Personalized Chocolate Cupcakes

I bought this cool machine that bakes individual cup cakes in different floral shapes. It is just perfect for entertaining. Even for a small family like mine, when I don’t want to bake a whole cake, this comes in handy. No waste, no fuss, no heat. Yes, no heat because there is no pre heating of oven is required. So for a big green energy  buff like myself, this is a perfect machine. It was on sale on our last trip to Orlando at one of these stores and I had to grab it. It makes perfect, bite sized cup cakes that I would like to eat myself. Perfectly portioned for me. So here it is, one chocolate cup cake recipe that is my favourite.

Personalized cupcakes

Ingredients

1 cups AP flour

½ tsp baking soda

A pinch of salt

A pinch of baking powder

1/4 cup hot water

½ cup oil

1/4 cup baking cocoa

1 cups sugar

1 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

How to:

In a medium bowl, combine all dry ingredients

In a small bowl, combine all the wet ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Heat up the machine(don’t have one, no worries. Pre heat the oven to 350°F. line the muffin tray with paper liners and proceed as usual.)

Pour the dry ingredients into wet ingredients and on low speed of the hand held mixer, mix for about 2 minutes or until fully blended.

Divide the batter equally into machine cups or muffin cups.

Bake for about 5 minutes in the machine, for about 20 minutes in the oven.

Cool completely on a rack and serve.

Enjoy!

I had this with my favourite latte!

Nacho Chicken Strips

We all as mothers are very well aware of that 4 PM hunger pang of our kids. As soon as they come back from school, all they want is to eat something. We don’t want them to fill up on snacks as dinner will be ready in 2 hours or so , right? And we want to prepare a quick and satisfying snack for our kids. Well, this recipe fits the  bill. All it takes is a few frozen chicken strips, baked till done. Serve with any kind of dipping sauce and the kids are set.

Here’s how I made it.

Nacho Chicken Strips

Ingredients

6-12 frozen chicken strips(cooked as per directions)

1 cup sour cream

½ cup shredded cheddar cheese

½ cup bottled salsa

Bacon crumbles and more cheese and pickled jalapenos for garnish, totally optional

 

How to:

Easy, just mix the ingredients for dip and pour over the chicken strips or serve it on a side as a dip.

Enjoy!

Banana Nut Bread

Needless to see, this is by far the most enjoyed bread. Every rookie baker starts their baking lessons by baking this bread! This is such a forgiving bread, even if you srcew up a bit in measurements, you will end up with delectable results.  This recipe can be transformed into muffins as well.  Who doesn’t like to wake up to a freshly baked bread, especially it is loaded with bananas and nuts? All you need is a cup of coffee or a glass of cold milk and a couple of slices of this bread and you are all set for the day.

I like to toast the leftover bread and slather the toasted slices with either butter or jam. Divine!

Here’s how I made it.

Banana Nut Bread

Ingredients

1 egg

½ cup mayonnaise

About 3 mashed bananas

1-1/2 cup flour

1 cup sugar

¾ cup chopped nuts(I used walnuts, use any nuts on hand, or omit nuts altogether.)

1 tsp baking soda

Pinch of salt

 How to:

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Beat egg, mayonnaise and bananas until blended.

Combine remaining ingredients, mix until just moistened.

Transfer to a pre-greased loaf pan.

Bake for about 1 hour or do the toothpick test.

Cool in a pan for about 15 minutes on a wire rack.

Cool completely.

Enjoy!

You could add 1 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips into the batter for that extra special banana bread. Or make glaze out of those chips and just drizzle over the slices.

Fond of Veggies? Add a cup or two of shredded zuccini/carrots to this bread.

Parmesan Crusted Tofu

I used these tofu pieces as an appetizer with the garlic aioli as well as superb sandwich, loaded with lots of stir fried veggies and a couple of slices the tofu. I forgot to take the pictures of that sandwich but I made a tomato and lettuce tofu sandwich later on. That was my take on BLT! my TLT! I don’t think I will be making this again in near future as my family and I are not big on tofu. So,here it is.

Parmesan Crusted Tofu

Ingredients

½ lb. tofu, sliced(about ¼” thick)

½ cup milk

½ cup AP flour

1 cup bread crumbs

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp Italian seasoning

2-3 tbsp oil

How to:

Press the tofu inbetween 2 plates and drain well.

Slice the tofu.

Mix bread crumbs, salt, peppr, seasoning and grated cheese in a plate.

Dredge tofu in the flour.

Dip it in milk.

Now dredge in bread crumb mix.

Pat gently with hands so that the crumbs form nice coating on tofu slices.

Heat oil in a skillet on medium high.

Shallow fry tofu, pressing lightly with a spatula to crisp it up.

Serve with dip of your choice, use it in sandwich or top your salad with it.

Enjoy!

Breakfast Egg Muffins

I like to have eggs as breakfast on lazy long weekends. I normally sleep in those days as I wake up very early in the mornings to get to work every single day. So I always make an effort not to wake up at least until 7 o’clock on day-offs. At the same time, I want to make something new, something different and something nutritious for my family to wake up to. And yes, it should be done in almost no time. This recipe fits the bill. I made it over one of the summer’s long weekends. My way to find out if my family likes what I give them is this one question: would you like to have it again? Just like most of my dishes, the answer was YES to this dish! Yippee! Another victory.

Here’s how I made it.

Egg Muffins

Ingredients

9 eggs

½ cup milk

Salt and pepper to taste

Chopped green onions
Red bell pepper, diced
Hot Italian Turkey sausage, cooked and crumbled
Spinach leaves

Cheddar cheese, grated (at least 1 cup)

Feta cheese; ½ cup

 

How to:

Spray 12 muffin cup-tray with nonstick spray, or line with muffin papers.

Sprinkle some chopped green pepper on the bottoms of each cup, then some sausage, and both cheeses and whatever vegetables you’re using. The cups will look more than half full.

Now beat eggs in a large bowl, add milk, salt and pepper. Beat again lightly.

Fill the cups with egg mixture until almost full.

Gently stir each cup with a chopstick and bake at 375° F for about 20 minutes.

Serve with your favorite berries and toasts.

Enjoy!

The beauty of these muffin cups is that they refrigerate well. You can put the leftovers in a zip lock bag and refrigerate and grab one when you are ready to hit the road on weekday mornings. Just microwave for a few seconds and they will be good as freshly made. A good way to feed your family healthy ‘stuff’, isn’t it?

No Carb Spaghetti

Surprised?! Don’t be. This is just a vegetable that miraculously transforms into these beautiful threads that resembles to angel hair pasta and thus, is called Spaghetti Squash.  I wanted to try it myself as I have heard others raving about this absolutely gorgeous, no fuss, no starch pasta dish that comes from a squash. Now I am a believer. It does resemble spaghetti(or angel hair) and is so delicious and nutritious at the same time. Too bad, can’t say the same about pasta!  I only added salt, pepper and lots of extra virgin olive oil with Parmesan shavings in my pasta. You can whatever vegetable that suits you and even soak it in your best marinara sauce. Top if off with meatballs. Your squash, your dish, your whim!

Truly, no recipe requires. For those who know me, this is one of my kind dishes. So, cut the spaghetti squash in half, oil inside and outside well, sprinkle with salt and pepper and throw in 450° F hot oven for about an hour or until the vegetable is soft.

Let it cool down a bit so that you can handle it and grab a fork, start shredding it! That’s it. There’s your spaghetti. Toss it in salt, freshly cracked pepper, shavings or grated Parmesan cheese and extra virgin Olive oil and serve.

Enjoy!

Mediterranean Pizza

Remember my grilled chicken and veggies, Mediterranean way? Well, I call this pizza Mediterranean as all the leftovers from that grill landed on this pie! It’s that simple. Pile up any veggies with lean protein on a pizza crust and even the pickiest eater would gobble it up. Pizza is the best way to get your kids eat their vegetables! No kidding. So this is just the basic idea. Make your pizza dough and bake your own pizza with whatever you have on hand or whatever you would like to eat. I bet you won’t pick up that phone to order delivery!

Basic Pizza Dough

1 pkg. dry yeast
3/4 c. warm water
1/4 tsp. salt
1 T. oil
1 tsp. sugar
3 c. flour

Mix ingredients together, adding flour last. Cover and let rise 1 hr.

Now, spoon your favourite pizza sauce on top, pile up all the leftover chicken and veggies and top off with loads of shredded mozzarella and cubed feta cheeses.

Bake in a very hot oven till the crust is golden brown and cheeses are melted.

Enjoy!