Fat Tuesday, Please

Let's try Fat FriSatSunMonTuesday, because that's what I'm actually celebrating. In the past two days alone I've used nine sticks of butter in three different dishes. Paula Deen can't touch this. I don't think anyone who's seen me glued to Grandma & Grandpa's candy drawer or attacking a carton of ice cream would doubt  my ability to consume enough sugar to give diabetes to anyone within a five foot radius of me, but (full-disclosure style) here's a breakdown of my recent fat consumption:


Polish Pączki

Our housekeeper brought these custard-filled pastries to work on Friday and I demolished mine before she could explain what they were. Paczki (pronounced ponch-key) are popular wherever Poles can be found, aka Chicago, especially in the days before Lent. The front page of the Trib's Business section featured an article about local bakeries meeting the demand for this comforting and fattening treat.

Freezer Cookies

I found this quick and easy kitchen staple while I cleaned out the freezer at work on Saturday and baked them alongside other random items that needed to be eaten up. By the time I returned next afternoon, they were gone.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Cookies devoured, I searched for something else at work to make for the guys to eat when they came back from pass and before we left to go ice skating. Muffin mix did the trick, and I even got a few of them to help me scoop the batter into the muffin cups (the hardest/most annoying part). Like their cousin dessert, the muffins didn't last long sitting out on the table in program.

Quick Cookies

1 stick softened butter
1/4 c brown sugar
1 c flour
1 tsp vanilla
chocolate chips optional

Mix ingredients, form into one inch balls, place on cookie sheet, bake at 350 for about 10 minutes. (Easiest way to eat a stick of butter that I know of.)

When I'm stressed and/or tired, I often just want to watch trashy TV while I eat trashy food. Last night I made quick cookies with The Bachelor on in the background, then ate them while watching The Office and SNL. My mental state quickly improved, though my physical state deteriorated. I made up for it with blueberry yogurt and hummus today...foods cancel each other out, right?

Chocolate Sheet Cake, Yellow Layer Cake, Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

This wondrous medley of flavors and textures takes the junk food cake, if you will, for this past week. M and I were bored yesterday and decided to celebrate President's Day by baking a cake. That quickly turned into baking three cakes, two vanilla and one chocolate, in order to construct a triple layer cake. Making cake from scratch is quite fun, and you definitely feel more accomplished after doing so.

Today we finished the cake by making frosting and separating it into three bowls for red, white, and blue. With G's help, we frosted and layered each cake: vanilla/blue frosting/chocolate/red frosting/vanilla/white frosting. Then we finished by mixing the extra red and blue frosting into purple and using that to decorate the top--thereby giving the cake a dual-purpose, President's Day AND Mardi Gras.


Even though Lent begins tomorrow, I know the sweets don't stop here. Brooke's birthday is today and we're celebrating with brownie ice cream cake on Friday. Plus it's just about March, and everyone knows that means only one thing: Shamrock Shakes.