Chocolate Chianti Cake

I hope everyone had a  wonderful Holiday season! My waistline and I both thoroughly enjoyed our time with family and friends, eating away the days with delicious treats.  Alas, we all have to return to the real world eventually.  As I try to get back into the swing of things, I find myself preparing for the year ahead.  This year, this involves getting ready for a beautiful wedding between two amazing people who I went to high school with.  Unfortunately, their taste buds haven't had the pleasure of tasting any of my confections yet so I'm holding a little cake tasting for them.  This is fun, not only for them, but also for me because I get to make a couple different kinds of cake and frostings and fillings!  I hope they can find a combination that they love!

One of the combinations I made for them is this Chocolate Chianti Cake.  Have you ever had chianti?  It's a red wine, that has fruity notes to it and pairs really well with chocolate.  I first made this cake when I created a wedding cake for two back in high school.  This recipe is adapted from the wonderful Sprinkle Bakes blog which I love and read regularly.  She made cupcakes but it works just as well in a cake form.  And what can be more romantic at a wedding than a fruity chocolate wine cake?  I hope they like it! Apparently my family also enjoyed eating the extras.

Apple Pie Overnight Oats

As I progress through my education in the culinary industry, I am learning more and more about the problems that affect our food.  It's crazy to me how little we know about our food and where it comes from, not to mention what is actually in it.  Many people are adapting the "Clean Eating" principle to their eating habits.  If you're curious about what exactly clean eating entails, check out this great article at The Gracious Pantry.  

Personally, I'm getting there slowly.  It's hard on my budget to completely change the way I eat all at once.  Plus, there's lots of information out there so I need to do some more research on the products that are considered "healthy."  As I continue learning more about nutrition and diets, I can ponder the perils of our food supply as I fill my belly with a great easy and tasty breakfast dish.  It's super easy especially when you'd rather sleep in than make a good balanced breakfast.  I got the idea for this recipe from Lauren Conrad but I adapted it to celebrate the beautiful fall weather we've been enjoying.

Apple Pie Overnight Oats
makes one serving

1/2 cup old-fashioned or steel cut oats
1/2 cup greek yogurt (I used Fage)
1/2 cup almond milk (I used Silk light)
1 small organic apple, diced
1 teaspoon apple pie spices (I had a spice mix but it included cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice)
1 teaspoon honey

I usually make this in a pint mason jar because it's reusable and you don't get those pesky chemicals that leach out of some plastic products.  I start by measuring out the oats, greek yogurt, and almond milk.  I mix all of that together and then add the spices and honey.  Make sure you taste it at this point to make sure the flavor balance is good.  Then I add in the apples.
You can easily adapt this recipe to fit your mood.  I really like having whole fruit in mine just to add a different texture component but you can easily use a puree or omit it all together.  You do have to make sure that you make this the night before so that the oats can absorb all of the liquids to make a thickness similar to hot oats.  I like mine a little thicker, but you can play with the amount of almond milk to adjust the thickness.  Also, you can definitely use regular milk or even soy milk, whatever your heart desires!

Nutritional Facts

414 calories
67 grams carbs
4 grams fat
30 grams protein
36 grams sugar

Happy Breakfasting!

Grapefruit Cupcakes

Grapefruits are one of those items that you have such big ideas for in the grocery store, but once you get them home, they sit in your crisper for a week or two before you remember that you were going to eat a half everyday.  There are many health benefits to grapefruits that many people aren't aware of.  It contains lots of Vitamin C which helps support your immune system.  In addition to Vitamin C, it also contains Vitamins A, K, and E as well as thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, Vitamin B6, and folate.  If you are on any medication however, talk to your doctor to make sure that grapefruit won't affect your medicine, as it can interfere with many prescribed medications.  Packed with healthful nutrients and full of fiber which helps you feel full and satisfied?  I'm definitely going to dig mine out of my crisper drawer.

If you're purchasing grapefruits that are grown in Texas or Florida, they are in season from October to June, which means they're in their peak!!  And with the weather we've been having in Grand Rapids recently, what could be better than grapefruit cupcakes??  I found this delicious recipe in the May issue of the Food Network Magazine. The garnish on my cupcakes can be found in step by step instructions in the magazine.  I tweaked the recipe (as I always do) because I don't have elderflower liqueur on hand, and I'm not quite sure where to find it as of yet.  However, I think they came out great!

Grapefruit Cupcakes (Recipe courtesy of the May 2014 Issue of Food Network Magazine)
Makes about 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon grapefruit zest
1/2 cup milk

Process

1.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Beat the butter and sugar together in a mixer.  Use speed 2, or medium speed and beat for 5 minutes.  This step is super important because this is where you get some of your height.  The butter mixture should look white when done.  Beat in eggs one at a time.

2.  Beat in vanilla and grapefruit zest.  Add the baking powder, salt, and 1/2 cup of the flour to the butter mixture.  Add 1/4 cup of the milk.  Add another 1/2 cup of flour followed by the rest of the milk. Finish with the remaining 1/2 cup flour and mix until just combined.  Take care to not over mix this batter as it will result in cupcakes with tunneling, which is an unattractive crumb on the inside.

3.  Divide into lined cupcake tins and fill 2/3 of the way full.  Mine baked for exactly 17 minutes and were perfectly done without being too golden brown.

Grapefruit Buttercream
Frosts about 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

1 stick unsalted butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
2 drops red food coloring, water-based
1 tablespoon grafruit zest
2 tablespoons milk

Process

1.  Begin by beating the butter until fluffy.  If your butter is too melty, it won't fluff as much as you want.  Make sure you leave your butter out about 2 hours before, but no longer.

2.  Add the rest of the ingredients as well as about a tablespoon of grapefruit juice.  Beat well until light and fluffy.  Spread on top of cupcakes.

Enjoy!

Rustic Quinoa and Bulgar Salad for World Health Day!

 Today is World Health Day!  Today we celebrate all the wonderfully yummy and healthy foods found around the globe.  Today was established as World Health Day in honor of the founding of the World Health Organization and to recognize all of the wonderful things they do.  In recognition of today, I'm posting this delicious recipe for rustic quinoa salad.

 I have never actually made quinoa before…. so this was quite the adventure!  I think for my first try, I did pretty well, I mean it is edible after all.  If you too have never made quinoa, theres plenty of literature out there on the super grain.  Just visit Pinterest or search quinoa online.  If you have never heard of quinoa, then you must have a terrible headache from living under a rock for the past couple years.  I've heard of it but I have very little knowledge about what actually makes quinoa so good for you.  Without getting into the specifics, quinoa if chock-full of nutrients! In fact it is so nutrient dense that it is considered a complete protein (yay for vegetarians!).  There are so many different ways to utilize quinoa such as cold (like this salad), hot (served like rice or pasta), or even ground into a flour and used in baking.

 I call this rustic quinoa because I just took a few things that I had in my kitchen along with some of my favorite things and threw them together.  It turned out that it all goes really well together!  I picked up a package of bulgar and quinoa mix that I found at Meijer in the health foods section.  It's made by Meijer Naturals if your looking for the same thing.

 First thing is to prepare the quinoa and bulgar.  Begin by measuring 1 cup quinoa/bulgar and 2 cups of water.  Lightly salt the water and bring to a boil.

Once it is rapidly boiling, reduce to a simmer a cover, cooking for about 10 minutes.  You'll know its done when all of the water has been absorbed.

This salad is good both warm and cold so you can let cool if desired.  Toss with spinach, pecan pieces, chopped, fresh basil, dried cranberries, and diced tomatoes.  I finished it off with a drizzle of strawberry balsamic vinegar from the wonderful Old World Olive Co located in the Downtown Market on Ionia Street, Grand Rapids.  I enjoyed it as a main dish, but it can easily be served as a side dish plated with a nice apple braised pork chop.

Enjoy!!