The Many Uses of a Coconut

Last week in my fruit and veggie co-op I ordered us a special treat, the tropical pack. It came with key limes, delicious mangoes, 2 vanilla beans, a sugar stick (piece of sugar cane ready for sucking), a coconut and more. I was so thrilled. I was so excited. I thought the vanilla beans were the crowning jewels in this box, but they still lay in waiting. What I have found the most interesting is the coconut. I often use coconut oil in baking, frying, sauteing, and for skincare. I also use coconut milk and shredded coconut in baking. I have even bought coconut water from the health food store as a refreshing cold drink. But I had no idea that all of those things can come from one coconut and there's even more you can do with it. I found this great website called Whole Lifestyle Nutrition that took me step by step by step by step through the coconut journey. I highly encourage you to buy one coconut and then go to the site and play around awhile. I have had so much fun!

Perfect Parfaits

So...I don't know how it goes in your house but around here finding something to snack on is kind of hard. No one likes to do it and no one can ever think of anything to eat that isn't blatantly obvious. So... we've been on the hunt to make snacking more yummy, fun, and interesting. May I present the first idea I found (thanks to the ever helpful Pinterest) ....the Parfait. Yes, many many people have thought about this before me, the golden arches sells them like crazy, but it was quite an epiphany for me yesterday when my son, Phoenix, tearfully begged for something new. Here's what I came up with.
Perfect Parfaits 
1 32oz container vanilla yogurt
1 8oz.package frozen berry blend
 granola, coconut, or favorite dry cereal
5 Kerr freezer jam cups with lid (In the canning section at the grocery store)
Spoon about 1/3c. yogurt into the cup. Add a layer of  frozen berries (We got a cherry, blueberry, blackberry, strawberry mix) I sliced the strawberries so I could spread the wealth. Top with more yogurt. Lid it.Fridge It When ready, remove the lid and sprinkle your favorite toppings.
 I just have to say how nice it is to see those parfaits waiting there in the fridge for me. My kids love them as a snack, but they are so creamy and sweet I usually have mine for dessert. 

Hello. Again.

Well, I've decided to try blogging again. I am excited to post some of the things I have been doing in the *cough cough* three years I've been away. I did get to the home made chicken nuggets from days long past and even took pictures but never posted them. I have plans to do that-if I can find the pics-I'm sorry Sabrina. I also tried my best to recreate frozen fries (my hubby loves a good french fry) I'd have to say I was pretty successful at that but it's been so long I am going to have to retest.  I've also been working on homemade pizza, pizza bowls, and parfaits to go (great for school lunches). Which I'd like to share recipes for.

Chicken Nuggets on Hold

So, off I went to scavenge recipes and to my surprise (not really) I got distracted. I don't think I even got as far as an online recipe website. I then realized I didn't have enough chicken for a project like this and have hence scratched it. (I will pick it up again after a good sale on chicken) I sadly broke down and bought Micky Mouse chicken nuggets and let my great family eat them with nothing but Kraft Mac n Cheese. Ahh, two good old standbys. So, here's what I'm going to do...I'm going to write up a menu for our family's meals for a month (crossing fingers) and choose something on the current menu that I can try. No promises though because it's canning season and I've been busily raising my electric bill one day at a time. (I've committed to bottling grape juice this week) After I write up the menu I'll post the item I'll be experimenting with. Then it will be fun for you because 1-you can see if I actually get to that writing up that menu this century and 2-you can see if I actually get to making something from scratch. We'll See :)

New Menu Item

So, I've recuperated from the pink cupcake drama and am finally ready to move on. I'm am now focusing my efforts on making chicken nuggets that my kids will eat (they're a bit picky) and that don't take too long to make from start to finish. I'm thinking if I can make a bunch of them I can then freeze them and pull them out a few at a time and reheat them...kinda like, well...frozen ones. I'm going to scavenge for recipes and see where it goes from there.

Pink Cucakes Numero Cinco. The finale.

Well, The birthday party has come and gone and the cupcakes (all 5 batches of them) have been devoured. I've come to the conclusion that the muffin method of mixing cake batter is not the best. It just creates too much gluten and makes your cupcakes the consistency of muffins, which in my opinion is not a good thing. Don't get me wrong...I love muffins but when going for a cupcake you're looking for dessert not breakfast. I did make one more batch before calling it a done deal. I used the same ingredients but added baking soda and prepared them using the muffin method. I was severely dissapointed, they were little pink muffins.
Conclusion...Batch #3 was my favorite by far. The cupcakes were light, airy, and moist. Like little clouds. If you'll recall those were also the flattest batch and they had that delicious crunchy ring around the edge. So, I learned that in this scenario I'm ok with a flat cupcake (I can pile it high with frosting) as long it is light and dessert-ish.
As far as frosting is concerned I decided to use two types. I glazed the bottoms of the cupcakes with strawberry glaze. To do this I flipped all of the cupcakes upside down then spooned the glaze on the bottoms. I then let them stand for about 20 min. Meanwhile I whipped up a delicious strawberry buttercream frosting and piped that on top.

I will now include the original recipe and the new recipe...

"My 2 egg treasure cake"               "Light & Airy Pink Cupcakes"
     Miriam McGarry                                    Andrea Bowers
       Adjusted to 5000 ft. altitude and to all purpose flour
2 cups less 2 T flour                           2 cups less 2 T flour
1 cup plus 3 T sugar                          1/2 cup plus 3 T sugar
2 3/4 tsp. baking powder                   2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs (unbeaten)                              2 T. buttermilk powder
1 tsp salt                                            1 tsp salt
1/2 c. shortening                               1/4 c softened butter
1 cup plus 2 T milk                           1/4 c canola oil                          
1 1/2 tsp vanilla                                 4 oz drinkable yogurt (strawberry flavor)
                                                          1/2 c water
                                                          1/2 c freezer jam (strawberry
                                                          3 egg whites (unbeaten)
                                                          3 drops of red food coloring

Instructions for both...
Preheat oven to 375. Put all ingredients in bowl except eggs. Mix until incorporated. Add eggs/egg whites one at a time until incorporated. Stop mixing as soon as last egg is incorporated. Pour into greased cake pan or muffin cups. Bake cake 25-35 min or until golden brown around the edges and cooked through. Bake cupcakes 21 min or until golden brown around the edges. Let cool in pan a few minutes before taking out and cooling on a rack. For best results use light colored pan.

Strawberry Glaze
4 c. powdered sugar
1/4 c freezer jam (strawberry)
1/4 c water
2 drops red food coloring

Instructions...
Combine all ingredients and spoon onto cupcakes.

Strawberrry Buttercream Frosting
1 stick of softened butter (whipped)
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 c freezer jam
1/4 c milk
5 c powdered sugar (approx)

Instructions...
OK, I'll admit it...I tried to measure but forgot halfway through. The way I usually make butter cream frosting is whip the butter a splash of vanilla a splash of milk and in this case freezer jam. I then slowly add the sugar until the frosting is the consistency I'm looking for. In this case I wanted semi stiff and creamy. You can be the judge.

Here are some pictures I found fascinating....

 

This is the drinkable yogurt I used but there are many varieties and flavors

This is the can of Buttermilk Powder I put in the cupcakes. It is found on the baking aisle. You could also use real buttermilk and replace the water and buttermilk powder.

  

This is one cupcake from all five batches. Oh the difference egg yolks make in color. Numbers three and four have no egg yolks. 

 

Here's a cross section of the insides.

 

 Here's what they looked like finished. Hooray!

Pink Cupcakes #4

So, I'm on batch 4 and thinking I'm in the home stretch until things didn't go according to plan. On the top is the batter without egg white (heavy batter) on the bottom is the batter with egg white (light batter)

I thought if I puffed up the egg whites and incorporated the whites into the heavy batter I'd lighten everything up and have a perfect cupcake.

Sad news, they weren't as good as when I just dumped everything in the bowl and turned on the machine. So, I'm going to research some new methods. They were still light and airy but not as much as before and they didn't seem to rise...hmmm. I'm baffled.

The cupcakes still taste great they're just so small. I didn't want to overfill the muffin cups because then the batter just kinda spills out (a least that's what happened with batch 3) so I filled them 2/3 full and was as accurate as possible. When they came out of the oven they weren't  even a teeny bit higher.

Conclusion...
More research on mixing methods.

New Developments... Butter Cream frosting is in the lead (If you include 3 votes not in the poll)