Gingerbread Cupcakes and Puppy Love

There have been plenty of challenges of late, but I must say I am fortunate to have lots of joys as well.  Jeanine (the bride for whom I am the MOH) brought her new bergamasco puppy, Amira, to visit today.  All this sweetie wanted to do was snuggle, kiss, and play gently with toys.  Ayla put herself on strict patrol until I really encouraged her to play.  Then the two of them chased each other around the house.  

Jeanine wanted me to show her how to make my gingerbread and make it into cupcakes.  Yea!  It's a challenge for 2 people to cook together in my 6X9 kitchen but we worked it out really well.

Gingerbread.  I could eat only that as my sweet most of the time.  I know it's sort of an autumn food but  I love it all year.  I had not make them into cupcakes before and they worked perfectly.

I adapted my recipe from here.  Also, this time we used butter, but you can use coconut oil.  I doubled all the spices.  The frosting is all my own creation.

Gingerbread cake or cupcakes

Cream 1 stick of butter with 1/2 C sugar (I use organic cane sugar)
Add 1 egg
Blend until well mixed
Add 1 C of molasses and blend until full mixed.

Sift together dry in a separate bowl:
2 1/2 C all purpose flour
1 1/2 t baking soda
1 t salt
2 t cinnamon
2 t ginger
1 t cloves
1/2 t nutmeg


Add dry slowly, mixing after each addition.  After the dry is well incorporated,
add 1 C hot water slowly, and blend.  I always put the hot water in the same measuring glass I used for molasses to get the last of the molasses out of it.

It is a very liquidy cake batter.   For cake, pour in 9 X 9 baking dish and bake at 350 for about an hour.

We filled cupcakes 3/4 full and baked at 350 for about 20 minutes but I kept a close eye on them.  They are done when a knife or toothpick comes out clean.  They rose exactly to the top and were flat.  If you like a more puffed up top, add more than 3/4 full.  It made 14 cupcakes.

Frosting
1 package cream cheese
2-3 T vanilla greek yogurt to achieve the right consistency
2 T maple syrup to taste
1t ginger (ground)

This made just a little too little cream cheese - just enough for a dozen, so you might want to use 1 and 1/2 packages of cream cheese.

We sprinkled the top with cinnamon.  I tried taking a bunch of photos this time.  Working on my food photography.

When I make the cake, I just make maple whipped cream and serve it on top of warm cake.  It's marvelous.  This was a nice variation.  I think it might be nice to go in a lemony direction too.

Healing:  It's just been a pain lately but I am trying to deal with a lot.  Medication for tremors is pretty awesome but it makes me extremely tired.  Right now, one eye is closed because I am about to crash completely.  Anyway,  I hope this blog post finds you well, in love, in health, and knowing your heart's desire.

Dressing Things Up (Veggie Burgers)

Did I tell you that I am an MOH?  Matron of honor.  Yesiree.  I have never before had this honor and I am so excited!  It means so much to me that Jeanine would ask me and that I would get to do fun stuff like try on beautiful dresses.  This is finally the one.  It will be in charcoal gray instead of pink.  It's so pretty!  

I haven't been feeling all that great.  I've been thinking about denial and stuff.  I went to the neurologist last week, we went over my MS history and he pronounced me as "primary progressive MS." This is very rare type.  I had come in planning on saying something like, "Do I really have this?  I don't fit the relapsing remitting pattern, I only have a few annoying symptoms, blah blah blah."  Denial.  

Over the years of being not 100% healthy, I have received much advice.  I've probably given other people some of that advice too.  It's crap you know.  You will not get healthy as soon as you learn whatever lesson is there to be learned.  Switching to only pomegranate juice will not fix all things.  The fact that one doctor told you there is no such thing as MS does not mean he/she was correct or that I don't have something significant.  I do not just have Lyme Disease.  And hence, I never talk about it.  Ever.  The other advantage of this strategy has been that it really supports the denial angle I've got going.  The same discussions have occurred around my spine issues - you just have to see this doctor, healer, specialist in BOSTON, acupuncturist, nutritionist, shamen, and so on.  The weird thing is that no one really ever asks me how I do deal with it or who's opinion I do take under advisement.  I'm not meaning to sound like a bitch here - it's just something I'm starting to understand about chronic illness.  People around me are desperate to see me get better.  They think they see me getting better sometimes when I am in intense pain.  Denial, right?  Sometimes I think it's because I am pretty.  I smile and joke around constantly - it's the way I am.  Does pretty equal wellness?  

I'm on some new medication for my tremors which should also turn my overall nervous system down a notch.  I am still acclimating to it and it is making me really tired.  Oh - the neurologist is very familiar with esophageal spasms and has about a million ideas.  The neuro dude is one of the best MS doctors in the country - for those of you who worry about doctor things.  He's very open to my ideas - very pro-natural stuff - just likes me to keep good data on what I do use and how it works.  

So what does this have to do with food you ask?  I was thinking about dressing something up.  I love veggie burgers and I hear people say that they hate them.  Like everything it's how you serve it.  This is a Trader Joe's veggie burger.

Veggie Burger All Dressed Up

1/4 onion, sliced

1 C spinach

4 T or more barbecue sauce (I always misspell barbecue sauce - why doesn't it have a Q?)

1 pita warmed in the oven

1 slice of Muenster cheese

Sautee onion in some olive oil until is starts to caramelize.  Make room in the middle and put the burger in the center.  Cook 2 minutes then flip.  Put cheese on.  Throw spinach over top and cover.  Keep an eye on it so nothing burns.  Serve on top of a warmed pita.  This is so good that I ate it for 3 days in a row.