Raspberry Cupcakes with Lemon Meringue Frosting

I felt like making a summery cupcake that is refreshing and light after all the holiday binge eating, so we made cupcakes using egg whites and meringue frosting (also egg whites) rather than heavy buttercream.  Insert protein, minus the little cholesterol balls AKA egg yolks, minus the fat of butter.  Just light, refreshing, and a good way to start a new year.  I also cheated a bit with the cake batter to make it easier since the frosting is a bit more work.  Enjoy!

Raspberry Cupcakes:

1 box white cake mix <--the cheating part

3 large egg whites

2 tablespoons melted butter (I would have used smart balance to stay on the healthy kick but I wasn't at home so I used what I had!)

2 teaspoons almond extract

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon raspberry extract

Fresh raspberries (I didn't measure, I pureed a bunch and added it to the batter until I liked the raspberry flavor.. probably added up to about 18-20 oz of raspberries pureed)

Water as needed for consistency (half cup-ish? it really depends on the raspberry puree..)

Puree however many raspberries you want.  I pureed 4 6-oz containers of raspberries and had quite a bit left over (which I later used as drizzle).  Stir all the ingredients together in a bowl, adding water slowly until the consistency is cake batter-esque.  Put into cupcake pans (and cupcake papers) and bake at 350 degrees F for a little over 15 min (poke it with a fork at 15 min and every few min after until it doesn't come back doughy. Since the dough was so pink it was a little hard to just watch for it to get "lightly golden," and poking it is more fun anyway.) Let them cool... or eat one immediately like I did...

Lemon Meringue Frosting:

4 large egg whites

2/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon lemon juice (we just squeezed a whole lemon's worth in there..  we like lemon..)

1 teaspoon lemon zest (again, we zested an entire lemon rather than measuring)

Pinch (technically 1/8 teaspoon) of cream of tartar (necessary for denaturing the egg whites!)

Pinch (1/8 teaspooon) of fine salt

Put a few inches of water in a pot and boil it.  Place a pyrex (or anything of the sort) bowl over top of the boiling water (the bowl should be bigger than the pot so it sits on top nicely).  Mix all of the ingredients in this bowl with a wisk constantly while over the steam until the sugar completely dissolves and the mixture is hot to the touch (the eggs will get a little frothy and white-ish). This will take about 2 minutes.  When ready, take the bowl off of the pot and transfer the ingredients to a stand mixer (kitchen-aid) with a wisk attachment.  Set the stand mixer on medium-high speed for a minute then kick it up to high for about 7 minutes and/or when stiff peaks form.  It doesn't look like it's going to do anything at first, but it really fluffs up.

We had extra frosting and extra raspberry puree, so you could use the raspberry puree as a drizzle or you can fold the puree into the meringue to make a raspberry-lemon frosting.  Or just spoon it all into your mouth (and take subsequent food coma nap).

Apple Cinnamon Syrup

I am making apple chips, and I got a little overzealous slicing a boatload of apples, only to realize that the dehydrator would only fit like half of what I sliced.  I hate wasting food, so I decided to salvage the leftover apple slices since otherwise they would go bad.  I threw them in a sauce pan (with no idea at the time what they would turn out to be) with other random things around the house and this is what I ended up making:

Pancakes with cinnamon apple syrup! (no, the apples did not end up making pancakes, the pancakes were just the medium on which to eat the apple syrup).

The recipe is below, but like usual when cooking on the stove top, I didn't measure. Anything. I literally threw things together until it looked and smelled right.

Ingredients:

Apples (mine were sliced, but only because their original purpose in life was to become apple chips; if I were making this again I would probably cut them like I was making apple pie)

Apple Juice

Brown Sugar

Cinnamon

Pumpkin Pie Spice (or nutmeg, I really only used it for the nutmeg..)

Directions:

Throw apples in a sauce pan with enough apple juice to submerge them.  Turn heat on to medium-high and stir in brown sugar (taste frequently! I didn't measure this traditionally, but I did taste measure--you don't want this to be overly sweet!).  Stir in as much cinnamon as you want (again with the tasting).  I added a few dashes of pumpkin pie spice to add a little nutmeg; cinnamon is the major spice here, though, so I added a ton of that.  Stir together until liquid dissolves the sugar and spices.  Let it boil and reduce for... a while.  I didn't check the time, I just kept checking on it and stirring every now and then to make sure it was all still mixed together and not burning.  I did take pictures, though.

At first it looked like this:

Really liquidy and boiling little teeny foamy bubbles.  After it was done it looked like this:

Darker in color, and a real syrup consistency.  Then I put it on pancakes because delicious syrup needs pancakes or waffles to make its life complete.

And yes, I ate breakfast for dinner. :)

Lemon Blueberry Cookies

I made these up the other day when I really wanted cookies but we had like nothing in the house, and Campus Cookies had closed for the Summer.  I found some random things that we typically always have on hand:

...also remembering the delicious Lemon Blueberry cake from Our Daily Bread, I decided this was awesomeness waiting to happen (and it was).

Ingredients:

1 batch of sugar cookie dough (you can make this from scratch from whatever recipe you prefer, or be lazy like me when hungry and prepare a mix)

2 lemons (this may change depending on how big your batch is. Remember, I hate measuring when cooking, and I rarely, if ever, do.)

2 cups of blueberries (same comment as above. Also, this probably will taste better using fresh fruit, but all I had at the time was frozen..)

Directions:

Prepare cookie dough.  Zest 2 (or however many you prefer) lemons and stir zest into dough.  If the dough doesn't taste lemony enough to your liking you can always use a squeeze or 2 of said lemons; it really just depends on how much lemon you like.  I added an extra squeeze of juice because when it comes to citrus, I believe you can never have too much.  That's the Floridian in me, for sure.  Next mix in the blueberries.  Add as many as you like, really.  Be careful not to mash them too hard (gently mix them in) unless you want purple cookies.. and hey, maybe that's what you want, and if so I say go for it and mash away.  Cook according to sugar cookie recipe.  My mix said 375 degrees F but perhaps yours says something different.  Cook until golden but not burnt.  No one likes burnt cookies. :)

NOM!

Caramel Apple Cookies

...are AMAZING!

I took your average Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chip cookie recipe and tweaked it a little.  Basically I made the dough the same but changed the mix-ins.  Here's my recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup butter (I used smart balance) @ room temp (easier to cream that way)
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar (apparently there is light brown sugar and dark brown sugar.. I guess it doesn't matter, so go with your preference, but I used light)
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup of diced/chopped up apple (1 ginormous apple will do)
1 1/2 cup of butterscotch morsels (like chocolate chips, only butterscotch)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit
In a bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, and salt together.  Set aside.  Grab another bowl and cream together the butter and sugar of both varieties.  Add the eggs and stir.  Gradually mix in the flour mixture.  Once your dough is ready to go add in the chopped apple and butterscotch morsels and mix them in.  Spoon dough onto cookie sheets to whatever your size preference.  I made some tablespoon sized (takes about 10 min) and some ginormous cookies (of which I only fit 6 on a cookie sheet) that took 15 minutes to bake.  Whatever you decide to go with, just keep an eye on them and take them out when they start to brown.  You can also add more or less of the mix-ins as desired.  Remember, I made this up, so you can, too.

NOM!

Lack-of-Free-Time Brownies

School starts soon! Which means the abundance of free time is coming to an end. What's a foodie to do? Make brownies from a box?
Actually... Yes. However, I like putting a twist on any ordinary food, and this twist is super easy and super fast. My personal favorite flavor is raspberry, so after stirring together my brownie batter according to the box, I added a 12 oz bag of frozen raspberries and stirred them into the batter. Stick those bad boys in the oven according to the box directions and after 2 minutes of work you're back to studying. Okay, obviously not this week but during the semester! Not a fan of raspberries? Instead of adding berries to the mix you can chop up some andes mints and add those instead. I've tried it both ways (that's what she said) and both are really good. So when that first big test starts heading our way, ask your study group this: raspberry or mint brownies?

*sorry no pics, but I wrote this one from the blackberry. Winter break is all about traveling to see the fam, after all.

Balsamic Strawberry Ice Cream

The latest Iron Chef VMRCVM was Battle Balsamic Vinegar, as well as my debut as a cook rather than a judge.  My classmate, Jenny, and I took home the honors of winning that battle, and the dessert round was our strongest.  So I made it again tonight so I could share, but this time I altered it a bit for a lower fat version.  I'll post it both ways.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

 1 quart heavy whipping cream (or half and half for the health conscious)

 24 oz frozen sliced strawberries

 fresh strawberries or mini semisweet chocolate chips, whichever you prefer

 balsamic vinegar (amount is up to you, but trust me, it's not a lot as this flavor is strong)

 1 ice cream maker (I have the kitchen aid attachment), placed in the freezer overnight

Directions:

 In a blender, add the entire 24 oz container of frozen sliced strawberries (I ran hot water on the outside of the container to make it easy to slide the contents out in one big chunk).  Add as much of the cream or half and half as you want, depending on if you want a strong strawberry flavor or a creamier flavor, but I wouldn't put more than a quart of either or you'll dilute the strawberry too much, and you need the strawberry to make the balsamic flavor blend well.  I added 3.5 cups (the quart minus half a cup) of half and half this last time.  You can add some of the cream, blend, taste, and based on that decide if you want to add more or not.  This recipe is all about how it tastes as you make it rather than measuring because that's just how I cook.  Blend together.  Add a TEENY splash of balsamic vinegar, blend, taste, and repeat as needed.  The idea is that the balsamic vinegar adds a tartness that really brings out the strawberry, but make sure you add enough to taste it, because the balsamic really adds a nice flavor that compliments the strawberry.  However, if you add too much, it can get a bit strong so you might want to dilute it with some leftover cream/half and half and some more strawberries.  Tasting throughout the process is key (you go through a lot of spoons, so I set aside a spoon that I never lick for the dipping, and dribble the blended cream mixture onto a spoon that I do lick without touching spoons to keep from contaminating the dipping spoon; unless you're just making this all for yourself, to which I say double dip away).  It should be cold since the ingredients were either frozen or refrigerated, so we're ready to make ice cream; if you're not ready, just stick it in the 'fridge until you are.

 When you've got a blend that you think tastes awesome, get the ice cream maker out.  While running on low speed (at least, that's how the kitchen aid works, you'll have to read the directions to your maker if it's different), pour in the soon-to-be-ice-cream.  Add sliced fresh strawberries or mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, or both if you so choose, as it's mixing.  After about 10 minutes churning away, it will be a soft-serve consistency.  You can get it right then, or transfer it into a freezer safe container (I use glad-ware) and put it in the freezer for a more solid-frozen treat.

Last step: OM NOM NOM!

Smoked Salmon "Cigars" with Yucca Fries and Dark Chocolate Mole

...that's "moh-lay," not mole like the critter outside that your dog is digging after in the back yard. Just wanted to make that clear.


Ingredients:
"Cigars"
   1 sheet puff pastry
   1 package (4.5 oz) smoked salmon
   Juice from 1 lemon
   Zest from 1 lemon
   Salt and pepper, to taste
   8 ounces cream cheese
Yucca Fries
   1 yucca root
   Oil for frying
   Seasoning salt
Dark Chocolate Mole
   Sesame oil
   1 onion, diced
   6 cloves garlic
   3.5 ounces dark chocolate
   28 ounces crushed tomatoes
   6 diced Guajillo peppers
   10 black peppercorns
   Oregano
   Cinnamon
   Cloves
   Allspice
   Thyme
   Fennel seeds
   1 tortilla, shredded


Directions:
"Cigars"
   Combine cream cheese, lemon juice, and lemon zest, reserving a little bit of the zest for later.  Add salt and pepper to taste; mix thoroughly.  Cut puff pastry in approximately 2" x 4" rectangles.  Put a strip of salmon on the pastry.  Spread a spoonful of the cream cheese mixture on top of the salmon.  Roll up.  Bake at 350°F for about 10 minutes or until the pastry starts to brown a little bit.

Dark Chocolate Mole
   In a medium-sized sauce pot, sauté the onion in sesame oil.  When the onions are clear in color, add all the other ingredients, adding the spices to taste.  Simmer for at least 45 minutes.

Yucca Fries
In a large pot, heat the oil to medium-high heat.  Peel the yucca root and slice with a mandoline into fry shapes (this can be done with a knife, but it's a bit more work).  When the oil is hot, add the fries and stir occasionally until fries start to brown a little bit.  Scoop them out with a slotted spoon and onto a plate with a paper towel.  Sprinkle with seasoning salt.


Serve the cigar in a pool of mole.  Place a few fries on top of the cigar.  Garnish with the remaining lemon zest and shaved dark chocolate if desired.

Cedar Smoked Salmon

Justin and I just finished dinner, and it was so good I had to share.  It was really simple to make and so delicious!  We bought a cedar plank, asparagus, and a couple salmon filets from Kroger, and the rest is stuff we usually have around the kitchen!  Here's a picture of the end result, followed by how we made it so you can impress your friends while it's still grilling season:

Supplies:
1 cedar plank
1 grill with lid (to smoke)
charcoal (if the grill works that way, like ours)

Ingredients:
2 6-ounce salmon filets (unless you have more people, but you'll also need another plank if you have more than 4-ish)
salt
ground black pepper
dill
half a bunch of asparagus (again, we're only cooking for 2)
extra virgin olive oil
salt
ground black pepper
1 lemon, cut into 8 pieces (or however you like it)

Directions:
Soak the cedar plank in water for a few hours (we had ours sitting in water all afternoon, about 5 hours or so).
Cut (or snap) off the woody stem ends (like an inch or two, or snap it where it naturally wants to snap) off of the asparagus.  Take note: don't cut off the wrong end; one end is flavorful, the other is woody and hard and gross and we don't want to eat it.  For serious asparagus noobs (and please take no offense here, we didn't know either until Alton Brown did an asparagus Good Eats once), here's a picture of which end to cut:

Put the trimmed asparagus on a plate and drizzle on some extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Let it marinate while you make the salmon.

Season both sides of the salmon filets with salt, pepper, and dill, and place them on the cedar plank.  Once your coals/grill are ready to go, place the plank on the grill and close the lid.  Let it smoke for about 30 minutes.  Once 30 minutes have passed, move the cedar plank to the side (still on the grill) and put the asparagus on.  Grill the asparagus for 1 minute on each side (not smoking here, just grilling.. we don't want to burn the asparagus) for a total of about 2 minutes (or until you think it's done).  Take food off the grill and put it on a place with as many lemon wedges as you want (I end up soaking everything in fresh lemon juice and eating the leftover wedges like they are oranges because I am addicted to lemons.. don't tell your dentists about that one..).

Dig in!

Orange & Chocolate Cheesecake Bites

Since FN made me so happy, here's one of my all-time favorite recipes found on their website.  Mini orange cheesecakes with a chocolate crust made by Giada:

Ingredients

1/3 cup finely crushed chocolate wafers (Kelly's note: I use chocolate grahams like chocolate teddy grahams and crush those for a mix between a chocolate flavor and a traditional graham crust)

2 tablespoons butter, melted (as always, I use Smart Balance here)

1/4 cup ricotta cheese

2 ounces cream cheese

1/4 cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons

1 orange, zested

1 egg

Butter for greasing (or Smart Balance)

Mini muffin tin (though, I guess you could try a cupcake tin but I don't know how much longer you'll need to bake for.. if anyone discovers this, let me know!)

Baking dish that the muffin tin fits into

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the crushed chocolate wafers (grahams, cookies, whatever you used) and melted butter.  Place a tightly packed teaspoon of the mixture into each mini-muffin cup and press down firmly.

In a food processor combine the ricotta cheese, cream cheese, 1/4 cup of the sugar, half of the orange zest, and the egg.  Blend until smooth.  Lightly grease the sides of the mini muffin tin with butter (I went ahead and did that before even adding the crust, actually..).  Fill the cups with about 1 1/2 tablespoons of the cheesecake mixture.  Place the mini muffin tin in a baking dish and pour enough hot water in the baking dish to come halfway up the sides of the mini muffin tin.  Bake for 25 minutes.  Transfer the mini muffin tin to a wire rack and let cool for 30 minutes.  Refrigerate for 15 minutes.  Use a small knife to gently pop the cheesecakes out of the cups.

Just before serving, combine the remaining orange zest with the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar.  Top each individual cheesecake with about 1/4 teaspoon of the orange zest mixture and serve.

Recipe & Photo courtesy Giada De Laurentiis and Food Network

Cilantro Lime Quinoa

This tasty dish was served as part of a cod entree from our Battle Citrus, and was prepared by Iron Chef VMRCVM competitor Steve Rekant.  Actually, many of the dishes he made are some of my favorites from the battles we did (I was a judge, so I've eaten all of the recipes).  I'm posting just the Quinoa part of it here because you should buy the book to benefit the Class of 2013 (whenever I can get that done).  I'm in that kind of mood where I want to feature lesser-known but really healthy foods, and Quinoa is a high-protein grain alternative to rice.  Plus it's tasty, and I love anything with a citrus flavor, which this recipe gives.  So here it is, as given to me by the chef:

Cilantro Lime Quinoa

Ingredients

¼ cup butter (Kelly's note: personally, I favor Smart Balance)

1 onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 bay leaf

1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained

2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

2 cups water

2 tablespoons lime juice

2 tablespoons cilantro, minced

Directions

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add the onion and sauté for 8 to 10 minutes.  Add the garlic and bay leaf, stir, and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes.  Add the quinoa and stir until fully cooked.  Add the stock and water.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes, until the quinoa is tender.  Drain and discard the bay leaf.  Stir in the lime juice and cilantro.  Serve.