A new leaf...

I think I am going to turn over a new leaf and start to blog my cooking and baking experiences.
I have really loved baking. I love to make goodies and I end up taking them to work. Mostly because I don't want to eat everything I make but also because I love to share with my friends at work. I took some chocolate peanut butter cupcakes to work the other day and one of the ladies I work with asked if she could make a request for the next time I felt like baking. I said sure! I asked what it was she would like me to make and she said, "I want to try maple bacon cupcakes." She wanted vanilla ones, but I wanted chocolate ones. So I made both. I actually have one of my co-workers tell me I should open a bakery. He even offered to put up the money :-). I have found that being in the kitchen and cooking or baking is a stress reliever, at least until it comes time to clean up my huge mess. (I have found that the bigger the kitchen, the bigger the mess!) Well here is my version of Maple Bacon Cupcakes in both the chocolate and vanilla version.

Chocolate Cupcakes
1 cup butter
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1 3/4 cups sugar

2 cups flour

3/4 cup cocoa

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp soda

Cream eggs, butter, sugar, and vanilla. Add flour, cocoa, salt and soda. Add buttermilk and slowly mix. Increase mixing speed and mix until smooth. Fill lined muffin tins 1/2 to 2/3 full. Bake at 350 degree for 20-22 minutes, rotating pans half way through baking time. Cool. Frost with frosting flavor of your choice.

Vanilla Cupcakes
2 1/2 cups cake flour

1 T. baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Sift together in small bowl.

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

4 egg whites

Combine in another small bowl.

1 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cups butter-soft

2 tsp vanilla

Cream together. Add flour mixture, alternating with milk/egg mixture. Mix until well blended and smooth. Fill paper lined muffin tins 1/2-2/3 full and bake at 350 degree for 20 minutes, rotating pans halfway during baking time. Frost with favorite frosting of your choice.

Satiny Smooth Buttercream Frosting

6 egg whites

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 cubes of butter

5 cups of powdered sugar

1-2 tsp of vanilla (it depends on if you are making a different flavor)

Whisk sugar and egg whites in bowl over simmering water on stove until sugar is no longer grainy. Remove from heat and continue whisking until frothy. Place in bowl of stand mixer and beat on medium speed for several minutes. When side of bowl has cooled, add butter one stick at a time. The mixture will look like it has curdled, but keep mixing. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time. Scrape side of bowl and continue to mix until creamy. Frost cooled cake or cupcakes.

This recipe frosted about 75 cupcakes.

For the Maple Bacon Cupcakes-

Add 2 tsp maple flavoring

This frosting can be made with lemon juice and zest for a lemon frosting. I can't remember if I used this as a base for chocolate frosting, but I think it would be fabulous. Just add cocoa powder. I have used it for cream chees frosting by subbing cream cheese for the butter. Be adventurous and try different flavors.

Top maple frosted cupcakes with the following-

1 pound of *bacon cooked until crisp-I bake my bacon on a cookie sheet in the oven at 400 degrees until it is done.

Cut bacon in pieces with kitchen shears or chop with sharp knife. What ever works best for you.

Place bacon pieces in skillet, add 3 T brown sugar and cook over medium heat until brown sugar caramelizes the bacon. Cool and sprinkle on cupcakes.

*I bought the bacon ends and pieces from the local grocery store. Worked out perfectly since they were already in pieces.

Town Hall Meetings

At work we were required to attend a Town Hall Meeting, and I will have to admit I was not very excited about it. Some of my co-workers had attended and the reviews were mixed. Some of them loved it, others felt like it was a "shape up or ship out" kind of meeting. Last night I went and went with an open mind. I am blonde so the open mind is really not that difficult. We were told that we (EIRMC) needed to step up the patient experience a notch or two. We were at the bottom of the polls of patient satisfaction surveys. The government is going to use patient satisfaction as a criteria in reimbursement. This could affect jobs here at EIRMC. He even pulled the competition card and sneakily challenged us to do better to beat the local competitor in the surveys. If you know me, I don't like to lose, so that motivated me a bit.

Anyway, we learned that we were last and that we needed to do better. They showed us that if we are only giving 99% then last year we would have given 15 babies to the wrong parents, had 22 drug administration mistakes, 350 surgical instruments used that were not sterilized. We could not afford to be only 99%. We needed to be at 100%.

At the end of the meeting they showed a little video clip that is worth watching. Google "212". It is quite inspiring. I came from that meeting with a renewed attitude and it reminded me why I became a nurse. I admit that I have been quite negative at work the last couple of months and I have recommitted to my career, my workplace and my co-workers. I want to be just 1 degree more to make a difference in people's lives. Thank you Doug, Kathleen and Sandy for your dedication to our EIRMC family. Thank you for "making" me go to the Town Hall Meeting.

Plan B on K & G's quilt

Well, I am in need of some different fabric for the last border on Kami and Garrett's quilt top. The pattern did not have me get enough. And I can't find anything but fat quarters for the fabric I need. So I guess I will do what I do best...unpick seams. I am sooo bummed. Back to square one, or is the square 3 or 4? I might actually get it done before their first anniversary.

I need some inspiration...

Well, I just spent the last 1-1 1/2 hours looking at other's blogs and I want to blog more often and then put it in a book like Berta did at Bbchronicles. What a way to journal. But, I need to inspiration to get started. I know that I have posts on here already, but there are some neat blogs out there. Mine is not one of them. I have so many thoughts running through my brain right now that I don't even know where to start.(There is a lot of empty space in my brain for thoughts to run.) Since my last post I have had a lot of things happen to me. Some good and some bad. Maybe on my next post I will update you on what has happened. I am struggling with my work and have a crazy idea to do something totally different but I am scared to death. More thought on this later too. Maybe this weekend I will sit down and spew my brains. It may even be therapeutic.

Work, work, and more work!

My work schedule has been so crazy the past couple of weeks. I had the privelage of working the midnight shift for a week and let's just say I did survive. I approached it head on and told myself I can do anything for a week. I am still trying to make up my sleep. The best part about that week was having Paige and Daxton at my house. It was so fun to come home each morning and get to see Dax. He is a joy!(So is his momma!)
We got grandbaby number 9 on June 21st. Emma is here and it is just killing me to not have seen her yet and hold her and kiss her little cheeks and fingers.
My sister Charlene came and stayed the night, along with her daugher Alena and Clayton, Whitney, Owen and Camilla. It was so much fun to see them. We had snacks with my mom, Vernon, Kathy, Kami, Kaden and Mark along with a fire to roast marshmallows for s'mores. Kaden wanted to tell ghost stories when we were out by the fire. I thought it was so cute that he associated the fire with ghost stories. Sadly, I couldn't remember any.
After the Jenkins and Anderson crew went on with their journey I cleaned the house AGAIN for the next visiting crew. Rob's brother came to see us and we had a BBQ and a house full of kids spread out on the floor, couches and beds. Twelve in all not counting us. Unfortunately I had to work the weekend they were here so I didn't get to spend Saturday with them.
I am actually at work as I am writing this update. It was my turn to work the weekend. I am glad it only happens about every 3 months. I don't want to jinx myself but work is really quiet, especially today. Since I titled this update work, I also want to share that I have been working alot the last week. I was only scheduled to work 4 hours last Monday, but it was a very busy day and they asked me if I would work a 12 hour shift. I misunderstood and thought I was only going to work my 4 hours in the morning instead of the afternoon, but came to work and realized it was actually to work the whole day. Then I thought I would be scheduled off the next day but no, I was still needed on Tuesday. Friday I was scheduled off, but was asked to be on call because another nurse had called in sick and they needed someone just in case. I hesitantly said yes and later regretted it. They always sugar coat the request making it sound like you really won't be needed. Never telling the truth. Oh well, I may not say yes next tim. I was called in to work and stayed 4 hours at time and a half. I missed the family BBQ with Rob's brother and his family, but I did make a little money.
We are planning on going on a vacation in July so the money will come in handy. I sure hope we can get enough money saved so we can go see the Church history sites. Well, I better go and be productive. Blog you later!

Way to busy, even with the rain!

Wow, I can't believe that it has been since April 30 since I last blogged. I like my scales better now. I have lost about 20 pounds. In the last couple weeks I have not been as motivated, but I am trying to get back in the groove. I do know that even though food tastes good, it doesn't always feel good in my tummy. Now that doesn't mean that I don't eat until my tummy hurts. I have done some fun projects for my yard. Mostly with my flowers and flower pots. I will post them as soon as I have time to get on my computer at home. Rob is very busy with summer basketball and I have started running again. I am up to 3 miles and trying to get out the door 3 times a week. I listened to a book called "Born to Run" it was very fascinating to hear all the positive studies done for barefoot running/training. If you like to run, I suggest you read it. I have also been doing some actual reading and trying to find my favorite genre of literature. Work has had some very s-l-o-w days at work with a couple of crazy, busy days sprinkled in. Speaking of sprinkle, we have had too much rain. My lawn has more mushrooms than grass and with the cold weather, I have had to replant more than half of my flowers and garden. The garden is looking pretty good. So far no weeds. The carrots, peas, corn are comihng up. It will be fun to see how much it produces. Thank you Mel (Square-foot Gardener)!

I HATE SCALES!!!!!

Can I just tell you how bad I hate my bathroom scale?! It is so frustrating to feel like I go without all the tasty food there is out there and have the scale go UP! I was going to blog about my weight loss and I never started the blog, but did start the weight loss. It just isn't going very good-just like the weight loss blog. I have been working the evening shift this week and around 9 pm I start getting bored and want to eat everything in sight. The only thing that has been a weakness for me is the dang saltine crackers and butter or peanut butter. If I was at home, I would probably just go to bed, but I can't do that at work so I eat crackers. Well, the scale was up this morning. I wish I had eaten a candy bar from the vending machine instead of stupid crackers. I am trying to make today be a better day. I told Rob I was either going on a binge or going anorexic. He called and tried to make me feel better and the jury is still out if it worked. I do have my workout clothes on and my PLAN is to go exercise before work. I tried to get in for a massage, but they didn't have an opening until 4 and I have to go to work at 2:30. I am actually feeling better just writing down my thoughts. Hmm...maybe there is something magical about journaling.