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.

Papaya Chipotle Pineapple Chicken with Almond Soy Soba Noodles

Wouldn't you know, I cooked chicken last night and didn't set off the fire alarm.  Now, for most people, this would be a no brainer.  You see, I am not like most people... I was a vegetarian (and a strict one at that) for the majority of my life and never learned how to cook meat.  It has to be cooked to a certain temp so you don't die or some brain disease? What?  Moral of the story, I am slightly challenged when it comes to meat.  Either I try to pan fry it and the fire alarm goes off.  Or I try to cook it solely in the oven and the fire alarm goes off.  Tough times.

But ah ha! I can pan sear it and then put it in the oven.  Result? Juicy, delicious and full of marinade. Saying I did a little dance to some Justin Timberlake in my kitchen would be an understatement.  If I had room in my studio apartment, I would have done cartwheels.

While the chicken would go great on a bed of anything (well, not everything), I decided to use my new julienne mandoline, a fresh pack of soba noodles and went wild.  As I don't like eating too many noodles, the julienned zucchini added to the dish without weighing it down.

Lentil, Roasted Turnip and Chard Soup

I'm baaacccckkk. Wait, what... you didn't know I was gone? Oh, this is awkward... well, I was gone. I even left the state of Washington and headed on down to California for the first time ever. You read that right, I had never never been to California before this vacation. I can finally call myself an American. I did what you'd expect me to do while on vacation. I took silly pictures with my little sister:

Smile, Caroline, you're on TGC!

 Hung out in touristy parks doing touristy things like taking ironic pictures with my iPhone:

See that yellow house in the middle? Yeah, the Tanner family lived there!

 And essentially took a sight-seeing flight back home to a (gratefully) sunny Seattle:

Sup Shasta?

I know you though, you're here for the food.

 A soup recipe in the middle of August? I know, it’s cruel and highly unusual considering 99.9% of the country in melting away in 100+ degree heat waves. But you see, I live in the .1% of the country whose summer only just started. Yes, you read me right, most days we don’t crack 80 degrees. Just two or three weeks ago, it was in the 60’s, raining and I was eating my body weight in Pho just to stay warm. My family was out visiting and I found myself saying over and over again “I swear it’s nicer in Seattle in the summer, I swear.” Then I left for San Francisco and when I came back, it has been continual high-70’s sunny days. With low humidly.

I probably shouldn’t have told you that. Now you’re all going to move here and my rent will go up.  Please ignore the last paragraph and read all my other posts about the rain here.  And STAY AWAY.

So this soup – it’s healthy, full of fresh veggies and relies on (hopefully) some of your pantry staples. If you don’t have lentils continually on hand, please, head over to your nearest Whole Foods/Food Co-Op/bulk grocery store, grab the biggest bag you can find, fill it up, don’t break your back carrying it home and enter lentil land.

You’ll thank me.

I’m also happy to say this recipe is 95.6% my own. Researching the contents of my CSA box, I had never cooked with turnips before, and looking at what's in my pantry, this soup just kind of came to be. It’s pretty adaptable for any ingredients you have on hand. Just replace the turnips with another root vegetable (taters, carrots... bigger turnips), the chard with another cooking green and you could even substitute the lentils with white beans, or something of the like.

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? 

Quinoa Tabbouleh

Harry Potter is coming out next week.  So. Freaking. Excited.  I mean, I am reading, errrm listening to on tape, all the Harry Potter books in preparation.  I'd like to say I'm going to watch the movies too but seriously, I have a life people.  As I blog I'm on The Chamber of Secrets, somewhere around 11 minutes into chapter 15.  So if I randomly type an "alohamora!" or "but 'Arry!!!", please, don't be alarmed.

Even though I've been listening to HP non-stop, I've still been eating.  Can you think of anything better than listening to Stephen Fry while eating some tabbouleh?  I didn't think so.  I made this a week or so back soon after I received my first CSA box.  I had a bunch of new & fancy ingredients as well as a well stocked pantry.  Pouring through my surplus of cookbooks, I came about this recipe.

If you've ever gone to a hot bar with me at Metropolitan Market, Whole Foods, PCC…etc, you know I ALWAYS get tabbouleh. ALWAYS.  However, I had never made it at home before.  Nor have I ever bought Bulgar.  You'd think I would but no.  I don't always think ahead.  But when I saw that I had all the ingredients for a this recipe, I'm pretty sure I squealed with joy.

The ingredients are fairly adaptable, but I'd try and stick to the more traditional ingredients as much as possible.  I also increased the amount of parsley and lemon juice so if you aren't a fan of these, feel free to reduce the amount.

Chicken Curry Pita

I rarely cook chicken. I think it’s kinda icky to prepare and I’m really bad about washing my hands. No, not in that way. You don’t have to worry about the food that I’m cooking for you. I don’t lick my fingers THAT much and I always wash my hands before stepping into the kitchen to cook. Super convincing I know, but what I mean is I don’t like that I need to wash my hands so often when I’m cooking meat.  If I want to turn on the sink to wash my hands after cutting chicken I need to contort my body into some funky yoga pose.  All that work to flip a faucet with my elbow. Tisk tisk. How do I avoid this problem?  I stay pretty much vegetarian in the home.

But as I am posting this recipe, I obviously cook chicken every once and a while. When I do, I’m always rewarded with protein filled goodness. Anyways, cooking meat is a pretty challenging for me and I always need a challenge in the kitchen. I can’t always be cooking cupcakes and casseroles.

I’m really not doing a good job at telling you that you should cook this recipe right away. The dish reminded of me of swimming rama, but without peanut butter. Even though it’s dairy free, the sauce has a very creamy taste and texture and gave me a much needed creamy fix. The best part is that the meal comes together quite quickly. As the chicken is chopped into small pieces, it doesn’t take long to cook.

However, I found that if you stop cooking as soon as the chicken is done, your sauce will be a little thin. If you like it like this, I would recommend serving it with some rice and treating as a curry dish. Keep in mind that I’m difficult and wanted to eat my chicken in a pita dangit!  This meant that I needed to both reduce the sauce (read: cook longer) and add a cornstarch slurry. Even though the recipe didn’t originally didn’t call for a sauce thickener, I found it to be too thin “on its own.”

Did I forget to mention, I am officially 100% cow’s milk free but I CAN eat gluten (praise the kitchen overlords!).  I had a very bad reaction when I tried reintegrating dairy but no such problems eating goat cheese.  This is a prognosis I can live with, I mean, goat cheese/milk/butter is classier anyways.  Keep your eyes peeled for some goats milk ice cream and cookies!

Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Buttercream

Did you know, before today, I hadn't had a cup of coffee in almost a week?  I'm trying to make changes here people and my complete and total dependence on coffee was a good start.  That, and I really hate cleaning my French press.  Today is a different story.  As I type, I am waiting for my friends to show up so we can head into the Cascades to do some hiking.  Guess what time I woke up?  6:30 am.  Without an alarm.  Can someone please tell me why I naturally wake up so early on the weekends yet it is feat of strength for me to even pull the eye-shades off before 7:30 during the week?

Regardless, I had coffee this morning.  A whole French press of coffee.  I haven't done this since college and now I am remembering why I don't do this on a regular basis.  I feel like I'm on magical cocktail of all the mood enhancing drugs in the universe.  I sorted my laundry!  I'm writing a blog post!  I made my lunch!  WEEE!  Let's hope the inevitable crash comes AFTER I'm done hiking for the day. [fact: it didn't]

Now that I've forewarned you to how drugged I am, tally-ho!  Onto the food!

This is a cake I made for my friend Sasha's birthday.  We play kickball & bar trivia together, so she knows about my baked goods.  When her birthday rolled around, she asked for a birthday cake knowing that I willingly make extravagant cakes.  After questioning her about cake flavors (Chocolate?  White?  Yellow?  Neon Green?) and toppings of choice (Rainbow sprinkles? Fruit? Fluffy clouds?) she decided on her favorite flavor combination: chocolate and raspberry.

Easy for me as I've made cakes & cupcakes with this combo countless times! As far as the raspberry buttercream goes, you can use either fresh or frozen raspberries, just make sure you strain the puree before reducing it.  I made this mistake once… I almost lost a friend over a rogue raspberry seed.  Even after adding some preserves to the puree, if the color isn't to your liking, feel free to add a pin prick of rose food coloring.