Take That, Hot Flashes

It is so unfair that just when my boys are doing their best to challenge my sanity, my own body has snuck up and joined the enemy lines.

OK, Moodiness, Impatience, Farsightedness, Hot Flashes, you want a fight? You picked the wrong girl. I’ll fight. Here’s how it’s gonna go:

Moodiness, you think you got me. You think you can make me cry at nothing. OK, I’ll give you that one. So I cried the first time I saw my boys drive off in my car, and that may not make a lot of sense. In my defense, I cried when they came back and that makes all the sense in the world. But what you don’t know is this, I’ve got teenagers. When you strike and I lock myself in my room to sulk, it’s knida working for me.

And Impatience, it’s true you sneak up on me faster than I might like (and let’s just say I’ve never been known as a person with a lot of patience to start with, so I need what little I had). But what you don’t know is this, I’ve got teenagers. Snapping right back at them, it’s kinda working for me.

And Farsightedness, meet my old friend Myopia. Initially I thought you a fool. You were balancing me out. My eyesight was actually getting better. HA!  But I must admit, you’re a sneaky adversary and now I’m forced to use “readers” when reading things close up. What you don’t know is this, I’ve got teenagers. While at the grocery store, having left the readers at home, not being able to see whatever whim they’ve added to the shopping list, it’s kinda working for me.

And you, Hot Flashes. You are proving to be the worst of all. You’ve caught me off guard many a time. But I have shorts and t-shirts, I have ceiling fans, I was fighting back. You weren’t done yet, though, were you? Waking me up in the middle of the night, hair plastered to my face and feeling like wet wool glued to my skin. Well this is not working for me. On any level. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I’ve got scissors and I’ve got a bathroom mirror. Goodbye 8 inches of curls. Take that, Hot Flashes!

Hey, Impatience, quit your laughing.

And as long as I’m establishing who’s boss, I may as well show the boys too. Yes, I’ll make a treat, Carrot Cake. Don’t like carrots, boys? Well I do!

Carrot Cake

Oooh, Irritability, do you really want to join this fight? Because I’ve got teenagers, you could kinda work for me.

Carrot Cake
                                    ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Cake:

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 cup sugar

3/4 cups brown sugar

1 cup canola oil

3 eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 cups shredded carrots

1/2 cup cinnamon baking chips

1 (8 oz) can crushed pineapple, drained

Frosting:

8 oz cream cheese, softened

3/4 stick butter, softened

3 cups confectioner’s sugar

1 tsp vanilla

dash cinnamon

Directions Cake:

*Grease and flour a 9 X 13 inch pan (I use glass).

*Mix – DO NOT BEAT – flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.

*Mix in sugars, oil, eggs and vanilla. Stir in carrots, cinnamon baking chips and pineapple.

*Pour into prepared pan and bake for about 40 minutes, or until it springs back to the touch. Cool.

Directions Frosting:

*Beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla until smooth.

*Carefully beat in the confectioner’s sugar 1 cup at a time and the cinnamon. Beat until smooth.

*Frost cake. Store in the refrigerator.

Hovering vs See No Evil

I am amazed at how much crap has been thrown at the rotors of a parenting style that seems to have acquired the name Helicopter Moms.

Helicopter Moms are described as having too much presence in their children’s lives. They are hyper-vigilant. They are the Moms who call their kids in their college dorms to be sure they wake up in time for class. The negativity implied is that these kids are never allowed to gain the ability to manage their own lives.

The opposite style is what I call the See No Evil parents. I can’t tell you how many times over the years I was told that a kid swinging a stick at another kids’ face was just “boys being boys”. Or if I’d ask, for instance, a kid coming over to play to move his shoes from blocking the front door into the laundry room, had the kid’s mother not say a word as the kid just runs off to play, leaving the shoes where they dropped. I always used to say, privately to my husband, “if you’re not going to parent, why don’t you must throw them out into the woods and let the wolves raise them?”

 I would have been called a Helicopter Mom. I was definitely hyper-vigilant. It has its pros and cons. My kids are probably not as independent as they should be at this point, but I can tell you for a fact that I will not be calling them in their college dorms. In fact, I’m counting the days until next fall (196, if you’re interested).

 Honey Bunches Chicken with Apricot Sauce

I had some See No Evil in me too. I wasn’t handing the boys over to the wolves, but I learned pretty quickly to pick my spots. Because it’s not what style best suits you, but what style best reaches each child’s personality and temperament. I’m not saying I was successful, but that’s what I was going for.

The truth of the matter is that there are generally repercussions resulting from going too far in either direction. The Helicopters can learn from the See No Evils, and the See No Evils can take a lesson from the Helicopters.

Because with kids, one thing leads to the next and the next . . .

One time we were at the airport and Younger Son’s shoelace got caught between steps at the top of the escalator. He fell and like dominos everyone getting off behind him fell on top of him like a big game of pile-up. I couldn’t get his shoelace out of the escalator and couldn’t get the shoe off. I had to try to shield him from the adults falling on him and tripping over him until my older son could get back with someone who shut the escalator down. It wasn’t then, but what’s funny now is that she had to push my hand on the hand rail out of the way in order to press the big huge button that shut the escalator off.

None of us want to watch our kids fall. All of us know we must. It’s necessary to let them get up themselves. But sometimes they can’t. Someone has to get that button pushed before they get trampled. I wasn’t a great parent. I made tons of mistakes, there’s no doubt. Whether I’ve succeeded or failed, one thing I’m not going to apologize for is being present in my kids’ lives, for trying to teach and protect. And, when they can’t get up, for making sure someone pushes that button.

Honey Bunches Chicken with Apricot Sauce
                                    ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Chicken Ingredients:
3 boneless chicken breasts
3/4 cup flour
1 egg, beaten with 3 TBSP water
3/4 of a (14.5 oz box) of Honey Bunches of Oats (With Almonds) Cereal
1/2 stick butter, melted
  
Sauce Ingredients:
10 oz jar of Apricot Jam
2 TBSP orange juice
1 TBSP soy sauce
3/4 tsp minced garlic

Chicken Directions:
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 X 13 casserole dish
*Use your hands to crush the cereal. It should be chunky, not finely crushed.
*Cut each chicken breast into equal size pieces. I usually get 3 pieces per breast. You may choose to pound the chicken a little first to make the pieces more unified in thickness.
*Dip each chicken piece in flour, then in the egg wash, then in the crumbled cereal. Push down on the chicken in the cereal to get the cereal to stick.
*Place chicken pieces into the casserole dish, drizzle the melted butter over the top.
*Bake for 45 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked and the cereal is browned.
*Serve with the sauce.
    
Sauce Directions: 
*Mix all ingredients together in a Microwave safe bowl.
*Cover with plastic wrap and pierce to vent.
*Microwave for 1 minute. Continue to microwave at 15 second intervals if it's not yet hot.
*Serve with or over the chicken.  

Home Sweet Future Home

I’m building a  home. Yes, in my mind, but I’m still building it, right on my current lot because I love backing up to the woods. And this thing has all the bells and whistles. Because seriously, who would build an imaginary home without all the bells and whistles. My new home will serve as the benchmark by which all future homes are judged.

I can tell you right now, one thing my home will not have is any future gadget designed to bake for you. I bake to relieve stress. I’ve got quite a lot of it. All baking will be done by me. Always.

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cups

My future kitchen: Have you ever seen those car turntables that exceedingly rich people who don’t know what to do with their money have in their garages? Apparently backing up is for the less fortunate. These people drive in onto a giant turntable on the floor, a lot like the ones used for records (yes, I remember those), which spins the car around to face out. Well, my kitchen is going to have one, right in front of the pantry. Any time a kid comes looking for a snack it will just slowly turn him around and send him on his way. Arguments in the home will be cut in half.

Trash: I have a trash compactor in my current kitchen. It does a great job of smashing the trash to smithereens. But when the daily trash nugget gets moved to the larger can in the garage, that place smells. Who wants a brand new house where you walk out into a smelly garage every time you leave? Not me. So my new house will have a chute going right from the trash compacter to a hidden underground storage bunker where it will stay until trash day. The bunker may have accidentally been carved down under my neighbor’s yard. No, I have no idea why they have a raccoon problem.

My laundry room: My laundry room will have an iron-(ro)bot to iron all shirts. I cannot tell you how much time I waste ironing creases into shirts (yes, I’m that bad). In my new home, the iron-bot will actually iron them out. Bosses will be so impressed once my husband doesn’t look like he slept in his shirts that they might give him a promotion, and a raise, and a bonus. That iron-bot will pay for itself.

Elevator:  Every multi-floor house should have an elevator, right? My current home has 3 floors but no elevator. My new home will have a very special elevator. It’ll work like a normal elevator except for one feature known only to me. This elevator can be controlled by a secret remote control. In case of emergency I can press a button and the person in the elevator will disappear for whatever amount of time the remote is set for. An hour, a day, a week, throughout the teenage years. . .

Kids’ room cameras:  I try to give my kids privacy. It’s not so much for them as it is for me. I’m afraid that if I knew what they were really doing up there my head would explode. So these are very special cameras. They activate only when the occupant claims that he is doing homework. They may actually be tied to an electric unit in their chair that gives them a little jolt if they’re not, but if that were true I certainly wouldn’t admit it.

Finally, the piece-de-resistence: Believe it or not, my favorite feature is not even in the house. It’s the lawn. It was designed out of necessity because of my next door neighbor, who trained his dog to poo on my lawn instead of his own. This lawn is dog proof. Any time a dog tries to poo on my new lawn the yard itself rejects the poo and teleports it onto the head of the dog owner (giving new meaning to the term “doody-head).

I am a happy woman.

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cups
                                      ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:  
24 Ginger Snap Cookies (these need to be approximately the same size as the bottom of a cupcake tin)
2 (8 oz) package of cream cheese, softenend
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
*Line 24 cupcake tins with cupcake papers.
*Put one cookie, rounded side down, into each cupcake paper. Gently push as far as it'll go to sort of wedge it in, without breaking it.
*Beat cream cheese and brown sugar.
*Beat in eggs, egg yolk and vanilla.
*Mix in chocolate chips.
*Divide cream cheese mixture amongst all 24 cupcake tins.
*Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until set.
*Cool completely. Store in refrigerator.

February Fly on the Wall

Welcome to a Fly on the Wall group post. Today 16 bloggers are inviting you to catch a glimpse of what goes on in our homes. Come on in and buzz around my house.

  
When you’re done, click on the links below for a peek into some other homes:


Baking In A Tornado
Big A and little a
The Insomniac's Dream
Just a Little Nutty
The Sadder But Wiser Girl
Follow me home . . .
Stacy Sews and Schools
Menopausal Mother
Don't Chew on the Dinner Table
My Brain on Kids
Give Felicity
The Rowdy Baker
The Momisodes
Black Sheep Mom
Raising Reagan
Moore Organized Mayhem

This month, my Fly on the Wall post has this theme:

All the answers you shouldn’t need to know:

No, if you call me on my cell when I’m driving back from the store because you thought of something you want, I will not turn around and go back and get it.

No, I did not buy myself a birthday card for you to give to me.

No, I won’t go back out and get one.

Yes, you do need to slam the door that hard every time you leave the house. How will I know you’ve gone if a picture doesn’t fall off of the wall?

No, I don’t want you sticking stickers onto your bedroom door. Just like I didn’t want you sticking those other 150 stickers to your bedroom door.

No, I don’t know where your (insert item here) is.

No, I didn’t buy more (insert item here) since you didn’t tell me it was gone.

Yes, the car will stop running if you don’t put gas in it from time to time.

Yes, you have to stop at that stop sign EVERY time.

No, I don’t believe you got a bad grade because your teacher is a jerk.

No, I don’t believe you were marked late for school because your teacher didn’t see you sitting there.

No, I don’t think you should play the odds and answer “C” to everything on your multiple choice test.
Yes, you do have something to lose.

Yes, I did make dinner again tonight.

Yes, that food on the plate sitting in front of you is what's for dinner.

Pepperoni Bread

No, you can’t trade your vegetable for a fruit snack, I don’t care if it has fruit in the name.

No, you shouldn’t wear a sweat shirt and sneakers out in a snowstorm, but we both know that’s not going to stop you.

No, when I said to wear a ski hat when you go out in the snow I didn’t mean a baseball cap.

No, after having done the laundry today I certainly will not start the machine again to wash just the pair of socks you wore today because they’re the only pair you have left.
No, you can’t either.

No, your bedroom floor is not an extension of your closet.

Yes, I do think that’s too loud.

Yes, it’s still too loud.

No, leaving it that loud and using headphones isn’t an option.

Pepperoni Bread
                                                         
©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

NOTE: Serve with Homemade Marinara. My recipe is here: Homemade Marinara

Ingredients:
1 loaf (1 pound) frozen bread dough
3 TBSP butter, softened and mixed with 1/2 tsp garlic powder
approximately 20 slices of pepperoni
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella
Grated Parmesan

Directions:
*Spray a piece of plastic wrap with no-stick spray. Wrap the frozen bread dough in the plastic wrap . Allow to just defrost but don’t let it rise.
*Spray a loaf pan with no-stick spray.
*Remove dough from plastic wrap and roll out until it’s just a little longer than the length of your loaf pan, and twice the width.
*Gently spread 2 TBSP of the softened garlic butter onto the dough.
*Spread out the pepperoni slices over the butter. Then sprinkle with the mozzarella , then the parmesan.
*Fold the sides in just slightly, then roll up the dough.
*Place the loaf, seam side down, in your loaf pan, cover with the plastic wrap and set aside to rise (should take approximately 4 – 5 hours).
*Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove the plastic wrap from the loaf pan.
*Bake bread for 30 minutes.
*Remove from oven. With a knife, gently melt the rest of the garlic butter over the top of the loaf.
*Remove from pan, slice and serve.

Ode to a Reader

Many of you don’t know this, but I am horrible at writing poems. Anyone who has read me for a long time may remember my last poetry debacle. Let’s just say that I had to go back and edit it to put a message at the beginning to try to stop the flood of well-wishers offering sympathy to me in light of my son going to jail. If you want to read it, click here: Words I Never Want to Say Again but suffice it to say that my foray into poetry was a categorical disaster.

But we’re coming up on Valentine’s Day. I mean, if you’re ever going to take another go at poetry, it would be for Valentine’s Day, right? So to those of you readers whom I’m about to lose permanently, I’m truly sorry to see you go. And those of you who have strong constitutions and are not faint of heart, read on:

                 Well the roses are dead,

                     It’s winter here instead,

                     But if you’ll be my Valentine, 

                                            I’ll buy some that are red.

                    I decided to blog,

                    Although my brain’s in a fog,

                    It’s better than sitting

                                        like a bump on a log.

                    

                   
                    I'm trying to write and to feed,

                   You’re my White Knight on a steed,

                   It would be most embarrassing, 

                                           without you here to read.

I don’t mean to complain,

I just write to stay sane, 
Can't "lose it" on the kids,

                   and you help me refrain.

You’re my best outlet now,

Just by reading is how,

I appreciate you. 

                    Go ahead, take your bow.

Please don’t be a harsh judge,

Cause on this I won’t budge,

I love you, dear Reader,

                    more than Hot Fudge.

Homemade Hot Fudge

❤ Happy Valentine’s Day ❤

Homemade Hot Fudge
                                          www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1 stick butter

3 ounces of unsweetened chocolate

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup baking cocoa

1 cup heavy cream

2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

*Melt butter and unsweetened chocolate in saucepan over warm heat.

*Add the sugar and cocoa. Whisk until smooth, then raise the heat to medium.

*Slowly add the cream while gently whisking and continue to whisk until it thickens and just starts to boil.

*Immediately remove from heat and add vanilla.

Take 2-Feb Secret Subject Swap

Welcome to Take 2 of February’s Secret Subject Swaps. This week, 14 brave bloggers picked a secret subject for someone else and were assigned a secret subject to interpret in their own style. Today we are all simultaneously divulging our topics and submitting our posts.

 

 

 

Here are links to all the sites now featuring Secret Subject Swap posts. Sit back, grab a cup, and check them all out. See you there:
 

Baking In A Tornado

The Sadder But Wiser Girl

Stacy Sews and Schools

Go Momma!

Snarkfest 

Suburbia Interrupted

The Mommy Ref

Come Play In The Kitchen

Macdonald's Playland

The Family Pants

Adventures in Hickey Land

Dawn's Disaster

Sorry kid, Your Mom Doesn't Play Well With Others

Black Sheep Mom

My subject is: Describe a recent dream. It was submitted by: Stacy Sews and Schools. Here goes: 

This isn’t just a recent dream I had, but seems to be a recurring one. So when I got this prompt and saw that I need to describe a recent dream, this is the obvious one that came to mind. It’s actually a long one, as it takes place throughout most of a day.

At the beginning of the dream I wake up in the morning. It’s a weekday and I’ve slept in, it’s almost 10:00 am. I’ve not had trouble sleeping, as I frequently do these days. I haven’t been awakened by Husband showering before heading to work, nor was I jarred from sleep by the kids getting ready for school. I panic and jump out of bed and run to the kids’ rooms, but they’re not there. I jump on the school web site to see if they showed up late as I hadn’t fought them out of the house that morning, but they are not absent and they weren’t late. Hmmm.

I shower and I’m about to go 10 rounds with my hair but it’s dry. And it’s straight! I’ve accidentally grabbed a pair of jeans from years (and years) ago and they fit. Yay.

I get to the kitchen and someone has left the windows open. It’s February, right? But it’s 75 degrees out, gorgeous. Hmmm.

I go to start the laundry but there are no dirty clothes. Where is the pile that’s usually spilling out of the laundry chute? Can’t find dirty clothes anywhere. Yay.

I find a note from the kids on the desk. It says that they have realized that my rules are, in fact, for their benefit and they vow to follow them. My normal mantra is “pick a rule and follow it.  Any rule, your choice, but pick one and follow it”. Now they’re going to follow them all? And they put it in writing! Hmmm.

At this point I become aware that I’m going to have to turn on the TV. I’d been fairly certain that I’m in an alternate universe but I didn’t want to jinx it. Now I’m going to have to check the news because that note from the kids pretty much guaranteed it. Either that or I’m flat out dead and no one’s bothered to tell me yet. TV on and nope, earth seems to still be spinning on its axis.

I go to prep dinner but there in my fridge are lobsters. Lots of beautiful lobsters. Can’t remember the last time I had a lobster. Yay.

I promised the kids I’d make some Snow White Cupcakes but I actually (horror) don’t feel like baking. It’s a surprisingly beautiful day for sitting out on the deck and (for once) I don’t have any stress to work off. Wait, what is that sitting on the counter? Snow White Cupcakes? Hmmm.

  Snow White Cupcakes

OK, I have GOT to check my blog.  Wait, oh no, an error message, this can’t be good: “Your stats are temporarily unavailable as Baking In A Tornado has gone viral”. Yay.

The phone is ringing. Of course I’ll hold for the President. Yes, Mr. President, I’m sure I do have a plan that will balance the budget. Of course, I’d be happy to shoot you an email. Hmmm.

I open my email and there are 800 new messages. 800? Every college in the country is recruiting both of the boys and offering a full ride. I want to keep reading through these but I have to go. The Prize Patrol is at the door. Yay.

You don’t believe me? Of course I’ve had this dream. No one said you have to be asleep to dream, right?

Snow White Cupcakes
                                         ©www.BakingInATornado.com
 

Printable Recipe

Cupcake Ingredients:
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond or lemon extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk
Frosting Ingredients:
2 egg whites
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup light corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla (if you want your frosting to be pure white, you need to buy colorless vanilla extract)

 
Cupcake Directions:
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 24 cupcake tins with cupcake liners.
*Cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs and extracts.
*Mix in the flour and baking powder, then the milk.
*Divide evenly amongst the cupcake liners.
*Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops spring back to the touch.
*Remove from oven and cool completely.
Frosting Directions:
*Beat the egg whites until frothy. Add the salt and continue to beat.
*Gradually beat in the sugar until soft peaks form.
*Gradually beat in the corn syrup and continue beating until stiff peaks form.
*Stir in the vanilla.
*Pipe onto cooled cupcakes

There was FB Before I Joined?

A blog friend was tripping  drinking involved in some kind of blog challenge I don’t quite understand and decided to  rope me in  include me. You can read about it on her blog The Family Pants, but basically the challenge has something to do with a tagging game that took place on Facebook years ago. Apparently you’d be tagged in a FB post and then have to answer a bunch of questions. Family Pants posted 45 questions she had answered in 2009 and 45 new questions she’s answering in the present.

I was dragged onto FB, kicking and screaming, just a few years ago by a sister who lives 1500 miles away and insisted I play Scrabble (incessantly) with her while she recovered from surgery. So before I even try to get my head around this challenge, I'm desperately working on this new little nugget: YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT THERE WAS ACTUALLY A FB BEFORE I JOINED? 

Apparently so. And now a challenge that started there has moved to the blogosphere. So I guess this is what I'm expected to do: Ask and Answer. Since I wasn’t on FB back when this game was going on, I decided to ask a group of questions and answer them twice, as I might have years ago and as I would today. This may not be how this is supposed to play out, but when left to my own devices you’re just going to have to take what you get:

Question	Way Back When . . .	Now
Do you want to answer 90 questions?	Sure.	Hell no.
Will you answer a few questions honestly if you get to make up the questions yourself?	Sure.	Hell no.
Why do you blog?	Blog? How old do you think I am?	To forget that my kids are trying to treat me to a slow and painful death.
Name something you’ve done that you never thought you would do.	Parasail in Cancun.	Control my bladder while parasailing in Cancun.
Anything else you’ve done that you never thought you’d do?	Ski on a Black Diamond run.	Survive having accidentally turned onto a Black Diamond run.
What’s your favorite thing to bake?	Bake?	Cupcakes. Unlike with a cake, no one can whine about getting a smaller slice.

Chocolate Sponge-cake Cupcakes

my view from the top & on my way down

Questions stolen from The Family Pants

Way Back When . . .

Now

What's your favorite color?	Blue	It depends; on Grand Marnier day amber, on Chambord day purple, on Kahlua day, brown . . .
Do you have a gun?	No.	Yes, I raised 2 boys. We have water guns, nerf guns, cap guns and if all else fails, our index fingers.
Do you have ADD?	No, I'm just easily distracted.	Yes, I have teenagers so I do have A Desire to Drink.
What do you prefer to drink in the morning?	Coffee.	Yes.
What's your favorite lunch meat?	Seriously? That was the best you could do?	BakonVodka. It IS SO a thing, look it up.
Do you think The Family Pants will have a good sense of humor about this post?	What the hell is a Family Pants?	She started this, she’s just gonna have to put on her big girl panties and live with it.

So there you go. Done and done. Any more challenges up your sleeve? Bring it!  

And in the meantime Menopausal Mother, can't wait to see what you do with this.

Chocolate Sponge-cake Cupcakes
                                  ©www.BakingInATornado.com
 

Printable Recipe

Cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups + 3 TBSP sugar
1 pkg dark chocolate chips (12 oz)
1 stick butter
1/2 stick margarine
2 tsp vanilla
5 eggs
1/4 cup flour
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
Frosting:
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 stick butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
approx. 1/3 cup milk
 
Directions for Cupcakes:
*Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Put 24 cupcake liners into cupcake tins.
*Separate the eggs.
*Put chocolate chips, butter, margarine and 1 1/2 cups sugar into microwavable bowl. Microwave 1 minute and stir. Keep microwaving at 10 second intervals until the mixture is smooth. Stir in the vanilla and set aside. Allow to cool a bit.
*Beat the egg whites one minute. Add the cream of  tartar and other 3 TBSP sugar. Beat until stiff and peaks hold.
*Beat the egg yolks into the chocolate mixture. Stir in the flour.
*Fold half of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Once incorporated, fold in the rest of the egg whites.
*Pour into cupcake liners and bake for approx. 20 minutes. They’re done when the center is set and they spring back to the touch.
*Cool completely before frosting.
Directions for Frosting:
*Put chocolate into microwave safe bowl and microwave for 1 minute. Stir. Keep microwaving at 10 second intervals until it’s smooth. Let cool to room temperature (about 5 to 10 minutes).
*Beat in the powdered sugar, butter and vanilla.
*Beat in the milk a little at a time until it reaches a consistency that can be piped onto the cupcakes.
*Put into piping bag (or a gallon sized plastic bag, then snip the tip).
*Pipe onto cupcakes.