Cupcake Chaos

I have only four days until the weigh in for the weight loss challenge, so I am taking advantage of all of the "naughty" foods that I might want for the rest of the summer. Fortunately for my weight loss efforts, the overly sugary foods are not holding that much appeal for me. I made chocolate chip cupcakes with fudge filling and marshmallow buttercream yesterday. Yeah, that's right. Actually, my daughter's second birthday is coming up and I wanted to make "practice" cupcakes to make sure that the flavor was right. I made three cupcakes - one for each child and one for my husband - and broke the rest up into crumbs for cake balls. I did have a taste and it was very sweet to me. In fact, it was too sweet to enjoy. I decided to eat an apple instead. The main problem is that I can't tell if the cupcakes really are too sweet or if they are delicious. According to my husband, who is naturally averse to frostings of all kinds, they are definitely too sweet. According to my son, there is no such thing as too sweet. According to the baby, cake is really unnecessary and I should just focus on filling her plate with icing.

I do have the desire to make "clean" cupcakes for the party along with the sugary ones that people may actually enjoy. I've attempted a couple of different versions of sugar free cupcakes and both have turned out decidedly tasteless. One recommendation that I see repeatedly is to use unsweetened applesauce in place of sugar. In my experience, this causes the cupcakes to taste exactly like unsweetened applesauce. I also have a recipe for sugar free, vegan frosting that is just about the worst thing I've ever tasted in my life. In the end, I may go with a different clean sweet treat or I may skip the clean treats altogether. After all, as of the beginning of the challenge, I am placing myself on a very strict, completely stripped diet for the summer. Everyone else at the party, I have to assume, is attending with the intent to enjoy cake and ice cream regardless of caloric content.

Other than the taste or two of cupcakes yesterday, I did eat clean without even really trying. I made vegan sloppy joes for dinner. Lunch was a big salad with apples and reduced fat blue cheese. Breakfast was an apple and a slice of Ezekiel bread w/ freshly ground peanut butter. Although I didn't get any traditional exercise, I walked three miles with the stroller - the big, 70 pound stroller - and felt I had an adequate workout. Today will be more of the same and tomorrow I will hopefully revisit the gym.