Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

February 26, 20109 Comments

Holey Moley! We got a full blown snow storm! I’m guessing we got around 2-3 ft? More than I’ve ever seen! It’s still going strong!

So as I mentioned before, I am baking for a faculty/student mixer today.

I carefully chose a recipe I had made in the past…

Enter carrots:

Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

adapted from Smitten Kitchen’s Carrot Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 tsp cinnamon
2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cup canola oil
4 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups grated carrots
1 cup walnuts (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Combine went ingredients in a larger bowl (mix in one egg at a time). Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix together. Stir in the grated carrots and walnuts.

Line your cupcake pan. Fill about half way. DO NOT over fill! This is what happens:

I overfiled my first dozen and they got terribly messed up! I ended up having to make another half batch to make up for the mess ups. I just knew these cupcakes were jinxed!! Oh well. Turned out fine in the end!

Bake for about 20-22 minutes depending on the strength of your oven.

For the frosting….

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

16oz of cream cheese (I used reduced fat)
1 stick of butter, softened (I left it out over night, it’ll be fine)
1/4 cup maple syrup
4 cups of powdered sugar

With a hand mixer, cream together the cream cheese and butter, add the maple syrup and mix some more. Gradually add the powdered sugar. Chill in the fridge for about half an hour. Spread on cooled cupcakes for carroty/mapley deliciousness!!

Off to class! Have a wonderful day!!

GINORMOUS Bean Chipotle Extravaganza!

February 23, 2010February 23, 201019 Comments

Hi friends!

I hope you’ve all have a great day! Mine has been busy and sadly not very productive but oh well! As I mentioned before, I’m trying to have more complete, balanced meals. Today was a success!

Oats for breakfast, sandwich and soup for lunch, cantaloupe for a snack and dinner…

Just plain delicious! I found this recipe on 101 Cookbooks a long time ago and bookmarked it for future making. I finally got around to doing so. Of course I tweeked the recipe (quite a bit actually) but it still turned out delicious!

Ginormous Bean Chipotles Extravaganza

adapted from 101 Cookbooks Giant Chipotle White Beans

1/2 lb dried lima beans, cooked in salty water
1 tbsp olive oil
few dashes of cayenne, more for more heat
salt
1 tsp chopped garlic
14oz can of diced tomatoes (I only had whole tomatoes so I chopped them up myself, works fine)
2 tsp dried oregano (more if you use fresh)
1 tbsp of adobo from a can of chipotle peppers
1-2 tbsp chopped cilantro
1-2 handfuls of kale, chopped
1-2oz crumbled feta (or other crumbly cheese like cotija… which apparently doesn’t exist in Upstate NY…)

Heat the oil (about medium heat) in a pot, add the garlic and the cayenne, cook for about a minute. Add tomatoes, salt and oregano. Cook for a few minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the cooked beans and adobo sauce. Stir in the kale and cilantro. Transfer to a baking dish, bake at 450 for 10-15 minutes. Serve and enjoy!

I had mine with red quinoa!

and a huge salad!

You should definitely try this recipe! It was soooo good! If you’re one of those people who hates lima beans (don’t get this by the way) you can probably use any other bean, maybe cannellini? That being said, I thought the lima beans were the perfect bean for this dish! So big and “meaty”! Delicious!!

I seriously loved this flavor combo! Chipotle, feta and cilantro! What could be better!?!

Try it! I bet following the original recipe would be even more delicious! She makes a cilantro pesto that I was just too lazy to make 🙂 Hence I just stirred in some chopped cilantro…

This is also a great make-ahead dish! I actually prepared it all on Sunday, and today I just stuck it in the oven while my quinoa cooked. Healthy and Delicious dinner in 15 minutes! Voila!

Anyway, now I’m off to read before Lost!! Anyone else as obsessed as I am?!?

Have a fantastic night!!

Game Face

February 22, 2010February 22, 20108 Comments

Hi all! Happy Monday!

Thanks for all your supportive comment about my last post! I really appreciate it.

This morning I woke up feeling on the ball. I was up at 6:20, had some coffee, packed a lunch and headed to the gym 20 minutes before I usually do.

It felt great to get my work out over with earlier than usual… even though a ridiculous girl kicked me off the elliptical because she had signed up for the one was on after me. There were 6 other ellipticals open… ridiculous! Oh well, I didn’t let her get to me!

I wanted a change from plain old oatmeal so this morning I had Oats in a Jar using Bob’s Red Mill Hot Cereal! Delish!

My lunch is packed and ready to go:

Flatbread sandwich with a Morningstar veggie patty, hummus, tomato and kale

Along with some cantaloupe, an apple and a granola bar.

I’ve got my game face on to conquer the work load!

Another tip I didn’t mention: just do it! Get work done and stress will be reduced. So that’s my goal for today.

Have a wonderful Monday!

P.S. Lovely Fella will be here in 2 days!!!!

Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies

February 14, 201013 Comments

As I’ve mentioned before, I like baking for my class every week. Last week, we started talking about random things at the end of class, and one girl mentioned she is a vegan. I felt a little bad, because every week she hadn’t been eating my baked goods! While I don’t want to change the goodies only for one person, I think it’s okay to accommodate her dietary needs every so often. Remember my post about being a “Picky Eater”?

I hadn’t really planned a baked good when I went to the grocery store on Friday. So I looked around for a recipe using ingredients I had at home. Here’s my version:

Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies

adapted from 101 Cookbooks Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour (you can probably use spelt or all purpose)
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Natural Peanut Butter (smooth or crunchy should work, I used smooth)
1/2 cup Agave Nectar
2 1/2 tbsp Canola Oil
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all the dry ingredients in a small bowl. In a larger bowl, combine the wet ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix to combine. Chill dough for a few minutes in the freezer (I did this while I quickly washed dishes).

Spoon dough onto a baking sheet (about tablespoon sized drops), press with a fork, bake for 8-10 minutes. Allow to cool and eat your heart out!

Makes about 20 cookies.

In other news, today has been the most unproductive day of my life! Other than going to the gym and baking, I’ve pretty much done nothing since 7:15am when I woke up. I need to get some reading done, prepare for my discussion section and then babysit!

Lastly! I’m almost out of peanut butter!

While I know I just bought 2 jars of Barney Butter, I like having a variety of nut butters around.

What’s your favorite Peanut/Nut butter?

Fabulous Lunch for a Boring Day

January 19, 20107 Comments

This morning I was up at 6:30am, because I want to try to get back on a schedule. Despite waking up so early, I had no where to be, no one to see and nothing to do. I e-mailed the professor I am working with this semester to see if she wanted to meet to talk about my research position, and she wants to meet on Friday. This is a little upsetting as I could have been home right now. Instead, I’m bored in Ithaca.

So instead of productiveness, I sat around all morning watching Mad Men and reading blogs. Finally around 12:00 I started to get hungry so I made lunch. Kind of sad that lunch (and something I got in the mail… more on that later) has been the most exciting part of my day!

After talking to my cousin about her Cesar salad for lunch, I decided I needed a salad too! Mine was not a Cesar salad but bright colorful and delicious nonetheless! In my salad: Romaine, Carrot Ribbons and One Hard Boiled Egg.

I had half as a salad and the other half I put in a Flatout Sun dried Tomato Wrap with a Morningstart patty. Delish!

These wraps are pretty good. I found them at Wegman’s and decided to get them since they were pretty low cal (90 calories per wrap) and the ingredients weren’t horrendous (still has preservatives but I sucked it up).

I rounded out my meal with a delicious organic honeycrisp apple!

Soo good! (For nutrition info, see my sparkpage)

I was enjoying a cup of this tea (apparently I don’t want to let go of the holidays):

when my roommate came in with the mail. I got something!

My friend Celia’s Save the Date postcard! Very cute! I love the design! Congratulations Celia and Chris!

Now I’m off to Target to get some floss then to the gym. Hopefully a good work out will make me less of a Negative Nancy today!

Have a great day!

Sweet Corn Tamales

December 29, 200913 Comments

Do you ever eat something and then it’s not as delicious as you remember it being?

That happened to me today. I heated up a sweet corn tamale (because we always have a ton of Guatemalan food in the freezer, my mother is great at defrosting…).

Freezer Drawer full of tortillas and tamales

I was pretty excited to see some sweet corn tamales in the freezer!

Sadly, it wasn’t very delicious! Oh well!

I’m off to meet up with some friends then start planning New Years Eve appetizers and reading the next Sookie Stackhouse book! (I always fly through these books! I liked book 7!)

Any ideas for good party appetizers??

Have a great day!

Miracles Happen, Once in a While

December 24, 20097 Comments

My mother hates cooking. But today, she was in rare form.

She made tilapia!

It was pretty good (Yes I eat fish. Although this may change, right now I do.). Really simple, just salt, pepper and onion powder. The cooked on medium heat for a 6 minutes total.

I made a salad.

Later I started preparing Christmas dinner. On the menu for tomorrow:

Turkey, Ciabatta Stuffing (minus the pancetta), Potato-Apple Gratin, My Sister’s Green Bean Casserole, and Sweet Potato Casserole. I’m sure there will be a salad on the side as well.

I always make that stuffing for Thanksgiving, but since I wasn’t here for Thanksgiving this year, I decided to make it for Christmas. The bread is diced and waiting to be made tomorrow. Tonight I started on the Potato-Apple Gratin. It’ll be fully made except for heating/browning tomorrow in the oven.

It looks pretty good so far! I hope it is.

Tips for Cooking a Large Meal:

-Plan your menu in advance
-Make sure you have all your ingredients
-Make as many things as possible the night before.
-Do all the chopping and prep work the day before so all the hard work is done with early.
-If you’re having a dinner, start cooking early in the day so you have time to clean up (both yourself and the kitchen)

Do you have any tips for cooking a large meal for many people?

Cooking for Non-Vegetarians

December 22, 20097 Comments

Hey Everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates as of recent. The lovely fella arrived on Monday night so we’ve been hanging out!

Yesterday we went to La Brea Tar Pits because we’re big nerds he had never been.

Getting out of tar would be hard...

Today we he attempted to fix the treadmill in my parent’s house so I can work on my fitness this month (I much prefer treadmills to running outside). Then started shopping for supplies for Christmas dinner. This brings me to the title of this post “Cooking for Non-Vegetarians.” My brother and I are the only vegetarians in the family. The rest are meat-eating latinos. Latinos eat A LOT of meat.

My mom hates cooking so my sister and I usually make large holiday meals. This year I didn’t really want to make meat but I knew I had to because I don’t want to force my lifestyle on anyone else and I don’t want to ruin anyone’s holiday.

So today as we were shopping for a turkey (one of my sister’s friends who is coming doesn’t eat pork so we need a turkey as well), I decided to get a free range turkey. Yes, it’s a little pricey at about $1.99/lb. I called my sister asking her what size turkey to get and mentioned that I was getting a free range turkey and she asked “it doesn’t matter, you’re not going to eat it.”

It does matter, doesn’t it?

I feel better cooking a free range turkey, even if I don’t eat it. This got me thinking about the term free-range. What does it actually mean? Was it worth the extra few cents per pound?

My reasons for being vegetarian are environmental and human food security based, not necessarily for animal rights reasons. However, that doesn’t mean that I don’t care about the fair treatment of animals. I think overall I’m glad I bought a free range turkey. I think one of the best ways we can cause a change is by changing demand.

If you’re a vegetarian, do you cook meat for others? If you’re not vegetarian, what are your thoughts on free-range/cage-free raising? Should I have bought the cheaper Butterball or Foster Farms Turkey?

Food Buzz 24, 24, 24: 12 hungry guests + 12 course meal = 24 great things!

December 20, 2009December 20, 200920 Comments

I was so excited when Food Buzz chose me to be part of their 24, 24, 24 this month! So for my meal, I decided to make a 12 course vegetarian meal inspired by the 12 Days of Christmas! I invited a bunch of friends over and as soon as I got back to Los Angeles on Thursday I started preparing.

Keeping in line with my December Recipe Challenge, this meal was entirely vegetarian and tried to include any many vegetables as possible, while still tasting delicious! I tried out new recipes and made up a few of my own!

Here’s how the evening went:

Thanks to the help of my wonderful sister, I set up the table to reflect the holiday spirit! Complete with decorative menus!

Then after the guests arrived, the first two courses were standing appetizers wine we all mingled.

12 Drummers Drumming: Vegetarian Drumsticks

Talia obviously is one of those 12 drummers!

11 Pipers Piping: Cheesy Puff Pipes

Tim knows how to work that pipe!

Then we were ready to sit down to dinner…

10 Lords A-leaping: Leaping Lentil Salad

I wore many hats… cook, waitress, eater…

9 Ladies Dancing: Flamenco Favas

8 Maids A-Milking: Creamy Artichoke Soup

7 Swans A-Swimming: Spaghetti Swimming in a Special Sauce

6 Geese A-Laying: Quiche

5 Golden Rings: Pineapple Ring Salad

4 Calling Birds: Cauliflower Gratin

3 French Hens: Savory Crepe

2 Turtle Doves: Turtle Clusters

Of course no meal is without at least one mishap! My caramel turned out a little bit too hard…

We all had a good laugh 🙂 Still tasted good and if you broke a tooth, you were in a house full of dentists!

A Partridge in a Pear Tree: Pears in Red Wine

A 12 course meal for 12 people made entirely by me! I can’t believe I pulled that off! That was definitely the ultimate recipe challenge!

It was a ton of work but totally worth it! Thanks Food Buzz for this great opportunity!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Groceries Galore

December 19, 200910 Comments

I love grocery stores. I often to go the store just to walk around. Yesterday I actually had a purpose. So I spent the entire day running around grocery stores and it was great!

Stop #1: Vallarta, Latino grocery store. Cheap produce! Woo! I missed these latino grocery stores! (There was an entire cooler filled with lard! I should have taken a picture of it!)