Day 69 & 70: Chocolate Cupcakes w/ Kahlua Frosting, Spring Cleaning (Home & Heart)

I really only have one recipe to share this weekend, which is why I'm combining the 2 days.  I planned on having more, but sometimes life doesn't work out like we plan!  (Don't we all know it?)

So let's start with Saturday (Day 69).  

Candy: must-have for any girls' night!

Saturday I had the rare opportunity to have some mommy friends over for a girls' night.  When you work full-time, have a husband who works days and evenings, and the kids' bedroom is right next to the living room, it's hard to entertain often.  Theoretically, I would love for people to come keep me company in the evening during the week when Randy's at work, but realistically, having to get up very early the next morning and having to do all the "chores" like do dishes (no dishwasher) and make lunches every night until 8-9, it just doesn't seem practical to have people over!  I could also entertain on the weekend, but we still live in an apartment and the kids' bedroom is so close to where the adults "hang."  Even if they do sleep through a lot, I don't like the idea of company feeling like they need to be quiet for the sake of our kids.  So for these reasons, I don't get to have people over nearly as often as I'd like!  But last night, Randy took the kids out and I stayed in!  I had some friends over, we had pizza, snacks, I got my nails painted, and we did a lot of talking--about our kids!  (Of course.)  It was a fun night and I look forward to another occasion like it in the future, I hope!

Randy and I set this up for us moms to feel special and unwind! ;)

Here's my recipe for chocolate cupcakes with kahlua frosting.  It was a bit of a trial and error, but the end result was fantastic!

Chocolate Cupcakes

Nice to have bowls of this stuff out without tiny little fingers to grab at it!

1.5 sticks of butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsps vanilla
1 cup milk
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
2 TB brewed coffee
1 3/4 cups flour
1 cup cocoa
1.5 tsps baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 350*.  Line cupcake pans with liners.
Cream together the butter and sugars.  Add the eggs and vanilla to combine.  In a separate bowl, combine the milk, yogurt, and coffee.  In another bowl, combine the dry ingredients.  Alternate adding the wet and dry ingredients to the sugar mixture.  Mix well.  Pour batter into the prepared liners and bake 20-25 minutes.

Kahlua Frosting
1 lb confectioner's sugar
4 TBs butter, softened
1/4 cup + 1 TB kahlua
1 tsp vanilla
1-2 TB milk

Combine the sugar, butter, and kahlua and mix with an electric hand mixer.  Add the vanilla and slowly add milk as/if needed.  Mix well until smooth and velvety. 
Spread onto cooled cupcakes and sprinkle with heath toffee topping!

Sunday (Day 70).
So this weekend we've been trying to do some spring cleaning around here.  I like spring cleaning much more than fall cleaning.  I just can't wait to open some of these freshly cleaned windows!  One thing that's a part of this process is our clothing swap.  We put our winter clothes away (I try to keep layers out and a couple warm clothes for the next few cold days) and pull up our flip-flops and summer apparel.  We also had bins and bins of hand-me-down clothes from various people that I went through.  How fortunate I feel to be able to shop in my basement for kid clothes!
In the midst of the cleaning, we had a break to spend time with family in celebration of 3 birthdays--Randy's twin step-brothers and his step-sister all had birthdays last week!  It was a nice time with good food and great people!
And then we came back to mess that was our apartment (still is, in some places).  Why is that when you're doing a huge cleaning project things always look worse before they look better?  Is that how it is with our hearts?  Excuse me for digressing away from food for this post.  We fed our kids supper tonight but Randy and I didn't really eat.  (I think I had a cupcake.)  I was going to make salmon burgers but we were feeling the pressure of our clothing chaos and mounting pressure in other areas of our lives and dinner got away from us.  In church, we've been reading a book about prayer and discussing it.  Last night with the ladies here, the subject of prayer also surfaced and we talked about how hard it is to pray for God to change your heart when you know He will, but really don't want Him to.  That's how I feel right now.  I feel like my heart needs a spring cleaning and I know God will do it if I ask, which is why I don't want to ask.  Several areas come to mind that could use a good clearing of the cobwebs.  But I guess while we're reading this book and so many people around me are going through something similar, it's a good time to ask God to come and spring clean.  I'll swap out some clothes while He swaps out some hurt.  I'll wash the windows while He washes away bitterness and anger.  But as I look around at this clutter still around me, I can't help but wonder which will take longer...

Salmon burgers are on the menu for tomorrow night!  I kind of love being able to have an "extra" meal at the end of the week that wasn't used up!