It’s been a while since I posted a recipe here, so I bring you something sweet.  With my oven broken, I’ve been feeling a little stressed out.  When I get stressed out, I need (want?) sugar in a major way.  Yes, it does nothing for my huge hips, but it makes me feel better.  Anyway, since I can’t bake the chocolate cupcakes I had planned to make, I set out to find something I could make with my microwave.  What I found, thanks to my awesome mom’s suggestion, was this:

Chocolate Peanut Butter Microwave Fudge

12 oz. Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 TBSP Peanut Butter

Mix chocolate chips with sweetened condensed milk in a microwave safe bowl.  Microwave on high 4-5 minutes, or until mixture is melted smooth.  Do not over heat.  Once melted, remove from microwave and stir-in peanut butter. Spread in a 8×8 square pan and set aside to cool.  Cool completely before cutting.

I made it yesterday when I was feeling like crap, and grumpy as hell, and it really helped.  Matt and I liked it, so I thought I’d share.  I made it with milk chocolate chips, so the consistency is probably different than it would have been had I had semi-sweet chips in the cabinet.  I also used creamy peanut butter, and a bit more than the recipe called for, and Matt said he’d have liked for me to use crunchy.  Since I don’t like crunchy, that wasn’t happening.  All in all, I’d call this sweet success!

This is, of course, not my recipe.  I got it at GroupRecipes.

While attempting to make a grocery list last night, I realized I have no idea how to cook anything that won’t immediately clog all your arteries and kill you.  I love comfort food, but making and eating it is really affecting my diet.  I had biscuits and gravy for dinner last night, which is so crazy good, but does nothing to aid my weight loss efforts.  The thing is, two summers ago, when I was losing weight, I cooked a lot of great meals that were healthy.  Now, I can’t remember a single one of them.  All I can come up with is chicken and fish, but I see that getting really old, really fast.  So, I’m on the hunt for really good, really good for us recipes to help keep me on track so that I can get groceries.

I’ve been looking at SparkRecipes and I’ve found some really good things I want to try, but there are so many recipes, it’s almost impossible to sort through them all!  So, I’m looking for suggestions… what do you like to eat that’s good, and good for you?  Share with me!

I know that I posed a recipe a few days ago, but I just couldn’t resist this one.  This isn’t my recipe, I found it on this blog a few months ago and I’ve been dying to make it ever since, but keep forgetting to get the ingredients.  I managed to remember last time I was at Wal-Mart, and got around to making them tonight.

Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Fudge Cupcakes

1 box Chocolate Cake Mix
2 Eggs, Oil, & Water
1 bag Chocolate Chips
2 Tbsp Butter
2 tsp Vanilla
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk
24 Cupcake Wrappers

1. Mix cake by package directions. I used Dark Chocolate Fudge, but any chocolate cake will work. Use one less egg than the recipe calls for (ie. my cake called for 3, I only used 2), that way the cupcakes are less like cake and more moist and fudgy.

2. Add 1/2 c. chocolate chips. The original recipe calls for semi-sweet, but I used milk chocolate. It turned out to be a good contrast with the dark chocolate cake.

3. Spoon into cupcake wrappers.  I use a cookie scoop because it’s easy to maneuver.  Two scoops per wrapper is about right.

4. Bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees, until a toothpick inserted in one comes out clean. Cool.

5. When cupcakes are cooled, clear a spot in the fridge and put down wax paper. I used foil, for lack of waxed paper, but waxed paper would be much better. They sort of stuck to the foil.

6. In medium bowl, melt butter about 30 seconds. Add vanilla, 2 c. chocolate chips, and sweetened condensed milk. Melt together all ingredients about another 30 seconds, stirring until smooth. Heat in increments of 15 seconds, if necessary, stirring between heating to make sure you don’t over cook it. Overcooked ganache is not pretty, so be careful.

6. Set ganache aside for 5 or so minutes. The ganache is really runny, so letting it cool will make it easier to work with.

7. Once ganache has set up a little, frost cupcakes with rubber spatula and place in the fridge immediately. I frosted one and put it right in the fridge, repeat. That way, the cold in the fridge can slow ganache from running off the cupcake completely. It will overflow onto the sides, and the cupcakes will look pretty!  Make sure you don’t try dipping the cupcakes into the ganache, it’ll just tear them up… trust me on this one.

8. Let cupcakes stand in fridge for about 2 hours, or until the ganache is completely set up.  When they’re set up, take them out of the fridge and serve with a big glass of milk!!

There you have it.  The one thing I’ll say is that this recipe took me a long time.  It wasn’t quick.  I can only cook the cupcakes 12 at a time, so mixing them up and baking them took about an hour.  Then, they had to cool and frosted, which took another hour or so.  I may have a skewed memory of the amount of time it took to make them because I made dinner between baking them and frosting them.  Then they had to sit.  So yeah, not a quick recipe but worth every second it took making them, because they’re delicious and because I had a fun baking them.

If you decide to try it, I’d love it if you’d share pictures of yours with me.  I just love the way they look!

Bon Appétit!!