Now before you go and say it’s a gimmick…it’s not. I assure you that I have lost 7 pounds in just two and a half days! How you ask? Just wake up with an abscessed tooth and you too can lose up to 7 pounds in no time.
I felt kind of icky all day on Thursday and my tooth hurt a little but I have dental pain from time to time so I ignored it. I got a little feverish around 5 pm and laid down to sleep it off. I woke up 45 minutes later with a horrific amount of tooth pain and a lump about the size of a tangerine sticking out the side of my mouth. I call my dentist but they closed at 2:30 on Thursdays. And are not open on Fridays. And since I am a new patient (I go to sedation dentists because I am a wimp with dental phobia) they will not see me for emergencies (can I tell you just how lame this is). (Insert really bad language here).
So up I get on Friday morning to head to Urgent Care to get some antibiotics as this tooth is so not waiting until Monday, in hopes of getting in to the dentist. They make me sign a wavier saying that my insurance may not cover it, whatever, just get me some antibiotics people!!!
I get in, the Physician assistant tells me he wont give out any pain killers for dental needs, just Ibuprofen. I told him I would pass on that since I had 800mg Ibuprofen at home. He told me that should work fine. Um, what the hell do you think I have already been taking and NOT working. So I got antibiotics and NO pain killers.
It has been a craptastic weekend let me tell you. The only sleep I get is when my body passes out from sheer exhaustion/pain. I pretty much can eat nothing. I have survived on extra  mushy Stove Top stuffing Chicken flavor (move over Jared and the Subway diet, here comes Peabody and the Stove Top diet)!
Yesterday in trying to distract myself I decided to tweak a recipe I already had on here. I combined a double caramel cake and added some orange to it and this time added orange mascarpone mousse in between the layers. Even though it is multi step it sadly didn’t distract me in the least…but at least I got some cake out of the deal. Which of course I couldn’t really eat…but I did get down some of the mousse.
Wish me luck in getting into the dentist tomorrow!!! UPDATE: Got in today. My dentist was really annoyed that the Urgent Care guy wouldn’t give me anything for the pain…that makes two of us! So now I have pain meds. Hopefully I can get some sleep now.

Orange Caramel Cake with Orange Mascaprone Mousse and Caramel Icing

Orange Caramel Cake

1/3 cup plus 1 ¼  cups granulated sugar, divided
¼  cup boiling water
¾  cup unsalted butter
3 eggs
3 cups sifted cake flour
3 ½  tsp baking powder
zest and juice of one small navel orange
1 tsp salt
1 cup whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Orange Mascarpone Mousse (recipe below)
Caramel Frosting (recipe below)

Melt the 1/3  cup sugar in a heavy skillet, stirring constantly until deep-brown syrup is formed – a process called caramelization. Remove from heat and slowly stir in boiling water, being careful that steam does not burn your hand. Set syrup aside to cool.
Preheat oven to 375F. Grease two 9-inch cake pans, place parchment paper in the bottoms, then grease and flour the bottoms and sides. I used four 4 ½ -inch diameter spring form pans.
Cream butter in bowl of electric mixer. Add 1 ¼  cups sugar and continue to beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating until each is well-incorporated. Stir in 4 TBSP of the reserved syrup.
Sift together the cake flour, baking powder and salt. Combine milk, juice, zest, and vanilla.
Add flour mixture to the batter alternately with the milk mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat until smooth.
Divide batter evenly among the two prepared pans and bake 25 minutes, or until wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. It is about the same cooking time for both the larger and the smaller pans. Just watch if you are using the smaller pans.
Remove pans from oven and let stand about 10 minutes, then turn out cakes onto wire rack, peel off paper and cool completely.

To assemble cake:
Cut each round horizontally in half (if using the 9-inch rounds, if using the smaller leave alone). Stack one layer on top a cake round or plate. Spread mousse onto layer (about ¾  cup just depends on how much you like, you will have plenty of mousse to work with). Stack another layer on top of mousse. Again, cover that layer with mousse. Stack with top layer. Apply caramel icing to top of cake. Allow it to creep down the sides. Keep applying until icing is used up.
You will have an extra layer (if you didn’t mess up like I often do), mousse left over and maybe icing. Just top your layer with mousse and icing and eat it before anyone knows there was extra.
Caramel Icing

3 cups (light) brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup plus 2 TBSP heavy whipping cream
½  stick (4 TBSP) butter
1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix sugar and half and half in a heavy saucepan and cook, stirring over low heat until syrup reaches the soft-ball stage, 235 degrees on a candy thermometer. If lacking a thermometer, check doneness by dropping a tiny bit of syrup into a cup of cold water.
When the syrup can be gathered up in fingers and will almost hold its shape, it has reached the soft-ball stage.
Remove pan from heat. Stir in butter, then let syrup cool.
Add vanilla and beat until icing reaches spreading consistency.

Orange Mascarpone Mousse

2 eggs, separated
4 TB sugar
4 oz mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
5 ounces heavy cream
2 tsp. powdered gelatin + 2 TBS water
zest and juice of one medium navel orange

Sprinkle the gelatin over the water, stir and let sit to bloom.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk the mascarpone with the sugar, add egg yolks and whisk until well incorporated.
Heat the gelatin for about 10 seconds in the microwave and quickly whisk it in the mascarpone batter. Add the orange juice and zest.
Whip the egg whites until stiff, fold into the mascarpone mixture.
Whip the heavy cream to medium stiff peaks, and fold into the mascarpone.

Mousse recipe adapted from Tartelette

In sixth grade one year we went on a field trip to see some Indian ruins (I was living in Flagstaff, AZ which is surrounded by much native American culture). Now of course to a sixth grader staring at empty dirty caves with broken pieces of pottery is as about as exciting as sitting down and watching the paint dry. Sure it is educational, but really I only remember two things about the field trip.
One was that we stopped by the side of the road and picked nuts off Pinon Pine trees. They are pine nuts, though taste slightly different.
The second thing was staring at my friend eating a strange looking fruit. She was sitting at the back of the bus picking at this fruit. Her hands were stained red and I noticed she was only eating part of it. I asked what it was. A pomegranate. She gave me one of the seeds. I thought she was stingy but now knowing how hard they are to dig out the seeds, one was good. It was a tart burst in my mouth and I could not decide back then if I liked it or not.
I came home that day and insisted that my mother buy me one when she went back to the store. She did. I had to take it to school though as both my mother and I had no idea how to get it open. So the girl showed me and I sat there covered in red pomegranate juice. I had liked it but decided it was far too much effort just to get tiny seeds. It wasn’t until years later that I got to taste pomegranates again.
Pomegranates have made a comeback in recent years, showing up just about everywhere. Why? Not only do they taste good but the health benefits…lots of them. Starting with your heart. It’s been shown that drinking 100% pomegranate juice can improve blood flow and reduce plaque growth in your arteries. It helps with prostate health as well as…well, um…let’s just say you wont need Viagra if you are drinking pomegranate juice. And of course it is an antioxidant…a super one at that.
Now, you should know by now that I don’t do a lot of product review and what not on this site. Not that I don’t get asked, but so many of them don’t relate to my site at all. But when the people of POM Wonderful asked if they could send me a couple of bottles of POM Wonderful juice I jumped at the chance. I had heard that pomegranate juice is good for you but had no idea until I read all about it in the flier they sent me, but you can read about it on their website. I had the 100% pomegranate juice but they do offer blends that I have since tried, the Pomegranate Cherry and the Pomegranate Tangerine. I like the original the best and that is the one that does the most things for you.
Now they have recipes on their site but I wanted to make something of my own. I like how lemons and pomegranates taste together so I set on making a Meyer lemon pound cake with a pomegranate glaze. Since pomegranates tend to be on the tart side I decided to make a jelly out of my juice. Then turn that into a glaze. This cake is dense and bursting with flavor.
I must say that them sending me POM juice worked out in their favor as I am now a big fan and drink it each morning.

Meyer Lemon Pound Cake with Pomegranate Jelly Glaze

for the cake:
3 ½ cups sifted cake flour
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 ½ cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 ¼ cups sugar, divided
6 large eggs
1 cup milk
¾  cup fresh Meyer lemon juice, divided
1 TBSP plus 1 tsp finely grated Meyer lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pomegranate Jelly Glaze (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 300F. Butter and flour a 10-inch Bundt cake (I used a smaller one and used mini ramekins).
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together. Set aside.
Beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium speed in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in 1 ¾ cups of the sugar, about 3 TBSP at a time, and continue beating until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs, on e at a time, beating well after each additions.
Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture alternately with the milk in batches, beginning and ending with the flour.
Stir in the vanilla, 1 TBSP of zest, and ¼ cup lemon juice and blend until fully incorporated.
Transfer batter to the prepared ban and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Bake for 1 ½ hours, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cook in the pan on wire racks for 15 minutes. Smaller Bundt took me 1 hour and 5 minutes to bake in my oven. The small ramekin ones took about 45 minutes.
Meanwhile, bring the remaining ½ cup sugar, 2 tsp of zest, and the remaining ½ cup lemon juice to a boil over medium-high heat in a small saucepan, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.
Turn cake out onto the rack and immediately brush the hot syrup over the hot cake. Let cool to room temperature. Next pour over the Pomegranate Jelly Glaze. Serve the cake cut into wedges.

Adapted from Luscious Lemon Desserts by Lori Longbotham

Pomegranate Jelly Glaze

1 cup Pomegranate Jelly
1 ½ cups sifted powdered sugar

for the jelly:

2 cups granulated sugar, divided
3 TBSP  powdered fruit pectin (like Sure Jell or Certo)
2 cups POM Wonderful Pomegranate juice
1 cup light corn syrup

Combine ½ cup sugar and fruit pectin in a small bowl and set aside.
Bring pomegranate juice, remaining sugar, and corn syrup to a simmer in a large saucepan (it will boil up so you need the room) over medium heat.
Whisk in the sugar/pectin mixture and whisk until dissolved.
Whisk constantly until the mixture reaches 220F (you will need a candy thermometer).

Put the lids into a pan of hot water for at least several minutes; to soften up the gummed surface and clean the lids.
Fill jars to within ¼-inch of the top, wipe any spilled jelly off the top, seat the lid and tighten the ring around them. Then put them into the boiling water canner.
Keep the jars covered with at least 2 inches of water. Keep the water boiling. In general, boil them for 5 minutes, which is what SureJell (the makers of the pectin) recommend.
Leave them in the boiling water for 5-7 minutes.
Remove with tongs. Press the center to see if it pops up and down. If it pops up and down it is not sealed and you will have to use it within the next couple of days (keep in fridge). *If you do a boiling water bath on the jars, let them sit on a towel, untouched for 12-24 hours before testing for seals. It is OK if the bands look like they loosened, the seal is not harmed by it-but under no circumstances should you touch the hot jars to check the seal.
 

*If you are going to use right away you do not have to go through the whole canning process. You can simply pour into a jar and use within a couple of weeks as long as you keep it tightly covered in the fridge.

To make the glaze:
Heat 1 cup jelly in a small saucepan. Whisk in powdered sugar. Whisk until dissolved. Pour over pound cake.

When I moved to Washington State recycling was everywhere. Not so much in Arizona…like hardly at all. For me to recycle I had to box and bag up all my stuff and haul it to a recycling center that was no where near me. But here, we recycle (though not Styrofoam…grrr). Anyway, it’s all very convenient and they come to your house twice a month, simple enough.
We are not allowed beer in the locker room where I play. Beer and hockey go hand in hand…or hand to mouth as the case may be with the beer. So most teams sneak in “root” beer every week when they play. We just have to make sure that the cans disappear before we leave, well they leave ( I would never partake in drinking beer after a game ). This somehow brought us to the conversation one time of recycling.
I learned through this conversation just how lazy one of the guys on my team is. He recycles everything…including stuff he isn’t suppose to…like trash. He literally throws trash into the recycling bin. Why you ask (because I did)? Because he wants to make sure the guy at the recycling plant has a job. And if he does to good of a job sorting out and cleaning his recyclables then he is putting that guy out of a job. Men are strange.
Speaking of recycling I had to do some with those cookie truffles. The batch makes like 100 and so I needed to do something with them. A nice simple chocolate cupcake with a happy little surprise in the center. Some would say go with chocolate frosting but I felt that the Brown Sugar Buttercream complimented the cookie dough truffle. I forgot to dust mine with flour before putting them in so they all sank to the bottom, tasty all the same though.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Frosting
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

3 cups flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp baking soda
¼  tsp salt
12 TBSP unsalted butter , at room temperature
2 cups light brown sugar
3 large eggs (room temp, separated)
9 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted
2 cups milk
1 ½ tsp vanilla
cookie dough truffles

Grease and flour two muffing/cupcake pans.
Sift dry ingredients and set aside.
Using medium speed of mixer, cream butter until smooth.
Add sugar and beat until fluffy for 3 minutes.
In separate bowl, beat egg yolks until thick and lemon colored for 2 minutes.
Add beaten yolks to butter mix and beat well.
Add chocolate, mixing well.
Add dry ingredients in thirds, alternating with milk and vanilla.
With each addition, beat until well mixed, but do not overbeat.
Using a spatula, scrape down bowl, making sure ingredients are well blended and batter is smooth.
In separate bowl, beat egg whites on high to soft peaks.
Gently fold into batter.
Scoop batter into muffin pans, filling them up 1/3 of the way. Add a cookie dough truffle to the middle of the cupcake batter. Cover with another 1/3 of cake batter.
Bake at 350º for 18-22  minutes.
Cool in pans 10 minutes.

Brown Sugar Buttercream

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups brown sugar
4- 6 cups confectioners’ sugar
½  cup milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter, 2 cups brown sugar, 2 cups confectioner’s sugar, milk, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until smooth and creamy, 3 to 5 minutes. Gradually add remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating for about 2 minutes after each addition, until icing reaches desired consistency; you may not need to add all the sugar. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Adapted From More From Magnolia by Allysa Torey

When I am sad and stressed I just pick up my chin and grin and say…the sun will come out (SLAP! Not). Okay, where was I. Ah yes, being sad and stressed. When I am not having the best of days I used to follow a certain routine.
First I would exercise. If it could be kick boxing, rugby, or hockey that was a plus because I can usually try and hurt someone (really, I’m a nice person I promise ). I would work out, which all that did was make me sad, stressed and sweaty. I’m adding to the S adjectives but that’s about it.
Then I would usually journal my feelings (aka right down a lot of swear words on paper). That usually didn’t help all that mcuh and I usually end up killing part of a tree by burning that paper so as not to have evidence against me later.
Then there is the long hot bath. This helps me be less stinky after the exercise but really, that doesn’t help me all that much either.
And that leaves it to the screw it moment. The moment I drive to the store and think food or liquor? Food wins 99% of the time as drinking usually ends up badly and usually involves praying to the toilet God. And the food of choice is usually ice cream. And usually, even though it is not my favorite ice cream of all time, it is my break up/bad day at work/all around stress ice cream….Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream.
Scattered around my house and in the car and I am sure other places are written down notes of things I thought of, mostly recipe ideas. Though I am sure the solution to the current economic crisis is on one of those papers, I can never seen to find them. Randomly when I am cleaning I will find one and think “Ah, ha! I need to make that”. Then I put that piece of paper away, forget about it, and the whole process starts over again. But this last week I ran across my idea for my Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake. Combining to perfect stress eating foods. The cookie dough is tampered with just a bit as there are no raw eggs in it. But with the addition of the condensed milk, the texture and taste are the same.
I will say this is overload, but sometimes one needs overload. The only problem I  had with this concoction was cutting it. I got a couple clean slices but some of the others looked mutilated. So make sure that you have a nice sharp knife to cut though those truffles.

Peabody’s Really Bad Day Fix it All Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake

1 ¼ cups chocolate chip cookie crumbs (use a hard cookie like Chip’s Ahoy)
2 TBSP sugar
¼ cup unsalted butter, melted

32 ounces cream cheese
1 cup dark brown sugar, loosely packed
1 cup granulated sugar
2 TBSP all-purpose flour, plus some for dusting the truffles
4 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
approximately 20 cookie dough truffles, plus 5-8 to place on top (recipe follows)

Combine the cookie crumbs, 2 TBSP sugar and melted butter. Press this into the bottom of a 10 inch spring form pan. Bake crust for 10 minutes at 350F and set aside.
Mix the cheese and sugars with paddle attachment on medium speed, about 3 minutes.
Add in the flour on low speed. Add eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides and bottom after each egg. Add the egg yolks and vanilla and beat until completely incorporated.
Place truffles into a large bowl sprinkle with flour and light coat each one with flour (this helps them not all sink to the bottom). Remove and excess flour and fold into cheesecake, reserving a couple to place on the top.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Place the last few truffles on top of the cheesecake.
Wrap aluminum foil on the outside of the ban and bake in a water batch at 350F for approximately 1 ½ hours. A knife inserted should come out clean when the cake is done.
Chill the cake overnight and then remove from the pan.

Cookie Dough Truffles

½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
½ cup chocolate chips

Using a stand mixer (or a bowl and beaters), cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Beat in vanilla.
With speed on low, slowly add flour, alternating with condensed milk, beating g well after each addition.
Fold in chocolate chips.
Shape balls into 1-inch balls and place into an air tight container. Store in freezer for at least 3 hours.

These make way more than what you need for the cheesecake. You can just dip them in chocolate and eat them. Or my next recipe incorporates them as well and you can just wait around for that.

Source: My mom’s old neighbor who made them every Christmas