Pink Champagne Cupcakes

This is the recipe that made my mother-in-law a Facebook sensation ... well, at least to my friends. :)  She made these cupcakes on a recent weekend when we were visiting and man ... it took all of my willpower to not eat all of them.

I think this would be a great recipe for a wedding or a baby shower.  For any event, you can change the color of the food coloring or omit it all together.

Pink Champagne Cupcakes

1 box SuperMoist white cake mix
1 ¼ c. champagne—room temperature
1/3 c. oil
3 egg whites
4 drops red food coloring

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine cake mix and champagne. Add oil, eggs, and food coloring. Beat 2 minutes.  Bake 17-22 minutes. Cool 10 minutes in pan before removing. Cool another 30 minutes.

Frosting
½ c. butter, softened
4 c. powdered sugar
¼ c. champagne, at room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla
4 drops red food food coloring

Combine.  Just a warning - this makes a ton.

Pastitsio - Otherwise known as "Greek Lasagna"

I love Sunday dinner.  When I was growing up this meant a couple of different meals at my folks' house.  On Sundays where we didn't have a ton going on, slowly baked pork roasts served with mashed potatoes and gravy, creamed peas or scalloped corn and biscuits with my grandma's strawberry freezer jam. If we were busy, mom would usually doctor up a couple big cans of Chef Boyardee's Spaghetti with a ton of garlic powder and serve Texas Toast that she turned into garlic bread.  Either meal was fabulous and if I close my eyes, I can remember so many details of those wonderful dinners.

Sundays at my house is either a "thing" (i.e. - really good planned out meal) or cereal.  On a recent Sunday night, I turned to my beloved Ina for some inspiration and made this heavenly pastitsio - or as she referred to it, a "Greek lasagna."  This dish was time consuming, yet it made a ton and was heavenly for about three days after I originally made it - it makes for great leftovers.

This is like a relationship in a pan ...

Pastitsio
by Ina Garden

For the Tomato Meat Sauce:
    * 3 T. olive oil
    * 1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion (1 large)
    * 1 pound lean ground beef
    * 1 pound lean ground lamb **
    * 1/2 C. dry red wine
    * 1 T. minced garlic (3 large cloves)
    * 1 T. ground cinnamon
    * 1 tsp. dried oregano
    * 1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
    * Pinch of cayenne pepper
    * 1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes in puree
    * Salt and freshly ground black pepper

** To be honest?  If I made this again, I would not use lamb. My untrained palate really couldn't tell if the lamb made this better and it was just freakin' spendy.  Use 2 lbs of lean ground beef.  OK, now I'm officially going to foodie hell.

For the Bechamel (Editor's note: Do not be intimated by the bechamel!):

    * 1 1/2 C. whole milk
    * 1 C. heavy cream
    * 4 T. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
    * 1/4 C. all-purpose flour
    * 1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
    * Salt and freshly ground black pepper
    * 1 1/2 C. freshly grated Parmesan or Kasseri cheese
    * 2 extra-large eggs, beaten
    * 2/3 C. Greek-style yogurt, such as Fage Total
    * 3/4 pound small shells

Directions

For the sauce, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large pot. Add the onion and saute for 5 minutes. Add the beef and lamb, and saute over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until it's no longer pink, crumbling it with the back of wooden spoon. Drain off any excess liquid, add the wine, and cook for 2 more minutes. Add the garlic, cinnamon, oregano, thyme, and cayenne, and continue cooking over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 40 to 45 minutes. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

For the bechamel, heat the milk and cream together in a small saucepan over medium-low heat until simmering. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Add the flour and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly for 2 minutes. Pour the warm milk and cream mixture into the butter and flour mixture, whisking constantly. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, over medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes, until smooth and thick. Add the nutmeg, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Stir in 3/4 cup of Parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup of the tomato and meat sauce, and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Stir in the eggs and yogurt and set aside.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling water until al dente. Don't over-cook because the pasta will later be baked. Drain and set aside.

Add the pasta to the meat and tomato sauce, and pour the mixture into a baking dish. Spread the bechamel evenly to cover the pasta and sprinkle with the remaining 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Bake for 1 hour, until golden brown and bubbly. Set aside for 10 minutes and serve hot.

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

One of the weirdest compliments I've ever received about my cooking (other than the "wow, this looks terrible but sure tastes good" one) was when one of my former co-workers told me that I was unabashedly un-humble about my baking skills but that she understood why I raved about my own work.

Although I'd like to chalk up the fabulousness of this recipe to my mad skills, I have to give tons of credit to the creators at Picky Palate and Sinful Southern Sweets for making and blogging about this cookie.  Chopped peanut butter cups added to peanut butter cookie batter - how could that be wrong?  Unless you have a peanut allergy, but barring that - this cookie is ... well, words fail me.  Just trust me and bake these.

"C is for Cookie ... that's good enough for me ..."

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

2 sticks softened unsalted butter
1 C. packed brown sugar
1 C. granulated sugar
3 T. corn syrup
1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
2 lg. eggs, plus one egg white
1 T. pure vanilla extract
3 1/2 C. all purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt 
5 pkgs of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  In a stand or electric mixer beat the butter, sugars, peanut butter and corn syrup until well combined.  Beat in eggs and vanilla until well combined.
 

In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking soda and salt.  Slowly add to wet ingredients along with the chopped Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.  Mix only until just combined.  Using a medium cookie scoop, scoop dough onto a silpat or parchment lined baking sheet.  Bake for 9-11 minutes until just turning golden around edges.  Let cookies cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Lemon-Blueberry Swirl Cake

This is another dessert concocted by my sister-in-law Amanda and I for our Easter brunch.  This was simple, but delicious.  Also, another dessert that's relatively healthy (as long as you don't decimate the entire cake like we tried to do ...)  Amanda also noted that the cake could be made without the cream cheese layer in the middle, saving additional calories.

 
Lemon-Blueberry Swirl Cake
from Kraft Spring 2010 magazine


Ingredients:

1 pkg (2-layer size) white cake mix
3/4 c water
3 egg whites
2 T oil
1 pkg (3 oz.) Lemon flavor gelatin, divided
1 c blueberries
1 pkg (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 whole egg
3 T water

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees

Beat cake mix, 3/4 c water, egg whites and oil until well blended. Add 1/4 c dry gelatin mix; beat on low 1 min., then on medium 4 min. Beat cream cheese and whole egg in small bowl until well blended.

Pour half the cake batter into greased 12-c fluted tube pan or 10-in tube pan; cover with layers of cream cheese mixture and remaining cake batter.

Bake 45-50 min or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool cake in pan 10 min. Loosen cake from side of pan with knive. Invert cake onto wire rack; gently remove pan. Cool cake completely.

Place cake on plate. Microwave 3 T water in microwaveable measuring cup on HIGH 30 sec. Add to remaining dry gelatin mix; stir until dissolved. Brush over cake until mixture is absorbed. Refrigerate leftovers.

Makes 16 servings.

Tabasco and Asparagus Quinoa

Asparagus is one of those vegetables that I didn't eat when I was a child.  I almost wrote that "I didn't eat a lot," but that isn't true - I didn't eat asparagus at all.  I'm not sure if it was something that my parents had tried once and didn't like or if they had never really ate it either, but I remember that the first time I tried asparagus was when I was out of college and in my 20s.  It was the start of a seasonal love affair.  I have never tried frozen or canned asparagus and I doubt that I ever will, because there's something so decadent about asparagus - I don't ever want that sense ruined by something that's sub-par.

So you can imagine how excited I was when I tried this recipe from Heidi Swanson's 101 Cookbooks.  I was a bit intimidated by the idea of liberal amounts of Tabasco, intrigued to cook quinoa for the first time and excited to cook a dish that promised to be healthy and something different for my lunch box.

As Heidi mentions in the headnote of this particular blog post, the taste of the Tabasco is subtle ... it's enough to bring your taste buds to attention, but not enough to have you running for a water glass.  The notes of lemon and mustard marry well with the butter.

My husband even liked this dish - I imagine that this will be one for the books and one that will be incorporated into our repertoire for years to come.

Tabasco & Asparagus Quinoa
from 101Cookbooks.com

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
25 drops Tabasco sauce
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

**Just a note - knowing that this was going to make more Tabasco butter than needed, I ended up halving this recipe.  It worked just fine.


1 pound asparagus, cut into 1-inch segments
4 cups cooked quinoa*
1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted (I omitted)
scant 1/4 cup creme fraiche - optional (I omitted)
more Tabasco sauce to taste

Start by making the Tabasco butter. I used my mini food processor and combined the butter with the mustard, Tabasco sauce, lemon juice and salt.

Boil the asparagus in a large pot of well salted water, for just for a minute or so - depending on the thickness of your asparagus. Drain.

Take 4 cups of hot cooked quinoa and toss with 3 tablespoons of the tabasco butter. Stir in the asparagus. Serve with more Tabasco sauce on the side.

Serves 4 - 6.

*To cook quinoa: Combine 2 cups of well-rinsed dried quinoa with 3 cups water and 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 25 - 30 minutes or until quinoa is tender and you can see the little quinoa curliques.

Lemon Crumb Cake

I had the pleasure of spending my Easter holiday with my in-laws this past week.  And although I missed some of my family's traditions, my sister-in-law let me loose in her kitchen and we made a couple new traditions. This lemon crumb cake was for our Easter supper.

Lemon Crumb Cake
from Healthy Cooking April/May 2010

Cake:
2 c buttermilk
1 c sugar
2 eggs
2 T butter, melted
2 tsp. vanilla
3 c all-purpose flour
1-1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 can (15-3/4) oz. lemon pie filling

Topping:
1 c all-purpose flour
2/3 c sugar
1/3 c cold butter
1/4 c sliced almonds, toasted
Reduced-fat vanilla ice cream, optional

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, beat the first five ingredients until well blended. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda; gradually beat into buttermilk mixture until blended. Pour into a 13-in x 9-in baking pan coated with cooking spray. Drop pie filling by teaspoonfuls over batter.
2. In a small bowl, combine flour and sugar. Cut in butter until crumbly. Stir in almonds; sprinkle over batter. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
3. Cool for 10 min on a wire rack. Serve warm with ice cream if desired.

Nutrition facts: yields 20 servings; 1 piece (w/o ice cream) = 295 cal, 7 g fat (3 g saturated fat), 62 mg cholesterol, 255 mg sodium, 53 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 5 g protein.

Spicy Lentils

Digging in my formerly dormant garden.  Trying to make healthier food choices.   Starting a new job.  Spending time with family.  Quitting a part-time job.  Embracing change.  Re-reading Tolkien's books.  Re-watching the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.  Letting emails pile up.  Letting dishes pile up.  Enjoying the sunshine on my face.  Planning camping trips.  Thinking of flowers to plant.

These are all the things I've been doing other than cooking and blogging.  But I'm back and while I love you all, I've also been in love with simple dishes and eating simple meals in the garden.  (Incidentally, I don't really have a garden - it's a huge work in progress, so we eat outside in the driveway looking at what will someday be a garden. :) )  But this lentil dish wasn't overly complicated and kept me from having to make a trip to the grocery store.  As for the cornbread muffins, I just used the recipe that's on the side of the Quaker cornmeal container.

Spicy Lentils

Adapted from Recipezaar.com

2 cups green lentils
2 carrot, sliced
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
1 bay leaf
1 beef bouillon cube (used a chicken boullion cube)
6 whole cloves
6 peppercorns
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1-2 hot chili peppers (I used ancho chilis)
3 cups water (used chicken broth)
1 tablespoon oil

In a large pot warm the oil under medium heat, then add the sliced carrot and minced garlic, fry for about 5 minutes just until the garlic has cooked. Then add the bay leaf, peppercorns, whole cloves and chilies (leave out for a non-spicy version), you'll fry these for about 2 minutes, this brings out or release the flavors and scents of the spices.  Next add the paprika, salt, bouillon and lentils. Stir to distribute all the spices and lentils. Now add water to the pot. (Note for every cup of lentils you add one and half cups of water.)

Bring the lentils to boil over medium heat, then lower the heat and continue cooking until the lentils are soft. It depends on your taste if you want the lentils to have more of a soupy texture than you'll need to add more water. Check on them often to make sure they don't get too dry.