Monthly Archives: June 2011

how about cupcakes???

Posted in cake, dessert, fruit by

I had kind of a rough day at work a few weeks ago– it happens.  My cube-mate/friend/very-talented-artist painted this lovely picture for me to cheer me up.  And it worked!  It still makes me smile when I look over at it in the glare of the fluorescent office lights.  You need stuff like that.  Not only does it make me happy, but it inspired me to recreate it in real life!

 Who doesn’t like cupcakes?  I don’t think there is anyone who doesn’t.  They’re cute, fun, pretty, taste great– what’s not to like?  I have made them in many iterations over the years but never strawberry-flavored, and since I picked a whole bunch of the lovely little berries last weekend I figured now is the time.

I did a bunch of research for a recipe before making them and wound up shooting from the hip with an adaptation of a strawberry cake recipe I found from Martha Stewart.  Her recipe was unfrosted and suggested baking the strawberries into the top of the cake but I wanted to mix them into the batter instead.

I decided that a cream cheese frosting might be nice on them, but then thought I’d shake it up a bit with mascarpone cheese instead of cream cheese.  I think it was a wise decision.

Voila!  You would have thought that my friend painted the picture after I made the above, right?  Nope.  Other way around.  Good thing I have a small flowered plate!

Strawberry Cupcakes (adapted from Strawberry Cake recipe found at www.marthastewart.com)

  • 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¾ sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • ½ cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup finely chopped cleaned strawberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place muffin cups in 12-cup muffin tin.  Set aside.

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together into a medium bowl.

Put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Reduce speed to medium-low; mix in egg, milk, and vanilla.

Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture.  Fold strawberries into batter with a spatula.  Spoon batter evenly into muffin cups.

Bake cupcakes for 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.  Cool on wire rack.  If desired, frost with strawberry mascarpone frosting (recipe below).

Strawberry Mascarpone Frosting

  • 2 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 4 oz mascarpone cheese, softened
  • 2 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ strawberries, cleaned and pureed in food processor or blender

In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment beat butter and mascarpone cheese until smooth.  Add confectioner’s sugar and vanilla, beat until light and fluffy.  Stir in pureed strawberries with a spatula.

chicken curry

Posted in poultry by

I’m a big fan of one-pot meals.  In the colder months I use my Crock-Pot like it’s going out of style: I make stews, roasts, you name it.  I also love Indian food for probably this very reason: much of it involves simmering a bunch of ingredients in one pot to create something greater than the sum of its parts.

This curry starts out with onions.

Then you add ginger, garlic, cinnamon, curry powder, cumin, yogurt, flour, tomato paste…

…chicken stock, applesauce (yep, applesauce!)…

…chicken, peas, and finally sour cream, and coconut milk along with salt and pepper to taste.

This recipe intimidated me at first because of the amount of ingredients (or as a character on my favorite version of Bravo’s Real Housewives series might say “ingredientses”) but actually  it’s a piece of cake.  It takes a little more prep work than your average recipe but once you get the curry started all you have to do is keep adding stuff to the same pot.  So simple.

This curry is great over rice and lately I’ve been into black rice as I have read that the health benefits are numerous.  It also makes for a beautiful and colorful plate so that’s not too bad either. 

Curried Chicken (adapted slightly from “Bon Appetit Keep it Simple: Easy Techniques for Great Home Cooking”)

  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 3 cups chopped onion
  • ¼ cup minced peeled fresh ginger
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 3 tablespoons curry powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup plain yogurt
  • 3 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 3 cups chicken stock
  • 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 2 pounds skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices
  • 1 10-oz package frozen peas
  • ½ cup sour cream
  • ½ cup canned unsweetened coconut milk

Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium heat.  Add onions and sauté until golden, about 15 minutes.  Add ginger and garlic; sauté 1 minute.  Add curry, cumin and cinnamon sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Add flour, then yogurt and tomato paste, whisking until sauce is smooth, about 1 minute.  Add stock and applesauce.  Bring to boil.  Reduce heat; simmer until sauce thickens slightly, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes.

Add chicken and peas to sauce.  Simmer until chicken is almost cooked through, about 10 minutes.  Add sour cream and coconut milk.  Reduce heat to medium-low.  Stir until chicken is cooked through and sauce thickens enough to coat spoon, about 5 minutes (do not boil).  Season with salt and pepper.  Transfer to bowl.

Serve with rice.

strawberry shortcake, updated

Posted in cake, dessert, fruit by

It’s officially strawberry season here in Wisconsin and I couldn’t be happier because a) I love strawberries, and b) this also means it’s officially summer.  ‘Bout time.

To celebrate the beginning of strawberry season I decided to try a recipe I had torn out of a magazine years ago and have always been curious about but had been hesitant to try.  The reason for the hesitation is because it involves cornmeal, basil, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil.  And this is supposed to be a dessert?  What??

 But I’m adventurous, so I thought what the heck.  Plus, I have a basil plant that is just begging to be trimmed back.  Done.

Look how pretty the snips of basil are in the cake batter.  And you can see the yellow cornmeal flecks.  Lovely.

While the cake is in the oven puree the star ingredient with a little sugar and balsamic vinegar.

Pretty!!

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I bit into the finished product but I knew it was going to be good because it smelled wonderful while it was baking.  It reminded me of a more grown-up version of the strawberry shortcake my mom used to make when I was a kid.  It was sweet, but not overly-sweet, and slightly savory which gave it a nice dimension.  The perfect early summer dessert.

Olive Oil-Basil Cornmeal Cake with Strawberry Sauce (from Country Home magazine)

  • 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup yellow cornmeal
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • ¾ cup granulated sugar
  • ½ cup milk
  • ½ cup olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons finely snipped fresh basil
  • 1 tablespoon coarse sugar

Grease and flour one 8×2-inch round cake pan; set aside.  In a medium bowl stir together flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together eggs, granulated sugar, milk, and olive oil.  Using a wooden spoon, stir in flour mixture and snipped basil until combined (do not overmix).  Pour batter into prepared cake pan, spreading evenly.  Sprinkle top with coarse sugar.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.  Cool cake in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes; remove from pan by inverting on a wire rack.  Invert again and cool thoroughly, sugar side up, on wire rack.

To serve, cut cake into wedges.  Serve with strawberry sauce (see recipe below).  Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Strawberry Sauce

  • 2 cups fresh strawberries, cleaned and hulled
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

In a blender or food processor combine all ingredients.  Cover and blend or process until smooth.  If desired, stir in 1 tablespoon additional balsamic vinegar to taste.  Cover and chill for up to 24 hours.  Stir before serving.

a late spring

Posted in vegetable, vegetarian by

I can’t believe I didn’t like asparagus when I was younger– what was I thinking?  Probably just that it’s green in color and therefore I must not like it.  Same goes for kale which I now love and spinach and Brussels sprouts.  What a silly kid.

Last spring a friend and I got dinner at a fancy pants restaurant in a posh neighborhood in New York and ordered an appetizer that consisted of asparagus, eggs, and parmesan– very simple, and very delicious.  So this spring when a coworker brought me asparagus from her garden I decided to recreate it.

I started out by roasting the asparagus with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Then, I poached a few eggs.

Poaching eggs looks a little ghost-like.  Spooky.

While the asparagus was roasting and the eggs were poaching I shaved up a little parmesan with my vegetable peeler.  Parmesan tastes better shaved than it does grated.  Totally true.

And then I put it all together.  Voila!  No need to spend fancy pants money in a fancy pants restaurant for food like this when you can easily make it at home.

You’re welcome.

Asparagus with Eggs and Parmesan

1 serving

  • 10 to 12 asparagus spears, ends snapped off
  • Tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/8 cup shaved parmesan
  • Salt
  • Pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Line asparagus on baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil.  Toss to coat and then sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Roast for 16 minutes.  (Note: cook time depends on width of spears.  I had a variety so roasted in batches.  The fattest spears needed all 16 minutes while some of the really skinny ones only needed 6.)

Bring water to boil in skillet over high heat.  Break eggs into boiling water and let boil for 3 to 5 minutes depending on how well done you like them.  Remove eggs with slotted spoon and shake off excess water.  (Note: this would also be good with fried eggs if you are not into poached eggs.)

Plate asparagus and place eggs over the asparagus.  Top with shaved parmesan and salt and pepper.

get along little cowgirl

Posted in cookie by

I’m a big fan of cookies that have the kitchen sink in them– you know, chocolate chips, marshmallows, peanut butter, pretzels, cornflakes– the more the merrier.  One of my favorite cookies from a bakery in New York even has potato chips in it.  Craziness.  So over the weekend when I was looking through cookbooks and found a recipe for Cowboy Cookies I felt like I hit the jackpot.  Better yet I found it in a cookbook that my aunt put together of my grandma’s recipes and there’s a funny photo of my grandma looking very uncomfortable on a horse next to the recipe.  So that settled it.

You start with a basic cookie dough recipe and then add oatmeal:

Chocolate chunks:

Toffee chips:

These are the mix-ins I chose, but this is a recipe you can get creative with.  Next time I think I’m going to add crushed pretzels, dark chocolate chips, and candied bacon.  Oh yes, I said bacon.

In honor of my grandma I’ve decided to re-name this cookie the Cowgirl Cookie.  Giddyup.

Cowgirl Cookies

  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 2/3 cup white sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 cups oatmeal
  • 1 package semi-sweet chocolate chunks (or chocolate chips)
  • 1 package toffee pieces, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Cream butter and sugars in mixer fitted with paddle attachment.  Add eggs and beat until incorporated.  Scrape down sides of bowl and add vanilla.  Beat for 5 seconds.

Add flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder and beat until incorporated. 

Stir in oatmeal, chocolate chunks, and toffee pieces.  (Note: you could experiment with a variety of mix-ins.  Butterscotch chips, pretzel pieces, and peanut butter chips would all be great.  Go crazy!)

Put spoonfuls of dough on parchment paper-lined sheets.  Bake for 11 to 13 minutes.  Cool on wire rack.