birthday boy

Josh turned 27 today!
We spent the day being extra lazy, watching movies and eating gushers.

Happy birthday love.

Chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes

My obsession with the sweet/salty combo is still in full swing. (You can see more here & here)


A cupcake stuffed with cookie dough and topped with cookie dough buttercream. You won't believe how amazing these are. Definitely the best cupcake I've had in my life (to be fair, i haven't try THAT many varieties). The frosting?? To die for. I'm not huge on frosting, AT ALL. I usually scrape most of it off. This stuff however I would eat by the spoonfuls.

They are INCREDIBLY rich. So rich I could barely finish one. You'll definitely need plenty of water (or milk) to wash these down, and chase them with some fruit and vegetables.

Since I only ate 2 over the course of a couple days, I froze the rest (cupcake and frosting separate). I pulled some out for friends a few days later and they were still perfectly delicious. I plan on pulling some out after a month and seeing how they are.

This is how its done

Chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes
makes 12

For the cookie dough:
1 1/8 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
3/8 cup granulated sugar
3/8 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons soy milk or milk
*3/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chip (See note below)

Beat the butter, sugars, and vanilla with electric mixer until creamy. Add the soy milk and beat well. Add in the salt, baking soda, and flour and slowly mix until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

Form teaspoon-sized balls (approx. 1″ across). Roll and place on a foil-covered baking sheet. Make approximately 14 dough balls, reserving at least 3/4 cup of the dough for frosting. Refrigerate or freeze until firm.

*i'd strongly suggest using mini chocolate chips, or finely chopped regular chocolate chips. Otherwise they'll get stuck in the pastry tip.

For the cupcakes:
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.

Whisk together soy milk, coconut milk, sugars, oil, and vanilla. Sift in the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and mix until no large lumps remain.

Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes or until tops are puffed and golden. Transfer to a cooling rack, and let cool completely before cutting.

For the frosting:
3/4 cup butter or margarine, room temperature
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons soy milk
3/4 cup eggless cookie dough, room temperature

Cream butter with electric mixer until fluffy. Slowly add powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, until well-incorporated. Add soymilk and mix until smooth, 1-2 minutes. Add cookie dough, approximately 3/4 cup of it, and mix until combined. Taste, and add more cookie dough if you like.

To assemble:
Cut hole in the top of the cupcake, drop ball of dough in. Pipe or spread the delicious frosting on.

(Recipe adapted from here)

Individual strawberry rhubarb crisps

Another strawberry recipe, and there is at least one more on the way. This time I had some rhubarb (I hadn't had it in years!) and a craving for a fruity dessert. I forgot how good strawberry and rhubarb is together. They were made for each other. (Funny side story: When I was buying the rhubarb, the lady behind me asked if it was pink celery. Hm.)

I made these in individual ramekins for easy portion control but you could also use an 8x8 baking dish.

Strawberry rhubarb crisp
(makes 7-8 individual crisps)

3 cups strawberries, hulled and quartered
3 cups rhubarb, diced
1/4 - 1/2 cup sugar (1/4 was plenty sweet for me)

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/3 cup earth balance (or butter), cold

Mix strawberries, rhubarb and sugar together and let sit 10 minutes. Divide among ramekins or 8x8 baking dish.

Mix flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and earth balance (butter) until crumbly. And sprinkle over the fruit mixture evenly. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes, or until golden.

Homemade deodorant

Does antiperspirant deodorant weird you out?? Yeah, me too. There is plenty of debate over the topic, so why not play it safe and make your own.

I've meaning to do this for ages, and now that I've done it I keep wondering why I put this off for so long. I had everything in my pantry to make it, and it took like two minutes!

But does it work?? Yes, and quite well. I've been using it for about two weeks now and it can hold its own through long runs and sweaty workouts. I love the stuff!

1/4 cup baking soda
1/4 cup arrowroot powder*
4 tablespoons coconut oil
10 drops/shakes essential oil* (I used tea tree)
A tin or jar with lid

In a bowl, stir together dry ingredients, then add oils gradually until you like the consistency, mixing with a fork. Store in a closed container at room temp. (If the mixture seems too soft, try refrigerating it for a bit to firm it up.)

To apply, scoop up a bit with your finger, hold it against your skin for a couple seconds so it melts a little, then rub around.

*You could try cornstarch in place of the arrowroot powder. However, cornstarch may lead to yeast infection so I strongly recommend arrowroot powder.
*You could leave out the essential oil but essential oils have antibacterial properties and bacteria is what causes odor. All would not be lost if you left it out though, the baking soda absorbs odor as well.

Strawberry vanilla agua fresca (with honey) and booing hot weather

This is me booing the hot weather. I'm not a fan of the heat and humidity that the Georgia summer brings. Especially with the A/C in our car broken. Yuck! (One good thing about summers here, it storms at least once a week! Sometimes more.. and i'm always down for a loud, rainy storm)

But the heat means swimming! And we've been getting to do a lot of it. My favorite time to swim is at night.. its peaceful and so relaxing. My husband has been running with me (even though he hates it. points for him!!) and nothing is better than jumping in the pool and be weightless after a LONG run.

The heat also means drinking more water! I like changing things up with agua fresca. It's easy to do and a nice change from a normal glass of ice water. And the strawberries are so good right now, I can't stop putting them in everything. (which you'll be seeing soon)

Strawberry vanilla agua fresca with honey
makes 1 pitcher

1 pound strawberries, hulled
4 cups ice-cold water, divided
scant 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons honey (or sugar, if you prefer)
Ice, for serving

In a blender/food processor, combine the strawberries with 2 cups of the water and the vanilla extract. Puree until completely liquid. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve or through cheesecloth into a pitcher.

2. Stir in the remaining 2 cups water, lemon juice and honey. Taste and adjust honey to your preference

Speaking of strawberries, my hair was quite literally strawberry "blonde" last weekend. I'm in the process of going back to blonde and red is SO hard to get out. I've bleached it three times so far and my hair is not happy. Thank goodness for reconstructing treatments! I hope to only have to bleach one or two more times to be to the color I want. For now I'm just embracing this weird/awful color.

Nightgown to dress

Here is a XL cotton nightgown I got from a thrift store a few weeks back.

It was 50 cents, it had potential, and I decided why not add it to the ever growing pile of clothes I need to sew into something wearable.

I took the pockets off, cut about a foot or more off the bottom, cut both side seams and measured it to another dress I have, sewed up the sides using the new measurements, made a hem, made a belt out of the fabric that was cut off and voila! Wearable!

So windy!

The back.

After these photos were taken I realized the sides could be taken in a bit more on top, so now it isn't as bunched on top as it is here.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Go to your nearest thrift store, find something like this and give it a try. What have you got to lose? 50 cents?

And while we're talking about being thrifty.. I scored the shoes for $7, brand new.

Memory lane pt. 2 - tour life

Reading twilight at a hotel in columbus, OH

Panera. Our lifeblood on the road (coffee+free wifi). in Michigan

watching my bloody valentine in medford, OR

After show dennys stop to fill up on coffee before a long drive, Missouri (COLD)

filming a tv show in ladera ranch, ca

a super cute dog in weed, ca

filming a tv show in westerville, OH

getting gas in albuquerque, NM

swimming in ladera ranch, CA

sleep is hard to come by on tour.

delicious tea in akron, OH

sushi in mobile, AL

starbucks chicago, IL

Garrett (keyboard player) and I, south bend, IN

big mask, Danville, IN

a spider that was IN OUR VAN (!!!!) somewhere in Georgia.
it was bigger than my palm and every time i'm reminded of it, i die inside.


And i'll leave you with that.

Cappuccino

I'm not a big coffee drinker anymore, but I do thoroughly enjoy it when I can tear myself away from tea. And this definitely hits the spot.

Cappuccino

1-2 shots of espresso - to taste
1 cup milk - I used almond milk


Make your shot/s of espresso and add to cup.
Heat your milk in the microwave. Once hot, pour into food processor/blender and whiz for a minute or two until the thick foam forms.
Pour the milk into the cup, holding back the foam with a spatula then top with the foam.
Sprinkle with cocoa powder if desired.