It All Started With A Cupcake

I love a good cake. It's all about the desserts for me. I'm not ashamed to admit it. People talk about going lo-cal, watching the fat, watching the calories.

Sure, whatever. You do that. I'll take the cake. I'm not talking about eating the whole thing here. I can have a few bites and be good. Which is why I'm even a bigger fan of the cake of cup. Yeah, you know what I'm talking about. 

My twist on the cupcake - Chocolate with Almost Frosting

Cupcakes. I'm obsessed. Give me a mini little cake and I'm a goner every time. If I walk down the street and see a shop with those tiny little bites of heaven gracing the store window I have to stop. I need to stop. 

Which is why when I heard about a new show on the Food Network called "Cupcake Wars" I was all in. Yeah, I said it. All In.

I'm not ashamed to admit it. I was hooked. I couldn't miss an episode. Some people have mocked it. They feel it's a waste of an hour. They  don't understand the beauty of the cupcake.

Blueberry Pancakes

Each Sunday I found myself waiting to see which city the next batch of bakers (haha, see what I just did there?) would be from.

It was that fateful day when I saw it. The most delicious looking cupcake I had ever seen. And it was Vegan. I was intrigued. I had been on a dairy-free kick for a few weeks.

The judges couldn't stop raving about it. The chef's name was Chloe Coscarelli and she won the show. I was hooked. I needed to learn more.

I signed up for her newsletter and began getting her recipes. I tried out her cupcakes. They were the best I had ever eaten. I kept baking. My friends raved. They were the best they had ever eaten.

I was hooked. I tweaked the recipe and changed the frosting to make them my own. I couldn't stop. I could get into this vegan thing. Could I just eat cupcakes forever?

Cinnamon-Espresso Chocolate-Chip Cookies

I knew it was time to try some food. I'm not big on the cooking but I thought I'd give it a whirl. Chef Chloe had so many delicious Internet recipes. I tried a few and loved them.

*Sigh* They weren't enough for me to cook with everyday so I got lazy and just stuck with my dairy-free, vegan-cupcake infused diet.

Hey, a girl's gotta start somewhere. Might as well make sure the cupcake is first and foremost.

For the past year I had been happily creating my cupcakes. Playing with different frostings and doing my thing. My, I can-eat-whatever-I-want-as-long-as-it's-good-for-me thing.I don't like to follow diets.

I don't like to be told what or what not to eat. I like to follow my own rules. So this time when I saw that Chef Chloe was coming out with a vegan cookbook I thought it was time to give it another try. Except instead of being vegan, I was going to be vegan*.

That's right, vegan*. Here is my disclaimer. I am a chocoholic and I love sushi. Those are two things that I don't think I can willingly give up. Besides, chocolate and sushi are good for me. True story.

Falafel Burger

I know that there are some of you out there that have become vegans because of your love of animals. This is great. I love animals too. I adore them. But I have to admit these are not my reasons for going vegan.

I an becoming vegan* because I love the food and love the healthier lifestyle. I can't claim to do it because of animals.

I'd be a hypocrite if I said that. If I ate my vegan meal and then opened my leather Louis Vuitton purse to get out my leather Coach wallet to pay for my meal. Baby steps.

So it was with extreme excitement that I received my new cookbook in the mail. It was the first time I actually read a cookbook from cover to cover.

Mac & Cheese

I bookmarked all of the recipes that I wanted to try immediately and the next day I went to Whole Foods and bought all of the ingredients that I'd need.

I didn't recognize myself. It was an odd transformation. For the next two days I was a cooking fool. My parents were the beneficiaries of my new found skills. Cookies, burgers, pasta. I was unstoppable.

Well, until I ran out of ingredients. Then I was put on hold for few days. But that won't stop me. I'm into this cooking thing now. I'm even on a Brussels Sprouts kick. Didn't see that one. Ever.

I never thought we'd get much use out of our food processor when we registered for it years ago. If I'd have seen this coming I would have gone for the 12-quart. Who would have known.

My Cupcake twist - Chocolate with Peanut butter & Choclate Frosting

If you would like to find out more about Chef Chloe's cookbook, please visit her website at:

http://chefchloe.com

Please visit my other website at:

http://redismynaturalcolor.com/