and I'm always looking for another reason to use my trifle bowl. Look at how pretty this dessert is! (Please excuse the cell phone picture.)

By the end of the night, all of it was gone except for one scoopfull, which Jordan promptly ate when he got home from work. It was sooooooo yummy! I will be making this again, on purpose! Next time though, I'll skip the cupcake part, and just make the cake in sheet pans, then crumble it up in the trifle bowl. Here are the recipes I use:

Beatty's Chocolate Cake

From Ina Garten on Food Network

Ingredients

• Butter, for greasing the pans
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cups good cocoa powder I use Ghiradelli, it's the best my grocery store carries.
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup buttermilk, shaken
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature I only had large, which may have been the problem, caused the cakes to fall.
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Directions

Chocolate Buttercream, recipe follows

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 2 (8-inch) round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans. You could also use a large sheet pan for this, since we are just going to crumble the cake up into the bowl.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pans (it is supposed to be really thin) and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

Chocolate Frosting: Just so you are warned, this frosting is to die for. You will be addicted. I cannot be held responsible.

6 ounces good semisweet chocolate Again, I use Ghiradelli, it's that or Bakers, which wouldn't work at all for this.

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 extra-large egg yolk, at room temperature Large works fine for the frosting.

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

1 tablespoon instant coffee powder

Chop the chocolate and place it in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir until just melted and set aside until cooled to room temperature.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until light yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and continue beating for 3 minutes. Turn the mixer to low, gradually add the confectioners' sugar, then beat at medium speed, scraping down the bowl as necessary, until smooth and creamy. Dissolve the coffee powder in 2 teaspoons of the hottest tap water. On low speed, add the chocolate and coffee to the butter mixture and mix until blended. Don't whip!

Cupcake Trifle

1 batch Chocolate Cake

1 batch Chocolate frosting

16 oz Cool Whip, thawed (or even better, REAL homemade whipped cream)

In a Trifle bowl, or any big serving bowl, layer cake, frosting, whipped cream. Do this three times, ending with whipped cream, smoothing out the top. I shaved some chocolate on top. Keep in fridge until ready to serve.

Calling all healthy people

Here's the deal. I am sick of being sick all the time. I am so unhealthy right now and I need help figuring out how to get my body back where it needs to be. The way Jordan and I are living right now is obviously not working, so I'm coming to you guys for help.

I'm in my last semester of college, taking 12 regular hours and 3 online independent study hours. I have a very demanding job that takes soooooooooo much of my time and energy. On top of all that, I'm struggling to figure out the housewife thing. I'm not a natually domestic person. I hate to clean and with my busy schedule it is hard for me to get into the routine of keeping the apartment tidy, and cleaning really stresses me out.

The kitchen is the one place I don't get stressed (well most of the time anyway). I'm getting better at creating menus two weeks at a time, so I can buy all the ingredients I need, to minimize our grocery bills and the junk food we eat during the week. I try to cook with fresh, healthy ingredients. 

So you see the general picture. The stress from going to school full time and working so much has just beaten down my immune system. I have been sick more days in the past month than I can count. My job isn't one where I can call in sick very often, especially when I'm sick on the weekends, like today. Migraines rule lately, along with colds and digestive issues that really hinder my ability to go about my day. As much as I would love to go to the gym every day, it's just not an option, and by the time I get home at night, I'm exhausted. I do ride horses once a week, but it's not enough. I've gained 15-20 pounds in the past year, and I just feel disgusting.

Help me please! Any suggestions on ways to motivate myself to exercise, vitamins you take that make you feel great, tips on how to keep my apartment less of a mess, anything would be amazing. I've gotta figure something out or I'm never going to make it until graduation. I'm losing the battle with stress, and I know I have much less crises than a lot of other families do right now. Thanks guys!

news for fellow winos

I've been a wine drinker for awhile now, and I have recently converted Jordan when we went to Oliver Winery on our minimoon. He prefers white wine, but I have always been a red wine drinker. So for me, this is good news!

Question of the Day

What is one guilty pleasure you enjoy to much to give up?

Coffee with sugar in the morning. I know that granulated sugar is not the greatest thing for me to consume. Splenda has lass calories, raw sugar is better for my digestive system, Blue Agave nectar is, well I don't know what the benefit is other than I was told it was better for me (my best friend is a yuppie :-P). However, they all taste so strange to me. So I will continue to get my morning caffeine fix by way of 16 ounces of freshly ground coffee with tap water and granulated sugar.

What is YOUR guilty pleasure?