Popcorn Cupcakes

Tomorrow is my baby's first birthday (sniff). I made some "practice cakes" for his daycare tomorrow in preparation for his circus birthday party on Saturday.

The idea was for the cupcakes to look like little sacks of popcorn. To make them, I alternated globs of yellow and white buttercream in a large ziplock bag, snipped a tiny hole in the corner, and started piping. The little cake liners are from Amazon, I was hoping a red and white stripe would resemble the old school popcorn bags.

I thought the ziplock made the kernels seem a bit more irregular and realistic than a regular piping bag would. Plus I don't have a piping bag as I am not that fancy.

After I did the first layer of kernels, the buttercream was getting a little warm from my hand so I put the cakes in the fridge for a bit. Then I piped on the second layer. You want your buttercream to be fairly dense so you can get the volume necessary to look like popcorn.

I think I mixed a little too much yellow in this batch. Too movie theater. It'll be better next time though, right?

Feta Bacon Chard Tart

I'm pretty sure I posted about a chard tart before. This one is loosely based off the last, but it's different. Why?

It has BACON!

I know you are still reading (well, assuming you aren't a vegetarian anyway).

Another awesome thing about this tart: I grew the chard in my my little garden, with help from my son.

Bragging is over, here's the recipe:

Feta Bacon Chard Tart

Ingredients

1 c. white flour
1 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. olive oil
1/2 c. water

1 T oil (I used coconut oil)
1 onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch chard, destemmed and chopped
1 1/2 t. dried basil
salt and pepper
4 slices thick pepper bacon (try the meat counter at your grocery or meat shop, they have great bacon that you can buy by the slice).

1/2 package cream cheese (I used light), softened
3 eggs
1/2 c. grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 c. feta (I used a sun dried tomato variety)
1 T. sriracha (rooster) sauce

Combine flour and salt, mix in the oil and water and briefly mix until it starts to get a bit gluey (maybe a minute). Press into an even layer in a square pan and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 375

Heat the tablespoon of oil in a big, honkin' pan on medium heat. When it's hot, add the onion and sauté until mostly translucent. Add the garlic and the greens. Sauté until soft, another six minutes or so. Remove from heat, stir in salt and pepper to taste and the basil.

While the veggies are cooking, fry the bacon over medium-high. Drain on a paper towel and chop.

Mix the eggs, cream cheese (I microwaved it about 10 seconds beyond room temperature so it would mix easily), cheeses, and rooster sauce.

Add the veggies and bacon, mix well, and spread evenly over the crust. Bake at 375 for 40 minutes. Let cool, serve warm or room temperature.

Hummus

Here's my recipe for just a basic and quick little hummus. Today I ate some for lunch; I served it with baby carrots and cucumbers (dressed with seasoned rice vinegar and salt/pepper) as dippers and with sides of spinach salad and some leftover couscous salad.

You pretty much need a food processor for this, but you could probably use a blender too (especially if you are fancy and have a Vitamix or something).

Hummus

Ingredients

1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained
1 T. tahini (sesame butter)
about 3 T. lemon juice
3 big cloves garlic
Salt and pepper
about 1/4 c. olive oil

In the bowl of the food processor, dump the chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, garlic, and salt and pepper. Turn on processor.

Once the beans start to get smashed, start drizzling the oil in slowly through the top opening. Stop as soon as the hummus starts looking creamy and smooth.

If your oil likes to pour fast, drizzle a bit then stop and judge before adding more incrementally so you don't over-oil your yummy hummus.

Bell Pepper Antipasto

I made some impulse purchases at Costco this week. I went with my mom, mostly for the conversation, and left with $50 of crap. How does this happen?

Anyway, one of my purchases was a big old bag of bell peppers. I'm not a pepper fan usually, but these looked good.

I made antipasto for the first time with them. You could use these on pizza, with crackers and cheese, gulped down by the handful ... trust me, I'm not a bell lover but these are tasty. Just don't over cook.

Oh, and these were especially lovely on a little turkey sandwich I made on a pretzel slider bun (also spontaneously purchased at Costco).

Bell Pepper Antipasto

Ingredients:
3 bell peppers (I used one each of ref, yellow, and orange), seeded and chopped into thin strips
1.5 T. coconut oil (olive would be fine)
Salt and pepper
1 t. dried basil
1/2 t. dried oregano
1/2 t. garlic powder (or 2-3 garlic cloves, minced)
1.5 T. red wine vinegar

Heat a big pan over medium, add the coconut oil. When it's hot and melted, add the peppers, herbs and garlic powder, then salt and pepper to taste.

Sautée until peppers are just cooked. Turn off heat, stir in the vinegar.

Let peppers hang out, preferably at room temperature, for about an hour. Eat or cover and refrigerate to serve later.

Cottage Cheese Salad

Sounds funky, right? This is an adaptation of a Moosewood recipe. It's good, and it's a great way to get some protein without eating meat, if you so desire. You can sub in whatever veggies sound good to you (or whatever you have on hand), just make sure to dice them small.

Cottage Cheese Salad

Ingredients:

About 4 c. cottage cheese
1/2 English cucumber, diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 green onion, chopped
About 3 T. lemon juice
1/3 c. craisins (dried cranberries)
1/2 yellow bell pepper, seeded and diced
2 hard boiled eggs, salted and diced

Combine all ingredients, adjusting lemon juice, salt, and pepper to your liking. Cover tightly and let sit in the fridge for at least an hour before serving.
Salt and pepper to taste

Cherry Rhubarb Pie

Holy cow, my local grocery store had a huge cherry sale this week! Believe me when I tell you that this never happens. I may have overbought. So ... I made this. And it was GOOD.

Ingredients:

2 pie crusts
3 large rhubarb stalks, chopped
3 cups of cherries, pitted
1 c. sugar
1/2 t. almond extract
1/4 t. ground nutmeg
2 T. tapioca
1/4 c. lime juice

Preheat oven to 375.

Mix everything but the crust together in a large bowl, let it sit for 15 minutes.

Place one crust in a large pie pan, and fill it with the contents of your large bowl. Lattice the top (or just make a full 2-crust pie if you don't want to deal with a lattice).

Cover the edges with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool and serve.

Dinner Tonight

What's for dinner tonight? We did a quick and easy one, with lots of fresh veggies that are starting to hit our local produce aisle.

Raspberry Chipotle BBQ Salmon
Corn on the Cob
Sautéed Zuchini
Salad