Sweet Surprise

I don’t know why I named this post “Sweet Surprise” because it’s no surprise I am baking something sweet AGAIN.

What did I make you ask?

Ingredients included: Dark Chocolate. Double Stuf Oreos. All wrapped up into a cupcake. I think I’m in love. Sorry, Adam.

The Easter Bunny knows me well… When he placed this beautiful can of Sprinkles cupcake mix in my basket this year I was brainstorming ideas on how to make them my own. I had leftover Double Stuf Oreo’s from some type of event a while back and thought this could be the perfect pair. Actually, I lied. Peanut butter would’ve been the perfect pair but my family might be sick of my PB & Choc combo? I’m only here to please you people.

These cupcakes were actually very simple.

First you have to buy one of these (or your favorite chocolate boxed mix)

Next follow the directions to a tee.

Bake them

Let them cool for 15 minutes.

While cupcakes are cooling you will prepare your filling.

Cookies and Cream Filling

Ingredients

• 12 Double Stuf Oreo Cookies
• 1 Cup Whipping Cream
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 Tbs sugar

Directions

• Place Oreos in Food processor and chop. (If you don’t have a food processor – smash them in a bag)

• Place whipping cream, vanilla and sugar in bowl and beat for 5 minutes or until soft peak forms.

• Mix in cookie crumbs

• Place in refrigerator until you are ready to fill.
• Take a paring knife and cut a cone shape out of your cupcakes.
• Fill cupcakes with mixture

• Refrigerate for 10-20 minutes
• Carefully spread frosting of choice (I used store-bought Triple Chocolate Fudge Chip) on top of cupcakes
• Top with half of an oreo

Since I only made 12 cupcakes I had A LOT of extra filling left… What I didn’t eat by the spoonful went on a couple of the cupcakes as frosting.

Rumor has it the filling frosting was better than the triple chocolate fudge chip. Maybe I shouldn’t have eaten so much of it by the spoonful?

Neh, everyone got a taste of it on the inside. There’s always next time.

I’m a self-proclaimed chocoholic but I’m not a big chocolate cake lover… These were absolutely delicious though. Fluffy, soft, flavorful and just the right amount of sweetness. Kind of sounds like me.

You can find me at the gym. Happy Tuesday!

QUESTIONS: What is your favorite cupcake flavor!? Mine is funfetti…DUH

Easter Weekend

Ohh, what a weekend. Where should I begin? How about with food??

Friday night  when my boyfriend finalllllly arrived we sat down and made pulled pork sandwiches. I have 2 things to say about this. 1.) This is the easiest recipe ever. 2.) Have you ever had bone suckin sauce? You must go buy this RIGHT NOW.

Obsessed. This was my first time making pulled pork even though I order it every time I eat out if it’s on the menu. Who knew it was so easy to make?

Pulled Pork

• 1 sliced onion
• 3 lbs pork shoulder
• 1 can of vegetable broth

Place it all in the crock pot on Low for 9 hours. Remove pork and shred (remove fat). Place back in the crock pot. Serve on Whole Wheat Buns. Clearly I like BBQ sauce,so my sandwich is drenched in it… But whatever you choose to do with yours, PLEASE use the bone suckin sauce. You won’t regret it.

Since I made 3 pounds there were plenty of leftovers… We could’ve easily made these sandwiches again. But I have a.d.d. and a new  pan

so it must be put to good use. Cuban panini’s sounded like a good plan to me

and they were. Whole wheat bread, honey mustard, leftover pulled pork, deli turkey, Muenster cheese and of course pickles! Sorry about the bad picture :/

Saturday was rainy so we dyed some easter eggs in the morning.

Don’t mind the clorox bottle… My boyfriend’s a little messy.

Since it was raining we needed a comforting, warm breakfast. So we had a “healthier” version of my Overnight French Toast Casserole.

The “healthier” version included whole wheat bread, egg whites, unsweetened almond milk, earth balance “butter” and sugar-free maple syrup. Still JUST as good as the regular version, so save the calories if you can

The sun magically appeared and we headed to Camden Yards to try to scalp tickets to the Baltimore vs Yankees game. My boyfriend is a HUGE baseball (yankees) fan so being the great girlfriend I am I agreed to give up my dreams of trying out the new Vegan restaurant to have blue moons and hot dogs.

Best part about it? We got FREE tickets 20 rows behind home plate!

Worst part about it?? My car was towed…To the tune of almost $400!!!!! Baltimore city is THE worst.

So annoying.

That left us a good 4 hours of sleep before Church the next day.. Somehow we managed to look presentable.

It turned out to be a BEAUTIFUL day so after taking a million pictures outside we headed to my mom’s for Easter linner.

The Easter Bunny had dropped off a basket for me – Sprinkles cupcake mix (dark chocolate), pretty cupcake liners, sugar-free peeps, jelly beans, lindt chocolates, a notepad, hand made note cards and of course REESE’S EGGS! I politely asked the Easter Bunny to go easy on the Eggs this year because I knew I would eat all of them. So there were 2… I approved.

Aren’t these notecards GORGEOUS? Every detail is hand-made… I’m saving them for a something special!

NOW, for the food. We easily ate ourselves into a food coma… But, that was the plan.

Honey Baked Ham

Spinach Salad w/ feta, dried cranberries & sunflower seeds

Grilled Corn salad with cheese, tomatoes and avocados

Homemade mac & cheese

Grandma's Mashed Potatoes

Unpictured: Turkey, Sweet Potatoes, and rolls.

My plate went like this:

Carb Loader

My boyfriend and I were in charge of dessert and I’d like to think we succeeded.

Strawberries & Cream Cake

Chocolate & Peanut Butter Eggs

Crumb Cake from Carlos Bakery in Hoboken

My plate:

I had to try everything

It really was an AMAZING weekend (minus the car being towed) with surprisingly beautiful weather. I went to bed at 745 pm to catch up on sleep from the night before in hopes of feeling normal today. It didn’t work. BUT, I am hoping to be back on track by tomorrow. I have a little confession…

I’ve been eating horribly, not going to the gym and I’m really starting to feel gross. So, tomorrow I need to get back on track… I need to get to the gym, I need to pack healthy food and I need to get out of this funk!! Give me some motivation

Let’s make this week a good one!!

Questions: What do you do for motivation? Send me some!! What’s your favorite memory from the weekend?