Real Food Adventure

     School started back up and I'm student teaching in a Kindergarten classroom. It is so much fun and so exhausting at the same time! All of my students are either 4 or 5 right now and they are absolutely adorable! But... between student teaching and homework/lesson planning I haven't had much extra time. 

     On top of school starting about 3-4 weeks ago we decided to try and cut out all processed foods and eat only "real" foods, which consists of whole foods- foods in their most natural state, lots of fruits and veggies, meat, dairy (cuz lets be real, I can't survive without cheese and milk!!!), and using things like honey and 100% maple syrup to sweeten things. It has been adventure-- a lot easier than we thought it would be but very time consuming. I was inspired to try this by another blogger who writes the blog 100 Days of Real Food, it's about her family's goal of 100 days of eating only real food that turned into always striving to eat only real food. 

     In order to keep eating things we like and that are convenient I have been a lot of cooking/baking. I have made whole-wheat tortillas, whole-wheat muffins, homemade refried beans, whole-wheat waffles, homemade granola with raisins, and plan on making whole-wheat pizza, and whole-wheat calzones tomorrow! 

     The first time I made the tortillas we loved them, but they were such a pain! The second time, I doubled the recipe and they were still good but I wasn't getting the results I wanted when I rolled them out. They were so thin that they would just tear when I went to put them in the pan. So today, I got smart and went to Sur La Table and spent the best $19.95 of my life and got a tortilla press. Now, with the tortilla press they are no where near as big as 100 Days of Real Food says they should or can be, and they are not as thin either... but they are SO easy and still so delicious! No more tearing tortillas, no more thin spots burning in the pan! Also, I used olive oil since I don't have avocado oil and wasn't about to spend $20 on a small bottle of it! You don't taste the olive oil at all and since they are a little oily pre-cooked I don't add any extra oil to the pan and they come out great! 

      I made the whole-wheat muffins with fresh blueberries and they were very yummy but a little dry. I made a triple batch and stuck about 2/3 in the freezer for another time. Since they are a little dry we nuke them in the microwave and add a little cream cheese and they are delicious! I made both cupcake size and mini cupcake size and both turned out great! 

     I never thought to make refried beans at home.. well I guess technically they are mushed pinto beans because not only do I not refry them, I don't fry them at all! They are so simple! The first time I made them I threw them in the crockpot before bed and woke up the next morning to beans that were done! I make mine without jalapeño though--I'm a wimp and don't like spice. They make bean and cheese burritos with the whole-wheat tortillas! Yumm! 

     Last Sunday morning I decided to make us whole-wheat waffles and they were so good! I added just a little cream cheese and ate them without syrup. My bff cheated and smothered hers in added butter and waffle syrup and loved them also! 

    My favorite thing of all so far has been my homemade granola cereal! I add raisins to it when it's done and eat about 1/4 cup with some milk every morning and it's not only delicious but keeps me full! It it so easy to make and can be made in a large batch all at once. I've posted my recipe below. All the recipes for the rest of these real food items can be found on the 100 Days of Real Food blog that I love so much! 

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Homemade Nut Free, Sugar Free Granola

Ingredients

·      3-4 cups rolled oats

·      6 tablespoons unsalted butter

·      ½ cup honey

·      ½ cup maple syrup

·      ½ teaspoon salt

·      3 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

·      Preheat oven to 350º

·      In a saucepan over medium low heat, melt together the honey, maple syrup, butter and salt.

·      Once butter is melted remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract.

·      Pour hot liquid mixture over oats and stir to coat evenly.

·      Pour onto greased cookie sheet.

·      Bake for 15-20 minutes stirring every 5-7 minutes to keep it from burning.

·      Let cool, add raisins or other dried fruit.

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     Even though we are on a bit of a real/whole food revolution I still plan on baking and even baking with all-purpose flour and sugar. I will be trying out new whole food recipes also though! I'm going to try and come up with a whole-wheat sugar free cupcake... so we'll see how that goes! 

Thanks for coming, stay awhile, and return often! xoxo

Birthday Cupcake Order

A couple days ago a friend of mine from High School asked me to make some cupcakes for her Boss' birthday. She wanted vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting so I decided to use this recipe which is my favorite go to vanilla cupcake and buttercream. Not quite as easy as these, but when I'm filling an order I like to do everything from scratch! 

She told me her Boss' favorite colors were purple and teal so I used my Americolor Food Colors to tint the frosting to those colors! I love using White Pearl Candy Beads I think they dress up a cupcake and tend to look better than just sprinkles. 

I needed to be able to transport these about 10 miles, already decorated, so I melted some white chocolate and used it as "glue" to keep the cupcakes in their place in the box so that I wouldn't end up with any tipped over or smushed! I like to use white chocolate on white boxes because I think it looks nicer when the cupcakes are taken out then milk chocolate does. 

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Vanilla Cake/Cupcakes and Buttercream

Ingredients

Cupcakes:

2 cups sugar

1 cup butter

4 eggs

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

3 cups flour- sifted

3½ tsp. baking powder

1 cup milk

⅓cup heavy cream 

Vanilla Buttercream:

1 cup butter

4-5 cups powdered sugar- sifted

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

3-4 tbsp. heavy cream

Directions

Cupcakes:

1.    Preheat oven to 350º, line cupcake pans with paper liners.

2.    In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

3.    Add eggs one at a time, being sure to mix well after each addition.

4.    In a separate bowl whisk together flour and baking powder.

5.    With mixer on low slowly add flour mixture to butter, mix well.

6.    Add milk and heavy cream and beat on medium until well incorporated.

7.    Divide batter between cups, place pan in oven and immediately turn it down to 325º. Bake 15-20 minutes.

Buttercream:

1.    In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter until smooth.

2.    With mixer on low, add powdered sugar, once incorporated beat on medium.

3.    Beat in vanilla extract.

4.    Beat in heavy cream using only amount necessary to reach the desired consistency.

5.    Using food coloring, tint frosting to desired colors.

Thanks for coming, stay awhile, and return often! xoxo

Super Easy Perfect Vanilla Cupcakes

There is nothing better than a fluffy, moist vanilla cupcake--especially when they are super easy to make! And let me tell you, yumm! These are just that! Starting with a box mix makes these so easy and yet they are delicious and don't have the taste or texture of a normal box mix cupcake!

These whipped up to be a nice thick batter so I once again used my cookie scoop to fill the cups. The cookie scoop I bought was like $8 or $9 dollars and it is by far one of the best "tools" I've ever bought! It is so convenient and so much cleaner than trying to spoon batter from the bowl to each cup and trying to make them even! 

I tend to bake my vanilla cupcakes a little longer than I would another flavor because I like when they get golden brown and slightly crisp on top... but definitely watch them closely, they can quickly go from deliciously golden brown to disgustingly burnt. 

Although chocolate, strawberry, or some other flavor buttercream or cream cheese frosting can be tasty, I LOVE vanilla buttercream on vanilla cupcakes. Call me plain jane if you must, but it is simply divine! 

Super Easy Perfect Vanilla Cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes:

1 box of vanilla cake mix

3 eggs

½ cup melted butter-cooled

¾ cup milk

¼ cup heavy cream

Frosting:

1 can of buttercream

1 tsp. vanilla

1-2 tbsp. heavy cream

3-4 cups powdered sugar-sifted

Directions

Cupcakes:

1.     Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pan with paper liners.

2.     Add cake mix, eggs, butter, milk and heavy cream to the bowl of your stand mixer.

3.     Beat on medium for 2-3 minutes, scraping bowl as needed.

4.     Divide between cups, about ⅔ full.

5.     Place pans in oven and immediately turn the oven down to 325º. Bake for 16-20 minutes, turning half way through if needed.

Frosting:

1.     Add buttercream, vanilla and heavy cream to stand mixer.

2.     Beat on medium until well mixed.

3.     Add powder sugar until desired consistency.

Rocky Road Cupcakes

My niece spent the last 9 days and 10 nights with us and went home this morning; seriously depressing!!! :( I was under strict orders from her mom to not bring her home without cupcakes-- she said if I send her without cupcakes she won't open the door.... so I had two options, keep her forever or send her home with cupcakes. If it weren't for kidnapping being a crime I probably would have chosen to keep her forever. When she is around we seem to frequent Baskin Robbins and her favorite is always Rocky Road ice cream in a chocolate dipped cake cone... and there we have Rocky Road cupcakes!

I started with my favorite chocolate cupcake and added marshmallows and almonds for traditional Rocky Road cupcakes, just marshmallows for those who don't like nuts and added white chocolate chips to a few to experiment. 

When I scoop cupcakes into the cups I'm not exactly careful or clean about it which then leads to the extra work of having to wipe up my pans before they go in the oven. In order to avoid that mess, with runny batters I use this pancake pen-- and it works great! The only downside is I can't mix in my mix-ins until the batter is already in the cups. I added the mix-ins directly to the cups and then added batter, gave them a quick stir and then stuck them in the oven! 

 They came out delicious! Yumm, yumm, yumm!! I love the gooey melted marshmallows mixed with the moist chocolate cake! 

 I used a vanilla buttercream and garnished with almonds and marshmallows!

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Rocky Road Cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes:

2 cups sugar 

1¾ cups all-purpose flour- sifted

¾ cup Hershey's cocoa

1½ tsp. baking soda

1½ tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

½ cup vegetable oil

2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup boiling water

1-2 cups Mini marshmallows

1-2 cups Almonds, chopped or slivered

½- 1 cup White chocolate chips (if desired)

Frosting:

1 can of buttercream frosting

2-3 tbsp. heavy cream

1-2tsp. vanilla

4-6 cups powdered sugar- sifted

Directions

Cupcakes:

1.     Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pan with paper liners.

2.     In the bowl of your stand mixer stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 

3.     Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla; beat on medium for 2 minutes (until well mixed).  

4.     Stir in boiling water until batter is mixed (it will be a runny consistency).

5.     In the cups divide marshmallows, almonds, and white chocolate chips (if desired).

6.     Divide batter between cups, filling them about ⅔ full.

7.     Place pans in oven and immediately turn oven down to 325º. Bake for 20-25 minutes, turning half way if your oven (like mine) doesn’t cook evenly.

Frosting:

1.     Add buttercream, vanilla and heavy cream to stand mixer.

2.     Beat on medium until well mixed.

3.     Add powder sugar until desired consistency.

Thanks for coming, stay awhile and return often! xoxo