Cupcake 24-7 - The Spaghetti & Meatball Cupcake

Are you ready for something a little crazy? We enter our second week of “Cupcake 24-7” with dinner! I know, cupcakes for dinner is wacky. I like a little protein for dinner. I like something not made of sugar and piled high with frosting. Well, you’re in luck. We at Cupcake 24-7 are not only bakers, we are also chefs. Fine dining chefs who make perfectly portioned dinners, in cupcake form. I present to you, my hungry diners, The Spaghetti & Meatball Cupcake.

Have one, maybe even two. You’ve had a long day and deserve some dinner. This is truly a savory cupcake. Although I’m not sure when cupcake ends and muffin begins, but I’m pretty sure it’s not with the spaghetti cupcake. A little bit ridiculous, a lot of tastiness, the spaghetti & meatball cupcake is a lot of fun. It’s like tapas, have one. Share a plateful of them. Laugh at how ridiculous the concept is. Just be sure to sprinkle them with parmesan cheese.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

More birthday treats! And nothing says delicious to me more than chocolate and peanut butter. I think that I am at least 15% peanut butter. Seriously, if you present me with anything containing chocolate and peanut butter it will be gone in moments. NOM! At all times I have a supply of Reese’s mini peanut butter cups in my freezer. If there is no peanut butter in the house it is a national emergency. And yes, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is a good dinner.

That means that no cookie is better than a peanut butter and chocolate chip cookie. That perfect combination of salty and sweet. I’m even known to sprinkle a little salt on top of my peanut butter cookies (I’ve been known to sprinkle salt on everything, so I guess this isn’t a stretch). With a busy week ahead of me, I decided to take fifteen minutes tonight to make myself some cookies. Plus it’s my birthday week, so it’s all good.

New England Cranberry Chutney

I’m heading to Boston this week for work and I’m reminded of the first time I went there. It was a few years ago and I was headed to a conference. Rather than just fly in for the conference and fly out once it was over, boyfriend and I decided to make a vacation out of it. Since this was during grad school we were living apart, miles apart. Boyfriend was living in Miami, Florida and I was in Madison, Wisconsin. Worlds apart!

I remember flying in, seeing all the seaside houses. “How New Englandy!” I thought. After landing, and finding boyfriend, we were ready to hit the city. I find Boston to be one of the easiest cities to get around. From the airport, you can get to the city via bus, taxi or subway. Once you get to the city it is surprisingly small. I once described Boston as a “small city” to someone from Montana. They laughed at me. But Boston really is a small city, totally walkable. This is a good thing, because boyfriend loves to walk.

Our trip to Boston was no different than any of our other vacations. We walk eighteen miles a day, eat maybe one and a half meals, and come home having lost weight. We would walk from our hotel on the southern waterfront to the North End (for cupcakes) then all of the way to Fenway. We walked from Cambridge down the length of the Charles River. I love the walking, but sometimes it gets a little out of hand (stay tuned for the Death March in St Kitts).

I remember all of the walking in Boston (have you walked the entire freedom trail? I have), I remember going to Johnny Cupcakes and being terribly disappointed, but most of all, I remember the food. In honor of the food, I brought home a cookbook from New England. This is something that I like to do, whenever I go on vacation. I have cookbooks from all over the world, in several different languages. The recipes remind me of the great times that I had in each place. Since it is fall and we are nearing thanksgiving, we’re cooking some New England Cranberry Chutney. And since it’s my birthday week, I’m pouring it on some vanilla ice cream.