Favorite Good Things

If Oprah can have a list of "Favorite Things" and Martha can have her "Good Things" and Mireille Guiliano can "recommend" then Jenni can have her list of Favorite Good Things to recommend. It will be mostly a list of food items, since that is what interests me the most, but if I run out or think of other things, I will list those as well. It will be an ongoing list. Now for the list (note: these are not intended to be product endorsements).

Poland Spring Sparkling Water
raspberry lime is my favorite flavor, then mandarin orange is a close second, but my husband will argue that the lime is best. It's quite tasty for having no sugar, calories, fat, etc. feel the burn

Kettle Chips: salt & fresh ground pepper flavor
you can't eat just one to appreciate it's flavor, try four or five and then you get the suttle hint of black pepper...mmm....

Polar Orange Dry Soda
it's got about 10% juice so you can call it healthy, and lots more sugar than Orangina, so in my opinion much more smooth than Orangina, no bite to it, plus it is cheaper than Orangina...so it is like an Orangina for the common people...proletariat orange!

Swiss Miss Cocoa and Cream flavored hot chocolate
while not a huge fan of the mixes, this one is good

Now for the recipe of the week:

Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes
(do not be afraid of the ganache)

for cupcakes:
1 stick butter- softened
1 cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs - room temp.
16 ounces Hershey's syrup
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1 cup flour

for ganache:
1/2 cup heavy cream
8 ounces good semi-sweet chocolate (I use Trader Joe's chocolate chips)


Generously butter 18 or so cupcake tins. Preheat oven to 325.

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, make sure they are room temp. so as not to make the butter clump. Mix in Hershey's syrup and vanilla. Add flour until just combined, do not overmix. Fill cups about 3/4 full. Bake 30 minutes. Cool.

Meanwhile make ganache by heating cream and chocolate over double boiler. Just stick a glass bowl over a pan with a little water in it. Mix cream and chocolate until melted and combined.

When cupcakes are cool, dip into ganache.

Once you see these, you might be reminded of Hostess cupcakes and you will want to pipe some buttercream on the top in a squiggle line and then once you try them you might want to fill them with buttercream if you are feeling ambitious. However, there is no need... they are dee-licious on their own.