And so it begins ...

So as many of my friends and family know ... I LOVE cupcakes. However, when I was pregnant with my son I had some complications which have led me to watch what I eat. I've been to many doctors, exploring natural and standard medical options but no one can really pin down what's going on. Basically, I can equate what happens to food russian roulette. One day I can eat a meal and be perfectly fine. But the next day I can have that same meal and feel like someone beat me up. The worst part is I never know when the pain is going to stop or if the next bite I eat is going to make it worse. At one point, I lost 20lbs in a month and a half because I couldn't eat anything without hurting. 

That's enough sob story ... so back to cupcakes. What seems to cause my problems are fatty foods like meat, oil, cheese, dairy, eggs, and cupcakes. When I was pregnant and couldn't eat more than 15g of fat in my diet I would occasionally splurge on a vegan cupcake. When I started having problems after pregnancy, the vegan cupcakes again were there to be my comfort food. Even though they still are not the healthiest thing for you, they lack the eggs and dairy that really hurt me. Luckily both of those times I was living in a major metropolitan area with plenty of vegan bakeries to choose from. 

However, now I'm temporarily living in the middle of nowhere NJ where I can walk to the Walmart, but have to drive 45 minutes to get to a vegan bakery. Also, my husband is really getting into mixed martial arts, which leaves me at home with our son a lot of evenings by myself. Lastly, I'm at a cross-roads with my PhD studies and I don't know if I want to keep going or just relax and enjoy the successes I have achieved in life. Therefore, my only logical conclusion is to bake. 

I've always liked baking. It's helped me clear my head and gives me something constructive to do. I also like the instant gratification it provides. To start with raw ingredients like flour and sugar and end with a cake makes me feel like I've accomplished something, which is wonderful since now that I'm in the dissertation phase of my PhD I feel like I'm wandering aimlessly around. 

Since I've taken a small break to regroup on the PhD, I've had some free time. One evening while surfing the net I came across the book " Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World" by Moskowitz and Romero. I immediately ordered it. The day that it got to my door I tore it out of the box and read it as I enjoyed the nice, very non-vegan meal my husband cooked for me. As I read through the first few pages it talked about how much more fun it is to blog about cupcakes than how horrible your day was or space exploration.  All of a sudden, I had a Julia and Julia moment. 

As most of you know, I have a soup week once a year and like to post pictures to Facebook of my creations. A friend of mine suggested I blog about my soups, but alas soup week had come to an end. If you take my friends comment, the inspiration in the book, and then the conclusion that I must bake to fill my free time and clear my head ... you now have the inspiration for this blog. 

So here's my plan. There are 75 recipes in the book. I move back to the city in June (17 weeks). As of June, I better have my act together on my PhD. Therefore, I will be baking as many cupcakes as I can between now and then. As I make them,  I will blog the picture, the results, and just maybe some interludes into my life. So lets see where this takes us ...