CUPCAKES!

I decided today was the perfect day to do some baking. I've been itching to use my kitchen aid mixer again and cupcakes sounded like a good excuse to use it, that an as an overdue birthday present to fiance.

The last time I baked cupcakes, I wasn't all that impressed with our cake recipe so I decided to give a new one a try, one from my Better Homes and Gardens baking book. I found a recipe for devils food cake that sounded like it may work.
I could post the recipe, but the way more exciting part is how they turned out, so here they are:

Pictures of my yummy cupcakes:

Coffee Flavored frosting, coffee bean garnish on chocolate cupcakes

Chocolate cupcakes with either chocolate frosting or neon pink vanilla frosting, or some combination of them. Some garnished with fresh raspberries.

I've never tried making my own coffee flavored frosting. I just happened to have part of a cup of cold coffee on hand that needed to be put to use. I added it to some of my frosting and then added powdered sugar to get it back to the proper consistency. I chilled a test cupcake and then tried it. YUM! I think it's my new favorite cupcake. Too bad I'm the only one who'd eat them! For that reason, I only frosted 4 of them with the coffee frosting and will be taking 2 to work tomorrow.

On the neon pink cupcakes and the bedazzled ones, I used a plastic tip and my ghetto version of a pastry bag (ziploc bag, hole cut in the corner, plastic tip through hole) to achieve the fancier looking frosting.

YUMMY!

My morning feast

Every so often I work a 8.5 hour day at the coffee shop. We do not have a microwave so my food options involve either sandwhiches, food from the coffee shop (which is good, but gets a little old) or snack type food. I'm no good at packing a lunch for these days. Luckily my coffee shop shares strip mall space with Trader Joes.

When I'm faced with my 1/2 hour break, I tend to wander over there to the produce section and pick up some nourishment. Prior feast included: whole wheat bread, gourmet chicken salad with currants and almonds, chili lime cashews and an organic banana (single handedly one of the BEST bananas I swear I've ever eaten). Today, given my greek food cravings, my feast was:

• Mini Pita bread circles (not chips, actual pita bread)
• Hummus
• Organic Strawberries (OMG so sweet and flavorful, not as pretty as the non-organic ones, but taste was so much better!)
• 2 organic bananas. 

From this post, one could infer that I'm an organic foodie/snob. But I'm actually not. I usually can't justify the extra cost. I wish I could afford/justify to go organic though because when I do, it usually tastes so much better! There is one area where I feel going organic is just a waste of money: Processed foods. Do you really need those Froot Loops in organic form? My guess is probably not.....

I will say that my feast (4 mini pitas, about 2 Tbsp hummus, 5 strawberries and 2 bananas) left me satiated for the whole day... well until now. Now I'm HUNGRY. So it's time to make some dinner....

Upcoming kitchen adventures

Homemade Pita bread
Homemade Tzatziki sauce
Homemade Hummus

In turn, I plan on making my own souvlaki chicken again only doing it on skewers on the grill with red pepper.
Hopefully this attempt will get dear fiance into Greek food.. or I'll have a very special treat for myself....

What's for dinner? Greek Lemon chicken breasts

I'm a little late in making dinner tonight so I don't get to marinade these as long as I should but I found a recipe for Greek chicken souvlaki and I swiped the marinade recipe for my chicken breasts.

I added 1/2 cup of white wine to the marinade and a pinch of dried rosemary and marinaded it for 15 minutes. Baked in 400 degree convection oven for 30 minutes.

Recipe:

• 1 c. lemon juice
• 1/2 c. white wine
• 1/2 c. olive oil
• 1/3 sweet onion, diced
• 1T diced garlic -- I like garlic
• 1 tsp salt
• pinch of pepper
• a smattering of dried oregano
• a pinch of rosemary.
• 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts

I put the chicken breasts in a small baking dish and added the marinade to just below covering the chicken and put in the oven for 30 minutes. In the last 10 minutes, I threw in a 2 minute broiling session and finished off baking at 400 degrees.

I paired this with the very uninspiring: Knorr rice sides: Chicken and Broccoli. :-/  I really need to go grocery shopping so I have options!

Results:
Very tangy! The lemon-wine combination was a bit overwhelming/strong at first bite, but after that, I really enjoyed this dish. It seemed to get fiance approval. I'm almost glad I didn't marinade it too much longer than the 15 minutes I did.

I would love to try this skewered with peppers on the grill with some homemade tzatziki (sp?) sauce and pita bread. MMMM... greek food.

I will still continue my search for great chicken souvlaki recipes....