Diaries of a Dew-aholic

"Hi.  My name is Emily.  I'm a Dew-aholic."

That's right.  It's pathetic.  I realized I had a problem when I was talking to my brother on the phone the other day and he asked what I was doing.  I told him I was going to get a drink.  He said, "Kinda early to be hitting the sauce isn't it?"  I thought, what is he smoking?  Then I glanced at the clock.  9:30 AM.  Dang!  It felt much later than that.  At that moment I decided that I needed to make some changes and drink less soda.  Then I figured, why just drink less?  Go cold turkey.  So I did.  This is my drinking diary if you will.

Day 1 - Sunday

Woke up and went straight to church.  Awesome.  Just by going to church I knocked three hours out of my day.  Sweet!  This is going to be easier than I thought!  After church I took a nap.  Figured I might as well sleep it off so there wasn't as much temptation.  After nap time, I cooked dinner for our friends which not only consumed a lot of my time but was a nice distraction.  And before I knew it I was putting kids to bed and ready for bed myself.  Sheesh!  I made it through Day 1 like a rock star!  I'm da bomb!

Day 2 - Monday

Got up and ready for the day.  Sent the girls to school.  The boys started fighting.  Why?  Just love each other already!  What?  You're still fighting?  Please!  It's only getting worse.  Now they're throwing things and destroying my bedroom.  What happened next was tragic and totally unexpected.  I lost it!  I started yelling.  And not a pretty yell but the "ugly yell".  I got louder.  My voice started to crack.  I didn't even sound rational and I'm sure the expression on my face was nothing short of terrifying and hideous.  Am I really saying what I hear coming from my mouth?  I'm so embarrassed for myself.  And I'm yelling so loud!  Are the windows closed?  Son of a....window open!  Alert!  Alert!  

After I pulled myself together and the boys stopped laughing at me I decided to bake.  Mmmmm....dessert.  Sounds lovely.  And whaddayaknow?  Leftover Molten Chocolate Cake batter.  Surprise!  Double D!  Rather than drinking sugar I'll just eat it.  Three mini cakes later I wondered what was worse.  Caffeine?  Cakes?  (Notice the plural behind "cake"?  Sad.)  While I was enjoying my second cake the phone rang.  My sister!  Yeah!  We chatted for nearly an hour.  It was great fun and full of laughter.  Sure miss that girl.  Then I got depressed.  Then I went and bought a drink. 

Day 1/Take 2 - Tuesday

Decided to give "no caffeine" another try.  Sadly I didn't make it past noon.

Day 1/Take 3 - Wednesday

To be announced......

Molten Double D

Molten Chocolate Cakes With Sugar-Coated Raspberries

Servings: 8

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter or margarine

8 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips, or bars, cut into bite size chunks

5 large eggs

1/2 cup sugar

pinch of salt

4 teaspoons flour (or matzo meal, ground in a blender to a fine powder)

8 extra-large paper muffin cups (or regular cups which makes about 12 cakes)

Garnish:

1 (6 oz) container raspberries, barely moistened and rolled in about 1/2 cup sugar right before serving

Directions:

1. Melt butter & chocolate in a medium heat-proof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water; remove from heat.  Beat eggs, sugar and salt with hand mixer in medium bowl until sugar dissolves.  Beat egg mixture into chocolate until smooth.  Beat in flour or matzo meal until just combined.  (Batter can be made a day ahead; return to room temperature an hour or so before baking.)

2. Before serving dinner, adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 450 degrees.  Line a standard-size muffin tin (1/2 cup capacity) with 8 extra-large muffin papers (papers should extend above cups to facilitate removal).  Spray muffin papers with cooking spray.  Divide batter among muffin cups.

3. Bake until batter puffs but center is not set, 8-10 minutes.  Carefully lift cakes from tin and set on a work surface.  Pull papers away from cakes and transfer cakes to dessert plates.

4. Top each cake with sugared raspberries and serve immediately.  Can add whipped cream if desired.

FYI -- I ate 2 of these little beauties the first time I made them.  The second time I made them I ate 4.  And the third time I made them I ate 3.  Once again....don't judge.  I'm only human.  And self medication is not a crime.  Although I should've thought twice before making them 3 times in one week.  Wow!  9 molten cakes in seven days.  New record!

Where I've Been

Did you miss me?  I've been busy with the little ones.  We took a three week staycation to Uglyville.  Right before school started we caught an awful case of the Uglies.  It made the rounds between all the kiddos.  But after a lot of Ugliness, a lot of Clorox wipes, a lot of caffeine, a lot of laundry, and a lot of Tylenol our immunities were satisfied with their workout and decided to give a final farewell to the Uglies.  Until next time Mr. and Mrs.  Ugly.  And yes, I would marry you if I could, Clorox wipes.  You make my heart skip a beat.  Especially at 2 AM when someone throws up but forgets to lift the toilet seat. 

With school in session and the weather cooling down I can also say that my gardening and canning are bye-bye till next year.  With our first pick of corn we had our annual Corn Feast complete with our corn table cloth which my MIL so graciously bought me years ago at an Amish fabric store.  It's slightly pathetic how excited the kids get when I pull out the infamous table cloth.  It makes a simple dinner quirky & exciting.

The other night I hosted Book Club at my house.  "These Is My Words" by Nancy Turner is my fav book as of now.  It's magic.  To top off a fabulous Book Club I served Mini Molten Chocolate Cakes with Sugar-Coated Raspberries.  The recipe will be posted shortly.  They really are delish and such a nice change.  Did I mention that after my guests left I ate all the leftovers?  But after cake #4 I threw in the towel.  Don't judge.  

Also, let me just say, "Hi.  My name is Emily, and I'm a Dew-aholic." 

And last but not least, I have so many zits right now that I'm confident that if you squeezed my shoulders my entire face would explode.  What?  That was disgusting and inappropriate?  Well, at least you don't have to look at it everyday.  I feel like a ProActive commercial waiting to happen.  Move over, Julianne Hough and Jessica Simpson.  There's a new acne girl in town!