Cookie Monster Cupcakes...

I made these for my littlest guys third birthday party. He is enamored with all things cookie monster and cookies in general, so this cupcake was a must! And since big brother is gluten free, I used a cup for cup flour blend (Pillsbury). So if you are gluten free and do not have access to such a blend I am sorry but I don't have the other flours and xanthum gum measurements, and if you are cool to eat gluten you can use the same measurements and make these for your little (or big) cookie monsters!

For the Cupcakes (makes 24):

Ingredients:

3 sticks (1.5 cups) unsalted butter at room temperature
1.5 cups light brown sugar
4 large eggs
2 2/3 cups all purpose flour (or a cup for cup GF blend)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup semisweet mini chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake pans with 24 liners. Using a stand mixer with paddle attachment, combine the butter and brown sugar on high speed until light and fluffy (3-4 minutes). Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping sides of bowl down as needed. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl (I use a 4 cup measuring cup to make it easier to add to the wet ingredients). Add a third of the dry ingredients to the bowl of your stand mixer while mixing on low. Once combined add 1/2 cup milk, then another third of the flour mix, the remaining half cup of milk and finally the raining third of the flour blend mixing well after each addition and scraping down the bowl as needed. Blend in the 2 teaspoons of vanilla and then store in the cup of chocolate chips. Divide batter evenly among the cupcake liners (I use a cupcake scoop but two scoops from a cookie scoop also works very well) and bake for 18-20 minutes and a tester inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes then remove to wire tack to cool completely. Once fully cooled use an apple corer to remove a core of the cupcake for filling, but only go 3/4 of the depth of the cupcake.

For the Filling (which you can also use a dip for apple slices, YUM!):

Ingredients:
1 stick of very soft unsalted butter
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 ounce package of cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup semisweet mini chocolate chips

Directions:
In a large bowl, beat together the butter and brown sugar until the sugar is mostly dissolved. Add the cream cheese, vanilla, and powdered sugar and beat until soft and fluffy. Stir in the chocolate chips and then pipe into the center of the cupcakes. You will have left over, definitely try it as a dip with apple slices!

For the Frosting:

Ingredients:
2 sticks (1 cup) softened unsalted butter
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar

Directions:
In a large bowl cream together the butter and brown sugar, then add vanilla. Slowly add the powdered sugar until you reach the desired consistency. Then frost your cooled and filled cupcakes. (I added some royal blue food coloring to the frosting to make the cookie monster "fur").

Enjoy!

*Decorating note: I used Hershey's milk chocolate drops and uncolored frosting on the eyes, and just poured some drops to in the open "mouth". 

Cowboy Nachos

When it gets really cold I tend to make chili or a soup, and since I'm the only one who really likes soups we tend to have chili a couple of times a month during the winter. We typically eat the chili as a frito pie dish, but a couple of weeks ago the hubster had a brilliant idea to put the chili on tortilla chips and top with cheese and thus "cowboy nachos" were born. I'm including my own turkey chili recipe below with some options to spice it up (or down) and chip suggestions. I hope you all enjoy!

Chili
1 pound ground lean turkey (could also use ground beef or stew meat)
1 medium onion diced
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon cayenne powder
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 cans black beans drained
2 cans fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 (14 oz) can of tomato sauce

Brown the meat and then add the onion and saute until onion is slightly translucent. Then add the beans, tomatoes and sauce. Stir in seasonings (if you want to spice it up add diced jalapeno and to reduce the heat omit the cayenne) and heat to a boil. Simmer until ready to serve.

Tips:
Mission Tortilla Rounds held up better under the chili than Tostitos.
Add a dollop of sour cream to the top of the nachos to cool down the spice factor.

White Hot Chocolate

Okay, this is an insanely easy recipe (um, crock pot anyone?) that is insanely yummy! It's perfect for combating the arctic chill that's currently gripping the majority of the country. Try it, you won't regret it. I promise.

Ingredients:
8 Cups of milk
2 tsp Vanilla
1 3/4 cups of whipping cream
14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups of white chocolate chips (you could use milk or dark chocolate as well)

Put all the liquid ingredients in the crock pot set on low, (if you do not have a large crock pot (like myself) you can half the recipe) and stir to combine. Stir in the chocolate chips so that they are evenly distributed and not piled all in one location. Leave on low setting stirring occasionally for approximately 2.5 hours or until it reaches desired temperature. Ladle into mugs and enjoy!


*pro tips:
1- put some crushed peppermint at the bottom of your mug before you ladle in the hot cocoa for an over the top flavor (and pretty pink color). Trust me, its crazy good.
2-husband suggested adding some cinnamon because it almost tastes like the arroz con leche that he adores, so I will try this the next time we enjoy the recipe.

Arroz Con Pollo

(this recipe is a tweaked version of my mother in laws amazing recipe)

Ingredients:

1 tbsp coconut/olive/canola oil

1 finely diced white onion

1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs (can also be breasts or tenders) diced

1 cup brown rice (can also use white)

2 cups water

1 packet Goya Sazon con azafran seasoning

12 oz package mixed vegetables

½ jar green olives with juice

½ jar Spanish capers with juice

Directions:

Sautee onions in the oil until they become translucent, add rice and stir for 2 minutes. Then add the diced chicken and seasoning packet and stir for two additional minutes then add water, cover, lower heat to medium and cook until the chicken is white. Then add the olives, capers, and mixed vegetables; stir and continue cooking for 10 minutes or until the rice is done.

*If you prefer your rice with a more risotto like texture, add an additional ¼ cup of water when you add the vegetables.

Gluten Free Trial

In my house we are starting a gluten free food trial next week (June 16). We are doing this to see if we have any of the success that some of our other friends have had with behavioral improvements with their children on the autism spectrum. I am cautiously optimistic that this will give us some help with some problem behaviors and other digestive issues that we have faced with our older son who is on the autism spectrum. I want to emphasize that I am not doing this to "cure" him of his autism, as I have seen some people recently say that they were making dietary and supplemental changes to "heal or cure" their child of their autism. My view is that my child may need some extra help with social behaviors (he is very high functioning autism) but he is not in need of a cure or being fixed. He is a very bright child who reads a full grade level ahead of what he should and has a memory that would astound you. Does he need a little extra help? Sure, but there are worse things than needing extra social coaching/teaching. Does he need a little extra grace and patience from me? No doubt. Is it hard sometimes? Without question, but we have gotten to a place where the good days tend to outnumber the bad and that's a great place to be. I look forward to sharing some gluten free recipes with you all as we progress through the summer, and since I LOVE to bake you're guaranteed some delicious desserts.

"Loaded" Mac and Cheese

This is a completely gluten free recipe!

One box Gluten Free elbow pasta ( I use Ancient Harvest Quinoa elbow pasta)
1/2 pound bacon cooked, drained, and chopped
One steam in bag broccoli florets

For the cheese sauce:
8 ounces sour cream
2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 tsp coconut flour
Dash salt
Pepper to taste
3 cups finely shredded cheese (I use Kraft Triple Cheddar)


Cook pasta, bacon, and broccoli according to their individual instructions and combine when all finished. While the pasta is cooking, combine the sour cream, heavy cream, coconut flour, salt and pepper in a sauce pan, and heat until it just begins to boil whisking frequently. Once the mixture just begins to boil slowly add the cheese while continuously whisking so that there are no clumps. Once the cheese is all added and fully blended you are ready to add it to the pasta, bacon, & broccoli. This does make a good amount of cheese sauce, add it slowly and mix until you get your desired amount of cheesy goodness. We like our mac super cheesy so I ended up adding the entire batch. You can also add jalapeno to spice it up or more veggies like kale, customize to your own taste and ENJOY!

*In my haste to get dinner on the table I did not get any photos this time, but I will be making this again, so Ill be sure to take some next time!

Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting

Okay, so these cupcakes come from a cake recipe I found on Pinterest  (from www.melskitchencafe.com) and adapted it to make cupcakes so amazing that no one can tell they're gluten free unless you tell them! Seriously far better than my normal gluten filled recipe and I doubt I will go back to so called "normal" chocolate cupcakes. Hope you all enjoy these as much as we did!


Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes
Yield: ~ 20 cupcakes

You'll need about 1/2 cup (maybe a bit more) dry quinoa for 2 cups cooked. Make sure to measure the quinoa for the cake recipe after it is cooked and cooled. Also, make sure to cook the quinoa in water not broth.

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked and cooled quinoa (see note above)
1/3 cup milk
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

For the cake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two cupcakes pans with cupcake liners. 

Combine the milk, eggs and vanilla in a blender or food processor. Process just until combined. Add the cooked quinoa and the butter. Blend well until smooth.

In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. 
Add the contents from the blender and mix with a wooden spoon or whisk until combined.

Using a cupcake scoop fill the cupcake liners 2/3 of the way full and bake on a rack in the middle position for 26 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the cupcake pans from the oven and cool for 10 minutes. Place cupcakes onto cooling racks and cool completely.

This is how the cupcakes will look when they are cooled, so don't worry when yours look like this. 

Salted Caramel Buttercream:

Ingredients: 

1 cup salted butter at room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup caramel sauce (I used hershey's, but you can make your own)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions: 

In the bowl of an electric mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy (3-4 minutes). Add powdered sugar and blend on low speed until mixture comes together. Then, add vanilla and caramel sauce and whip on medium high speed until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). 

The finished product. Yum!