Carbs, carbs, and more carbs.

I'm nearing the end of my third week of this block of classes which is just so exciting. Half way done with another glorious baking class! I love sharing pictures of the treats I've made. This class, as I said, is all about Breads! These are some of the breads I've baked so far:

 Dinner Rolls

 Baguettes

 Whole Wheat boules

 Sourdough Rye boules

Sourdough baby marriage

 Lenay & me with our Sourdough babies! So precious

xx

19 years.

Okay, so tomorrow is my 20th birthday and that's really really exciting for me. For some reason I'm convinced that 20 is a bigger milestone than 21, even though I'll probably beg to differ a year from now haha. It's weird to think that this is my last day as a teenager. I can clearly recall every birthday from 13 to 19, all full of memories and fun and most of all, love. Love is the stand out word to describe the last 7 years of my life. I met the most amazing people in the world from middle school to high school to college. Some I talk to all the time and some I've lost touch with. I've moved once, changing my life drastically for the better. I had the wonderful pleasure of falling in love twice with two guys that I regret nothing with. I was promoted from 8th grade, I graduated from high school, I started at Arizona State, went to real estate school, and now I'm following my heart at Le Cordon Bleu.

This past block of classes has by far been the rockiest for me. It was my second Culinary class, one that I anticipated I wouldn't enjoy. Boy, was I right. I'm not a quitter. I never have been. I'm a determined and seriously ambitious person, so for everything to affect me the way it has shocked me. Almost everyday on the drive to school, I'd get nauseous. In class, I'd get really hot and dizzy and be so close to passing out. I attributed it the first time to being sick, but soon it was a daily thing. This class overwhelmed me more than anything I've ever experienced. I had severe anxiety to the point where I just didn't go to class anymore. I stopped going. My parents found out and eventually pushed me to contact the school and reevaluate everything. I was after all paying thousands and thousands of dollars to pursue my dream. Culinary class never seemed to be a part of my dream because if I was doing something I loved, why did I always feel so anxious and close to tears because of it? I met with my counselor and told her that I wanted to switch programs. Instead of going for my associates and graduating in November 2012, I will be receiving a certificate in Patisserie and Baking and graduating sometime between November 2011 and February 2012.

Wow, this is really happening I guess. You guys are some of the first to know besides my parents. I'm really really excited. It's just starting to hit me, but I know I'm just getting closer to all of my plans and dreams. I think it's also the perfect way to start out my 20's. Thank you all so much for your constant support. I really appreciate and value you each one of you that reads. You mean the world to me. Thank you for sticking by me for another year. :) Enjoy your Thursday lovelies and enjoy a peek into my birthdays from my sweet sixteen through my 19th. :)

 Sweet Sixteen

 17th Birthday - Surprise Rockstar Party

 18th - Freaks & Geeks

19th - Nautical Aquarium

xoxo.

Finals week!

Hello again, my blog lovelies! I've noticed that blog world has been quite quiet, myself included. Next week is finals week and this week is complete crunch time! I have a bunch of recipes to get done and a minimal amount of time. So basically, I'm stressed out of my mind. With the added stress of some issues in my personal life, I've been completely consumed. I'm happy to say I've only had one serious meltdown and it was manageable with the help of my Little, my bby Ben, and my best friends, Alex and Courtney. For some CRAZY reason these people are there for me at my worst and they're amazing listeners. One of my other sanities is of course, baking. This post would be seemingly meaningless without something good and yummy to look at, so here are some of my latest creations! Have a wonderful hump day and let's all try to stay cool and collected during these last few weeks.

 Mini Blueberry Pie with Lattice Top

 Biscotti

 Strassberger Cookies

 Fresh Fruit Tart

 Pear Almond Tart

Devil's Food Cake with Whipped Ganache Frosting

Okay, so this last picture isn't a cake or a pastry, but one of the absolute best presents ever! Okay maybe that's an exaggeration, but I adore it. I love when my momma finds me cute things like this:

"I Can Be a Chef" Barbie

She's seriously presh. I can't even handle it!! :) Okay, that's all for now, lovelies. 

xx

Quick Update

Hello loves! It's the end of a new week of classes. It's definitely been exciting to say the least! I only have one class this 6 week block, but it's already proving to be more than enough. It's wonderful to be baking with flour and sugar and chocolate, instead of cutting vegetables. I'm definitely still getting used to the 3 and a half hour class in a hot kitchen with 30 other people. I don't think it helps that there's also only about half that number of chairs to sit in. (Moral of the story: get to class early!!) I've been super busy with new reading assignments and recipes to review, but I'm still constantly checking in to all of my new followers here, on twitter, and on tumblr!! It's been wonderful to see all your new shining faces!

This week has been full of new recipes and lots of planning. My cousin, Nicole, and I are diving head first into the cupcake plans for the Friend's of St. Jude's Sugar Ball on the 16th, so that's been a huge AMAZING time consumer. Last week I also went on my very first date with a guy and it was really nice. That's all I'm gonna say about that for now. :) I've also been on the hunt for two drug store products: a good long lasting black eyeliner and something semi comparable to my Bobbi Brown creamy concealer kit. So, if you have any recommendations for an inexpensive, good (preferably non pencil) eyeliner and a concealer product, leave me a comment!

I'll close this mini life update with a happy report that after a week my burns are looking and feeling much better and I'll also share pictures of two of the recipes I've made so far this week in class!! Brownies with Dark Chocolate and White Chocolate Ganache & HUGE Chocolate Chip Cookies!!

Have a good Thursday dolls!! :)

CCCb Muffins

Yesterday I had one of the most fun days hanging out alone in the kitchen. I have a long laundry list of recipes I want to try, but most of them had ingredients to go out and get and I just wasn't in the mood. I had these:

{Two B-A-N-A-N-A-S!}

And of course the very first recipe was a muffin recipe with Bananas, Cinnamon, and Chocolate Chips, all things I had readily available! The name is a super mouthful, so I'm calling them CCCb's! (Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Banana Muffins!) These are super easy and quick and quite delish, if I do say so myself. 

{CCCb's}
Makes 1 Dozen Scrumptious Muffins

You're gonna need:

Egg - 1

Flour - 1 1/2 cups

Milk - 3/4 cup

Milk Chocolate Chips - 1 cup

Brown Sugar - 1/2 cup (Get another 1/3 cup for crunch on top)

Banana - 1

Vegetable Oil - 1/4 cup

Baking Powder - 3 tsp

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Cinnamon - 1 tsp (Get another 1 tsp for crunch on top)

Nutmeg - 1/4 tsp

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line muffin tins or use butter/spray to grease tin.
2. Peel and cut your banana in a bowl and use anything to smush and smash it like a fork or whisk, like I did. You can also puree it, if you have the resources available.
3. Add all the ingredients in a stand mixer or a bowl and mix on low speed. Scrape down the side of bowl as needed!
4. When ingredients are completely mixed and incorporated, scoop batter into muffin tin about 2/3 full. Mix together extra 1/3 cup Brown Sugar and extra 1 tsp Cinnamon in small bowl and sprinkle Cinnamon Sugar mixture on top of each.
5. Bake for 20 minutes or until tops spring back when touched. Let cool and ENJOY!

I hope you enjoy these scrumptious muffins!! These are such a quick and yummy treat for breakfast or any time. :) Have a good Tuesday dolls. xx

Life and Whoopie Pies.

I'm loaded up on caffeine and ready for a long night ahead of me. Tomorrow is my first exam and I'm more than a little bit freaking out! I've been making flashcards since last week. (I'm up to 40 for one class and I've been in school for a week!!) I figured I'd do a quicky post because I'm taking another break from the craziness of French knife cuts and kitchen organization.

Today, I went job hunting. It's seriously one of my least favorite things to do, ever. I headed to the mall and applied at two cupcake bakeries and was intent on also applying at American Eagle and Victoria's Secret, but ended up making purchases from both and never asked if they were hiring. ...Maybe that's why I'm broke. Ha. I guess I'll keep my fingers crossed for now!

Life's been good otherwise. I'm still riding the single train. It's surely a different one for me. I'm very used to having a serious long term boyfriend. There haven't been many months since Freshman year of high school that I can recall being single. Everyone is trying to encourage me that the single life is fun and there's nothing better than being independent, but I have to say it's not easy for me and so far, not very fun. I currently have my eye on someone special, but we'll see if history continues to repeat itself for me. (FINGERS & TOES CROSSED IT DOESN'T)

In the past week, I've done more cooking/cutting than baking, so I've definitely been suffering from withdrawals. I've whipped up two special desserts in the past weekend to feed my baking appetite. I'm only going to share one because I'm kind of selfish about my favorite desserts. ;) I was inspired by a new baking book that I got called, Whoopie Pies, and they're kind of insanely adorable. They will definitely be an addition to my bakery menu one day!! These ones I made were from Gourmet.com and they were HUMONGOUS.  If you're about to say pics or it didn't happen:

Yeah, they're massive. I think from the above recipe, I got like 6 HUGE Whoopies. I'd say spoon LESS than 1/4 cup of batter because I spooned about 1/4 give or take and they were just too big to be honest. I also used regular Cocoa Powder because I couldn't find Dutch Process anywhere. There's also a recipe for marshmallow type filling, I didn't use it. I used Martha's handy dandy Cream Cheese Icing recipe, a real crowd pleaser. :) Also, don't forget the egg. (Confession: I did...)

I hope you enjoy these as much as me and my fambam and friendsies did! And I'll leave you with a lovely picture of me without makeup studying with my baby boo sleeping on my bed. Goodnight dolls.

Baking on a Budget!

I know I haven't posted any recipes lately, but I have definitely still been baking. Trust me, my dishwasher is proof. If you're like me and you're on a budget, baking can get pricey fast! I'm gonna share with you some homemade knowledge that I've been forced to stumble upon, on my own baking adventures. I've probably spent way more money than necessary on ingredients I already had, "the top of the line sugar," and disgusting organic flours that have no place in cupcakes.

1. Don't be afraid of store brand products: milk, butter, cream cheese, etc. I actually am more likely to buy the cheaper "bargain" products at Walmart even when I can afford to splurge. I don't think there is anything wrong with them, even if it is "suggested" that you use top quality products.
2. BUY IN BULK! Oh my gosh, I don't think I can emphasize enough. I bake A LOT, so spending the money on a 25 LB bag of APF (All Purpose Flour) or a pint of Pure Vanilla Extract is so worth it because it lasts forever. I only buy in bulk, the things that do not go bad quickly and that I use in almost every recipe like Sugar, Vanilla, Flour, Baking Powder, etc. 
3. Keep your materials organized. I'm a messy baker. My supplies were scattered throughout my pantry, fridge, counters, cabinets, all over the place really. This made it easy to forget what I had enough of or was running out of. I frequently was coming home from the store with excess of stuff I had and forgetting what I actually needed. (EGGS & BUTTER!!!!) I got my stuff organized in bins on my counter next to my mixer with a list of things I'm running low on, so then you're not spending money unnecessarily!
4. Plan your recipes! Okay, so maybe I should be taking my own advice especially on this one. But here it goes anyway. Take time to make a list of the recipes you'd like to make, print out/make a copy of each recipe and highlight the ingredients you need. If it at all possible choose recipes where "special/different" ingredients overlap like kinds of fruit. That will keep you from making rush shopping trips when you're "in the mood" to bake where you're likely to overspend on ingredients that you'll never use again. (Safflower Oil...) 
5. Try it before you buy it.  No, I don't mean sample the ingredients in the store. I mean make half batches of recipes with expensive ingredients instead of splurging on a huge bottle or bag of something you end up not using or liking. I did this at the beginning with organic ingredients for vegan or g-free (gluten free) cupcakes! I have about 10 types of organic flour in ziploc bags in my pantry and I had 6 different kinds of milk in my fridge! One bag of specialty flour was $15 and it made my cupcakes taste grainy...never again! Just don't commit to expensive things when you know your money is better spent elsewhere on necessary materials like butter and sugar!

The ridiculous amount of natural flours in ziploc bags!!!!

I'll also be finishing each post with a 20 Day Challenge question or statement. Thank you to the wonderful Malori of Sunday Morning Sugar for supplying me with the questions. :) (She's AWESOME! Check her out.) I was gonna wait till the 1st Day of February, but I got excited and needed the motivation to blog everyday!

Day 1: Facebook Profile Picture

If you've read this blog enough, you know this girl, the more ghostly one next to me of course. ;) She's my cousin, Alyssa, but better known as Twin. Literally, when we're out anywhere, I call her twin, never Alyssa. This picture is from Sunday on the drive to church together. Ever since she got half days this semester, she's been practically living at my house. I love it. (Shout out to my twin, who has been working today, I miss you bia!)

Comment below if you have any other baking budget tips or any specific baking questions! I'd love to do an all baking questions post sometime soon.

9 Things About Me.

For some reason, I like planning for big posts on Monday's. Yep, I definitely do. I'll give you a sneak peek with some pictures from weheartit and I'll share with you my tumblr day 2 challenge answers, just for fun. :) I'd love to stay and chat, but I'm going to see Young Frankenstein at Gammage with Trey. Eeps, love plays. Have a good Sunday kiddie cats.

Day Two: Nine things about yourself.

I’m really self conscious about my arms looking too big in pictures.

I am grammatically correct in everything even texts and facebook.

One of my biggest enemies is meringue because I can’t get it to fluff correctly.

I hope to have a world cupcake empire by the time I’m 40.

I want to live in San Francisco and Chicago one day.

I really like disposable cameras.

Rachel Berry is the character I am most like and it doesn’t bother me one bit.

I am very picky about my pens, they have to fit in my hand perfectly.

I really love scratching backs and running my fingers through Trey’s hair constantly especially when he’s driving. :)