Strawberry Cupcakes with Basil Cream Cheese Frosting

I love cupcakes. They're small, adorable and ever so yummy! There's just something satisfying about peeling off the liner and taking a big bite out of the cake.

The inspiration behind this cupcake was a strawberry basil sorbet I had once - the perfect combination of sweet and savory. I've been thinking about this one for awhile - about how yummy it would be to turn this flavor profile into a cupcake!

There was a minor issue with the garnish - I had thought a candied basil leaf would look pretty on top of the basil frosting, only my basil leaves didn't really agree to being dunked in sugar syrup. I ended up garnishing with a sliced strawberry, which was equally pretty with the color contrast.

Ingredients
-1cup pureed strawberries
-1.5 cup flour
-1 cup sugar
-1 tsp baking powder
-1/2 tsp salt
-1/4 cup milk
-1/2 tsp vanilla
-2 eggs at room temperature
-1 stick butter at room temperature
-1/2 package (4oz) cream cheese at room temperature
-powdered sugar
-2 big handfuls of basil, pureed

Instructions
-Preheat oven to 350.
-In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl, mix the strawberry puree, milk and vanila.
-In the bowl of your stand mixer (I love my Kitchenaid - I tell my husband frequently that it's the best gift he's ever gotten for me), cream together the butter and sugar. Scrape down the sides and add in the eggs. Mix until well combine. Scrape down the sides again.
-Add in the flour and strawberry mixtures and mix carefully until combined.
-Pour the batter into a prepared muffin tin (I made 12 cupcakes from this recipe) and bake for 20-25 minutes (the cupcakes are done when a toothpick come out clean).
-Let cool before icing.
-For the frosting, whisk the cream cheese, basil puree and powdered sugar using the stand mixer until the desired consistency is reached. Notice how I didn't specify the amount of powdered sugar? This is really up to you and what consistency you want in your frosting.
-Frost and enjoy!

Burger Night with a Twist

Who doesn't love a burger right? There is nothing wrong with a nice greasy burger (please refer to my love for In n Out here), but sometimes you just want something a little bit healthier. Instead of taking the traditional lighter burger option and making turkey burgers, I thought I'd try this tasty looking recipe I saw in the Karma Chow cookbook. It was a veggie burger that happened to be vegan, gluten free (even though I didn't make mine gluten free) and most importantly, delicious! It had 3 kinds of veggies, brown rice and beans - all sorts of healthy goodness!

It was a big hit with the family - Ethan and Eva each nearly finished their full-sized burger - what else can a mom ask for right? This was a really easy dinner and these are seriously the best veggie burgers I've ever had - I couldn't stop talking about them all day! This recipe is definitely going to be added to the dinner rotation!

Ingredients
-1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
-1.5 cup brown rice (I didn't really measure - it's not super important to get this part exact)
-1 bell pepper, roughly chopped
-1 big handful baby kale
-1 onion, quartered
-1 tsp chili powder
-a couple squirts of ketchup
-breadcrumbs (I used regular ones, but you can use gluten free, or I think oat flour would work well too)
-1 tsp salt

Instructions
-Puree the bell pepper, kale and onion in a food processor. Scrape into a glass bowl. This will be kind of liquidy.
-Puree the rice and chickpeas. This puree will be a bit sticky - that's okay! It doesn't need to be a smooth puree - a little texture is fine. Scrape on top of the veggies. 
-Add chili powder, ketchup, salt and as much breadcrumbs as you need to get the burgers to a nice consistency. I needed about 1.5 cups.
-Preheat grill pan or saute pan over medium heat.
-Line a sheet pan with wax or parchment paper. Form the mixture into patties and place on the prepared pan. I made 10 good sized burgers.
-Grill or saute over medium heat for 4 minutes per side. If you use a non-stick grill pan, you don't need oil!
-Serve with whatever topping you like! I served mine with guacamole :)

<3 those grill marks!

Any excuse to eat guacamole at our house!

Best Ever Black Bean Brownies!

My favorite treat when I was a little girl was a brownie - I loved them in any shape or form. Now that I'm older, I still enjoy a good brownie, but a girl's gotta watch her figure! But I digress.

We've all had the "diet" brownies that are dry, chalky, bland and just plain nasty. Black bean brownies are all over the internet, food blogs, pinterest, etc and I thought I'd given them a try. The first attempt resulted in something that was perfectly delicious, but kind of flat, like a giant chocolate cookie. Then I came across this recipe in Melissa D'Arabian's cookbook and I thought I'd give it a try. YUMMY! These are moist, fudgy, chocolatey, but not too sweet goodness! It's hard to believe that they're relatively low in fat, high in fiber, low  sugar and practically good for you!

Here is my recipe, adapted from Melissa's.

Ingredients
-1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
-1/4 cup canola oil
-4 eggs (3 if you want a fudgier brownie, 4 for cakey. Keep in mind that as they sit, the brownies will firm up a bit)
-1/2 cup cocoa powder
-1/2 cup sugar
-2 tsp instant coffee
-2 tsp vanilla extract
-1c chocolate chips, divided (I used mini chocolate chips for this batch, but dark chocolate chunks would be delicious!)
-2/3c flour
-1 tsp baking powder
-1 tsp salt

Instructions
-Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 13x9 pan with cooking spray and set aside.
-Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.
-Melt half the chocolate chips (in a microwave or double boiler, whatever's easier for you)
-Puree the beans with the oil in a food processor until mostly smooth (you may have to pause and scrape down the sides). Add the eggs, cocoa powder, sugar, coffee and vanilla. Process until combined. Add the chocolate and the dry ingredients and pulse until combined. Again, you may have to pause and scrape down the sides. Stir in the chocolate chips.
-Pour the batter into the 13x9 pan and bake 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
-Let cool before cutting.

I think the next time I make these, I will drizzle with a little homemade caramel and sprinkle with some Maldon sea salt!

Mexican(ish) Quinoa Salad with Guacamole!

Quinoa is a really delicious superfood! It is a really good source of protein (I believe it's the only complete protein from a plant source), fiber, iron, calcium and all sorts of other things. It's also gluten free! 

Quinoa also happens to be one of my family's favorite things, so I'm always on the lookout for new and yummy things to do with it. The other day I had a craving for Mexican food, so I threw together this yummy quinoa salad.

Ingredients
-2c quinoa, rinsed
-1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
-1/2 bag of frozen corn, defrosted
-2 tsp chili powder
-1 tsp cumin
-zest and juice of 1 lime, reserve half of the lime juice
-olive oil
-salt
-pepper
-2 avocadoes (2 if they're on the bigger side, 3 if they're more medium'ish)
-1 clove garlic, finely minced
-big handful of chopped cilantro

Instructions
-Prepare quinoa according to package instructions. The ratio of water to quinoa is 2:1, so I'd use 4 cups of water for this particular batch. It should take about 15-20 minutes to cook.
-Whisk together chili powder, cumin, zest, half the lime juice, some olive oil and salt and pepper to taste in a small bowl. Set aside.
-Make your guacamole! Mash your avocadoes with lime juice, garlic and salt to taste. Stir in half the cilantro.
-When the quinoa is done, toss it with the beans, corn and dressing. Serve with a dollop (or 2!) of guacamole and enjoy!

Chili and Waffles!

Chili and waffles? Yep! That's what we had for dinner last night and it was tasty!

As you may remember from this post, we love waffles! I haven't used the waffle maker in a while though, so when we had chili for dinner last night, I thought I'd make cornmeal waffles to go with it instead of the usual cornbread.

And in line with the healthy eating resolution, I made a vegetarian chili! The recipe is here. Kelli is a dietician too and you can count on all of her recipes being tasty and nutritious! The refried beans sounded a little strange to me, but it really did a good job thickening up the chili in a clean manner. To make it a little bit zippy, I used refried beans that had chopped red jalapenos in it. It added just the right amount of heat so that you could taste it, but not so much that the kids couldn't eat it. Ethan ate a big bowl, and Eva had a few bites of mine as well. 

The cornmeal waffles were a hit too - just like cornbread, but a lot more fun! Even Miss Eva got in on the action. You can use any cornbread recipe you have, but in case you would like it, here is the recipe I used.

Ingredients
-1 3/4c flour (I used regular all purpose, but if you're gluten free, you can sub a gluten free flour or just use all cornmeal)
-1 1/4c cornmeal
-1 TB baking powder
-1 tsp sugar
-1 tsp salt
-2 eggs
-2 c milk (cow, soy, rice, almond, whatever)

Instructions
-Preheat your waffle maker.
-When the waffle maker is heated up, ladle the batter on 1/2 cup at a time and cook until done. This took about 4.5 minutes using a Kitchenaid Pro Line (seriously the best waffle maker ever!). This recipe made 9 good sized waffles.

Enjoy!

Apologies for the sidways view - blogger insisted on rotating the picture.

Homemade Ricotta

This is a pictureless post, but that's okay - just use your imagination! :)

Williams-Sonoma has these free technique classes several times a month - you get to sample tasty treats and you get a 10% discount (sadly sale stuff and the good stuff, aka vitamixes and Shun knives, is excluded) on class day. A few weeks ago, there was a class on homemade holiday gifts, and one of the items discussed was homemade cheese! Williams-Sonoma does sell the cheesemaking kits, but if you do any amount of cooking, you probably already have the ingredients at home for a fraction of the price.

Ingredients
-1 qt milk (I used whole, but goat, 2% or 1% should also work - just make sure there's some fat in it)
-1 tsp salt (more or less to taste)
-1/4c lemon juice (or plain white vinegar)
-cheesecloth

Instructions
-Line a sieve with the cheesecloth (my brilliant suggestion is to binder clip the cloth in place so that when you pour the curds in, the cloth stays put) and set the sieve over a large bowl.
-Place milk and salt in a non-reactive pot (stainless steel or Le Creuset). 
-Bring to a gentle boil (it will look like the top of a latte) over medium heat. This will take some time, so don't leave the stove (that's when milk boils over) and keep stirring to prevent scorching.
-After the milk has come to a boil, turn off the heat and stir in the lemon juice. Curds should form immediately. Pour into your prepared cheesecloth/sieve/bowl contraption and drain out the whey (don't throw this out - it's super nutritious and you can use it in smoothies, over cereal, pancakes, etc). 
-Refrigerate the curds in the refrigerator until serving time. This will result in a relatively firm product, so you may need to thin it out with some liquid (like that whey you saved).  This is just a very wonderful lemony ricotta.

If you're wondering how much ricotta this made, there was enough for a 13x9 pan of lasagna!

Asian Spinach Salad

I've had a craving for salad lately. I'm not sure why - maybe I'm secretly trying to balance out the junk food bingeing that will inevitably come with Christmas? Anyways, I made this really good salad for lunch today and just had to share it - it's that good!

It's super healthy too - we could all use a little immune boosting help this time of year!

Ingredients

-spinach (or a nice spring mix would be tasty too)

-1 carrot, grated

-chopped roasted bell pepper

-1/2 cup edamame

-Asian dressing (I used some leftover ginger soy dressing from an Asian Wonton Salad from Corner Bakery Cafe - this is a REALLY good salad!)

Instructions

Put your greens on a plate. Add your toppings. Drizzle with dressing. Eat!

Scrounged Fruit and Veggie Smoothie

Day 1 and I'm already in love! With my new Vitamix that is. My chef friends have been raving about them for years, and Chris finally agreed that I could have one as a combination anniversary/birthday/Christmas present! 

In simple terms, it's a high powered blender. It requires minimal to no liquid to turn your fruits/veggies into a wonderfully creamy smoothie. I know it can do much more, but I have't played around with it yet.

I had some fruit that's been around a while (still edible, just starting to look a little aged), so it was smoothie time!

Ingredients
soy milk
1 apple, cored and quartered
1 pear, cored and quartered
1 banana, peeled
1 orange, peeled
2 big handfuls baby spinach

Instructions
-Place the apple, pear, banana orange and spinach into the blender. Add a splash of soy milk. Blend until desired consistency is reached.
-If you don't have a Vitamix, you'll probably want to rough chop your hard fruits and add more liquids to help your blender get going.
-This made enough for 2 big grown up servings and one small toddler serving.

Someone loved their smoothie!

The Grilled French Onion

While we were in the car coming home from Lowe's (hooray for free arts and crafts!), my mind began to wander. Naturally, it wandered to food! I started thinking about how good caramelized onions are, how we had a loaf of bread that needed to be used up and what we were going to have for lunch. It hit me - a grilled cheese sandwich!

This is no ordinary grilled cheese sandwich though, as you may have guessed from the blog title, but a decadent, yet simple, grilled French onion sandwich! It tastes just like French onion soup in a bread bowl!

Kelli - I think your daughter would like this :)

Ingredients

-3 medium onions, thinly sliced

-2 TB butter (more or less is fine)

-olive oil

-salt

-8 slices Swiss cheese (grated Gruyere/Emmentaler/Comte would all be tasty options, just be sure to use something Swiss-y)

-8 slices bread (I used a whole grain bread, but sourdough would also be tasty)

Instructions

-Melt butter in a stainless steel pot over medium heat. When the butter has melted, add a splash of olive oil, the onions and a pinch of salt.

-Stir occasionally until the onions turn a golden brown color. Be aware this will take a long time! The longer you cook the onions, the tastier they'll be! I only cooked mine 30 minutes (I was hungry), so they didn't turn the deep golden brown, but they were still tasty.

-Preheat grill pan (or skillet, but the grill lines just make your sandwich look prettier!) over medium heat.

-Assemble your sandwiches! Lay out 4 slices of bread. Top each slice of bread with onions, 2 slices of cheese and the second piece of bread.

-Grill 3-4 minutes per side.

-Slice and enjoy!

Thai Pesto Pasta

2 days, 2 posts??? Yikes!

Anyways, I made a tasty dinner last night and I thought I'd share it with all of you.

I'd like to think I'm a decent cook, but with 2 kids and a husband, following recipes is just sooo much easier than making things up on the fly. Plus recipes make it easier when I'm writing up that grocery list! Yesterday was different though...all day I was thinking about pasta. And Thai food, how much I miss it and how I can't have some of my favorites because of the coconut milk that is used (Eva is highly sensitive to certain foods in my diet). I didn't particularly feel like making a Thai veggie curry, my usual stand by Thai dish, so my mind started wandering...what could I make with the stuff I have in the house...then it struck me - Thai pesto!

I knew I had Thai curry paste in the house (pantry staple) and my parents have a healthy supply of Thai basil. Thus this recipe was born.

Thai Pesto

• half jar of Thai curry paste (I used Thai Kitchen red curry paste, use more or less based on your preference)
• large handful of Thai basil
• large handful of cilantro
• vegetable oil

Puree all the ingredients together in a food processor with enough vegetable oil to reach your desired consistency. Toss with pasta. I used a curly shaped pasta (not fusilli, but similar), but I think this would be tasty with rice pasta. I also quartered a bunch of cherry tomatoes to put in the pasta, but you can add whatever mix ins you'd like.

The pesto itself smelled very potent, but ended up being relatively mild. I think next time I'll be doubling the basil and cilantro used. All in all, this was a tasty, delicious and easy dinner!