Carrot Coconut Cupcakes... HAPPY EASTER!

Carrots, coconut, walnuts.  A teeny bit of orange juice, and a whopping bit of fresh cream cheese frosting...

... here are some cupcakes that every Easter Bunny, big or small, can enjoy this year :)

Whether you are hunting for eggs or singing in the choir at church, I hope today is a very special one for you.  Happy Easter!

Recipe from Everyday Food, May/June 2003

Ingredients

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
• 1 1/2 cups shredded carrots
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut, plus more for garnish 
• 8 ounces bar cream cheese, room temperature
• 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Oil a standard 12-cup muffin tin or line with paper liners. In a bowl, combine sugar, vegetable oil, orange juice, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, and eggs.
2. Stir in baking powder, baking soda, allspice, and salt. Add flour; mix. Stir in carrots, walnuts, and coconut.
3. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Bake until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean, 25 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting.
4. Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth.
5. Frost cupcakes, and garnish with shredded coconut.
   
   

   COST: $5.72        COST PER CUPCAKE (12): $0.48

Vegan Pumpkin Walnut Bread

Apparently, I am a bad neighbor.

I mean, I try really really hard to be a good one.  Tip-toe through the apartment at night to not disturb the people downstairs, offer to help the old lady next door to carry up her groceries... see?  Proof that I TRY to be a good neighbor.  And I would have said that I was ACTUALLY a good neighbor, until the other day showed me otherwise.

My neighbor was walking toward her apartment, laundry basket in front of her large, pregnant belly.

"Baby is almost here, right?" I asked.  "Probably just a few more days?"

She looked at me with an odd expression for a few seconds and then said, "She is already here.  She was born three weeks ago."

WHA...?  I walk past their door how many times a day?  How on earth did I miss that?!

See, not as good of a neighbor as I thought.

But this weeks 'Sundays with Joy' recipe totally made up for that.  I mean, who could think I am a bad neighbor when I bring them a nice, fresh loaf of vegan pumpkin walnut bread?  And on Pumpkin Day no less?  Yeah, that's what I thought.  I pulled it out of the oven and let it cool, and then wrapped it up (with what I had on hand, which is why that is yarn), and headed over, being all good-neighborly.

So maybe I am not so much of a bad neighbor as an unaware one...

Wanna be a good neighbor?  Joy's recipe makes two perfect pumpkin loaves, great for sharing.  Or great for keeping all to yourself.  It's OK, I won't tell anyone ;)

.For this week's recipe, visit Joy's blog HERE or go buy a book HERE.  You will be happy you did.

PS -- Yes, I am sharing my usual Sunday post today, on a Friday.  That's because today is National Pumpkin Day and, more importantly, I have very special thing to share with you on Sunday.  So come back and check it out!  See you then :)

COST: $6.30   COST PER LOAF (2): $3.15

Whole Wheat Pasta with Walnut Garlic Pesto

It has been ages since I have posted a new recipe.  And by ages I mean two weeks.  But when you love to cook, two weeks can seem like ages.

Yesterday, though, the business slowed down a bit and the rain paused long enough for me to do what I enjoy.  Who cares that there was laundry to be done and work to do?  The conditions outside were right, and I wanted to cook.

This is not actually a new recipe.  In fact, this was one of my original recipes on this blog.  But it was time to do it again.  What can I say -- my pictures in the early days were atrocious.  ATROCIOUS.  Oh well, I have lived and I have learned.  And I needed an easy unprocessed recipe for dinner.  What's easier than pasta???  I like the ingredients on this bag of penne:  organic whole wheat flour.  YES.

Pesto is always so easy to make if you have a food processor, and this pesto is no different:  walnuts, garlic, parsley, olive oil, and lemon juice.  Mix it up and that's it.

The recipe called for cooked mushrooms and spinach, but there was no spinach to be found in my fridge... but there were brussel sprouts!  Yes, you heard me correctly -- I added brussel sprouts.  Don't yuck my food just yet.  These things taste good when cooked right!  And I cooked them right :)

The end result?  A fast, unprocessed, vegan meal that you can make in 20 minutes or less.  And a happy, happy Tiffany.

Man, it feels good to be back in the kitchen!

Recipe adapted from Everyday Food with Rachael Ray, August 2010

Ingredients

TipBuy walnut pieces, which are cheaper than whole walnuts, when the shape of the nut doesn't matter.

TipToss a small handful of baby arugula with the spinach or brussel sprouts.

TipSpice up the walnut sauce with crushed red pepper.

• 1 pound whole wheat penne rigate pasta

• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

• 2 cups white mushrooms (about 5 ounces), thinly sliced

• 1 cup brussel sprouts, leafed or spinach

• 4 cloves garlic

• 1 cup walnut pieces (about 4 ounces), toasted

• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped parsley

• Grated peel and juice of 1/2 lemon

• Salt and pepper

Directions

1. In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the pasta until al dente, about 12 minutes. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the pasta cooking water, and return the pasta to the pot.
2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring, until lightly colored, about 5 minutes. Stir in the brussel sprout leaves and cook until wilted, about 1 minute.
3. Using a small food processor, mince the garlic. Add the walnuts, parsley and lemon peel and process until finely chopped. With the machine on, add the lemon juice and remaining 1/4 cup olive oil; season with salt and pepper. Process to form a paste.
4. Add the walnut pesto and 1/2 cup of the reserved pasta water to the pasta; toss to coat thoroughly. Stir in the mushroom mixture, adding more pasta water if needed; season with salt and pepper.

COST: $6.83   COST PER SERVING (4): $1.71 

Cooking with Friends: Apricot and Walnut Stuffing

A few months ago I read in one of my student's journals that she like to cook.  Taking my comment-making pen (green, by the way, and not red) I wrote, "Me too!  It would be fun to cook together sometime!"  I continued reading, closed that journal, and moved on to the next one, probably to read about a crush on Justin Bieber or something else incredibly important my little 9-year-olds share with me.  Later that day, however, this particular little girl came up to my desk and said, "I would love to cook with you.  When will you have me over?" 

You gotta give the girl some credit -- she knows how to go after something she wants.

Because I was already friends with this particular family (I have had more than this child as my student) and have actually know them outside of school, I did invite her over and we spent a day cooking together.  First, we made French Toast (her request) for brunch.

Then we *attempted* to make homemade peppermint hot chocolate.  Only I didn't know that Dutch Process Cocoa and regular unsweetened cocoa were so different from each other.  Our hot chocolate was OK, but it was definitely pepperminty.

And last but not least, we made apricot and walnut stuffing.  We had a recipe straight from England from one of my friends who lives there, but it was made very differently than I know stuffing so we adapted it and sort of made up our own recipe as we went.  You will also notice that this stuffing made a repeat appearance in my house and showed up on our Christmas table last night.  It was that good.

Cutting up the sourdough to make croutons

The Super-Crouton-Maker

Sauteing the onion, garlic, and celery

We did it!  A day full of cooking!

The finished product.  Yes, it is purple and gold.  I guess it would be a good treat for any LA Lakers fans out there.  Or nobility.  (Anything else you can think of that is purple and gold???)

INGREDIENTS:
1 onion, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
5 slices sourdough bread cut into small cubes
1/2 cup dried apricots, cut in small pieces and soaked in water for an hour
1/2 cup walnut pieces
3 cups chicken broth
3 T butter
garlic salt

DIRECTIONS:
1.  Make croutons.  Take the bread squares and drizzle half of the butter -- melted -- over them.  Sprinkle with garlic salt and mix.  Transfer to baking sheet and cook for 13 minutes on 350 F.
2.  Meanwhile, saute onion, celery, and garlic in remaining butter over medium-high heat.  After about four minutes add broth. 
3.  When croutons are finished, mix in a large bowl with apricot pieces (water drained out) and walnuts.  Slowly pour broth mixture over the top.  Mix.  Allow to sit for five minutes.
4.  Transfer to a baking dish and bake at 375F for 30 minutes, until top is lightly browned. 

COST: $6.70     COST PER SERVING (6): $1.12

And my favorite picture of the day:

"Look, if I turn the apron around I am a super hero!  I am here to save the day!!!"

Almost English Toffee

Yes, you read that right.  English Toffee  FUDGE.  Except it's not really fudge.  Nor is it really English Toffee.  Actually, it is an accident.

An amazing accident.

Two days I go I was cruising food blogs and I found out that English Toffee is incredibly easy (sounding) to make.  I wanted to make sure if I was going to make some I was going to make the best possible, so I googled recipes for it and compared them.  Finding the one that sounded the best, I set out to make some of my own.  I already had all of the ingredients on hand except almonds, but I don't like almonds, so I grabbed some walnuts down and was set.

There were tons of suggestions how to make it work correctly, and I read them all -- I promise.  I guess I just didn't fully understand them all, because what I wound up with was not English Toffee.  It was softer, melty-in-your-mouth, and oh-so-good.  So I did another google search for undercooked English Toffee.  According to everyone there, it should have been really sticky and get all stuck on your teeth, which mine did not.  So then I googled fudge.  Wouldn't you know it, fudge and English Toffee are almost the same concept, but one main difference (among the smaller ones): the temperature.  I guess my thermometer reading skills need a little improvement.  Oh well.  This was the best kitchen accident I have ever had.  I showed my husband a picture of what I supposed to be making and he told me to keep making this accident again and again, because he has had English toffee, but this is better. 

The best part?  It tastes like English toffee still.  So I have flavor of something delicious with the texture of (slightly grainy) fudge.  Score!

I am going to give you the real recipe for English toffee, but note my mistakes changes in italics.  Follow either version to have something delicious.

Ingredients

(Yields two pounds/ 32 servings)

• 2 cups butter
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup finely chopped almonds

Directions

1. In a large heavy bottomed saucepan, combine the butter, sugar and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring until the butter is melted. Allow to come to a boil, and cook until the mixture becomes a dark amber color, and the temperature has reached 285 degrees F (137 degrees C). Stir occasionally. OR cook until it reaches about 110C or 230F. 
2. While the toffee is cooking, cover a large baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper.
3. As soon as the toffee reaches the proper temperature, pour it out onto the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle the chocolate over the top, and let it set for a minute or two to soften. Spread the chocolate into a thin even layer once it is melted. Sprinkle the nuts over the chocolate, and press in slightly. Putting a plastic bag over your hand will minimize the mess.
4. Place the toffee in the refrigerator to chill until set. Break into pieces, and store in an airtight container.               

SOME VERY IMPORTANT TIPS I found included stir continuously with a whisk (which I did), use a casserole dish instead of a baking sheet (which you should do if you are making it my way), and keep in an airtight container in the fridge.  Use Bing or Google to find out more, but good luck!  And if you happen to recreate my accident, well, good for you :)

COST: $8.00                     COST PER SERVING (32): $0.25

And from our family to yours, we hope you had a wonderfully beautiful Christmas. 

A Week of New Recipes -- Day 5: Spinach & Mushroom Pasta with Walnut Pesto

I have actually made this recipe before, nothing "new" here.  I had snatched it up as a recipe I wanted to try before I decided to do the weekly meal plan.  But I liked it last time, so I wasn't too disappointed to see it on the menu again.

Like last time, I substituted chicken sausage in for the ham.  I love me some chicken sausage!

And this recipe is dairy free, which also make me a very happy woman.  Cheese... I have quite the love/hate relationship with it.  My taste buds love it, my stomach hates it.  So whenever I can make a good recipe without cheese or any other dairy product I get excited. 

However, this time didn't out as good as last time.  I don't know what happened, but it just wasn't very flavorful.  I was able to fix it by adding a little more lemon juice and some salt.  Maybe that was my problem to begin with, the lemon I was using was a little dry.  So, this time it didn't get the best of marks (7 and 8), but if memory can be trusted (along with that blog post I put up at the time), it was a pretty solid 9/9.5 last time.  That just means I need to make it again and make sure I have a fresher lemon this time!

My changes are in italics. 

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 pound penne rigate pasta
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• Half a pack of chicken sausage, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
• 2 cups white mushrooms (about 5 ounces), thinly sliced
• One 6-ounce bag baby spinach
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 cup walnut pieces (about 4 ounces), toasted
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped parsley
• Grated peel and juice of 1/2 lemon
• Salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the pasta until al dente, about 12 minutes. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the pasta cooking water, and return the pasta to the pot.
2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over high heat. Add the sausage and cook, stirring, until golden, about 3 minutes. Push the sausage to the side, add the mushrooms and cook, stirring, until lightly colored, about 5 minutes. Stir in the spinach and cook until wilted, about 1 minute.
3. Using a small food processor, mince the garlic. Add the walnuts, parsley and lemon peel and process until finely chopped. With the machine on, add the lemon juice and remaining 1/4 cup olive oil; season with salt and pepper. Process to form a paste.
4. Add the walnut pesto and 1/2 cup of the reserved pasta water to the pasta; toss to coat thoroughly. Stir in the sausage mixture, adding more pasta water if needed; season with salt and pepper.

COST = $8.15       PER SERVING (3) = $2.72