I must have missed the memo that said it was email Peabody questions week. Holy cow. I am used to getting quite a bit of email but this week must have been REALLY slow at people’s work. None of them really hate mail either (so refreshing ) but some definitely quirky ones. So let’s answer a few shall we:

We will start with my favorite question which won’t be addressed but was too interesting not to post:

“I was just wondering if you were getting laid yet? If not, my brother’s roommate is a super nice guy with a good job. He loves the food I make for them from your website and says he finds you attractive. We live in the Seattle area. If you are interested, I can give you his info”.

Wow. That is all.

“What is your biggest pet peeve?”

Well that’s kind of hard to say as it really changes daily depending on my mood. But since it’s the beginning of the year I have to say all the low carb people. I realize you lose weight doing it. I watch many a friend lose doing it. And many a friend gains it all back once they go back to carbs. Why not just pick something that will allow you to fit a fun sized Skittles pack a couple times into your week? The only friends that I have that have ever lost weight and truly keptit off were people who had a very realistic timeline (the Biggest Loser has really made people have an F-ed up view of how much weight you should lose in a week) and kept all of their favorite foods in their diet throughout their diet.

Oh and the other one is cryptic people on Facebook who do things like everyone send good vibes my world is coming to an end…and then never answer you when you ask what is up. Just a bunch of drama llama attention whores.

“Whatever happened to your friend that was dating the much older guy?”

For those not familiar with what this reader was talking about go here. The answer is happily that they are still together. Her family has come around now as they realize that he was not just some creeper older guy trying to be with a younger gal. They have a house together and spend their free time playing hockey together.

“I follow you on Pinterest and have to say that you are way more girly than I would think of a hockey player to be.”

This was really more of a statement than a question but I will address it nonetheless. While I am often in a hoodie and jeans due to my large amount of time spent at hockey rinks, I do love to dress girly. I love Anthropolgie (the store) and anything that has a bow on it. I’m a big sucker for a bow, which is maybe why I love Hello Kitty so much (I own Hello Kitty Vans). When I taught school I was the one in ruffled skirts and heels. And my favorite color is pink.

“Do you floss?”

Only when food is stuck. I’m bad I know.

“Do you miss your kitchen you had when you were married?”

Oh my goodness yes. I miss the counter space and cupboards alone. And I miss cooking with gas big time. I miss the whole house in general. I’m very much a homebody so I miss having a home so to speak. I can’t actually bring myself to look at photos of my house even after all this time. And knowing I probably won’t be in a house of my own for a very long time, if ever, is a little sad to be honest.

Well enough with that, let’s talk cupcakes. Lucky for me one of the good parts about going to Physical Therapy is that I have people to bring snacks to. I asked if they would like any treats and I got a very large yes! So yay! These are basically devils food cupcakes with a banana added to them with a yummy fudge frosting. I went with minis because I was giving them to several people…plus people don’t feel so guilty when they are bite size.

And one last reader question: “You always call yourself lazy yet you seem to always be doing something, baking takes time. Are you really lazy?” Yes. Yes I am. I am so lazy that instead of taking down the Christmas tree I just threw new ornaments on there and called it a Valentine’s Tree. I’m considering a Spring one next.

Chocolate Banana Mini Cupcakes with Fudgy Salted Caramel Frosting

Chocolate Banana Cupcakes
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 super crazy ripe banana, mashed
12 TBSP unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
9 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted (use a double boiler)
2 cups milk
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and lightly flour two muffin pans (hold 24 cupcakes each).

In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.

In a separate small bowl, beat the egg yolks until thick and lemon-colored, about 2 minutes. Add the beaten yolks to the butter mixture and beat well.

Add the chocolate, mixing until well incorporated.

Add the banana and beat well, until fully incorporated.

Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated, but do not overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl, making sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth.

In a separate small bowl, beat the egg whites on the high speed of an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gently fold into the batter. Divide the batter among the prepared pans.

Bake for 13-15 minutes, or until cupcakes spring back when you touch them. Let the cupcakes cool in the pans for 1 hour. Remove from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack.

Fudgy Salted Caramel Frosting

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
5 ounces semisweet chocolate
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup salted caramel sauce (I used Trader Joe’s)
1 tablespoon butter, room temperature
2-3 cups powdered sugar

Chop chocolates and transfer into a heat proof bowl. Add caramel sauce.

Heat cream until bubbles form around the edge of the pan, pour cream over the chocolate and caramel.

Let sit for 1 minute then stir until combined.

Add butter and vanilla and stir until combined.

Transfer to the bowl of an electric mixture and let cool for 10 minutes.

Sift powdered sugar into the mixture and beat until combined. Add more sugar if needed.

Continue to beat with an electric mixer until lighter in color and creamy.

I’m not totally sure how it started but someone suggested I run for President. I said no thanks that I had too many skeletons and it wasn’t a very fun job anyway. Then someone else piped up that I should just run for Congress then, as they are allowed to have skeletons. We had some lovely slogans all centered around my joke that I stay larger so people can see me better.

We had things like “there’s more of me to love thanks to bacon” and “vote for Peabody I have more cushin’ for pushin’”. That last one coming from my bff in California who hates overly skinny women.

To ensure I keep up with my figure to run for Congress I best figure out how to eat more bacon in my everyday life. We were discussing on my Facebook page how restaurants and recipes don’t call for enough bacon. You will notice this recipe calls for a pound. You can use more or less but I didn’t want to skimp after we just had a discussion about it.

These are a diet killer in every way possible. In the words of people I was sharing this with “why can’t I stop eating this?”. The answer is because I’m evil. And a genius. And an evil genius. Moderation doesn’t really exist with these unless you eat this with a lot of people. Then it becomes a death match to get the last pieces.

Maple Bacon Monkey Bread

About 1 cup brown sugar
2 cans (16.3 oz each) Pillsbury® Grands!® Homestyle refrigerated buttermilk biscuits (or any fridge biscuit)
About 1 ½ cups pure maple syrup

1 pound center cut bacon, fried, toweled for oil, and chopped into pieces

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3 TBSP maple syrup
3/4cup butter , melted

Heat oven to 350°F.

Lightly grease 12-cup fluted tube pan with cooking spray.

In a shallow bowl add 1 cup brown sugar (you might need more). In another shallow bowl, add maple syrup.

Separate dough into 16 biscuits; cut each into quarters.

Dip each piece into maple syrup and then into brown sugar.

Arrange in pan, adding bacon among the biscuit pieces.

In small bowl, mix brown sugar, 3 TBSP maple syrup, and butter; pour over biscuit pieces.

Bake 28 to 32 minutes or until golden brown and no longer doughy in center (this is hard to tell).

Cool in pan 10 minutes. Turn upside down onto serving plate; pull apart to serve. Serve warm.

Adapted from Pilsbury

If you always ate fast food and sweets and what not and threw back a beer are two and now you are not, don’t be surprised if people ask you if you are on a diet. Tell them yes. Do not tell them some bull-crap story about how no, you are just eating better. You. Are. On. A. Diet.

Are you losing weight? On a diet. Do you go to the movie theatre and really, really want movie popcorn but instead sit there and die the whole time while “enjoying” your 12 unsalted almonds or a 90 calorie Special K bar? On a diet. Go to a cupcake place and eat half a cupcake because you are just too full? On a diet.

Now if you are, no problem. You want to lose weight and you are taking in less calories. I get that. Just admit that when you are eating less calories you are on a diet. I’m so tired of the over used phrase of lifestyle change. It’s not a lifestyle change. You are on a diet. When you are done with the diet and you got to the weight you wanted to be and you still continue to eat the way you were eating for a year… Then, then I will say that you made a lifestyle change. But if you don’t reach the weight you wanted to and you go back to eating your fast food and what not, it wasn’t a lifestyle change…you were on a diet. Sense a theme.

Now since almost every female I know is currently on a diet (regardless of what they are calling it) giving away treats is always a bit trickier this time of year. Which is why you will probably see my posting less (that and sitting at the computer chair with the arm isn’t so awesome). Thank goodness for guys who rarely change anything…this is why they have underwear that looks like it could fall apart at any moment.

For those still enjoying the yummies of life, I give you these. Ironically they come from a chocolate cookbook, but I left out the chocolate. These were to be dipped or drizzled in chocolate. And I bet that would be yummy, it’s just after Christmas I am a little chocolated out. If you are a toffee fan these are for you. And because they are a butter cookie, yes, they are filled with butter.

Thanks again for the nice feedback on having some savory foods on here, it’s nice to know I have other options.

Toffee Butter Cookies

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup brown sugar, tightly packed
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup Heath Toffee Bits (not the chocolate covered kind)

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a stand mixer using a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar on medium speed, until fluffy, about three minutes.

Add egg and vanilla and beat until combined, about 30 seconds.

Reduce speed to low and add in dry ingredients, just until incorporated. Fold in toffee bits.

Divide dough in half and roll each piece into a log about 9 inches long and 1 ½ inches in diameter. Flatten logs into 2 ½ inch wide rectangles. Wrap rectangles in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 1 ½ hours.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Using a chef’s knife, cut dough into ¼ inch thick slices; transfer slices to parchment lined sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. Bake until just browned around edges, 10-12 minutes, witching and rotation sheets halfway through. Let cookies cool completely on baking sheets. The cookie will crisp up as it cools off.

From Cook’s Country Chocolate Desserts

Even though I am allergic to all peppers, raw onions, raw tomatoes, cilantro, and pretty much anything that makes Mexican food Mexican food I surprisingly love to cook it. I love the smell of the onions and peppers cooking. I just don’t love the fact that I have to dress like I am going to a hazmat dinner party to do so. And while this is actually more Cuban than Mexican it does possess many of the things I am allergic to. So why would I make it? Same reason I cook half the time…for someone else. Spread the love.

And with that I give you my first savory dish of the new year on the blog (most people voted yes on the savory…actually I am not sure if there was a no)…Ropa Vieja Stew. Now while Old Clothes Stew does sound yummy…we will ignore the direct translation. I promise there are not socks and underwear used in the making of this stew.

This recipe comes from my favorite food magazine of all time Cuisine at Home. Seriously, I have yet to make something from there that isn’t yummy. And I’ve gotten the magazine for a long time and I buy every one of their special issues. You will see them referenced a lot in the savory dishes.

For those who asked about my arm. I got into the neurologist finally and he was useless. Nothing like waiting five weeks to go to the doctor only to have them be no help at all. It also didn’t help that he was anti all contact sports. So clearly the wrong guy for me. I did get him to refer me to PT and am starting it now. Is the arm still hurt? Yep, a whole bunch, but I do take nerve blocker and that helps with the numbness big time. Unless of course I have to drive and run errands, then I just suck it up and deal with it. I have stuff to get done. Can’t sit around and not get stuff done because I am in pain….I would never get anything done that way. Hopefully the PT will help it and I will be back to semi-good in no time.

Ropa Vieja Stew

4 strips thick-sliced bacon, diced
1 3/4 LB flank Steak, cut into 3 pieces, seasoned with salt and pepper
2 cups onion, chopped
2 poblano Chiles, seeded, sliced
1 red bell pepper, seeded, sliced
2 T. garlic, minced
1 T. tomato paste
1/3 cup masa harina
1 bottle beer (12oz)
2 cups beef broth
1 can black beans, drained, rinsed (15 oz.)
1/2 cup pimiento-stuffed olives, sliced
1 T. dried oregano leaves
2 t. ground cumin
Salt to taste

Garnish with:

Chopped scallions

Preheat oven to 375.

Sauté bacon in a large ovenproof pot over medium-high heat until crisp; transfer to a paper towel-lined plate and set aside.

Brown steak in drippings, about 5 minutes per side, remove and set aside.

Add onion, chilies, and bell pepper, and sauté until beginning to brown, 5 minutes.

Stir in a garlic and tomato paste, cook 3 minutes, then stir in masa harina and cook 1 minute.

Deglaze with beer; simmer until nearly evaporated, scraping any bits from the bottom of the pot.

Add broth, bring to a boil, then return beef to the pot; cover and braise in the oven until fork-tender; about 1 hour.

Remove flank steak from the pot, shred with 2 forks, then add back to the pot with reserved bacon, beans, olives and spices. Simmer 5 minutes; season with salt. Garnish with scallions.

Makes 8 cups.

From Cuisine at Home Magazine (if you don’t subscribe to this you should…it’s the best magazine).