Sticky, Gooey, Deliciousness

Hello, friends! Looks like I'm sticking to that New Year's resolution REAL well, huh? :) Truth be told, I miss blogging. Between working, gym, cooking, dog, husband - by the time I sit down at night, I'm beat. I've decided to not let that happen happen anymore. I'll get back into a rhythm soon.

However...I did want to share some awesome cupcakes I made last week. My girlfriends and I have been doing monthly girls' wine nights, and we rotate houses each month. Along with that, we pick a theme each time. The first one was California wines, the second one (at my house) was French, and this month's was Spanish wines. Since I'll use any excuse to bake something, I decided to make dulce de leche cupcakes since those are Spanish themed. For some reason, I've been on a huge caramel kick lately. I'll do just about anything for a piece of sea-salted caramel. I found a few recipes online, and ended up using this one. I've made a few things from this site before and everything's turned out really well. These were no exception! The only thing I did differently was double the amount of dulce de leche and filled each cupcake with it, in addition to adding it into the frosting. I had a bunch of leftovers (surprisingly, since I feel like I ate half the batter as I was making them), so I took them to work and quickly learned that Georgia folks don't know what dulce de leche is. I guess growing up in Florida (especially in Miami), it was practically a staple. Anyway, here's the end result. I miss them already.

Seriously - how can you resist that??

FYI - for those of you who, like my Georgia friends, don't know what dulce de leche is, it's sweetened condensed milk that's cooked down to a caramel-like consistency. It's pretty flippin' amazing. Not to mention, ADDICTING!

Lentil Soup 2.0

I'm back from a crazy, but fun, weekend! We went down to Tampa on Friday for a wedding. We got to spend some time with our nephew (and godson!), Tyler, and then saw all of our friends on Saturday for our friends Kyle and Mel's wedding. The wedding was Kentucky Derby themed, so all of the girls wore big derby hats, and all the guys wore bowties and pastels. I still have to upload the pics, so expect to see those within the next few days.

Anyway, back to the lentils. We all know that lentils are good for you, however, did you know that lentils are a superfood? According to Self.com, the top 10 superfoods are salmon, apples, quinoa, lentils, olive oil, eggs, yogurt, sweet potatoes, kiwi, and edamame. They all have different health benefits and honestly, I absolutely love everything on that list. I suddenly had a craving and decided to make my lentil soup again, so that I can eat it for the rest of the week. I made a few little changes to it and to tell you the truth, I liked it even better than the first time I made it. In addition to the original ingredients, I added red bell pepper, garbanzo beans, and cumin. I think the pepper and cumin made a big difference in the taste. I also added a little extra paprika and garlic. I revised the original recipe - click on the link below and let me know what you think!

Vegetarian Lentil Soup