Jenni Kitchen's Cure All Cupcakes

Every time I use Pamela's Products cake mixes I smile :) We have been passing a cold around our house since
preschool started a few weeks ago. It seems it is my turn with the bug... woo!...

After sleeping for 14 hours I woke up with a hankering for Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Icing. I challenge anyone to eat one of these cupcakes and not smile.

I used Pamela's Products Chocolate Cake Mix - I always add a third egg when making cupcakes using their mixes.



Peanut Butter Icing:

1 Cup Confectioners' Sugar
1 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter
5 Tbs Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
3/4 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
1/4 tsp Kosher Salt
1/3 Cup Heavy Cream

Place the confectioners' sugar, peanut butter, butter,vanilla, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.  Mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as you work.  Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.

French Onion Soup

Ingredients

5-6 Cups Yellow Onions, thinly sliced (about 1 1/2 to 2 lbs)

1 Tbs Cooking Oil

2Tbs Butter

1/2 tsp Sugar

1 tsp Salt

3 Tbs Rice Flour

6 Cups Beef Stock (preferably homemade) - Swanson's is Gluten Free

1 Cup Wine (red or white) - I used Yellow Tail Reisling

1 Bay Leaf

1/2 tsp Ground Sage

Salt and Pepper

12 ounces Swiss Cheese, Sliced

12 ounces Provolone Cheese, Sliced

Croutons:  Heal ends of Udi's bread

1. 
   
   

   Directions:  Place heavy bottomed stock pot or dutch oven over medium-low heat.  I used an enameled cast iron dutch oven and it worked beautifully.  Add 1 Tbs cooking oil,and 2 Tbs butter to the pot.Add sliced onions and stir until they are evenly coated with the oil.  - I sliced my onions on the mandolin though next time I believe I will opt for the food processor.  By the end of the slicing my eyes felt like they were full of fire.  Cover and cook for about 20 minutes until they are very tender and translucent.
2. 
   
   
   
   To brown or caramelize the onions turn heat under pot to medium or medium high heat.  Add 1/2 tsp sugar and 1 tsp salt and continue to cook uncovered, stirring frequently until the onions have browned and reduced significantly.
3. Once caramelized, reduce heat to medium-low and add 3 Tbs rice flour to the onions.
4. 
   
   Brown the flour for about 1-2 minutes trying not to scorch it.
5. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Stir in about 1 cup of warm stock, scraping the bottom of the pan to get up all of the cooked-on bits.  Add the rest of the stock, wine, sage, and bay leaf to the soup.
6. Simmer for 30 minutes.
7. To make the croutons, heat oven to 325 degrees F.
8. Drizzle each side of the bread slices with a bit of olive oil and place on baking sheet.
9. Cook the croutes for 15 minutes in oven on each side (30 minutes total).  Once it was finished I cut the bread into bite sized pieces.  Check the soup for seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed.  Remove the bay leaf (if you can find it).
10. 
    
    
    
    
    

    At this point you could transfer to a casserole dish.  The dutch oven I was using worked quite nicely to transfer directly to the oven.  Place the toasted bread in a single layer on top of the soup.  Layer the cheese over the top of the soup.  Place in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes.  Turn on broiler and brown cheese well. 
11. 
    

2011 has proven to be a challenge

In July I began to have quite a bit of abdominal pain every time I ate ... no matter what I ate.  After several trips to the ER and many tests later it was determined that I needed to have my gallbladder removed.  Fortunately... and unfortunately it would turn out... this was not an emergent situation and I was able to schedule my surgery for a week and a half after the decision was made.  For the next week and a half my diet consisted of Jell-O and Dilauded.  From July to August I lost roughly 15lbs. and developed gastritis from being on narcotics.

Recovery from the surgery has been slow and has come with its fair share of setbacks.  I was put on a medication to help prevent gastritis after surgery but after having some very unpleasant side effects I was taken off of the medication and it was not replaced with anything.  Within 2 weeks of going off of the medication I started having more stomach pain but chalked it up to part of the healing process.  September 1 (the last day of my 20's) was spent in the ER having blood drawn and a CT scan to rule out any complications from the surgery.  The CT was clean and I was then put on maximum doses of medication to treat for ulcers.  I scheduled an appointment with a GI but wasn't able to get in for an upper endoscopy for another 3 weeks.

The upper endoscopy showed some esophagitis, and gastritis, even after weeks of medication.  The scope also showed a hiatal hernia and bile pooling in the bottom of my stomach.  The medicines are helping tremendously though I am still far from being 100%.  I have been instructed to reduce the stress in my life... which becomes stressful in and of itself.

Hopefully I will find a way to work more blogging into my stress management :)

Dinner

Had I been thinking ahead I would have taken pictures of dinner this evening...

Steak Burgers:
We used some steak we found on special at the local grocery store.  Cut the steaks into cubes and placed the cubes on a baking sheet.  We put the steak in the freezer for about 20 minutes and then pulsed it in the food processor in batches.  For each batch we put in a big sprig of Savory and a pinch of Kosher Salt.  Once all of the steak was ground we formed patties and put them on the grill.  DELICIOUS!  We ended up serving the burgers on regular Udi's bread.  I'm hoping our local stores will start carrying Udi's hamburger and hot dog buns before the end of the cookout season.

Blueberry Lemonade:
Blueberries have been going on special a lot lately so every time we see a buy one get one deal we stock up and freeze them in snack size bags.  This makes them very easy to throw in with smoothies!  For the Lemonade I added the following ingredients to the blender:
2 snack bags of frozen blueberries (not an exact science)
3/4cup Fresh squeezed lemon juice
3/4cup Sugar
2 cups of water
1 cup of ice

When I served this I filled the glass halfway with Blueberry Lemonade, added ice, then topped off with water.  Very refreshing.

I also made up a batch of Mint Simple Syrup.  I'm looking forward to making iced tea!

Bakery On Main

Let the fun begin!

Today I received a package filled with goodies from Bakery On Main.  I'm so excited it almost makes me want to wake the kids up and have them start taste testing! ...almost.  Breakfast will be here soon enough.

Hello 2011!

Yes, I know it is February.  I am also beginning to think the reason I haven't posted this year is because I made it a New Year Resolution.  I never follow through with those.  Anyhow... we have made many more adjustments since the last time I posted and have moved our home towards being completely gluten free (even though I am the only one showing signs of an allergy).  The next goal is to learn how to deal with the added expense of a gluten free lifestyle, and to move ourselves toward raw and local sustainable food sources.

Jeff and I have watched quite a few documentaries on Food, Corporations, and the relationships between the two.  We are on information overload at the moment but one thing we are sure of is that we are not OK with our government deciding what is a safe level of poison for our family to consume.  The fact is there is no level of poison that we will knowingly allow our children to eat.

We are extremely lucky in the fact that we live only miles away from Polyface Farm, and that we have enough land to start our own garden.  2011 will be filled with adventures in health and learning how to become supporters of sustainable living.

S'Better Farms = Disappointment

Product may not resemble the picture on the packaging...  at ALL!

I was very excited when I found this product.  In fact, I have never been so excited at the idea of eating a "chicken finger".  I wasn't very happy about paying $8 for frozen chicken but it has been so long since I've had something with a really good crispy coating I thought I would give it a try.  Imagine my disappointment when I opened the package to find what I would call "popcorn chicken"... nothing like the picture had promised.  The product was not the worst GF breaded chicken I have had but was still mediocre at best.