Recipes

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

October 15, 2014 nk330Leave a comment

Andrew and I went apple-picking with some friends a couple of weeks ago and came home with a lot of apples! So I started looking for some yummy-looking apple recipes. I’m not brave enough to try apple pie, because I hear crusts are tricky. Plus Andrew isn’t a big pie guy. Something about the cooked fruit…

Anyway, I was most excited to try out the caramel apple cupcakes recipe that I found at fort & field. And yes, they are delicious! The recipe makes a dozen cupcakes, which is about 11 more than we needed. So I brought 11 cupcakes to the childcare center that I used to work at. 🙂

Ingredients:
1-1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2-3 Granny Smith or Rome apples (about 1 pound), peeled and shredded
1-1/2 cups chewy caramel candies
1 Tablespoon heavy cream

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a cupcake pan with baking liners.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Grate your apples to ensure you’ll get apple with every bite of caramel.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, brown sugar and granulated sugars until smooth. Whisk in the oil and vanilla. Stir into the flour mixture until just combined; stir in the apples.
4. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan until almost full. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.
5. In a small, microwavable bowl, combine the caramels and cream. Microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring between each one until caramel is melted and smooth. Dip cupcakes upside down into caramel and let cool. (I chose to just spoon the caramel on top and spread it with a spoon… seemed easier to me!)

That’s the cupcake that I barely shared with Andrew, because it was so delicious! 🙂 Oh, don’t put plastic wrap on them or you’ll be scraping caramel off and re-applying it to cupcakes. Probably should have seen that coming…

Recipes

Spinach & Artichoke Baked Pasta

February 9, 2013 nk330Leave a comment

This is one of the hearty meat-free dishes that I make. I like this one more than Andrew does, but that’s partially because I follow the recipe. He would prefer that I cook fresh spinach and chop up the artichokes more finely. Now who’s picky? 🙂

Spinach & Artichoke Baked Pasta
Active time: 25 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes
Serves: 8

12 oz short pasta, such as rigatoni
1 T. olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
Kosher salt and pepper
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3/4 c. lowfat sour cream
4 oz lowfat cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 c. grated Parmesan (2 oz)
2 t. lemon zest, plus 1 T. lemon juice
1 10-oz pkg frozen leaf spinach, thawed and squeezed of excess moisture
1 13.5 oz can artichoke hearts, rinsed, squeezed of excess moisture and chopped
4 oz mozzarella, shredded (about 1 cup)

1. Cook the pasta according to package directions. Reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water, then drain the pasta.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until tender, 8-10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
3 Heat broiler. In a large bowl, combine the sour cream, cream cheese, Parmesan, lemon zest, and lemon juice; stir in the onion mixture.
4. Add the pasta to the bowl and toss to coat. Stir in the spinach, artichokes, and 1/4 cup of the cooking water (adding more liquid if the pasta seems dry). Fold in 1/2 cup mozzarella.
5. Transfer the pasta mixture to a broiler-safe 2-1/2 to 3-quart casserole dish. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella and broil until golden brown, 3-5 minutes.

Per serving: 330 calories, 11 g fat (6 g saturated fat), 29 mg cholesterol, 509 mg sodium, 16 g protein, 42 g carbohydrates, and 3 g fiber.

Don’t Forget Your Vegetables

February 9, 2013 nk330Leave a comment

I don’t consider myself a picky eater, but there are a few things that I don’t really care for. Andrew thinks I’m weird for not liking nuts (it’s a texture thing) and melons (I only like watermelon). Mushrooms are not a favorite of mine, although I still put them in recipes for Andrew. And like a lot of people, there are some vegetables I don’t care to eat. I have found a recipe for carrots that I actually like (I’ll post that recipe soon), and I like the Brussels sprouts Andrew makes (with bacon), but now I have a recipe that gets me to eat peas. It’s not my favorite recipe (because of the peas!), but Andrew likes it, and it gets me to eat a vegetable I usually avoid.

Spaghetti Pie
Active time: 20 minutes
Total time: 1 hour
Makes: 6 main-dish servings

1 lb. spaghetti4 strips bacon, chopped (I added 2 extra slices to help cover the taste of those peas!)
1 lg. red onion (10-12 oz), finely chopped
1 container (15 oz) part-skim ricotta cheese
4 lg. eggs
2 c. 2% milk
1/4 tsp. cayenne (ground red) pepper
1 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Salt
2 c. frozen peas (I would happily decrease this to 1 cup…)

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Heat large covered pot salted water to boiling on high. Cook spaghetti as package directed.
3. Meanwhile, in 12-in. skillet, cook bacon on medium 6-8 minutes or until crisp, stirring occasionally. With slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towels to drain To fat in pan, add onion. Cook 4 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally.
4. While onion cooks, in very large bowl, whisk ricotta, eggs, milk, cayenne, half of Parmesan, and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
5. Drain spaghetti well. Stir into ricotta mixture along with peas, bacon, and onion. Spread in even layer in 3-quart shallow baking dish. Sprinkle remaining Parmesan on top. Bake 30-35 minutes or until set.

If following the recipe above (no extra bacon or higher fat milk or ricotta), each serving has about 660 calories, 36 g protein, 76 g carbohydrates, 23 g total fat (11 g saturated), 6 g fiber, 175 mg cholesterol, and 700 mg sodium.