Sesame Street Cupcakes

Elmo...coOkie mOnsteR... and Oscar the Grouch

Use your favorite gluten free cupcake recipe or ready made cupcakes. 

For the icing:

1/2 stick butter

2 egg whites

1 bag (16 oz) powdered sugar

Milk

3 cups shredded coconut. 

Food colors red, blue, green, yellow, and black

In a medium bowl, beat egg whites until fluffy and add 2 tbsp powdered sugar. In a large bowl, beat butter until light in color and creamy. Pour in powdered sugar. Once butter and sugar are combined, add fluffed egg using a spatula. Add milk if desired to soften the icing- but be very careful adding the milk, if there's too much, the icing will run and drip. 

Divide the icing into 3 bowls, and set aside 1/2 cup white icing for the characters' eyes and 1/8 cup to dye orange for Elmo's nose. 

Dye one bowl red, one bowl blue, and one bowl gary-green. Ice 1/3 of the cupcakes in each color. 

Divide the coconut into three bowls, and dye each bowl the same colors as the icing. Dip the iced cupcakes into the dyed coconut shreds.

To make eyes, pipe out dots of white icing on a cutting board and freeze for at least 10 minutes. Remove with a spatula and place on the characters. Dye the remaining icing black. Pipe out dots for the eyes. 

Dye 1/8 cup icing orange for elmo's nose and pipe out. 

For Cookie monster's mouth, cut a wedge out of the cupcakes and fill with halves of cookies.

For Elmo's mouth pipe a smile.

For Oscar's mouth, cut a wedge out of the cupcakes and fill with red icing for the tongue and black icing for the rest of the mouth. 

Enjoy!

Swedish Strawberry Tårta

This fresh strawberry cake is a Swedish Midsummer must have! Jordgubbstårta tastes light yet savory and will be gone in a flash.
The inside is a "sockerkaka" or sugar cake, similar to yellow cake.
It's cut into three layers. Between the layers there's pastry cream, strawberry jam and mashed bananas. Top the cake with whipped cream and decorate with strawberries.

Use my Wonderful Cake Recipe, for a gluten free "sockerkaka"

Pastry Cream from http://svenska.yle.fi/matochfritid/matartikel.php?id=729

3 egg yolks

½ cup sugar

2 dl cream

2 cup milk

1 tbsp corn flour

1 vanilla pod

Michael Björklund's recipe for authentic custard that is perfect for Jenny's apple pie. 

1st Mix the egg yolks in a saucepan with sugar, cream, milk, corn flour and cut open a vanilla pod. 

2nd Simmer mixture gently until it receives a good texture. 

3rd Strain the sauce and serve it warm or cold.

Red, White & Blue USA Cupcakes

Use any cupcake recipe and ice stripes and stars onto cupcakes! Happy Birthday USA

"Pastrami Roses with Avocado Petals" Salad

This salad takes just a minute to make... and less than a minute to devour

For the salad:

• 1 Pastrami slice
• 1/2 avocado
• Feta cheese
• Bell pepper
• Spinach

For the dressing:

• Balsamic Vinegar
• Olive Oil
• Honey
• Mustard

Start with spinach as the bottom layer of your plate. Add bell pepper and feta cheese. Pour on a dressing (recipe follows). Slice the avocado into six slivers and place as petals. Roll a pastrami slice into the shape of a rose as the topping. 

Mix the ingredients for dressing and pour over the salad prior to adding the avocado petals and pastrami rose. 

Toasted Meringue Coconut Cupcakes

Up for a light and (nearly) healthy cupcake? I baked these delectable little cupcakes by altering a recipe from Elana's Pantry- http://www.elanaspantry.com/vanilla-cupcakes-with-chocolate-frosting/ and combining it with Martha Stewarts 7 minute frosting- http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/best-seven-minute-frosting
You're gonna love these!

The Cupcake
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 eggs
1 stick butter
1/3 cup honer
1 tsp almond extract


Preheat oven to 350. Combine dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Mix in eggs and almond extract, adding the eggs one at a time. Throw in the mixed dry ingredients. 
Pour into cupcake tins and bake 15-17 minutes. Enjoy these as muffins or whip up the frosting! 


The Frosting
1 cup sugar
1 tsp corn syrup
1/2 cup water
4 egg whites


"Put 1 cup sugar, the corn syrup, and 1/2 cup water into a small heavy saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture just begins to simmer and sugar has dissolved, about 6 minutes. Wash down sides with a wet pastry brush to prevent crystals from forming. Raise heat to medium-high. Cook, without stirring, until a candy thermometer reaches 235 degrees.
Meanwhile, put egg whites into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining tablespoon sugar, and beat until peaks are fluffy but still soft. Slowly pour in hot sugar syrup down side of bowl. Raise speed to high, and beat until mixture has cooled and stiff peaks form, about 7 minutes. Use immediately."


Pipe frosting onto the cupcakes. Use a culinary torch or the broiler on your oven to toast the tops of your cupcakes. Enjoy!

Granny's Apple Crisp with Vanilla Sauce

My first truely pure recipe- no added sugar, no added fat, just added deliciousness! Cinnamon, apple cider vinegar, and lemon juice are all great dietary supplements. Mix that with apples and nuts to get the healthiest snack around!

Apple Crisp

4 Granny Smith apples

1 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar

1 tsp Cinnamon

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups sliced almonds, chopped pecans, or a mix of the two

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Peel and slice apples into thin pieces. In a large bowl, mix apple cider vinegar, cinnamon, lemon juice, and salt. Combine with apples until apples are evenly coated. Pour into a pie or casserole dish. Top with almonds and/or pecans and sprinkle on some extra cinnamon. Bake 45-50 minutes at 400 degrees.

Vanilla Sauce

1 cup milk (can be substituted for coconut, almond, soy milk, etc)

1 tbsp vanilla

1-2 tbsp cornstarch

Bring milk and vanilla to a boil in a small saucepan. Slowly whisk in a bit of cornstarch at a time until it reaches your preferred thickness.

Pour vanilla sauce over apple crisp when done and ENJOY!

Soul Soup

What do you get when you mix one Camilla plus the few things she had left in the fridge? Oh right... soul soup: A hearty, comforting stew that works as either a side dish or the main meal. Not exactly what I'd had in mind to beat the heat on an 80 degree day, but I pretended it's winter and ate away!

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef or buffalo

1 onion finely chopped

1 bell pepper diced

8 cups chicken broth

2 cubes vegetable buillon

1 cup marinara or tomato sauce

5 tomatoes, quartered

2 tbsp garlic

Curry powder

Cumin

Oregano

Salt

Pepper

Any array of comforting spices you feel fit to throw in

Pour chicken broth and tomato sauce into a large pot. Heat on medium. Once boiling, add in tomatoes, garlic, curry, cumin, oregano, salt, and pepper. In a large frying pan on medium heat, fry ground beef or buffalo in small pieces until completely well done. Add into soup mix. Fry onion and bell pepper in the same pan about 5 minutes on low to medium heat and add to the soup. Stir until everything's well combined. If more taste is desired, add more curry and cumin, or some hot sauce to spice it up! Enjoy!

Aubergine Parmigiana

I attempted to grill eggplant the other day, and seeing as fire's not my best friend, I almost burned down the house. Sooo... I chose oven-baked eggplant for this dish and it turned out gorgeous and delicious, almost like a gluten-free lasagna!

Ingredients

2 Eggplants, thinly sliced

2 Chicken breasts

1 can tomato sauce (homemade or store bought)

2 tbsp garlic

Italian seasoning

Olive Oil

1 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Rub chicken with 4 or 5 tbsp italian seasoning, 1 tbsp garlic, salt, pepper, and 1 tbsp olive oil. Place chicken on a stone pan and set aside.

In a deep bowl mix 1/2 cup olive oil, salt and 1 tbsp garlic. Lay eggplant slices in olive oil mixture for 10 seconds and place eggplant on a pan. Do not lay eggplants over each other, lay them side to side. Put eggplant and chicken in a 425 degree oven for 15 minutes or until ready.

Check that the chicken isn't pink, and that the eggplant is slightly crisp on the outside, but juicy in the middle. Once both are done, slice the chicken into thin slices and toss in a bowl with the eggplant, tomato sauce, and 1/2 cup parmesan. Incorporate the ingredients and transfer to a serving dish. Sprinkle the top with parmesan, and put back in the oven 5-10 minutes.

Enjoy!

Garlic Feta Dip

This dip might make your breath smell bad, but who cares when it tastes this good? Perfect for parties, or self-indulgence :) It works great on crackers (I love Ener-G gluten-free, dairy-free crackers) or veggies... I've even used it on pizza instead of tomato sauce, yum!

Ingredients

4 oz cream cheese

8 oz feta cheese

2 tbsp olive oil

3-5 cloves garlic

Dash of oregano, basil and salt

Step 1: Microwave or heat feta and cream cheeses. Mix until completely combined, add in other ingredients, refrigerate and...

Step 2: Ta-da! Enjoy :)

Watermelon Sorbet

Looking for the perfect summer treat minus the ice cream truck jingle and hundreds of calories? This recipe is simple and simply delicious! A light summer treat...

Watermelon Sorbet:

1 Watermelon cut into squares

1 cup lemon juice (About 4 lemons if made fresh)

1/2 cup agave nectar, honey, or syrup (optional)

1 tbsp xanthan gum

4-5 tbsp water

Step 1. In a small bowl, mix xanthan gum and water. Microwave or heat about 15 seconds and mix well to form a thick gummy paste.

Step 2. Combine paste with the watermelon, lemon and optional sweetener and mix until well blended and light pink in color.

Step 3. Stick blender in freezer for 2-3 hours, remove from freezer, and blend again. Repeat step 3 once or twice. This is so that the sorbet will freeze evenly. Switch to a glass container and freeze.

Step 4. Ready to serve after freezing about 12 hours... or save it for later!

Enjoy!