Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

I got my wisdom teeth removed the other day so I made this before hand. Here is the recipe.

- 1 tbsp butter
- 1/2 a celery stick diced
- 1/2 an onion diced
- 1 Butternut squash
- 2 Apples ( I used granny smiths)
- 1 to 2 cups water
- 1/2 to 1 cup apple juice
- Spices: Nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, cayenne, Sage
- Salt and Black pepper to taste

In a pot, soften diced onions and celery in melting butter on low. Peel, deseed and dice butternut squash and apples. Add them to pot with about a cup of water. Cover the pot and let them cook completely. When cooked, blend the mixture (use a hand blender or pour it into a standing blender). Add apple juice to taste or more water depending on the consistency you want. Now add as much of the other seasonings until you are satisfied with the taste. I liked mine a little spicy so I put more ginger and cayenne. Stir and serve hot or cold.

Guacamole Pasta

My lunch today:


Whole wheat penne tossed in pretty much guacamole, but I added basil and a pinch of nutmeg to make it seem more suited for pasta. So good!

Purple

Chocolate Filled Peanut Butter Cookies

If you love anything peanut butter and chocolate, you will love this.

All you need is your favorite peanut butter cookie recipe and dark or milk chocolate Hershey kisses.

Put the Hershey on some dough then cover it up with more dough. Bake as the recipe instructs. In the end, you get peanut butter cookies oozing with chocolate!

Baba Ganoush

I had never tried Baba Ganoush so I made it for the first time the other day. If you like eggplant and you like hummus, I am sure you will like this. I used this recipe as a guide except I put the eggplant in the oven instead of grilling it on the stove top.

Salmon Lunch!

This was my lunch today; steamed baby carrots with seared salmon marinated in garlic, lemon, soy sauce, ginger, parsley, cilantro and green onions. Mmh!

Toggles

Alexis and Lindsay

Fat Free Chocolate Cupcakes with Coffee Frosting

When it comes to baking, I hardly make cupcakes but I wanted to make something sweet to ask a friend to a Sadie Hawkins dance and I was told he enjoyed cakes and coffee for dessert. So I decided to make chocolate cupcakes with a coffee frosting. One of the best parts about this recipe is that the cake batter is pretty much fat free!

A few years ago, my little sister and I fell upon this recipe on allrecipes.com while looking for a chocolate cake recipe for my mom’s birthday. We were surprised how much liquid went into it so we added only half the oil needed. The end result was really good so I decided to push it. The next time I made these, I used no oil at all and I actually preferred them a lot more this way. They were moist, very chocolaty and delicious. So yea, I guess it is possible to make cake without fat.

Fat Free Chocolate Cupcakes

350F, 24 cupcakes

1 ¾ cups all purpose flour

¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

2 cups sugar

1 cup milk

2 eggs

1 cup strong coffee

1 tbsp vinegar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt together.

Mix the rest of the ingredients separate.

Add about a quarter of the wet mixture into the dry mixture at a time, mixing them together after every addition.

Line a standard muffin pan with cupcake liners and pour about ¼ of a cup into each liner.

Bake in a preheated 350F for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clear.

Coffee Frosting

I didn’t measure all of the ingredients out so you will have to experiment and taste until you are satisfied.

¼ cup softened butter

2 to 2 ¼ cup confectioners’ sugar

1 tsp vanilla

3- 4 tbsp milk

1 tsp coffee granules (you can add or reduce to your taste)

Mix the sugar and butter until smooth. Add the vanilla. Mix the coffee and milk until well blended then add it to the sugar mixture. Taste and adjust to your liking.

I used a Ziploc bag to pipe the frosting on the cupcakes.

Kirsten