Cupcake Tips

Jamie wrote this email to me:

 

I am watching the Rachael Ray show and learned something new today :) You might already know this but if you're using a cake mix but want to bake cupcakes instead of a cake this is how you bake them...

 

350 degrees makes a flat cupcake

375 degrees makes a round top

 

then you bake it for 15 mins until golden brown

chocolate zucchini cake

1 1/2 c. sugar

2 1/2 c. flour
4 Tbsp. cocoa
1 tsp. soda
2 c, grated zucchini
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 c, oil
1/2 c. buttermilk or sour milk w/ vinegar

Mix sugar, eggs and oil. Stir dry ingredients and add alternately with buttermilk. Pour into a 9x13 inch pan. Sprinkle with 2/3 c. chocolate chips and 1/2 c. chopped nuts. Bake at 325 for 35 to 40 minutes.   ( Do not ice)

Peach-Nectarine Fruit Roll-Ups

Steve just bought me a dehydrator and I have been drying all different kinds of fruit but when I looked at the peaches and nectarines on the counter they were too ripe.  I have wanted to try fruit leather and this was the perfect opportunity.  I did a Google search and came up this recipe from Blissfully Content.  It worked out perfect.  I have apricots in the fridge that may end up as roll-ups as well.

About 3 pounds nectarines and peaches {combined}. You can use ANY combination of fruits.
1 TBS lemon juice
1/4 cup honey {this really gives it a great texture and flavor}

Wash your peaches and nectarines really well. Cut into quarters, pit, and put into a pot on low. Use a potato masher to cook down. Add lemon juice and honey.

When fruit is heated through and it looks fairly mashed, put into a blender. Blend until smooth.

I have non-stick sheets for my dehydrator and I was able to spread one cup of puree per tray.  I tried to leave the edges a little thicker, about 1/4 inch, and the inside, about 1/8 inch.  Smooth out as evenly as possible with a spoon

Dry at 135 degrees until leathery and pliable...about 4-7 hours. Make sure there are no sticky spots in the center. 

While fruit leather is still warm, cut and roll in parchment paper.  I used scissors to cut even pieces. Store in glass jars.

Sweet and Sour Jam

Steve's Mom has a cherry, apricot and two apple trees.  We were able to get cherries and apricots and have to see what comes of the apples.  I was looking for different ways to use apricots and stumbled upon this recipe.  I love sweet and sour chicken!  I keep saying that I love this or I love that but I really should say I love food!!!  I did make a couple of changes by not using habaneros, shallots, cherry tomatoes and cilantro.  I didn't have any of those so I used jalapenos, green onions and a tomato minus the seeds.  There wasn't any heat when I used the jam on the chicken so next time I think I will leave a few jalapeno seeds in.

2 jalapenos, minus seeds unless you like heat
3 cups fresh apricots, pitted and chopped
1 cup green onions, sliced into thin slivers
1/2 cup green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup fresh pineapple, chopped
1/4 cup tomatoes, minus seeds, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon minced fresh cilantro (optional)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1 (1.75 ounce) package powdered fruit pectin
6 cups white sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon butter

9 sterilized half-pint canning jars with lids and rings

Wearing rubber gloves and avoiding touching your eyes or face, seed and mince the jalapeno peppers. Place the jalapenos, apricots, green onions, green and red bell pepper, pineapple, tomatoes, garlic, cilantro, cumin, and lime juice into a large pot over medium heat, and stir in the pectin until dissolved. Bring the mixture to a boil, and mix in the white and brown sugars, stirring until completely dissolved. Return the jam to a full rolling boil, add the butter to reduce foaming, and boil hard for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly.

Turn off heat, and skim and discard any foam that forms on the jam. Pack the jam into the sterilized jars up to 1/8 of the rim and top each with a sterilized lid and ring.
 
Simmer the filled jars in a boiling water bath for 25* minutes, then remove the jars and listen for the popping sound. Let jars cool completely.

*25 minutes is for my elevation 5800 ft.  I consulted the packaging with the pectin which told me how to adjust my time.

I opted out of breading my chicken, you could use pork, to cut down on the calories but you can bread if you like using this recipe.  I cut up my chicken into bite-size pieces and then spooned jam over chicken.  Toss chicken to coat and bake at 325 for 1 hour. 

Sweet Pork

I love Costa Vida Sweet Pork Burritos or Salad! I had made a pork loin the other day without anything on it because I wanted to try this apricot BBQ sauce which no one liked but I had to give it a whorl. Anyway I had left over pork and kept thinking about Costa Vida and that sweet pork salad. I knew where I could get a copycat recipe of Cafe Rio versions of sweet pork but when I looked at the ingredients I didn't have any Coke and I found out that there isn't any reason I need it.

1 can diced green chilies
1 (10oz) can red enchilada sauce (I use Old El Paso brand, mild spiciness but any will work)
3/4 c. brown sugar
Cooked, shredded pork

Place chilies and enchilada sauce in blender and give it a spin. Stir brown sugar, shredded pork and enchilada sauce together. Place in crock pot for two hours. Enjoy!

Cherry Almond Scones

These are the English type of scone not the yummy deep-fried kind you smear honey butter all over.  I am not saying that these aren't yummy as well, actually I really enjoy a good English scone.  Jamie has a recipe posted for Blueberry Scones and I love Great Harvests Raspberry White Chocolate Scones.  This recipe is from The Kitchen Sink Recipes which is one of the food blogs that I follow.  I have cherries from Steve's Moms tree and I keep trying to find other uses besides drying them.  Two substitutions that I made were using milk and vinegar instead of buttermilk and I used Demerara sugar instead of Turbinado because it is what I have on hand. 225 calories for 12 or 150 calories if you make 18.

2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup butter, in 1/2-inch cubes
1 cup pitted and chopped cherries
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon almond extract
Turbinado or sanding sugar for sprinkling (optional)

Preheat oven to 375°.

Place cubed butter in freezer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder and baking soda.  Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter (or two knives or your finger tips) until the flour-butter mixture is the texture of coarse cornmeal.  Stir in the buttermilk and fruit.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently a couple times. Roll dough out to approximately one-inch thickness and cut into squares. Sprinkle with coarse sugar (optional).

Bake on a parchment-lined baking sheet for 25 to 30 minutes, until lightly browned.
 

Straws and Fruit

Strawberry - start at the bottom of the strawberry and push through to pop out the stem

Cherries - start at the stem and push the pit out.  The pits are hard on a straw but you do have two sides and it is a lot faster then the paper clip method.

I would recommend investing in a good box of straws for these procedures and save the dollar store straws for drinking.

2 Ingredient Lemon Bars

I think I would actually call this lemon cake and it couldn't be any easier!  The can of lemon pie filling I found at the store was actually larger then the recipe called for so I have a little left over in the fridge but I just read some of the comments and some used the whole can and just baked it a little longer.  I have read other places that you could use other pie fillings and do the same thing.  Raspberry or Becky's Razzleberry Pie Filling, I am definitely going to try.  I might even try my own homemade lemon pie filling since I don't keep pie filling in the house.  Very good and not too bad on the calorie count, 107 calories if you cut it to get 22 servings and it would be a little more if you used the whole can.  Recipe from Practically Living

1 box angel food cake
15 oz can lemon pie filling

Mix the two together by hand until moist. Be sure not to over stir. Bake in a 9x13 cake pan at 350 degrees until golden brown on the top (about 20 minutes). Cool completely before eating. As they are cooling, you can sprinkle with powder sugar if you wish (Which I guess technically makes this a 3-ingredient recipe). They have more of an angel food cake texture than a traditional lemon bar texture. 

Plum Muffins

The original recipe was to make a loaf of bread but it is all about portion control for me.  The original recipe served 8 (338 calories) while mine serves 12 (211 calories) saving over a 100 calories per serving.  I substituted some of the flour for whole wheat and used half the brown sugar it called for.  I have a cookie scoop that is 2 tablespoons that works fantastic for muffins as well as cupcakes.


1 cup pitted, chopped plums
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt

2 tablespoons brown sugar


Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Sprinkle chopped plums with 1 tablespoon of flour in a bowl and toss to coat.  Set aside.  In a large bowl, beat the butter, white sugar and vanilla extract with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs.  In another bowl, sift together 1 1/2 cups of flours with salt and baking soda.  Stir the dry ingredients into the egg mixture, alternating with yogurt until the mixture forms a smooth batter.  Lightly stir in the flour-coated plums and pour the batter into the greased or paper-lined muffin pan.  Sprinkle the top or the batter with brown sugar.  Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean.

Zucchini Tots

It's that time of year when zucchini starts multiplying like rabbits and we need 501,432 ways to use it.  This recipe The Curious Country Cook was quick and easy and low in calories, just 23 per tot.  I used Panko bread crumbs because they half the calories of regular bread crumbs. I used my cookie scoop which holds 1 tablespoon and they fit exactly into the mini muffin cups.


2 cups zucchini, grated
2 egg
1/2 cup yellow onion, diced
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 400F. Spray a mini-muffin tin with non-stick spray, set aside.

Grate the zucchini and then place in a dish towel to squeeze out the excess water- you will be surprised how much liquid comes out but if you skip this part the middle of the zucchini tots will be really soggy.

In a bowl combine, the egg, onion, cheese, bread crumbs, zucchini, salt and pepper.

Using a spoon or a cookie scoop, fill the muffin cups to the top. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the top is browned and set.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls

When you read the ingredients in this recipe that my friend pinned on Pinterest you are going to wonder, "What is Cheryl thinking?", but these are awesome.  Steve loves them as well!  Steve says they taste just like my peanut butter bars.  The recipe made 12 cookie dough balls and 151 calories a piece.  I can only eat one because they are so filling.  After baking I placed them in the freezer and nuke them for 30 seconds to have a nice warm healthier treat.

1 can garbanzo (chickpeas) well-rinsed and patted dry with a paper towel
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons peanut butter
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Combine all the ingredients, except for the chocolate chips, in a food processor and process until very smooth. Make sure to scrape the sides and the top to get the little chunks of chickpeas and process again until they're combined. Put in the chocolate chips and stir it if you can, or pulse it once or twice. The mixture will be very thick and sticky. With wet hands, form into 1 1/2" balls. Place onto a Silpat or a piece of parchment paper. If you want them to look more like normal cookies, press down slightly on the balls. They don't do much rising. Bake for about 10 minutes.

Notes: I used chunky peanut butter because that is what I had open in the house.  I am sure that smooth would work as well.  I don't own a food processor so I had to mash the beans with a fork and maybe the chunks of peanuts hide the chunks of beans that didn't get completely smooth.  I can't tell you because you CAN NOT taste the beans.

Raspberry Buckle

I was lucky enough to be in SLC when Becky was coming through and she gave me a bucket of fresh raspberries.  I made a batch of jam but wanted something else tasty to enjoy this great harvest.  Yes I did another Pinterest search and came up with this recipe from Martha Stewart.  I bet you could use any fresh fruit that you have handy.  It was sweet enough that we didn't serve with whipping cream or ice cream.  It makes 8 servings and 300 calories per serving.

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for baking dish
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 containers (1/2 pint each) raspberries (2 3/4 cups)

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 2-quart oval or square baking dish. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition to combine. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder; with mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture until incorporated.

 

Spread batter in baking dish. Scatter raspberries on top. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean and top is golden brown, 45 to 50 minutes. Let cool 20 minutes.

Homemade Ranch Dressing

I am not a lover of ranch dressing but I don't mind using it as a dip for vegetables.  I know that I am in the minority but that doesn't mean that I won't try and search out something tasty for the rest of the family.  I stumbled upon this recipe on Pinterest (what a surprise, right?).  The calories in a whole batch is roughly 255 calories depending on the brand of yogurt and type of milk used.  When you add the milk you may think that the dressing is a little runny but after it has chilled for an hour it thickens right up.

1 cup Greek yogurt
1 Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Packet (NOT DIP!)
1/2 cup milk

Whisk together and chill for one hour.