Rain, Rain Go Away...

It has been raining ALL WEEK!!!! We really don't need any more water here.  The flooding situation is still pretty tense here on the prairies. So tense in fact the Government is considering an intentional dike breach in order to save a town....say what? CBC explains here.  For some amazing aerial photos of the water situation on the prairies, click here.  My best thoughts and wishes go out to everyone affected by the flooding as well as the farmers and property owners whose land will be flooded my this measure...I would not want to be the one making this type of decision, that's for sure.

I have been planned and working on a cake for this weekend.  So that post will come later this weekend.  What? I can't unveil the cake before the party!

In the meantime cake scraps and leftover icing makes for a tasty snack!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well.

Chasing Away the Rain with Mango Lime Cupcakes

The Boy had his first baseball game of the season scheduled for last night. Unfortunately it rained and the game was cancelled. This calls for cupcakes.  I know, I know, I just made cupcakes the other day...I was just so excited at how well the pretty pink strawberry rhubarb cupcakes turned out that I wanted to try another flavour combination....hmmm....what to do, what to do.

Last week while shopping for Cinco de Mayo, I grabbed a mango thinking I'd probably use it....I also grabbed a bunch of extra limes....hmmmm....what to do, what to do...

Mango Lime Cupcakes!!!! Oh yes I did! I used my basic vanilla cupcake recipe, you know the same one I used to make the strawberry rhubarb cupcakes and just switched out the fruit!

Mango Lime Cupcakes

3 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
4 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 cups mango (chopped fine)
zest of 1 lime (I think I will use more next time)
squeeze of lime juice
1 tbsp sugar

Pre-heat oven to 350F

Peel and finely chop the mango.  Zest the lime, making sure to get only the green.  Mix the mango, lime and lime zest with a squeeze of lime juice and 1 tbsp sugar and set aside.

In a bowl mix together 3 cups flour, 3 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer (hand mixer or by hand will work too) cream the 1 cup butter with the 1 1/2 cups sugar until light and thoroughly mixed.

Add the eggs, 1 at a time allowing each one to mix in completely before adding the next one. Mix in the vanilla. (I suppose tequila would also go well here....)

Add the flour mix and the buttermilk, alternating additions starting and ending with the flour.

Mix in the mango/lime zest/lime juice mixture.

Scoop into lined cupcake pans to 2/3 full and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.  Cool in pans for 5 minutes then remove to cooling racks to complete cooling.

I looked around (again by look I mean Internet search) for a coconut icing recipe.  I found and interesting one that was similar to a meringue butter cream but used the egg yolks instead of the egg whites...I just happened to have some egg yolks leftover from the the strawberry meringue butter cream I made the other day...perfect!

To make a long story short, I was 100% skeptical of this recipe but I gave it a go.  You know what, it is silky, rich and sooooo tasty.  I just wished I had the coconut extract it calls for but it still has a nice coco nutty flavour with a hint of lime...I did make the addition of lime zest to the recipe and sprinkled the final cupcakes with toasted coconut...yum!!
 
Find the icing recipe here

To toast coconut:

Pour the coconut in a dry pan and heat over low to medium, watching closely.  Give the pan a stir or a shimmy shake every now and then.  When the coconut starts to brown, it will finish toasting quickly.

You can also toast coconut in the oven on a baking sheet.  Just make sure to not have the oven too hot and to keep a close eye on things.

Until next time, stay dry and eat well!

Strawberry Rhubarb Cupcakes

I am the only girl in my house (unless you count the cats but....).  Sometimes being surrounded by the boys, I feel the need to have nice, pretty, girlie things around.  You know, just because it is nice sometimes to have pretty things.  One really girlie thing I have is my lunch bag.  It is a Disney princess lunch bag and it is pink.  Co workers giggle at it, I know they do because the giggles are often followed by "Nice lunch kit, did you steal it from your kids?"  No, it is mine.  The boys both have New York Mets lunch bags but if they leave that one in a locker or at work, they will not take the pink princess lunch kit! Having pretty things really is just a way of establishing ground rules for what belongs to me.  (Although I am sure that when it really comes down to it, they really don't care either way.  I do however appreciate them letting me think that way.)

My friend Trina made some oh so pretty looking strawberry cupcakes the other day, they really had me drooling.  I started looking (by looking I mean Internet search) for strawberry cupcake recipes.  I found so many that it was overwhelming.  What I decided to do was adapt my vanilla cupcake recipe into a strawberry cupcake recipe.  The strawberry meringue butter cream recipe I saw on Annie's Eats. These girl knows her butter creams! She and Trina both used the one from Martha Stewart.  I changed things up a bit. What I did was this, I used my regular Swiss meringue butter cream and added pureed strawberries at the end.....GLORIOUS (insert angels singing here).

I did make another addition to the cupcake recipe.....Rhubarb!! We were wandering around the produce section and low and behold they had beautiful looking stalks of rhubarb so I made strawberry rhubarb cupcakes with strawberry meringue butter cream.....summer in a cupcake!!

Strawberry Rhubarb Cupcakes
Printable recipe

R2 D2 is always close by...

3 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
4 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 cups strawberries and rhubarb (chopped fine)
splash lemon juice
1 tbsp sugar
Small dash of pink food colouring (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 350F

Finely chop the rhubarb and the strawberries.  Mix with the splash of lemon juice and 1 tbsp sugar and set aside.

In a bowl mix together 3 cups flour, 3 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer (hand mixer or by hand will work too) cream the 1 cup butter with the 1 1/2 cups sugar until light and thoroughly mixed.

Add the eggs, 1 at a time allowing each one to mix in completely before adding the next one. Mix in the vanilla and the food colouring, if using.

Add the flour mix and the buttermilk, alternating additions starting and ending with the flour.

Mix in the strawberry/rhubarb mixture.

OK, I am going to level with you here.  I added some pink food colouring to the batter with the eggs to make sure I got a pretty pink batter!!

Scoop into lined cupcake pans to 2/3 full and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.  Cool in pans for 5 minutes then remove to cooling racks to complete cooling.

Strawberry Meringue Butter Cream

5 egg whites
1 cup plus 1 tbsp granulated sugar
1 1/2 to 2 cups butter, room temperature
1 cup strawberry puree (strawberries, splash of lemon juice in a blender until smooth)

In a bowl set over (not in) simmering water whisk together sugar and egg whites until the sugar is dissolved and the temperature reaches 160F.   Remove from heat and start the next step. (I pulled mine off the heat before 160 as my 'finger test' was not gritty indicating the sugar had dissolved.)

Finger test- dip in a finger and rub with thumb...if it feels gritty, keep whisking and heating.

With the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until thick and glossy and form stiff peaks. This will take about 5 to 8 minutes.

Add in the room temperature butter 1 tbsp at a time until mixed in.  You may find that you want to stop adding butter when you reach the desired consistency.  I noticed right away when the consistency changed and decided to stop adding butter. I used only 1 1/2 cups of butter today.

Mix in the vanilla and the pureed strawberries until well combined.

Swirl onto pretty cupcakes!!

R2 D2 approves of these pretty cupcakes!

I love these liners!! I found them at Williams Sonoma when we were in St. Louis and have been saving them for a pretty cupcake occasion!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!

Cinco De Mayo Fiesta

I have been looking up recipes, reading through recipes, and coming up with my own ideas about what to make for Cinco de Mayo this week.  Excitement has been rising yet the other day while planning and shopping for my Cinco de Mayo dinner I became so frustrated.  First I was happy to find tomatillos in the produce section but then I was ticked that they were all soft and as I peeled back some of the paper husks I found mould and bruises (ewwwwww).  Needless to say, I did not get any fresh tomatillos for dinner.  It is kind of hit or miss at my grocery store when it comes to tomatillos.  If they have them, there's never too many and you have to get there early to get the good ones.  I also couldn't find poblano peppers to save my life!!  Lucky there is a small section of Mexican products in the 'international' aisle, if you can call it that.  I did manage to find a bottle of green enchilada sauce and a bottle of red sauce there.  I will have to wait and see how they both taste but I really did want to make my own.

Wednesday evening I spent some time prepping for Cinco de Mayo.
I put together my tortilla soup so it was a quick re heat and serve item for dinner.

Tortilla soup (adapted from Food Network)
Printable versions of both recipes

1 large white onion
2 jalapenos
1 28 oz jar whole tomatoes (roast the tomatoes but save the liquid for the soup)
3 or 4 cloves garlic
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin
4 cups chicken stock (or more, depends on how thick you like your soup)
1/2 cup ancho chile pepper puree (3 or 4 dried anchos softened with hot water to cover and purred: freeze   the leftover)
2 bay leaves
First I pre heated the oven to 400F and chopped some onions, 2 jalapenos, 3 cloves garlic, and some whole canned tomatoes and put them on a baking sheet.  These tasty tidbits were then coated with olive oil, kosher salt, and fresh ground black pepper.

Then whole works then went into the pre heated oven for 10 minutes.

Pull the whole works out and sprinkle with 1 tbsp coriander seeds and 1 tsp cumin.

Pop it back into the oven for another 10 minutes or until everything is nice and toasty!

I let the roasted veggies cool while I made dinner for Wednesday (scrambled egg night). After the Boy washed the dinner dishes, I plunked everything into my blender and whirred it up until smooth.

(I have made this recipe before but without the roasting and I made a huge mess blending the hot soup so I thought I would try it this way.)

The last time I made a tortilla soup, I had tons of left over ancho chili puree so I froze it.  Wednesday evening I thawed it and tossed 1/2 cup of it into the blender with the cooled roasted veggies. The whole works then goes into a pot and heats up with 2 bay leaves, 1 28 0z can of crushed tomatoes and 4 cups of chicken stock....mmmmm.....

Serve topped with things such as:

• dollop of sour cream
• cilantro
• chicken
• avocado
• cheese
• green onions, onions, tomato

The other item I prepped ahead was the shredded chicken for the enchiladas!!

Chicken Enchiladas

6 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)
1 large white onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, smashed and roughly chopped
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp oregano
salt and pepper to taste
red or green enchilada sauce of your choice ( I REALLY wanted to make my own green tomatillo sauce and red poblano sauce but I couldn't find either item....sigh)

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add some olive oil to coat the pan.  Toss in the onions, garlic, oregano, cumin, salt and pepper.  saute until fragrant, about 2 minutes.

Salt and pepper the chicken breasts and lay them on the top of the onions in the pan.  Clamp the lid on and cook for 18 - 20 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool until the chicken is cool enough to shred.

I just used my clean hands to pull the chicken apart.  Add the onion mixture and the juices and plunk it all in the fridge until you are ready to fill your enchiladas.

Yet another item difficult to find was corn tortillas...I did find some multi grain and some flaxseed tortillas that had a similar texture to corn tortillas and they worked wonderfully!

Mix the shredded chicken with some shredded monterey jack cheese, fresh chopped cilantro, and some chopped green chiles (optional).

Spray a 9 x 13 pan (or similar size) with cooking spray and pour a layer of your choice of either green tomatillo sauce or red poblano sauce over the bottom of the pan, just enough to cover.

Spoon about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of filling onto the centre of a tortilla, roll the tortilla up and place seam side down in the pan.

Lay each enchilada seam side down in the saucy pan.

Spoon some more sauce over the enchiladas and top with the rest of the cheese.

Bake at 350F for about 20 minutes or until hot, bubbly and the cheese is all melty/gooey.

Serve with re fried beans, rice, chips, guacamole, tortilla soup.....enjoy!!!

 Until next time, stay warm and eat well!

Spring Has Sprung

Even though we got a layer of snow Sunday, which has now melted, Spring has finally arrived  North of the border and here's the proof:

Tulips!!!

Hello all my lovely friends! I have not forgotten about you!! We had a very successful run of our school production "Back to The 80s". The students involved had so much fun.  All of them from actors, to the wardrobe crew to the stage crew, make up....were students.  We pride ourselves on having as much student involvement as possible.  It does get stressful and tiring at times but the learning experiences and new friendships the students get from this endeavor is worth it. 

I think I have caught up on my sleep, and have been getting back into my regular routines.  I must have a cook/bake and fill the freezer day soon as I think we are out of everything!!  It has been ages since I bake bread so I did that on Sunday, it was relaxing.  I didn't blog about the bread but it was the honey seeded loaf.

I am planning out a meal for Cinco de Mayo so I hope to have some pictures up for that...not that I need a reason to eat Mexican inspired food but I will take every chance I get!

Oh and in the spirit of one of my faves, May the fourth be with you!!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!