Lavender Cupcakes with Lemon Goat Milk Buttercream

So, these cupcakes were supposed to be a little fancier than they are.  Now, I’m not discrediting my skills.  No no, these cupcakes just as good, if not better, than I expected. It's just that I was looking forward to decorating them in a certain way. I had been watching and reading tutorials on how to make flowers with buttercream. I even spent a whole two dollars on a new tip. Moral of the story: don’t use zest in buttercream when you intend to use a tip with a tiny opening.  It gets all sorts or clogged and the user (read: me) get's all sorts of frustrated.

As luck would have it, I have about 20 other frosting tips littering a drawer in my kitchen.  I pretty much closed my eyes, reached in and felt for one that was not too big and not too small. The Goldilocks of piping tips.

Other than the slight issue with the buttercream, I actually had a blast making these. While I had dabbled in baking with goat butter/milk before, this is the first time all aspects of the cake were goatified.  Is that a word? No? Moving on…

Regardless, even though goat butter is about double the price ($5 for 1 cup) and so far I’ve only been able to track it down at Whole Foods, it really makes a difference.  PEER PRESSURE. Not really, you’re more than welcome to use some unsalted butter but don’t say I didn’t warn you… The combination of the soft lavender with the tang of goat makes a full bouquet of flavors.  And the buttercream? Oh jeeze, if that much sugar didn’t put me into a coma nor make me the size of a blue whale, I would eat it every day. No one wants to see a passed out Katherine the size or a blue whale with a mane of red hair. SCARY.

Cranberry Lemon Granola

People in the Pacific Northwest are supposed to be all “crunchy and granola,” right? So, technically speaking, I am fulfilling my stereotypical duties by making granola…?  Obviously the logic is there. I own flannel, bought into a CSA, own an embarrassing amount of Chaco shoes and more outdoor gear than I know what to do with. But still no crunchy granola…

I had wanted to make my own granola for a long time.  Heck, the first recipe ever posted on my blog was for homemade granola bars!  But as time went on, I still found myself without a jar full of some Ginger Cook Granola (I would totally market that by the way, it has a nice ring to it).  A few weeks ago, when I wasn’t feeling that well but still wanted to be in the kitchen, I decided to up and make it.  I had oats on hand, natural sweeteners, dried fruit, nuts and all things delicious.  I even had some citrus on hand to zest!

Now that I’ve made it, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to go back to buying granola from the store.  Not only was making it from scratch SO CHEAP (how DO they get off charging us $6 for a tiny bag in the stores?), but I had SO much and it didn’t take much time at all!  Throw together some ingredients, bake, cool down and watch yourself devour every last bit in a few days.  I mean, that’s what happened with me but I somehow came down with the death flu and it was the only thing I could manage to eat.  And eat it I did!

I think the next batch I made I want to have a little bit of a topical feel – toasted coconut, dried mango, dried pineapple and some macadamia nuts. Maybe? 

Grilled Chicken Breasts with Lemon Zest, Garlic & Herb Marinade

Well, I've up and done it.  I've posted a recipe for chicken on my vegetarian cooking blog.  It's true world, I've started eating small amounts of chicken.  It's hard concept to wrap my head around; I still consider myself to be a vegetarian but I eat some chicken.  Now that I've said that, I bet a few people will tell me I'm wrong.  And for all technical purposes I am, but the chicken that I have eaten is free range and vegetarian fed.  On top of that, all the chicken I have eaten has been purchased for me, I have yet to buy meat of my own.  I'll see if I'll be able to even purchase it on my own... of if I'll even know how.  While I am having this mini-less-than-a-quarter-life identity crisis, I do know that since I have started eating chicken I feel a lot healthier.  Aside from finding out I'm allergic to bees, I have yet to get sick!  For those who know me, that is saying something.

Oh, right, back to the food.  I'm not going to lie, it's good.  Good as in I ate-it-cold-out-of-a-tupperware-and-still-enjoyed-it good.  For me, the cooking part was a little difficult and nerve racking, but cut me a break people, I've never done this before and I didn't want to get anyone sick on my first try!  The whole time I was trimming the chicken breast I was a little squeamish and was ruffling up my nose with confusion.  While that was one thing, don't even get me started on the grilling, I was terrified I wouldn't cook it well enough and I would be exiled the suffering I inflicted upon my kin.  I may or may not have yelled "DAAAAADDD" one or two times to make him check the chicken for me while I anxiously asked "are you SURE it's not pink inside?"  Needless to say, I did it.  I very successfully grilled chicken.  Throughout dinner my family kept on insisting "this was the best chicken they ever had" (I still don't believe them) and we were all vying for leftovers the next day.

You want to know how this tastes?  Garlic plays a pretty prominent role and is the first flavor that is noticed.  Slowly, the light taste of lemon comes through and the helps give the chicken a nice fresh finish.  Yet the marinating in olive oil with herbs gives a wonderful undertone.  Fire up the grill this weekend (I don't know about you, but it's beautiful here!) and get cooking!

PS - As you can tell, Mom, I finally posted to recipe, albeit a little later than you would have hoped. 

While not the greatest picture (dang compact florescent light bulbs!) it does prove I did cook the chicken!

Grilled Chicken Breasts with Lemon Zest, Garlic & Herb Marinade
Adapted from Once Upon a Chef
Ingredients

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 6 ounces each, or about 1½ pounds total)
• 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 4 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• 1¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• 1½ teaspoons lemon zest (about the zest of one lemon) - I used a little more zest than the recipe indicates

Directions

1. Place chicken breasts between 2 pieces of wax paper and, using a meat mallet, pound to an even ½-inch thickness (I couldn't get mine this thin… but if you can, more power to you!).
2. Mix all ingredients except chicken together in a 1 gallon zip-lock bag. Add chicken breasts and massage marinade into meat until evenly coated. Seal the bag and place in a bowl in the refrigerator (the bowl protects against leakage); let the chicken marinate at least 4 hours or up to 12 hours.
3. Clean grill and preheat to high. Lightly dip a wad of paper towels in vegetable oil and, using tongs, carefully rub over grates several times until glossy and coated. Place chicken breasts on the grill (and get as much of that marinade on as you can!  More marinade = more flavor!). Grill, covered, for 4-5 minutes per side.

Apple Puff Pastry Tarts

I adapted this recipe from Alton Brown's Good Eats episode "Puff the Magic Pastry." I finally was able to use the apples I bought at the farmers market a good 2 weeks ago. I used a "Prime Red" apple - it's a type that the farmer created though experimentation with cross pollination. I must say... Prime Reds are probably one of my favorite apples now. They are a cross between a jonathan and something else that I forgot. The apples are bright red while having a pure white inside... and they are always crisp but not too tart.

Caroline - I know you are reading this way over in Oregon and your care-package is on the way... complete with some baked good that is posted on my site.

Apple Puff Pastry Tarts

Adapted from Alton Brown

Ingredients

• puff pastry
• Sugar, for dusting
• Prime Red Apples, cored, and quartered
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• Apricot jam

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Crimp seams of puff pastry together with fingertips. Dust both sides of pastry with sugar. Using a rolling pin, roll pastry in each direction to close seams. Using a sharp pizza cutter, cut out rectangles. Place pastry circles on a chilled sheet pan and let cool in the refrigerator for a few minutes.
3. Using a vegetable peeler cut wafer thin apple slices. Put apple slices in lemon-juice-spiked water.
4. Flip pastry circles over on the sheet pans and poke them with a fork to provide an outlet for steam. Put parchment paper on the pan underneath the pastry circles. Sprinkle pastry with sugar and arrange apple slices on top.
5. Bake in the middle of the oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Poke the crust; if it feels soft it needs more time in the oven.
6. Microwave some apricot jam for 30 seconds. Dab (don't brush) the jam on the tarts. Cool tarts at least 4 hours and seal in a resealable plastic bag. Serve at room temperature.

Cucumber and Feta Salad (and too much of it)

First and foremost - sorry for the photo quality. I usually don't have to do food photos shoots at about 9 at night - so I had to shoot inside with my tripod. Second, the pictures should be able to capture the disturbing amount of cucumber and feta salad I had to make. I think the easiest way to explain why I ended up with so many cucumbers (resulting in so much cucumber/feta salad) is to say it was the farmers fault. Well, that's not entirely true and I shouldn't totally blame the farmer. I was at the farmers market on Saturday where I purchased a copious amount of fruit and veggies. One very kind farmer was even nice enough to (essentially) give me a bunch of free apples - so many that I had to go into the Bivouac and pass them out because I wouldn't have room for them in my fridge! Anyways, I wanted to buy some zucchini because I wanted to make a savory Zucchini Ricotta Cheesecake. So I went up to a farmer (who was selling zucchini), asked to buy a basket of zucchini, and I though he sold me a basket of zucchini. Jump to this evening when I started peeling what I thought were zucchini's... and they were cucumbers. A lot of cucumbers. I have no need for this many cucumbers - so I had to improvise. After some browsing on the internet and a quick trip to Kroger later, I give you: Cucumber & Feta Salad!

I am surprised by how good this is! When I take a bite - feel like I am nibbling on Greece. I think I will make some pita chips tomorrow to eat this with... but I will also bring A LOT of this into work tomorrow because there is no way I can (or will) eat all of this. Please see this photo of reference (and note the size my camera lens cap) to see HOW MUCH I have:

I will post the normal, feasible sized recipe. I had to quadruple and a half the recipe just to use up my cucumber stash.

Cucumber and Feta Salad

Adapted from David Lebovitz

Ingredients:

• 1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced into pea-sized pieces (I did small cubes)
• coarse salt
• 8 ounces feta cheese
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon water
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 small red onion, peeled and finely-diced
• 1 tablespoon (each) chopped fresh mint, parsley and fresh dill

Directions:

1. Place the cucumber pieces in a colander, mix with a light sprinkling salt, and let drain 30 minutes to an hour, shaking the colander from time to time.
2. Crumble the feta into a bowl and mash together with the olive oil, lemon juice, water, and a few turns of black pepper.
3. Mix in the cucumbers, onions, and herbs. Taste, and add more salt if desired.