Monthly Archives: January 2012

valentine’s day cupcakes

Make everyone break their New Year’s resolution diets by bringing these everywhere you go.

valentine's day cupcakes

These cupcakes were the best cupcakes I’ve ever had. And I had two other people tell me that too! So, it must be true. I’ve never been great at making cupcakes. In fact, I sort of hate it. But these were real winners.

YELLOW CUPCAKE RECIPE
(adapted from Smitten Kitchen)
Yields: appx. 38
Prep: 10 minutes.
Bake time: 16 min per dozen or 48 minutes total

Ingredients:
2 cups cake flour
1 3/4 cup whole-wheat all purpose flour*
1/4 cup corn starch
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 sticks butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
4 eggs, room temperature
2 cups buttermilk

Do it!
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place cupcake liners in cupcake pan.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, corn starch, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until the batter is fluffy, light, and no longer gritty.
- Mix in the vanilla and beat in the eggs one at a time on medium speed.
- Mix in the buttermilk at a low speed. The mixture will look a bit curdled.
- Slowly mix in the flour mixture in parts, until everything in well combined.
- Pour the mixture into the cupcake cups. I filled them 1/2 full. These really rise. When in doubt, do a test cupcake first.
- Bake for 16 minutes.

*The original recipe called for four cups of cake flour. I only had two. I used this substitution. The cornstarch gave the whole thing a very slight cornbread taste, which made them taste amazing, especially since the frosting was so sweet.

valentines day cupcakes

 

BEST BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

Ingredients
2 cups vegetable shortening
8 cups confectioners sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp clear imitation butter flavor
6 cups heavy whipping cream

Do it!
- In a large bowl, cream shortening until fluffy. Fiercely beat in the confectioners sugar about one cup at a time until it’s fluffy. Then add salt and the butter flavor.
-Beat in the whipping cream in parts. You’ll know the frosting is done when it’s light and forming slight peaks.

This was a perfect amount of frosting vs. cupcake ratio (minus the cup my boyfriend probably ate while I was making it.) I dyed the frosting with Wilton’s food coloring gels. They’re the best.

valentines day cupcakes

I used these frosting tutorials.

Frosting Cupcakes
Four Cupcake Frosting Techniques

And just for fun, I thought these Valentine’s rose cupcakes were beautiful.

the weekender 1/20/2012

Happy Weekend, Folks. I’m just going to be honest and say that I’ve spent all of my free time this week watching Downton Abbey. I’m hooked and almost done with the first season.

Such  great costumes. Ok. On to the fun stuff.

How quirky is this DIY Hot Air Balloon Lantern? Perfect for the kid’s room or, you know, creative art hipster types.

A glue chart! I can’t be the only one who gets excited about these things. It tells you the appropriate type of glues to use on various surfaces. But when in doubt, Gorilla Glue for all.

These cushions made me swoon.

Maybe it’s influence from the obscene amount of Battlestar Galatica Ryan and I are watching, but I couldn’t stop thinking about how much I want this comet necklace.

How a single layer cake makes everything nicer speaks truths.

 

it’s not too late: last minute new year’s resolutions

We’re only two weeks into the new year. Maybe you’re sick of hearing about resolutions. Maybe they’re passé and maybe everyone has given up. But here are some last minute resolutions that are easy to incorporate into your life. Plus, they’re completely achievable.

Plan a menu for the week and stick to it. Plan it on Sunday, then do all of your shopping and cooking. You’ll never be thinking, what am I going to eat today?

Keep a current resume and carry a business card at all times. You never know who will ask you for one.

Open a retirement account. I know most of my friends don’t have retirement accounts and it scares me. Start saving folks!

Only buy clothes that fit. Stop spending money on something that doesn’t look perfect on you.

Mend your clothes. If you have a nice pair of jeans that are a bit too long and you never wear them because of that reason, drop the $20 to get them altered. Else, they’re just collecting dust in your closet. Or mend them yourself!

Make sure your financial accounts are working hard for you. If not, switch. I recently switched to an Ally interest checking account and savings accounts. They have the best interest rate (hello, interest checking!). Every savings account I have has lowered its interest rate this year. Also, make sure you’re not being charged outrageous interest by your credit card company. Call and see if they’ll lower it. If not, think about switching.

Take someone special out to dinner. This is an easy one. It’s always nice to make someone’s day.

Upgrade your pet’s life. Set a resolution for your cat or dog. Make them happier. I just resolved to spend more time playing with my cats. They think it’s a good resolution.

vegetarian pineapple chili

I got a slow cooker for Christmas and wanted to give it a go. This pineapple chili and it was a hit with the non-vegetarian crowd.

vegetarian pineapple chili

ingredients:
1 1/2 cups dry red beans
1 1/2 cups dry black beans
2 tsp salt
2 tsp cumin
red pepper flakes (to taste)
1/4 tsp cayenne powder
4 tsp chili powder
2 tbsp hot sauce
1 14-oz. can diced tomatoes
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion
2 tbsp minced garlic
1 medium green bell pepper
1 medium red bell pepper
1 small can crushed pineapple

directions:
1. In a colander, rinse your beans and pick out any debris, broken beans, or beans without skins.
2. Boil the red beans first. red beans contain a toxin that isn’t destroyed in a slow cooker. Boil your red beans for 10 minutes before putting them in a cooker.
3. After you’ve prepped your beans, add them to the slow cooker with two teaspoons of salt.
4. Cover the beans with water. Make sure there are two inches of water covering the beans. Turn your slow cooker on high and let it cook for four hours. Stir every hour.
5. After four hours, the beans should be softening. Add the cumin, chili powder, cayenne, red pepper, chili powder, hot sauce, and tomatoes.
6. Turn your slow cooker on Low.
7. Prep your other ingredients. Chop your onion, red pepper, and green pepper. Heat some oil in a cast iron skillet and sauté the ingredients with the garlic until they’re tender. Add to slow cooker.
8. Cook on low for another two hours.
9. Before you serve, pour in the can of crushed pineapple. Garnish with sour cream and cheddar.

slow cooker

how not to ruin your nonstick pan

Did you catch this NY times article posted last year? I stumbled across it when I was Googling why my Teflon pan was sticky. It turns out that I’m doing everything wrong.

(source)

Why I don’t deserve nice things (or at least, nonstick cooking pans):

1. I didn’t season my pan.
2.  I use PAM cooking spray
3. Sometimes I don’t use any cooking spray.
4. I put my nonstick pan in my dishwasher. all. the. time.
5. I cook with my Teflon pan on high heat. all. the. time.

If you don’t feel like reading the article about how to care for your nonstick pan, just don’t do the things above. And don’t use metal utensils in your pan.

I think I’m going to have to start over with mine. The sticky, dark coating is burning everything I cook. At least the article says most nonstick pans have lifespans of less than five years. So I’m feeling a little better about this.

the weekender: 1/13/2012

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these, but I’ve found some useful links on the web this week. I thought I’d share.


- You know those really sugary and soft cookies with frosting that hardly even taste like a cookie? You can find them in supermarkets everywhere every holiday and football season. They’re always decorated with the appropriate holiday theme and practically melt in your mouth. We’ll they’re called lofthouse cookies (who knew?), and here’s a recipe (and the source for the above image).

-A brilliant solution to how to transport a cupcake without smushing the icing. Because we’ve all had this dilemma.

-I really enjoyed BGSK’s food resolutions.

-And this orange candle blew my mind. What? So cool.

-This dress. So pretty and perfect for curvy women.

managing your recipes using Gmail labels

Have you ever stumbled across a delicious recipe on the internet? Do you write it down? Say to yourself you’ll remember it for later? Bookmark it? I don’t have many brilliant moments, but managing my recipes using gmail is one of the smartest things I’ve ever done.  Here’s how.

Create the label

Create a label in Gmail. If you’re using the new Gmail theme, go to Settings, then Labels to create a new label. I named my label “yum.” You can take this a step further and create addition labels for “savory,” “sweet,” “breakfast,” etc.

Whenever you come across a recipe you want to keep, email it to yourself and apply this label.

Search by ingredient or recipe

Once you’ve applied this label, it makes it really easy to search your recipes. If you have an ingredient you can search it and see what you can make with it. Make sure you search within the label by selecting the label. Your search box should look like mine.

It pulls up everything that uses corn. Here’s how I email myself the recipes, to ensure the best search results.

Tips on emailing it to yourself

If I’m not using a reader, I just copy and paste the text into the body of my email. I also include the source link so I can go back to the page and read the comments.

Using Google reader

Using Google Reader has really expedited the process. I subscribed to a bunch of tasty blogs. The reader client gives you the option to email the entire article to someone (or yourself). This is what the email looks like when sent from a reader.

It usually includes all images and has the link back to the source.

I know there are a lot of sites you can join with recipe boxes, but if you’re all over the internet looking at food blogs, this is a good way to keep all of your recipes in one place.

healthy breakfast: kale and egg bake

Sometimes I embarrass my boyfriend when I rave about how gorgeous the kale is at the farmer’s market. It’s the little things that make my week. Also, a bunch of kale bigger than my head was $1. So, I’ll be eating kale all week, more specifically, kale chips.

Hey, it’s 7:10 a.m. and I’ve already had this healthy breakfast stuffed with kale and egg whites. Don’t let me fool you, I’m drinking coffee with Williams-Sonoma Hot Chocolate mixed in (see my new year’s resolution about honesty?). I made this egg bake the night before and zapped it in the microwave for a minute this morning.

kale and egg bake

Kale and Egg Bake
(Yields: 4; Prep: 7 min; Bake: 20 min)

Ingredients:
- 1 tsp minced garlic
-3/4 c egg whites
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 c almond milk (regular milk words too)
-1 cup chopped kale
- 1/3 cup reduced-fat feta cheese
- salt and pepper to taste

Do it:
-Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
-Beat together egg whites, eggs, and almond milk.
-Mix in chopped kale, feta, salt, and pepper
-Pour the mixture into four ramekins. Fill the ramekins about 2/3 full.
-Bake for 20 minutes.

I covered these with plastic wrap and plan to eat them for the rest of the week.

kale and egg bake Happy Breakfast!

new year, new opportunities

Last night my friends and I discussed our 2011 and 2012 New Year’s Resolutions. I took a peak back to my 2011 New Year’s Resolutions to see how I did at reaching them.

On this day, last year I discussed how fearful I was of everything. I set a few resolutions that I thought would challenge me and put me outside of my comfort zone. Here’s the recap:

2011 Resolution Recap

- Take the GRE: Done. Rocked it.
-Complete a 5k: Done. Also, rocked it.
-Apply for jobs that I want: This was the hardest. I applied for jobs weekly and had a couple of interviews that didn’t go anywhere. I faced 12 months of rejection. It wasn’t until the last few days in December that I was finally offered an awesome job. The interview was grueling and I felt mostly under qualified for the position, but despite that, I was offered a project management position. This was significant for a lot of reasons. I’ve wanted to get out of the Communications field that I currently worked in.  It’s hard to find work and it’s saturated with qualified grads. And I love doing project management. This is a position in a growing market and my future career prospects (and paycheck) just skyrocketed.
-Cut down on plastic: This was another tough one. Except from using reusable bags, I think this one was a bust. It made me realize is that plastic is everywhere. I can’t buy anything without having some form of plastic attached to it: straws, clothing tags, all food packaging. This resolution caused a lot of awareness and stress. I’m not sure how to move forward from here. If you have any ideas for using less plastic, I’d love to hear them. Consume less is the only thing that comes to mind, which isn’t so bad.
-Meditate often: Well, I tried, but not very hard. I just couldn’t find the time. I guess that’s not very Zen. I did go to a Buddhist temple and work on finding a meditation group. I never went back though. See fear above.
-Make money doing something freelance: Yes. It wasn’t quite what I expected. But I got a paycheck. No, it wasn’t sex work.
-Learn to crochet: No. But I did take a knitting class and am working semi-diligently on a scarf I’ve never done before. I also have really enhanced my cross-stitching skills.  Crocheting will be on the horizon.
- Learn to do without: Certainly I’ve made a lot of progress toward this. I got rid of a lot of stuff this year. Cutting consumption is difficult when we live in a society that glorifies consumerism. I know things won’t make me happy and stuff is just future trash. I hope to cut even more this year.

2012 Resolution Time

-Blog more: I spent a lot of my free time this year studying for the GRE and applying for jobs. I’m hoping that I can spend more time blogging and be more honest in my blog.
-Run a 10k: The 10k is set for April. I have to double my longest distance in four months.
-Cook through a cookbook: I’m not sure which one yet. If the book is too thick, I might just make it a resolution to cook 50 items out of a cookbook or some variation of that.
-Meditate Often and be Zen about things. Also, worry less and don’t fear change or the future. 

I set fewer goals for 2012 because I’ll be spending most of my efforts on that last one. Pretty much, any given second, I’m worrying about something, fearing the future, or having anxiety anticipating some type of change. It’s no way to live, and I’d like to be free of these things.

Happy 2012 folks. What are your resolutions?