Gluten-Free Squash Cupcakes
Derek and I had lunch last week with a friend of ours who has a gluten allergy, so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to try my first gluten-free recipe! These were actually quite good, but they are absolutely not made healthier!
And that picture is just the frosting ingredients!
These are squash cupcakes for a very simple reason: I thought I grabbed pumpkin. Often times I'll replace eggs and oil with pumpkin in recipes, which was my intention with these, but I realized when I got home from the store that I had grabbed squash instead of pumpkin. The mix up really didn't make much of a difference, and they still tasted great and were soooo moist :)
The spices in this recipe make a huge difference because, in my opinion, the gluten free flour has a strange taste when used as is. This can easily be overpowered by adding interesting flavors and spices.
The frosting tasted great, but when I make these again, I may nix the buttermilk- it added a cream-cheesey taste, but it made the texture too soupy. Play with it- I am going to. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
Cake:
1 22 oz bag gluten free cake mix
1 cup canned squash
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup water
Spices! I recommend a heaping tablespoonful of cinnamon and dashes of ginger, nutmeg, and allspice
Frosting:
1 1/2 cups butter softened (not melted)
1 cup brown sugar
1 tbs vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup powdered sugar
A note on the frosting: These amounts are good for starting, but as you mix the frosting, you should taste it and adjust the ingredients to your taste and consistency preference. You may need to add more sugar or buttermilk depending on how it turns out.
Cake Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease or line 12 cupcake tins.
Mix squash and cake mix. Add oil, water, and spices. Mix until completely combined. Fill cupcake tins with the entire mixture. Cook in preheated oven for 20-22 minutes.
Frosting Directions:
In a stand mixer or with an electric mixture, cream butter and brown sugar. Add vanilla and buttermilk. Gradually add powdered sugar as needed for consistency and taste. Store frosting in refrigerator until you are ready to frost the cupcakes.
When the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost with frosting. My frosting was just a bit too soupy to frost directly on top, so I cut a well in the top of the cupcake and filled it with frosting. Then I place the piece I had cut out on top- it made for a cute look.
Chocolate Raspberry Pie
Typically, dessert for me means chocolate. Of course, I do love a good fruit pie, so I figured I would have the best of both worlds and throw some chocolate in my fruit pie. This was a definite winner! The crust is home-made, but the filling is kind of a cheat; nevertheless, the taste is delightful.
I used a recipe I found online for the crust. It was delicious and easy to make from things I already had in the house. It's called French Pastry Pie Crust and you can find it here: allrecipes pie crust.
I separated the dough, spread half of it in a pie pan, and set the other half aside. I filled the crust in the pan with canned raspberries and, get this, milk chocolate hershey kisses!
I put them in upside down (except for that one straggler who fell in right-side-up. Oops!). Looks kind of weird, but tasted awesome. I put the top on, pressed the edges together, cleaned them up, finished by pressing the edges with a fork, and baked on 425 degrees until the edges and top was golden and firm (at lease 20-25 minutes, but it will depend on your oven). Before serving, I allowed the pie to cool for about an hour.
I also put some brown sugar on the top before baking. Take it or leave it. Enjoy!
Lazy Man's Eggplant Parmesan Lasagna
Derek and I finished the leftovers yesterday, but this is a great meal to reheat- cook it Monday and have it for the week! If it were not for all the cheese, this would be a fairly healthy meal, so if you are looking for health, improvise on the cheese.
You will need:
an eggplant
a zucchini
flour for frying the eggplant (I used whole wheat*)
a few eggs for frying
oil
two cans of crushed peeled tomatoes
1 box rotini (again, I use whole wheat*)
1 small tub of ricotta cheese
1 package of shredded italian cheese
1 head of garlic
1 onion
spices
The first thing you want to tackle in this meal is probably your sauce. I made a quick sauce for this, but it was delicious. (Typically, if I am having spaghetti and meatballs or chicken parmesan or something, I'll cook my sauce all day). For the sauce, I typically chop up the garlic and onion and sauté it in the sauce pan with some olive oil for a little while, but for this meal, I sautéed the onion and full cloves of garlic separately, and added it into the sauce later, slightly undercooked (this is great if you really like garlic). If you do not like big chunks of garlic or a very potent taste, I recommend the first method mentioned.
For the sauce, I used two cans of crushed peeled tomatoes and just about a half a can of water. Let that boil, add whatever spices you prefer ( I recommend at least heavy doses of oregano, basil, parsley, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, and wine, of course! Though I usually add a few more spices depending on my mood). Everyone makes sauce differently, and, at least for Italians (don't let our last name fool you, we are Italian!) no sauce will ever be as good as mom's. Just experiment until you find the mixture of spices you and your family like best. The sauce can sit on low heat while you prepare the rest of the meal- just be sure to stir occasionally.
Onto the vegetables!
This was my first attempt at frying eggplant. I love eating it, so I figured I should learn how to make it for myself! I found that chopping it into small chunks was best for this meal. I cut the eggplant the short way so I had circles, and then I cut those into 6ths or 8ths, depending on the size of the circle. I cut the zucchini the same way.
I cooked the eggplant and the zucchini differently for a variety in the meal, and also so that the dish was not full of fried food. I put the zucchini on a stone baking dish with olive oil, salt, and pepper. I cooked it for about 10-15 minutes at around 375 degrees- just to get it tender and seasoned. You can leave the oven on because you will put the whole meal in the oven at the end.
While the zucchini cooked, I put a frying pan of vegetable oil on medium heat (be careful not to let the oil get too hot- burnt oil can really smoke up a small apartment!). Dip the eggplant chunks first in flour and then in egg (seems like it should be the other way around, right? Trust me, this works!) and then place them in the heated oil.
You'll want to keep an eye on these as they cook. Use tongs to move them around a little during cooking. The frying should really only take a couple of minutes, maybe. Keep in mind that you will be baking a little bit, too, so these will get a bit more cooking time, though not a lot. When they are done, use your tongs to place them on a plate with a paper towel that the oil can drain onto.
When the eggplant and zucchini are done, you can just set them aside in the baking pan. I used a 9x13 pan, but a smaller and deeper one would have worked nicely as well.
Finally, cook your pasta in boiling water, as usual. I used whole wheat rotini. It holds the ingredients together well in the dish.
When the pasta is done, you are ready to assemble the meal.
Add the pasta and the sauce to the eggplant and zucchini in the baking pan and mix well.
Add the ricotta cheese, spread the mixture evenly across the pan, and cover the top of the mixture with the shredded italian cheese.
Place in the heated oven and bake until the cheese is melted. Take the meal out of the oven and enjoy (preferably with a glass of red wine)!
*I choose to use whole wheat products whenever I can, even if I am making something purely indulgent. Enriched flour products have basically no nutritional value, so they are empty. I like the taste of whole wheat, in fact, I find it heartier, plus it has nutritional value. Seems like an obvious choice to me. I always go with 100% whole wheat.
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