Mini Lemon Cupcakes

I know I promised you guys Polliwog cupcakes today, but I strained my back and haven't been able to spend a lot of time in the kitchen.  They will be the Friday dessert next week.  Fortunately, I had a blog post on the back burner (pun intended)!  These little guys were pretty delicious and refreshing for a summertime treat!

There are times that I am thankful I can pull a recipe out of thin air (or a cookbook), and this particular day was one of them!  My dad needed to bring to a picnic, which normally would end up turning into a $20 - $25 trip to the bakery or grocery store.  That usually results in a lot of cruddy dessert no one really wants, or something that tastes delicious, but does not yield a lot for people to eat - quite the conundrum!

Cupcakes have saved my butt, yet again!  I pulled out a trusty vanilla cake recipe, some confectioner's sugar, butter, and 2 lemons and got to work!

Mini Lemon Cupcakes 
Yields approximately 40 cupcakes

Ingredients 

Cake Batter 
Adapted from a Kitchen Aid recipe
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/3 cups sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup low fat milk
2 eggs
Juice of 2 lemons

Icing 
If you do not want to make your icing from scratch, you can either buy lemon flavored icing, or add the zest to vanilla frosting to give it a lemon flavor! 

1/2 cup softened butter
Approximately 1 cup confectioner's sugar
Zest of two lemons
A few drops of yellow food coloring
Yellow decorating sugar

To Prepare the Cupcakes

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix all of the dry batter ingredients together in a bowl.
3. Add and mix in the wet ingredients and mix until the batter is smooth.
4. Either spray your muffin tin with non-stick spray or line with cupcake papers.   
5. Spoon the batter into the mini-muffin tins so each tin is 3/4 of the way full. 
6. Cook for 10 -15 minutes, or until cupcakes are firm to the touch and bounce back when pressed on.
7. Remove from the pan and cool on a rack.
8. While your cupcakes are cooling, beat the butter and lemon zest for the icing together in a bowl.
9. Add the confectioner's sugar slowly until the icing is smooth and creamy, and is not runny or lumpy.
10. Once your icing has reached the desired consistency add a few drops of yellow icing.
11. When your cupcakes are cool, ice them, decorate with sugar, and enjoy!

Quinoa and Freezer Department Disappointment

For a long time now, I have been hearing about the wonder grain quinoa (pronounced like keen-wah). Quinoa is actually the seed of a grain crop called goosefoot, or if you want to get technical - chenopodium. It is a great grain to eat if you are on a diet since it is not a heavy starch! I mostly have seen it used to stuff other foods such as bell peppers, or served under meat. Tonight I decided to finally use the box I bought. To be honest, I was SHOCKED at how expensive it was! I found it 30% off at a store I shop at and threw it in the cart - I mean really, at that price I just could not turn it down! Having never prepared it before, I pretty much had to wing it tonight. I was serving the quinoa along side steamed broccoli and lemon-butter fish fillets. I decided to go simple. I did manage to prepare more than I will ever be able to eat, but it will make for great leftovers for lunch this week! 

When I prepared my quinoa I simply added 1 small diced onion and 1 large chopped clove of garlic before the water started boiling!

Waiting for the quinoa to boil!

This is what the seeds look like when they are done cooking!  They will have also absorbed all of the water out of the pan.  They have a very silky texture when you eat them!

 A delicious and filling meal!

I do have to say that I was disappointed with the fish I made for dinner tonight, though.  I have a tight grocery budget, and don't buy fish that often.  My sister and I are not huge fans of seafood, so when she asked to have fish for dinner, I could not deny her!  I drove my cart past the fish counter for a few reasons: 1.) I hate the smell of the fish counter 2.) I hate waiting in the line at the counter in the gross fish smell 3.) It is EXPENSIVE, which I find ironic considering how close we live to the coast!  I made my way to the frozen foods section with high hopes.  I have always had reassuring experiences with both Mrs. Paul's and Gordon's fish products!  I scanned over the shelves in the freezer, and finally found grilled, flavored fish fillets.  PERFECT!  My sister was excited about the flavor, so in the cart they went. 

My excitement quickly turned to disappointment tonight when I took them out of the package.  The fillets were MINUSCULE!  I swear on my life, one of the fillets was literally 2 inches by 3 inches - and that is a generous measurement!  I ended up throwing some capers I had in the fridge on the fillets before I put them in the oven to add some extra flavor.  They were tasty, but I felt like there was barely any fish in the boxes!  

If this is something you want to make for dinner, I would recommend putting white fish fillets in a foil packet with lemon wedges, butter, and capers!  Cook it slow at 300 degrees or throw the foil packet on the grill on a low temperature!  DO NOT ADD SALT if you fish is an ocean dweller!  If it is a fresh water fish you can add a little salt! 

WTF?! What's That Fruit...

I bring you another installment of What's That Fruit!

This time I was fairly familiar with the fruit, but am still intrigued by it and learning how to use it!  Meyer Lemons are something I did not seek out or stumble upon on my own!  A few months ago, while perusing cooking competitions, I came across a contest with "adventure" ingredients.  One of those ingredients was Meyer Lemon.  I wanted to use it in my recipe, and made my way to the grocery store before consulting Google.  I searched the baking aisle thinking that it was a particular brand of lemon extract, or maybe a special kind of extract.  After searching bottled lemon juice for at least 20 minutes I headed home and turned on the laptop!  I quickly learned that Meyer Lemons are a variety of lemon that tend to come from regions of Florida and California and rarely make their way to the northern regions of the US...great, I would pick the hard to find ingredient!  The next week I made my way to my usual grocery store for my weekly grocery order and, while perusing the produce section, was shocked to find an early out of season batch of them!  I quickly placed them in my cart...I felt like I was in the middle of a drug deal in broad daylight!   "At $4.99 for 5 lemons, they better be worth it," was all I could think as I shopped.

I got home and whipped together a batch of the cupcakes I was working on, zested my newly found lemons, and juiced them.  The first thing that struck me was their color.  They tend to be yellow, but with a orange undertone, both inside and out.  They also don't smell much like a lemon!  I put my lemon wedge smile on and was shocked at the taste!  It tasted like a lemon, but it was sweet like an orange! 

After some more research on the interwebs, I learned that Meyer Lemons are actually a cross between a lemon and either a mandarin orange or common orange.  They are native to China, and started to become popular in the United States when Martha Stewart began introducing them to the masses!  They hit their peak season during the dead of winter...mostly early January.  So, now is the time to find them!  I watched several grocery stores for months to make my cupcakes again, and finally found them in stores again just last week!  I contemplated buying several packages of them, but controlled my urges. 

My advice - GET'EM WHILE THEY'RE HOT!!!

The second batch of my now infamous Coffe Cacao Cupcakes with Meyer Lemon Buttercream!

My Newest Cupcake Creation

So, I am working on a recipe for a cupcake contest, and here is the end result!  I cannot share the recipe yet, but I can tell you this...

It is a 72% Cacao and Sumatra Coffee Cupcake topped with a Homemade Butter Cream Icing blended with Meyer Lemon Juices, and is topped with Meyer Lemon Zest and Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans!  Not to toot my own horn, but they are flipping DELICIOUS!!!

Pan Seared Lemon Honey Chicken served over Earl Grey Tea Rice with Asparagus

I made this dish on a whim.  I was really intrigued by the idea of tea flavored rice.  I learned that it is a very popular technique in Japanese dishes, but is usually made with brown rice and green tea.  They turn theirs into something that is more along the lines of a porridge called Genmaicha.  Tea rice is not too common in American dishes, but I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

Pan Seared Lemon Honey Chicken served over Earl Grey Tea Rice with Asparagus
Yields 4 generous servings

To Prepare Chicken
1. Pan sear thin sliced, boneless, skinless chicken breast on both sides in enough olive oil to coat the frying pan
2. Remove the chicken from the frying pan
3. Squeeze the juice of two large lemons and 8 ounces of honey in the frying pan and heat for a few minutes to deglaze the pan
4. Return the chicken to the frying pan and cook for 5 more minutes on low heat

To Prepare Rice
1. Prepare quick rice per the box directions, but add 3 Earl Grey teabags to the water before adding the rice
2. Keep the tea bags in the rice and water until ready to serve, and be sure to stir the rice well before serving

To Prepare Asparagus
1. Bring water to a rapid boil and cook a bundle of asparagus until tender

I feel it is best served with the chicken and some sauce over the rice, and the asparagus compliments it well as a side dish.

The final product!