After a free movie at Oval Film, we decided to talk a stroll by the farmers market that is set up on Sundays at Stuyvesant Town. It’s a beautiful day and the produce matched! We browsed the fruits and veggies and tried to decide where our money is best spent. While walking along, one of the booths was giving out samples of their peaches. These peaches could not be beat! So ripe and juicy! We came home with a few white peaches that we couldn’t wait to devour. It has been too long since I last had a peach that i could eat to the pit. These were the perfect ripeness for me. Delish!!
When it comes to lazy Saturdays, I always seem to get up the gumption to bake. Odd, but a nice little quirk to have. Today I attempted to make something a little more healthy than the usual fare of cookies and cupcakes. Not to say this is low-cal or anything, BUT I used an old trick to cut the fat down. Have you ever heard that you can use a cake mix and mix it with a can of pumpkin puree for a moist cake? Well, it’s TRUE. Very true. I’ve made it several times in the past and today I remembered that I had an old can of pumpkin in the back of the pantry. However, this time I didn’t have a cake mix! I bake from scratch these days, so I decided I’d go off whatever chocolate cake recipe I could find and substitute the eggs/oil/milk (basically all wet ingredients) with the pumpkin. I used this blog post for the basic chocolate cake recipe. Baked for 55 mins at 350. For the icing, I just threw together powdered sugar, cocoa powder and (this seems weird) papaya juice. I was out of milk and I was hoping a little fruity flavor would come through here, but it didn’t work. It was just chocolate.
Today was a lazy Saturday and I didn’t want to get dressed, let alone go to a grocery store. So I decided to make due with what we had. First I browned up three links of sweet Italian sausage (casing removed) and started boiling water for 1/2 lb of pasta. I added 2 cups of jarred spaghetti sauce to the sausage and then added about 1/4 cup of Parmesan to the sauce. When the pasta was a few minutes from being al dente, I drained it and added it to the sauce. I then put about a cup of monterey jack cheese over the top. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. So easy! Be sure to let it sit for 10 minutes or so before serving.
Ground turkey is one of my favorite meats to work with. It takes flavor so easily and gives me the feeling that I’m eating healthily. I love turkey meatballs, turkey meatloaf, turkey stuffed peppers and of course, turkey burgers! In this incarnation, I took a half of a package of frozen chopped spinach (thawed) and added it to the package of ground turkey. I seasoned with my usual of garlic (sometimes fresh, sometimes granulated), paprika, red pepper, white pepper and kosher salt. I also added a good tablespoon of Italian seasoning in this version, which was a good decision, I must say! I generally use my cast iron grill pan to make up burgers, but these are good just in a frying pan too. Be sure to use a little olive oil in the pan and let them get golden and a crispy crust on the top and bottom though. It gives turkey that much needed flavor and helps keep it from drying out.
On the side I just steamed some green beans in the microwave with a pat of butter and some garlic and sea salt. So easy and so good. We like them tender, so they go in for about 2 minutes. If you like them crisp, go for 1 minute. We added basic Motts applesauce to have the cool sweetness for this warm summer meal. Nom.
Pair this with the Hunches – Turkey Timer Pinocchio
Over the weekend my sister and I decided to whip up something delicious for breakfast. Her specialty is french toast, so we went with that. She mentioned that my boyfriend had said it would be cool to add some strawberry extract to the egg to add a little something special. MMMM. That could be good, right? Then I remember that we had a bag of frozen strawberries in the freezer. Perfect! While she whipped up the french toast (with the strawberry extract), I put some water, sugar and the strawberries in a saucepan and let it go. I winged it on portions, but it was something like 6-10 frozen strawberries, a cup and a half of water and 3/4 cup of sugar. I let that boil for about 10-15 mins until it reduced. Then add about 6 or so more strawberries. The initial strawberries break down in the syrup. Adding additional strawberries leave some to eat with the french toast!
Today I wanted Chinese food. We could order out and get something delivered, but since I had all these ingredients on hand, I thought I should just throw something together and make it myself!
I didn’t really have a plan for this. Well, I didn’t have a recipe. I came up with a plan while going through my pantry and refrigerator. I had the pepper and broccoli and steak, so that was a no brainer. I wanted to use up my ginger, garlic and lemons (though I only used one). I always keep soy sauce, hoisin sauce and toasted sesame oil on hand, so it was perfect for Chinese food!
Ingredients:
Sesame Seeds
6 Cloves of Garlic
1/2 Finger of Ginger
1 Lemon
1 tbsp Toasted Sesame Oil
2 tbsp Soy Sauce
1/4 cup Hoisin Sauce
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 tbsp Tomato Paste
1 tbsp Cornstarch
1 Pepper
2 Heads of Broccoli
Thinly Sliced Beef, cut into strips
Salt
I started with sesame seeds in a dry pan. Turn the stove on medium heat and watch carefully. When they start to brown, move the pan around to toss the seeds. Take off the heat because once they brown, it doesn’t take long until they burn.
They should look like this when done. Set them aside in a bowl.
Next we’ll make the sauce. Chop the garlic and ginger into chunks and put into a food processor. Add the zest and juice of the lemon. Pulse to lightly chop. Add the sesame oil, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, brown sugar, tomato paste and cornstarch and process until garlic and ginger are finely chopped.
This is the desired texture. Taste and add salt as needed.
Next you steam your broccoli and pepper. I cut them into small pieces and then in a bowl and microwave them. I steamed them for too long this time, so they were a bit mushy. Generally, they should steam in the microwave for 2-3 minutes.
Now it’s time for the beef! Put some olive oil in a pan and heat on medium high heat for a couple minutes to get the pan nice and hot. Once the oil starts to look wavy in the pan, throw in the beef. Quickly sautee and remove from the pan before fully cooked through. Add the sauce to the empty pan and warm up.
Add veggies and beef and stir to coat. Spoon over rice and top with toasted sesame seeds.
Pair this with Any Way You Want It by The Dave Clark Five.
Chocolate Cupcakes with Simple Peanut Butter Frosting
These cupcakes are so good! The cake is light and fluffy and the frosting is simple and easy! The cupcake is based on the Martha Stewart One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes from her book Martha Stewart Cupcakes.
The recipe in the book says it makes 18, however, these make a nice dome top if you fill to the top, so I normally use this recipe for 12 cupcakes and this time I actually halved it and made 6. Also, I didn’t have buttermilk on hand, so I used regular milk and added a 1/2 tablespoon of white vinegar. Here is the base recipe.
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup warm water
Preheat oven to 350° F. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. With an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk together flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Reduce speed to low. Add eggs, buttermilk, oil, extract, and the water; beat until smooth and combined, scraping sides of bowl as needed.
Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each about two-thirds full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centres comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 10 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.
The batter will be runny! Be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl.
Use a ice cream scooper to put the batter into cups. This really does help!
Fill the cups almost to the top. Don’t be as messy as I was!!! But really it doesn’t matter too much. These puff up and dome really beautifully, so filling to the top makes them sort of awesome, in my opinion.
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See! Puffy!! Pretty! YUMMY!
Now, while those cool down (a few mins in the pan and then take them out and put on a cooling rack), make the frosting! Chocolate and peanut butter is obvious! So I put together a VERY simple frosting.
4 parts powdered sugar
2 parts peanut butter
1 part milk
Using a mixer, incorporate the powdered sugar into the peanut butter. Add the milk to loosen the frosting. Add more milk or sugar to make it the right consistency.
This is a little too thick still…
Added a little more milk and perfect!! Put the frosting into a piping bag and have at it!
I’m not the best with piping yet, but it still tastes good!
Pair this with Peanut Butter and Paranoia Jam by Thomas Function.
Today I wanted Chinese food. We could order out and get something delivered, but since I had all these ingredients on hand, I thought I should just throw something together and make it myself!
