Cupcake Break!

The lazy days of Spring Break have been a much welcome respite from the rat race of the school year. I've been sleeping in until 11, rolling over to find Mica still in her clothes from the night before passed out with her thumb hanging out of her mouth, and JT flung across my feet with his hawk half smashed down on one side, the puppies going nuts in their crate and my dogs curled up in little balls, not even glancing at any of us. At this point, Paul has been gone for 5 or 6 hours already. We've visited family, stayed up late watching movies, and drank way too much wine. Well I did, not the kids. When the days got long and the kids got bored I pulled out my Nook and we opened up Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. We have been gorging on cupcakes for weeks, and my pot belly is loving it...

First up on Mica's last Thursday of school I volunteered to bring the cupcakes for the "Green

Day Party." The teacher was hesitant because she doesn't allow any sugar, the party menu consisted of various green veggies with

ranch dyed green to dip, green sugar-free jello and some plain

chips. I knew something had to be done to save Green Day! I busted out my Nook and made... wait for it... 4 dozen Vegan & Sugar-Free Green Agave Cupcakes with Mint Chocolate Icing! Oh yes, I went there. I hauled them all in and they were a hit, with everyone but Mica who said they were gross. Then at dinner when

we played "high/low" her low was that "Mommy brought me a cupcake and I thought it was going to be SO good and it wasn't Daddy, it wasn't, and I was like

'

what is this what is this!!!'" Then she shook her head ruefully. Whatever Mica Stinka, everyone else devoured them and a

teacher with a diabetic husband took some home for him. My only mistake was using Mint instead of PEPPERMINT extract. Duh.

These are the only cupcakes we didn't finish, they dried out super fast, but they were unique!

Next were my attempt at self-control... the Sexy Low Fat Vanilla Cupcakes with blackberry

jam, a quick swirl of Chocolate Buttercream Frosting, and drizzle of simple icing and a few dark

chocolate chips for garnish. Mica added (non-vegan) pink heart marshmallows to hers but everything else was animal free, low fat, and delicious!

Most recently Mica and I got back to basics, enough of this low fat sugar free crap, am I right!? We picked up a package of vegan oreo knock offs and made Cookies N Cream cupcakes. They are amazing, modesty is futile, we added crushed cookies to the basic chocolate cupcake batter, and then more crushed cookies to the

basic vanilla

buttercream frosting, along with a tiny bit of almond extract. We piped the frosting

on to the cupcakes in huge, chunky creamy swirls and topped each cupcake

with half a cookie.

Spring Break is only half over, this year JT got 2 weeks and Mica got 1, but I made the executive decision to keep her home for the 2nd week as well. Her teacher agreed, she isn't missing anything but playtime at that school. No matter what happens to me in the coming years I'll always cherish the simple things I do now with my kids, and look back on these lazy cupcake days as some of the best, most fattening and delicious days of my life.