Spring Carrot Cupcakes

It's not Owen's birthday, nor is it his half birthday (they both occur during school breaks) but today we took in cupcakes for Owen's "April Fool's--Not really my birthday--Day". We had a lot of discussion back and forth about what might be a good idea to take in for his special snack, and what was not.  Another idea he had that I was totally on board with was pancakes and syrup--I would totally have let him take in homemade pancakes for his birthday snack.

In the end though, he went with one of my suggestions-- carrot cake cupcakes.  It is technically for the whole class' "morning snack", so I feel good about the veggie content of these treats.  I also thought they would be fun and celebrating spring, since we really didn't need "birthday cupcakes" since it is not actually Owen's birthday. 

The cupcakes are yummy and have frosting made from real butter and cream cheese, and as I piped the little carrots on top for decoration I thought, "Yep, that is quite enough artificial food coloring for one treat."  And as was noted in the comments of my other blog, yes--this non-birthday cupcake makes me a Birthday Scrooge.

So if you are interested in being a birthday scrooge--or if you just want to enjoy a seasonal homemade treat, here is my recipe for Spring Carrot Cupcakes, adapted from Lion House Desserts:

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups grated carrots
1 8oz can crushed pineapple (in juice), pressed dry in a strainer
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400*.  Prepare 12 muffin cups with grease or papers.  Combine sugar and oil in a medium mixing bowl.  Add eggs, mix well.  Add grated carrots and pineapple.  Set aside.  In a large bowl sift together flour, salt, soda, and cinnamon.  Make a well,.  Add wet mixture, and mix to combine.  Spoon into muffin cups, and bake for 20 minutes of until they test done.

When cool frost with cream cheese frosting:  1 8-oz package of cream cheese, softened; 1/4 cup butter, softened; 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar.  Cream together in a mixer bowl.  If needed add a teaspoon of hot water at a time to get to spreading consistency.  (I didn't need water--I have a hot kitchen.)

Violet Jelly

Sometimes when I see or read an idea, I know instantly: I will do that. I latch on to it and become determined to make it happen. That's how it was for me when I first heard of wildflower jelly.

Last year I made dandelion jelly first, but was sad to have missed the wild violet season. This year I was determined to make the violet jelly, so I did that first and next I'll do some more dandelion jelly. I got some blossoms from my backyard for my first batch. But I didn't have very many so later we went foraging through the neighborhood for more. I knocked on a neighbor's door and she was surprised but more than happy to let me help myself to her patch of violets.

To make violet jelly you pour boiling water over the blossoms to steep them like tea.
I always strain it through a flour sack towel to keep out all the dirt. (See what got left behind?)
The violet water is a deep blue color, but when you add lemon juice (the acidity is necessary to preserve the jelly) it turns a bright fuchsia color. They really are beautiful.

 Violet Jelly Recipe:

The basic recipe is all over the internet-

2 cups violet blossoms, stems removed.
2 cups boiling water
juice of one lemon
1 package pectin (I used sure-jel for these)
4 cups sugar

Steep blossoms in water overnight. Strain. Add water if needed to make 2 cups. Add lemon juice. Follow directions for your pectin--mine were: Add pectin to juice. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve. Add sugar, return to rolling boil, and boil for one minute exactly. Ladle into jars and process in water bath canner for 10 minutes. (Makes 12 4oz jars)

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Violet Jelly with Honey variation:
I experimented with using honey instead of white sugar to make the jelly. I use Pomona's Pectin. I used one cup of the violet water and followed the directions in Pomona's for a basic jelly. It was 1T lemon juice; 1/4 cup honey; 1 tsp of the calcium water (that comes with the Pomona's Pectin); and 1 tsp of pectin. (Makes 3 4oz jars) Next time I will use a little bit more pectin because it was a pretty loose set, and I may add a bit more honey--it was a very mellow jelly. It definitely has some floral hints to it and I could taste the honey. Obviously the jelly was more cloudy from the honey, but all-natural instead.

Eggs for Breakfast

I thought I'd pass on our favorite ways to eat eggs for breakfast.  Everyone knows about the three ways IHOP serves eggs: scrambled, over-easy, or sunny-side up.  But it's nice to have a little more variety than that. 

My boys love using our eggs to make "cowboy toast."  I've heard this delicious food go by a few other names, but since I'm from Arizona I prefer the nod to The West given by the name cowboy toast.

You're going to need an egg, a slice of bread, butter, and salt and pepper. 

 

Start by cutting a void from your piece of bread.  A circle is the simplest, and you can't use any really crazy cookie cutters, but most basic geometric shapes work pretty well.

Butter a griddle or frying pan, lay down the toast, and crack your egg in the middle.  Season with salt and pepper, wait until the white starts to look milky in the middle, then give it a flip.  Cook to your desired done-ness.  

Meanwhile pop the extra toast shapes in the toaster.  Plate them up with the cowboy toast and eat up before it get's cold!

As for the grown-ups.  We have discovered the joy of soft-boiled eggs.

Smooth, creamy and delicious!  Go ahead-try it.

Pork Egg Rolls

If my husband and I had a theme in our kitchen, it would probably be something along the lines of "We could make that ourselves-right?" We figure that there really shouldn't be much that they sell at the grocery stores that we shouldn't be able to make at home in our own kitchen (and a for lot cheaper for the most part.) This doesn't mean that we never buy those items, but it is kind of fun to know that you are capable of making your own granola bars, doughnuts, and even marshmallows if the need or desire arose.

So the most recent experiment was egg rolls. For some reason the only food in the Ethnic Foods section of Kansas Grocery stores is frozen burritos. Isn't there some old adage about Neccessity breeds industry or inventiveness...help me out here. Anyhow, point is, we needed some egg rolls in our diet and so I went to a favorite recipe site and looked at a few different ones and put together this recipe. (I can have whatever I want in my egg roll dangit!) Enjoy!

Homemade Pork Egg Rolls

Ingredients:1 Pkg. 7-inch Egg Roll Wrappers (found in most produce departments)

4 cups Shredded Cabbage
2 Shredded Carrots
2 Stalks of Celery diced
½ Onion diced
½ teaspoon Ground Ginger
½ teaspoon Garlic Powder
½ lb of Ground Pork

To Make Filling:
Season the pork with the spices and some salt. Cook pork thoroughly and drain.

Sauté vegetables until mostly tender, and toss with pork.



To fill wrappers:

This is what the wrappers that they sell in my grocery store look like. You find them off on the side of the produce department by the tofu. (I can tell they are authentic based on their brand name.)

First, get a small bowl of water for wetting the edges of the wrappers. Then set up your workstation something like this:

Put a wrapper down with a corner pointing towards you.

Place ¼ C filling in the lower half.

Fold bottom corner up over filling.

Moisten the other 3 corners.



Fold the two side corners in.


Then roll tightly to secure filling inside.


Voila!



Cooking:
Pan-fry in shallow oil heated to 375* until golden brown.

Serve immediately with soy sauce or sweet & sour sauce for dipping.



You can also freeze for later use.
To reheat from frozen, preheat oven to 450 degrees, and bake for 30 minutes.

Makes 16