Cupcake Love Aquarian Style

Orange birthday cupcakes with my special coconut creamcheese frosting ala orange with a mandarin slice on top! Simply gorgeous!
(PS. I shared this recipe for frosting with ya'll on 1/6/09 -try it,you'll become popular)

When a cupcake meets a Vegan...

If you have looked at my blog at all, you know how I feel about cupcakes. They are delicious mounds of wonderfulness and any chance I get, I am making them - and then giving them away, because it would be just plain dangerous to be left at home alone with any of them.

Yet another Aquarian birthday this weekend, a dear someone (Mary/Happy Delusions) who doesn't do dairy. Won't stop me from baking, I tell ya! That is what the Internet is for - to solve your baking dilemmas, amongst other things, and then direct you in the endeavor of crafting treats without butter or eggs.

There is a new book rockin' the vegan community, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, and with good reason. If the following recipe, which is attributed to that book (though found at Chow recipes online), is like the rest - I am a new believer. These chocolate cupcakes were so moist and chocolaty that no one felt they were missing anything - and that says a lot.

Chocolate Vegan Cupcakes
1 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola or vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp of vanilla, or both vanilla and almond extract
1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder(Dutch processed or regular - check to make sure it does not include whey)
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line muffin pan with paper or foil baking cups. Whisk together the soy milk and vinegar and set to the side for a few minutes to curdle. Sift together in a large bowl all of the dry ingredients. Add vanilla,oil and sugar to the soy and beat until frothy. Add the dry ingredients into the wet mix, beating until smooth. Pour batter into the prepared cupcake pan - this is enough batter for a dozen regular sized cupcakes. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until toothpick inserted into center of cupcake comes out clean and then transfer to rack to cool.

Note: These were awesome without the Vegan Frosting recipe that I found at the same site and at Recipezaar. I used organic granulated sugar and soy milk, unbromated/unbleached flour and pure vanilla and almond extract (never use fake vanilla - please, I beg of you!) These are all the same ingredients that go into my "fully loaded" cupcakes as well, except when I am advocating the use of Cool Whip and box cake mixes - a girl deserves to be an amalgamation of contradictions!

Blonde Brownies for the Birthday Boy

Whew! This month is just chock full of birthdays - I didn't even know I had so many friends born at this time of the year, damn Aquarians, I can barely keep up!
I made this batch of Blonde Brownies for my buddy, Garrison, yesterday. He is a cookie monster by nature, but it being his birthday week and all, he got brownies with semisweet chocolate chips in them. Just what any cookie face creature would salivate over. I made them extra thick and gooey to - put a little meat onto those original brownie bones -like any of us really needed that addition.

1/2 cup butter or shortening
2 cups packed brown sugar
2 tsp. of vanilla
2 eggs
1 2/2 cups flour
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp of salt
Heat oven to 350. Heat butter or shortening in saucepan and melt over low heat. In large mising bowl, add melted butter/shortening to brown sugar, eggs and vanilla and mix. Sir in reamiaing ingredients. Spread into a greased square 8" pan. Bake 30 minutes or a little more until done. Cut into squares while still warm.
Betty Crocker's CookBook

An apple a day...

I love apples - and I think they may indeed be my favorite fruit. So easy to pack and take with you, coming in their own carrying case (their peel) that can then be simply washed and eaten. And we do live in the best place in the states to get them.
Today at the Top of the Hill Market, located up on Cemetery Hill (4th St. for the rest of you), they had my favorite apple of all time on sale and I really had to indulge. I am referring to no other than The Pink Lady. Lovely to look at ( see the lovely pink hue?) and a crisp interior than goes well in a salad, a muffin or just in your mouth. I am going to fill you in on a little apple salad recipe that came to the family only about a year ago, and we just cannot stop making it. It is requested at all the gatherings, and we keep playing around with some of the ingredients, it's just so damn good. And if you have someone who doesn't like to eat their fruit, this will make them sit up and beg for more. If you have someone watching their calories, this originally came from Weight watchers, so no one is left out on this treat.

Simple Apple Salad

4 large apples, cored and sliced into bite size bits
One container of Cool Whip (Fat Free, Low Fat, Extra Creamy - whatever - they always have this one for sale for a buck - you should never be without one in the freezer - I know, it's not a staple food item, or necessarily good for you - but what if you forget the milk one day - your coffee or cereal will love you for this!)(did I just admit I put that on my cereal!!!!)
One small packet of instant sugar free Butterscotch pudding
One large can, 20 oz., of crushed pineapple
Additionally: diced walnuts, diced celery, raisins, cranraisins, ummmm - little marshmallows :)
Mix all the wet stuff together with the pudding, add your apples and extras - this makes a nice, large bowl, which is good, because it just flies out or our fridge.

What's in the Pot

This week officially starts the season of Community Potluck, the brainchild of a dear friend of mine. So many people don't cook for themselves, can't cook, don't have the family to cook for or the funds to do much in the kitchen - so many reasons to start gathering together and reinforcing the idea of breaking bread together, making the bread and feeding one another. Even if you can't bring anything, you are welcome. The theme is Italian, with a prize for the best dish. So, I have got me a whole braid of garlic and I am making me something Italian. The inspiration came from a recipe at Allrecipes.com.

Minestrone Soup is a wonderful way to get back to my "One Pot" cooking agenda and to make great use of this weeks cooking theme.

1/4 cup olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
6 garlic cloves, sliced
1 potato diced 1 carrot, diced
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
Beef consomme or bouillon, 1 can or 8 oz
vegetable broth 6 cups at least
Tomato paste (6 oz) or stewed tomatoes(1 can) or fresh chopped tomatoes
1 can garbanzo beans
1 cup pasta, uncooked
mixed veggies, fresh or frozen approx 1 cup
2 cups spinach, washed and sliced
fresh basil
parsley
oregano 1
1/4 cup red wine (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese
(you can also add bacon or ground beef to this if you like)
Take the onion,garlic and red chili flakes and saute in olive oil and begin to cook down, then add carrot, potato and celery until onion is translucent. Add your broths, all of it,tomatoes and oregano, cook for 15 minutes. Add the beans, pasta and veggies, cook for another 15 minutes - making sure the pasta is cooked, At end stir in the basil and spinach and parsley. Don't overcook these lovely greens. Serve with Parmesan cheese on top!

You know me - I am all about using what is available in the kitchen - in being a happen' cook, nothing is set in stone. I had some awesome Pacific Organic French Onion soup (bought on sale at Bartell's!) that I used, some beef bouillon to round out the flavor, I had some mixed frozen veggies I got on sale at Safeway that had green bean, carrots and corn in it - that went in there and I think it is great to always have some fresh parsley in your fridge - cheap, full of vitamin C and excellent in tuna, chicken, well you name it. Tomatoes - both fresh and canned went in there- and I think it doesn't really matter in the large scheme of things if your improvise - in fact, I applaud it. Remember - this is just a rough outline of what your minestrone can be - run with it!

Soup Time!

With all of this precipitation, be it snow or rain, I have just been aching to explore the world of "one pot" cooking. There is nothing homier or more appetizing than coming into a kitchen from the cold to find a hearty pot of something warm, heavy, healthy and satisfying waiting to fill your belly. Soups and stews will do just that.
My mother bought me an entire bag of wholesome sized potatoes, grown right here in the good ole US of A for a mere buck - and that led me to the Baked Potato Soup recipe. Root vegetables are a natural at this time of the year - they fill the corners of your belly and stick to your ribs. Just what you need on a rainy day when you take the dog for a walk and find out that he has more dirt and moisture on his fur coat than you'd care to acknowledge - until he launches at you 'cuz he just remembered he really luvs you, wet paws and all.

Baked Potato Soup Recipe
2/3 cup butter
(add some bacon fat to this for flavor is you have any)
2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup red onion,diced
dash of cayenne pepper
4 baked potatoes, cooled and diced
3 1/2 cups of broth - any kind will do
3 1/2 cups of milk
8 oz sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup of sour cream
4 green onions, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
Bacon(optional)
Melt the butter along with the diced onion in the bottom of your soup pot. Cook until the onions start to get a translucent. Add flour and bring to a bubble, stirring constantly - cook for a couple of minutes like this. Carefully add the broth a bit at a time, stirring all the while - a whisk is best for this. Add the milk in now, and bring to a boil, then simmer for about 10 minutes, always stirring. Take off the heat and stir in the cheese until melted, then add the sour cream and green onions, along with the potatoes. Salt and Pepper to taste. Serve with a salad and maybe some crusty bread - but that might be enough carbs - if you know what I mean!

My cupcake ritual...

Cupcakes are the best of all cake matter - small, fit into the palm of your hand, frosting covered morsels that come wrapped in their own gift paper. I love to make them and my posse luvs to eat them. It's hard to wait until a proper occasion comes up to get out the travel cupcake baking tin. Ahhhh - today was just such a day - a dear friend's, wise beyond her years, 19th birthday. Pink cupcakes were in order - her favorite color - and the request came for my near-famous coconut frosting. Yum! I like to cheat in the cupcake department and I am not afraid to admit it - the boxed cakes mixes in flavors like Cherry Chip, Confetti and Strawberry have become something of a de rigor in my crowd. And when you can hit a sale and pick up a box for a buck, well, just damn economical. But when it comes to the frosting, I am all about the prime ingredients -butter, cream cheese - that makes up for any indiscretion I might have made for not having baked from scratch, which I also do, and have the cake flour to prove it!
So, today in honor of this birthday celebration, I am going to willingly spill the beans on my favorite little creation - the Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe. Come on you bakers out there - make me proud!

Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

2 sticks of butter, room temperature
1 8oz container of cream cheese
1 lb. of powdered sugar
2 tsp of coconut flavoring
1 tsp of vanilla
shredded coconut

Whip the butter and cream cheese together until smooth, add in the powdered sugar, vanilla and coconut. When finished, stir in as much shredded coconut as you wish - about 1/2 cup should do. Frost cupcakes, adding a dash to coconut to the top, or sprinkles if you like, to give them the festive attire that they so well deserve. Then, eat 'em!

After the Holidays Cooking

You wanna be polite - no, you reassure your image in the mirror, you don't look too much like a cookie monster gone pudgy. So every meal has been prefaced and chased by a cookie or four, so what if sugar is now your main food group, you still can (barely) squeeze into the winter jeans, even if those are your "comfort" sized ones.

Green Split Pea Soup - no time like the present to start edging your way back towards the colorful food groups - and I mean the ones without the sugar crystal decorations!
2 TBS olive oil
2 onions chopped
2 carrots chopped
2 celery stalks chopped
2 lbs ham hocks (2 should be enough)
diced ham (if you want more meat than what the ham hocks will impart)
4 bay leaves
12 cups of water
1 lb. Split Peas
1 tsp. thyme
In Large soup pot, heat olive oil over high heat - saute onions,carrots,celery until veggies begin to brown. (I also added a potato to this). Add ham hocks,bay leaves and water. Bring to boil and then simmer for 2-2 1/2 hours. Take out ham hocks, shred meat and discard bone and fat, add meat back to pot along with split peas that you have rinsed and thyme. Simmer uncovered for about 1 1/2 hours or until peas dissolve and thicken soup. (Soup may be refrigerated for several days or frozen). In my case, this will feed me,Mom and a few friends that would not be able to understand this recipe nor identify half of the ingredients if they saw them in their frig. For them, this will be the first real food they have had since relatives took pity and invited them home for real food at the holidays.
Recipe developed by cookbook author Marlene Sorosky Gray.

Revisiting bread pudding

In these hard times, we are all thinking again about recycling,reusing,conserving, budgeting - a generation or two ago that was the norm, and no food scrap went begging. So that's where the bread stuffs come in - take your left overs, or that great day old stuff you see for cheap in the market and make this time honored/traditional recipe of bread pudding. Most bread pudding recipes are always talking crap about how great it tastes to make it with french bread or Challah, the wonderful Jewish egg bread that comes in the lovely shape of a braid. I don't know about you - but those are far more upscale carbs than I have hanging around on the average day, and it just seems, well, sacrilegious to go out and buy great bread to then just tear it up into little pieces. This stuff is supposed to be made with day old cast offs. Lovely deals you happen to find on a good day at the market, or in my case, a whole pan of homemade bran muffins that somehow got, well, a little singed.

http://www.momswhothink.com/easy-recipes/bread-pudding-recipe.html

PS- to AH - yes, I do put my bread pudding in a water bath/bain marie :)

Pumpkin Muffinsmmmmmm.......!

I can't help it - I love to bake. Soooo there is going to be some foodies that might appreciate the moment or two that I take to moon over the goodies of the season - like pumpkin muffins. I like to go on the web and look for tasty recipes that contain ingredients that I think are necessary for a tasty baked morsel - in this case (as in many of my ventures in the oven arena), butter and a notion of good spices. I can improvise - no doubt- but I like to see a recipe that calls for more than just cinnamon - I mean, come on guys! When did Allspice and Mace fall off the face of the planet ? Here is the link to these very succulent pumpkin goodies - remember- don't grease the pan, just use the muffin papers and life will be good - real good.http://southernfood.about.com/od/pumpkinbreadrecipes/r/bl30202q.htm