Cupcake Creations

Today is my husband's 30th birthday!  In celebration, I made the best invention...EVER.  Cupcakes!!  I'm not one to make a cake mix, and be done.  Like always, I have to go overboard and try three new recipes. Like always, I modified and made some changes, based on what I had on hand, and what I thought would taste better. I don't remember where I found the original recipes...but I'll post them with the changes I made.

Justin's favorite type of cake is carrot cake with cream cheese icing, so that was a definite.

Ingredients:
1 lb carrots grated
3 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp. good vanilla extract
2 cups sugar
1 cup canola oil
zest of one small orange (about 1 TBSP or so)
3 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. all spice
sprinkle of ginger

(the original recipe called for cardamom--which I did not have, nor have I ever used)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 2 muffin tins with 24 cupcake papers.
2. Whisk thoroughly: carrots, buttermilk, oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and orange zest.
3. In another bowl, whisk: flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and ginger
4. Fold the flour mixture into the carrots, but DO NOT over mix!! If you like walnuts or pecans, you could toast some and stir those in as well.  Justin doesn't like nuts in anything baked, so mine were sans nuts. 
5. Fill cupcake papers about 3/4 full and bake 20 minutes. Cool before frosting


Basic (but delicious) Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 cup butter (2 sticks)
16 oz. cream cheese
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Beat the cream cheese and butter on medium speed until well combined. Sift in the powdered sugar and mix. Spread or pipe onto cupcakes.

Next, I tried French Toast cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting.  Again, I found this recipe online (I have no idea where) and made a few changes as I went.  These smell divine!!!  They don't taste too bad either.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 tsp maple flavoring (careful with this stuff...it's black and looks like it stains!)
1/2 cup milk

1. Preheat to 350 and line muffin tin with 12 cupcake papers.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a mixing bowl.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together butter, sugar, and eggs until combined. Then add maple extract.
4. Alternate between whisking in flour mixture and milk starting and ending with flour.
5. Fill cupcake papers about 1/2 to 3/4 full and bake 20-25 minutes. Cool before frosting.

Now...for the frosting! I actually just used the above recipe for cream cheese frosting, but added some pure maple syrup.  (You may have to add a speck more powdered sugar, if necessary.)  For decoration, I sprinkled these cupcakes with cinnamon sugar.

And....last, but not least...I made Cafe Mocha cupcakes with frappachino frosting!!  Is your mouth watering yet?  It should be!  And you should make these!

Ingredients:
1 (4 oz) Ghiradelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate bar
10 TBSP butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 TBSP unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup flour
2 tsp. instant coffee dissolved in 1 TBSP boiling water

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line muffin tin with 10-12 cupcake papers.
2. Melt the chocolate bar in the top of a double boiler. Remove from heat just before completely melted so it doesn't scorch, and stir.
3. Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, then beat in the eggs. Stir in melted chocolate and cocoa powder.
4. Sift the flour into the mixture and stir. Then, stir in coffee.
5. Fill cupcake papers 3/4 full and bake 20 minutes. Cool before frosting. 

Frappachino Frosting:
7 TBSP butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp instant coffee dissolved into 1 TBSP boiling water

Beat the butter and sugar and coffee together until pale and fluffy. Spread or pipe onto cupcakes. Top with grated chocolate, chocolate covered coffee bean, or just a regular coffee bean (but you probably wouldn't want to eat it).  Unless you're my father in law who, as he's eating one, says "what's the crunchy stuff in the cupcake?"  Just a decoration! Reminder...warn people to take it off, unless they like munching on a coffee bean!

Enjoy...and EAT MORE CAKE! 

Chicken Spaghetti with a BIG ol' Kick!!

My husband is not one for pasta or casseroles...but he loved this.  He kept saying, "Man, this is really good."  I think it was the spice that did it.

The first thing you'll want to do is boil a cut up fryer chicken in a large stockpot.  Once your pot gets to a nice rolling boil, turn the heat down and let it simmer about half an hour.

Meanwhile, dice up one medium yellow onion and one red bell pepper.

Once your chicken is finished boiling, remove it and let it cool.  Do not discard the stock!  You'll want to remove 2 cups of the stock for later use. 

Break apart spaghetti noodles into three pieces (about 3 inches a piece).  You'll want about three cups of broken spaghetti noodles total.  Cook the noodles in the chicken stock for only 5 minutes.  (Don't forget to take out and set aside 2 cups of it.)  You want your noodles only about half cooked.  Very al dente!

Once your chicken is cool enough to handle, tear it in pieces from the bone.  Throw in a few small pieces of skin too for flavor. You'll need about 2 1/2 cups of cooked chicken.  Heck, I guess if you want your casserole super-chickeny you can use all of it.  I only used about 2 1/2 cups and am going to use the rest to make a chicken salad or chicken quesadillas tomorrow.  That's up to you, though. 

Now, in a large bowl mix the following:

• 2 1/2 cups cooked shredded chicken
• half-way cooked noodles
• 2 cups cheddar cheese
• chopped onion
• chopped red bell pepper
• 2 cans of "Cream of Chicken and Mushroom" Soup
• 1 teasoon Lawry's Seasoning Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 3/4-1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper--depending on how kicked up you want your dish. You could definitely use less if you're sensitive to heat.

Begin adding a little of your reserved stock and stirring your mixture. Keep adding your stock until you get a nice consistency that stirs easily but is not too watery.  I used 1-1 1/2 cups of stock and saved the rest.

Spread your chicken mixture into a casserole dish and top with 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese.

Finally, bake casserole in a  350 degree for about 30-35 minutes. 

The Most Divine Dessert Ever!

Are you ready for this?  Look! How! Beautiful!

Let's start with the blackberries and sweet cream.  This sweet cream recipe is pretty basic and can be found all over the internet.  I followed the recipe on Pioneer Woman's website.  But, I think all the recipes are basically the same.  It's really not that hard, but it does take time.  (But...it is SO worth it!) 

Here's what you'll need:

• 1 pint heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup sugar, divided
• 10 whole egg yolks (Save those egg whites...you'll need them in a minute! Put them in a bowl and just leave them on your counter while you finish your sweet cream.)
• 2 teaspoons good vanilla extract
• fresh berries

1. Combine cream with half the sugar in a medium saucepan and warm, but do not boil.
2. Whisk egg yolks in your mixer with the other half of the sugar. Add vanilla extract.
3. After whisking on medium for a minute, begin slowly pouring in the hot cream.  Pour it in very slowly and carefully along the side of your bowl so you don't cook your egg yolks with the warm cream.
3. After all cream is added, pour mixture into the top of a double boiler. Cook in the double boiler over medium heat. Stir gently but constantly as the egg/cream mixture slowly thickens.
4. Watch the mixture and make sure it doesn't thicken too much. It took mine about 15 minutes or so to get to the right consistency. 
5. When it gets to the consistency that you want, put it directly in an ice bath to stop the cooking.  When it's cooled, cover it and stick it in your fridge until you're ready to serve. 


When you're ready to serve it, just spoon some cream over any berries you like.  I have tried it over blackberries, blueberries and strawberries and like it equally over anything! 

Now....what ever are you going to do with all those egg whites?  Don't! Throw! Them! Out! Make this Cake!

This was the first time I've ever made an angel food cake from scratch.  So much better! 

Here's what you'll need for this Divine Angel Food Cake:

• 1 1/2 cups egg white (For me, this was exactly what I had left over from my cream. You may need too add or take away a little.)
• 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon good vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar

You want your egg whites to be room temperature, so if you left them out while you made your cream, you're ready to go.

1. Sift flour and powdered sugar together three times and set aside.  This will make it very light and fluffy. 
2. Add cream of tartar, extracts and salt to your egg whites in your mixer with the whisk attachment.  Beat on high speed and gradually add sugar.  Beat until stiff peaks form.
3. Fold in flour mixture, a little at a time.
4. Gently spoon into an ungreased angel food cake pan.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes, or until nice and golden and cake springs back to touch.
6. Immediately invert pan.  When cooled, remove from pan and serve.  

Tequila Lime Chicken

Tonight's dinner was delicious, and will definitely be added to the regular rotation.  (I got the recipe from Pioneer Woman's website.)  The chicken needs to marinate all day, so plan on preparing this marinade in the morning or even the night before.  The longer the better, and the juicier your chicken will be.

So, for the marinade, you will need to throw the following ingredients into your food processor on "pulse" mode...

• the juice of three limes
• four or five teaspoons of minced garlic (the kind from the jar is just fine!)
• one jalapeno, sliced
• one teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup tequila
• handful of cilantro

After these ingredients are nice and combined, turn your processor on regular mode and drizzle in about five or so tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.

Once you've got your marinade complete, flatten your chicken breasts (this recipe makes enough marinade for about 4 large chicken breasts).  I like to place the breast under a piece of plastic wrap and give it a few good whacks with my french rolling pin. Again, you'll want to let this marinate all day (or overnight).

When you're ready to go, grill your chicken.  Since you flattened it, it won't take long at all!  So, stand by and don't let it burn.

Meanwhile, heat your oven to "broil" and grate about a half cup or so of Monterrey Jack cheese.  When your chicken is just done, take it off the grill, top it with cheese and stick it in the oven for a few minutes.  (It took mine about 4 minutes.)  Again, stand by, and don't let it burn.

Now, top your chicken and cheese with some homemade salsa or pico de gallo.

Serve with Spanish rice and black beans for a tasty meal!

Healthy Pizza-like Summer Lunch

If you love pizza, but hate the calories, here's a healthy summer alternative that's just as good (or better in my opinion).  Plus, you can use fresh garden veggies and herbs!

Start with 100-calorie sandwich thins...

Next, mix some fresh garlic with about a teaspoon of butter or buttery spread.  (Let me interject here and say that I HATE margarine.  I think it's gross and fake.  I rarely use butter, so I don't feel bad about using the real thing.  But, I have found two alternatives that I can live with.  I can't believe it's not Butter! Spray (I began using this because Hungry Girl uses them in many of her recipes) and Best Life Buttery Spread.) I used the Best Life stuff when I made it.

Then, take one light string cheese and tear it up and top both halves of the bread.

(Yes, that's just one string cheese!)

Meanwhile, slice one or two Roma Tomatoes and, with a touch of olive oil and salt and pepper, saute them in a hot skillet till they get those nice black marks.  Also, grab a handful of fresh basil leaves. 

When your tomatoes are nice and grilled, it's time to assemble your "pizzas."  Spread out your basil leaves over the string cheese and then top with the grilled tomatoes.  Lastly, stick it in a 350 degree oven for about 7 minutes to get it nice and toasty.  

You won't believe your taste buds!  All for about 175 calories....THAT'S IT...FOR BOTH HALVES....TOTAL!  Compare that to two slices of Pizza Hut Veggie Lovers pizza...520 Calories!

 

Summer Left Over Idea

Over Memorial Day weekend, my Mom and Dad, and Sister and Brother-in-Law all visited.  When you get my family together, one thing is going to be certain--GOOD FOOD.  This weekend was not a let down!  Once, they went home, though, I was left with a fridge full of leftovers.  And, lets face it, you can only eat reheated steak so many times.  One day for lunch, I decided to see what I could do to use a last tiny piece of steak, asparagus, and grilled corn on the cob.  I got my skillet hot and started slicing and chopping up the leftovers.  I added a Roma tomato, some olive oil, and a few spices and....ta-da....this is what I ended up with.  A DE-LICIOUS stir-fryish lunch!!!

Ooey-Gooey Chocolate Butter Cookies

I've been in search of a unique yet delicious cookie recipe.  With Google and a little improvisation and changes of my own...this is it!  And they are every bit as delicious as their name makes them sound. 

 

 The ingredients are super simple and probably things you have on hand.  They're probably the easiest cookies I've ever made!  (Aside from "slice and bake".) 

1 chocolate cake mix (I used Devil's Food)

1 8 oz. pkg of cream cheese

1 stick butter

1 egg

2 tsp. vanilla

powdered sugar

1. First, cream together butter and cream cheese.  

2. Then mix in egg and vanilla. 

3. Mix in cake mix.

The recipe then said to refrigerate the dough for 2 hours.  However, I didn't have 2 hours, so instead popped the dough in the freezer for about 30-40 minutes.  It worked perfectly...so whatever you have time for will be fine.  

Then you take your chilled dough and roll into balls.  Roll the balls in powdered sugar.  Place on lightly sprayed cookie sheet.

Bake 10-13 minutes at 350.  Don't over bake or they'll be too cakey and not ooey-gooey.

Once cookies are completely cooled dust with more powdered sugar. 

The only hard part about this recipe is trying not to eat them all at once!!!!