Your email address is safe with us. View our Privacy policy.
Lemon Meringue Cupcakes with a Raspberry Jewel
The Nightmare Anniversary...
Last year, this same week, I was supposed to be on vacation. Instead I
was flat on my back in the hospital.
Those of you who are long time readers will probably recall some of
the details. Here's a quick summary to get some of you up to speed.
I started having sciatica challenges so the docs put me on steroids.
They didn't work, so we tried again. Still no luck. I just got worse.
In their great wisdom, they decided the executive (me) needed a
relaxing vacation, so I went. The drive to the resort about killed me.
When we got there I made a slow bee line for the couch. I was in so
much pain I could hardly walk. That night I literally crawled up to
bed. Next morning I stood and collapsed. Ambulance was called and I
was taken to the northern-Wisconsin hospital. Nice place, nice people
but not a place to spend vacation. After 3 days they decided to give
me an epidural. That failed 20 hours later and now I had to be flown,
by ambulance plane, to a major medical facility. I chose Northwestern
Hospital in Chicago. I spent 10 days in that hospital with 29
completely baffled doctors, interns and residents trying to figure out
why I could not walk. I had to be sedated at all times and never left
my bed. After 10 days they got me to the point where I could stand
with a walker so they sent me home in an ambulance with a referral to
a surgeon. Three more weeks of lying in bed, wondering if I'd ever
walk again. Taking 16 prescription meds a day. Then surgery. Surgery
worked. I walked out on my own two feet. The pain meds I was on were
12 times stronger than morphine so you might say I was rather doped up
but I was walking.
Now, on to recovery. They told me very clearly that unless I followed
their instructions completely, I'd be right back where I started
within a year and that the surgery was only successful 50% of the time
at best. Time to pray and behave. A year is a long time. For the first
two months I was not allowed to bend down and even pick up a piece of
paper. For a clean freak like me, that in itself was torture. Mental
torture. But bit by bit I've recovered. I faithfully attended my
physical therapy sessions up to 3 times a week. The surgeon recently
cleared me to start to work out again. However, I am not allowed to go
to a regular health club. I need to work out with a special trainer,
but that's worth the investment. We're talking my back here!
Actually, it's not just my back. When you lose your back and you are
immobile as long as I was, you lose just about everything. My ankles
click when I walk now. My knees are toast and have to be built back up
all over again. My hips don't work very well and they hurt regularly.
For 9 months I was not really allowed to walk more than 30 minutes at
a stretch and that didn't even start for the first five months. That
means your feet hurt when you try to go for a walk. That affects
everything, including your mood.
The patience that it takes to recover from something like this is
immeasurable. I can only imagine what it was like for my in-laws who
were in a car accident that makes my back surgery look like child's
play. They never complained. They worked on their therapy with
dedication, discipline and poise. They were an inspiration.
Since I started writing about my back surgery and recovery I've heard
from many of you, too. You have been an inspiration to me and some of
you have said my stories have given you the strength to get needed
surgery too. It's a "small community" we live in. We can all support
each other.
I write today as I look back on the year. A nightmare year. The kind
of year that Queen Elizabeth once referred to as "annus horribilus".
As the anniversary approached I felt celebratory and sad at the same
time. I tried to look back with pride at what I had accomplished in a
year. I had no problem being grateful. The list of people who helped
me through all of this is too long to write. It was amazing. But I was
sad because so much of my life disappeared in one year.
Something happened to me last week, that I was not prepared for. It
can probably be best categorized as a version of Post Traumatic Stress
Syndrome. I started having nightmares. I even had "eyes wide open"
flashbacks. Flashbacks to the pain, the collapse, the EMT's trying to
get me down stairs too narrow for a stretcher, a couple of nurses who
didn't care for me like nurses should, a lot of drugs, a lot of fear
and plenty of no-moving. They were just flashes. They scared me.
Thankfully they lasted only a couple of days. It gave me a glimpse of
what it must be like for people who suffer from a full-blown version
of that kind of trauma. It must literally be a nightmare.
I'm through it now though. The big anniversary date of when it
happened has passed. I'm working out with my special trainer and he
puts me through my paces. A little bit stronger every day. It's the
old adage, "one day at a time".
While on vacation this past week at the same resort, I had a new
appreciation for the place. The Rushes is in Door County, Wisconsin.
My husband and I bought a time share there 25 years ago. It was a good
thing for us. It "forced" us to take vacations when we were first
building our business. The place looks amazing. It looks as nice as it
did 25 years ago. They've done a marvelous job of upkeep. The weather
this week was perfect. We shared our time there with the same family
members that were with me when the collapse happened. They were the
ones that followed the ambulance to the ER. We laughed a lot this time
and did a little ceremony where we cut my disabled parking sticker
into little bits. Some of the little things feel so good.
Speaking of good...these cupcakes are a new innovation. I took my
lemon miracle cake recipe, added the raspberry jewel, converted it to
cupcakes and put on the meringue frosting. Yummy and getting rave
reviews from my friend Rachel (I call her the cupcake Queen) and her
family. So now I'll look forward to your reviews too. Think of them as
a way we can all celebrate the milestones we've achieved in the last
year.
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Zola
Lemon Meringue Cupcakes with a Raspberry Jewel
Makes 12 -
18 cupcakes.
Cupcake Ingredients:
The ingredients common to all of the
"Miracle" cakes are:
2 large eggs
1 cup of sour cream
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
For the Miracle Lemon Cake, also add:
1 lemon cake mix
3.4 oz. instant lemon pudding
3/4 cup Limoncello liqueur (this
can be made with more water and leave out the alcohol)
Raspberry jewels:
12 - 18 raspberries
4 Tbl of seedless
raspberry jam
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. All you have to do is load the cupcake
ingredients in the mixer and whiz it around for 3 minutes. Fill your
cupcake tins half-full with the mixture. Then insert one raspberry
"wrapped" in a bit of raspberry jam. Just plop it on top of the
mixture. Then finish filling the cupcake tin with more mixture. Bake
17 - 20 minutes until done. Check for completion with a toothpick. If
it comes out with no crumbs you are ready to frost
Frosting:
1 cup of sugar
3 Tbl of water
2 large
egg whites
Pinch of cream of tartar
Pinch of salt
Put the sugar and water in a small saucepan. Heat on high and stir
until the sugar dissolves. Should only take 2 - 3 minutes.
In a large bowl, using a stand electric mixer (if you don't have one
this will take longer to do and is a bit trickier but possible) beat
the egg whites with the tartar and salt until soft peaks form. Then,
with the mixer on medium speed, very slowly pour the hot sugar syrup
into the egg whites. Beat until the frosting is fluffy. This will take
about 5 minutes. Immediately frost the cupcakes while the frosting is
warm. It will stiffen up if you wait too long. I mound each cupcake so
it has a pillow of frosting on top; like a soft serve ice cream cone
would look.
You can then carefully place the tray of frosted cupcakes under your
broiler to brown the meringue (like a lemon meringue pie) or you can
just leave them beautiful white.
Eat when cool out of the broiler, or they are heavenly if you eat them
right after you frost them while the frosting is still billowy. Even
later, they are still wonderful.
Store leftovers under a cake dome so you don't crush the frosting.
They will be best if eaten within a day or two at the most.
Send email to Zola at zolacooks@gmail.com.
For more information on Zola and to see more of her recipes, visit her
Web site at
www.dinnerwithzola.com.
Send feedback to Zola at this address:
dinnerwithzola@hotmail.com
 |
 |
View Recipes by Zola ezine stories by date or visit the complete archive |
The ArcaMax Politics channel is one of 70 content categories offered by ArcaMax Publishing on this ... |
ArcaMax Dating
