Pumpkin Cupcakes and Adoption

This is the best cupcake in the world.

If you've had one, then you know I'm not kidding.

And if you haven't had one - you need to!!!

Pumpkin Cream Cupcake with Cinnamon Fluff

The name sounds Heavenly too, doesn't it?

My friend asked me to make some for her for a thing at work.

And since I had to make 1 dozen, I thought 

I might as well make 4 dozen :)

Gotta have real pumpkin for this one.

The brown batter actually doesn't look very 

appetizing, but it sure tastes good.

Here they are in the oven after the cream filling was added.

I had to work alone in The Cupcake Factory today

because My partner, Renee was in Cincinnatti with 

her adopted Chinese special need orphan child

having surgery on one of her special needs.

It's a rule that no one should ever work alone in 

The Cupcake Factory because anything can happen.

And, sure enough, 30 minutes into baking - 

something happened.  I over filled a whole dozen

and they spilled over in the oven.  It was a mess.

But they were still edible, so I kept them.

They just weren't the ones I gave to my friend :)

Here they are with the Fluff.

Ya'll thought I was gonna give you the recipe, didn't you?

Not a chance.

It's a Cupcake Factory exclusive.

And if I gave you the recipe - you might try to make 

them yourself, and then you wouldn't get the chance

to help Chinese orphans with special needs!!

Look at this child.  Isn't she cute!!!

This is Lily.  She's the Chinese special needs

orphan that was having surgery.

I love adoption.

I am adopted.  So was my mom.

It could be in my future too.

Last year, The Cupcake Factory went into business

to raise money for the Hook Family to adopt

TWO special needs Chinese orphans.

We made over 3000 cupcakes in a few months.

Adoption is VERY expensive.

This year, we are back in business only for a 

little while.  We'll be offering these Pumpkin Cream

Cupcakes with Cinnamon Fluff for the week 

of Thanksgiving.  We're paying for surgeries 

this time.  Even with insurance, is SO expensive.

So, here's your chance to get a delicious dessert

for Thanksgiving and you're helping a precious

family pay for surgeries for their Chinese special

needs children at the same time!!!

Let me know if you're interested

and I'll give you the details.

Lentil Stew

It got a little chilly here last week,

and I wanted something warm to eat.

So, I made lentil stew.

It's SO good.

If you don't believe me, just ask Renee.

I took some over to her.

I made this for the first time a few years

ago when I was on a Daniel Fast

and couldn't eat meat or dairy.

It's a great recipe for vegetarians.

These are lentils.

They scared me at first.  

I had no idea what to do with them.

They're small and hard and not very pretty.

First, you have to rinse them.

There could be rocks in there!!

 Here are my other ingredients.

I also used garlic, but it's not pictured.

Start by chopping up the vegetables.  

I like them to be small because the lentils are small,

and I don't want large chunky potatoes

swimming around in there. 

You could put some celery in here too if you want,

but I don't really like celery, so I didn't.

I got my big stock pot out and put some olive oil in.

I put in about a tablespoon or so of garlic.

I'm not really sure.

If you have the real stuff, use 2 cloves.

Then add the carrots and potatoes.

Stir these around for a few minutes.

Then throw in the lentils.

I put in some dried onion because I didn't have a real one.

If you have a real one, you want to put it in 

with the potatoes and carrots.

Then I added a can of small diced tomatoes.

And some salt and pepper. 

And I put some cumin and essence in there too.

Then add chicken stock.

I finally used the last of my chicken stock I had in the freezer.

If you're going vegetarian, use vegetable stock instead.

I actually used half chicken and half vegetable.

You'll need about 8 cups of liquid.

So, I brought it to a boil and then turned it to low

and put a lid on it and left it alone.

This is after 30 minutes.

We're half way there now.

Another 30 minutes.

It's thick and the lentils and vegetables are tender.

This is a very cheap meal.

I think the whole thing cost less than $3.00

and this will feed about 10 people.

We went on a mission trip to Panama a few years ago,

and we ate lentils every day we were there.

Now I know why.  A small bag of lentils costs 

less than a dollar and it goes a long way.

I enjoyed mine with a piece of focaccia bread :)

* 

The recipe:

Lentil Stew

1 lb lentils

1  28 oz can diced tomatoes

4-5 medium potatoes

1 onion

2 large carrots

2 stalks celery

2 cloves garlic

2 tbsp cumin

2 tbsp Essence

salt and pepper

8 cups chicken or vegetable stock

Rinse your lentils.  Chop your vegetables up small.

Heat a large stock pot on medium high heat and put a 

little olive oil in it.  Put your garlic and vegetables in 

and stir for a few minutes.  Add the lentils, tomatoes, and 

spices.  Add the stock and bring to a boil.

Then turn it on low for about an hour.

Check it every 15 minutes and give it a stir.

After about an hour, it should be thick and 

lentils and vegetables should be tender.

40th Birthday!!! and Carrot Cupcakes

Russell turned 40 on Wednesday!!!

Carrot cake is his favorite.

I have a little experience with making cupcakes,

so I thought I'd try that instead of the traditional cake.
I found a Martha Stewart recipe, and I figured
she knows what she's doing - so I'll try it.

Pretty, huh?
A few years ago, on Russell's birthday, I made him
the most beautiful and delicious carrot cake ever.
I had it on a cake stand.  When we were about to sing
Happy Birthday - I grabbed the cake plate too fast
and the whole thing plopped upside down on the floor!!
It was awful.  We scraped it up and ate it anyway.
My kids will NEVER forget when I 
dropped daddy's cake on the floor!
Memories :)

So, you gotta start with some carrots.
My recipe called for a pound of shredded carrots.
This isn't quite a pound, but I thought it would be enough.

Shredding is a lot of work!!!

My recipe called for 1/2 cup toasted walnuts.
Toasted?  Really?  Whats the point?
So, I stuck them in my toaster oven, and in less
than 3 minutes, half of them were burned.
Trash.
Suddenly, toasted walnuts didn't seem so important.
I set these aside for later.

I also needed these ingredients.

Recipe called for 1 1/2 cups of vegetable oil!!!
wow
That's a lot!!!

This is the eggs, oil, sugar, buttermilk, and vanilla.
I was so happy I found a recipe that used buttermilk
because I still had some left over from my
buttermilk chicken recipe and it wasn't expired yet!
 I got to use a little more, and then the rest went
into the trash with the burnt walnuts.

Then, I had to add the carrots.
My pound of carrots yielded about 4 cups!!
That seemed like way too much.
So, I added slowly.  But, I used them all.
The recipe called for raisins. 
Gag!!!
I skipped them.  But, if you want them,
now is the time to add them.

Then, the flour, baking soda, baking powder,
salt, ginger, and cinnamon.  The recipe
called for cloves too.  Who has cloves?  
I don't.  I skipped this one too.

Then, the batter goes into muffin tins.

I did some mini ones too, cuz mini cupcakes are fun!

I made the cream cheese frosting while the 
cupcakes were baking in the oven.  
This is butter, cream cheese, vanilla, 
and a LOT of powdered sugar.
Yum

Here's the minis when they came out of the oven.
They must cool completely before you ice them
or you will have runny icing.  And that's not good.

I chopped up some non toasted walnuts
and sprinkled them on freshly iced cupcakes.
I didn't put nuts on the minis because my
kids like the minis and they don't like nuts.

It's such a pretty cupcake.


Unfortunately, I didn't like them.
When I gave one to Russell, I asked - Is it good?
His response - this icing could make anything taste good!
This means - No, the cupcake is horrible,
but the cream cheese icing is awesome.
Then he said it tasted a little like cornbread.


I had my Bible study group that afternoon, so 
I took some for them to try.  They all lied
and said they were good.  A few said it was like cornbread.
I think it needed brown sugar or something like that.
Maybe you can try the recipe and tell me what it needs!!


So, out of the 2 dozen regular and 2 dozen mini
cupcakes I made, the birthday boy only ate 1 :(


But Jackie ate like 7!!  Thanks Jackie.
You're such a great friend!!


So, now that I've made them sound so great,
here's how you do it:


Carrot Cupcakes  

1 pound medium carrots, peeled and finely grated 
3 large eggs, room temperature 
2 cups sugar 
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil 
1/3 cup buttermilk 
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped, pod reserved for another use 
or 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 
1/2 cup golden raisins (optional) 
1 cup walnuts or pecans, toasted and finely chopped  
3 cups all-purpose flour 
2 teaspoons baking powder 
1 teaspoon baking soda 
1 teaspoon salt 
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
1 teaspoon ground ginger 
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves 
  
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 standard muffin tins with 
paper liners. In a bowl, whisk together carrots, eggs, sugar, 
oil, buttermilk, vanilla seeds, and raisins and nuts if desired. 
In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, 
salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Stir flour mixture into 
carrot mixture until well combined. 
Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each 3/4 full. Bake, 
rotating tins halfway through, until testers inserted into centers 
come out clean, 23 to 28 minutes. Let cool in tins on wire racks, 
10 minutes. Turn out cupcakes onto wire racks, and let cool 
completely. Frost with cream cheese frosting.
Unfrosted cupcakes can be stored overnight at room 
temperature, or frozen for up to 2 months in airtight containers.

Cream Cheese Frosting
  

 1 stick of butter, room temperature

1pkg cream cheese, room temperature

 4 cups confectioners' sugar

3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

 

 Beat butter and cream cheese with a mixer on medium-high 

speed until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low. 

Add sugar, 1 cup at a time, and then vanilla; mix until smooth.

 

Chicken Piccata

Last night, I made chicken piccata.

The recipe was actually named "Easy Chicken Piccata", 

but I'm not really sure it was that easy.

There was a lot involved.

I started with these items.

The recipe called for 4 chicken breasts, 

but my are very small 6oz portions, 

so I used 6.  The recipe also called for chicken 

broth which isn't pictured :)

First, you have to smash up the crackers.

This is my helper, Mo, doing the smashing.

  

I coated the chicken breasts with mayonnaise. 

Then coat in the crushed crackers.

Heat some olive oil in a pan and put the chicken in there 

for a few minutes on each side, until golden brown.

I had to add a little more oil when I flipped them.

 A little of the cracker crumb stuff fell off.

Oh well.

When the chicken was cooked, I transferred 

it to a platter and put it in my oven 

on very low heat just to keep warm. 

 

Next, I had to slice and juice some lemons.

The recipe said to use 3, but I only

had 2 and they were very juicy.

I usually snack while I'm cooking.

This is what I snacked on tonight.

Sugar snap peas and roasted red pepper 

hummus.  Both from Walmart :)

Russell talked to a nutritionist lady last week that 

told him we should eat a pound of vegetables a day!!!  

That's a lot!!  So, I'm trying to get 

them in whenever possible.

Then I put the lemon juice and chicken broth in my 

pan and heated it for about 5 minutes on medium heat.

I made chicken pot pie a few weeks ago and 

ended up with a lot of chicken broth.  I put it in the 

freezer and I pulled some out for this recipe.

Then, I added the lemon slices, butter, capers, and some 

chopped up marinated artichoke hearts that were not 

in my recipe but I wanted them in there.

Recipe called for more capers, but I think they're 

kinda weird, so I didn't put that many in.

I heated that just until the butter melted 

and then poured it over the chicken.

I was supposed to add parsley at this point, but I forgot.

 

Russell bought me this asparagus steamer 

pot many years ago.  Isn't it neat?

I bought this rosemary and sea salt focaccia bread at Sams. 

It tasted just like the bread at Macaroni Grill!!

I had it warming in the oven with the chicken.

I also made mashed potatoes from a box :P

The finished product.

 My plate.

So.... The kids hated the chicken.  They said it 

was too lemony.  I kind of agree.

I could have added more broth or less lemon, 

or both.  Russell like it though.

  

The kids devoured the potatoes from the box :P

*

Here's the recipe:

Chicken Piccata

 4 small boneless skinless chicken breasts

4 large lemons

1/4 cup mayonaisse

1 cup crushed Ritz crackers (about 20 crackers)

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp chopped fresh parsley

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp capers

1 small jar chopped artichoke hearts (optional)

Coat chicken with mayo, then the cracker crumbs.  Heat oil in a large skillet on medium high heat and add the chicken.  Cook about 5 minutes on each side until golden brown.  Transfer to a platter and add parsley.  Remove any crumbs from the skillet.  Cut a few lemon slices from 1 of the lemons and juice the rest. Add lemon juice and broth to skillet and cook on med-high heat for about 5 minutes.  Add butter, lemon slices, capers and artichokes.  Cook and stir on low heat until butter is melted.  Serve over chicken.