CEiMB - Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Lemony Cream Cheese Frosting

If someone would have told me ten years ago that I would be up at 11:30pm baking carrot cupcakes with wheat flour just to take pictures of them and blog them for a group called CEiMB, I would have thought they were crazy. However, it seems that is exactly what I was doing. Any other week I would have been a SLACKER. Okay it seems that is most weeks lately but this week was my pick so tornados and lack of electricity be darned, I have cupcakes to make. And since the electricity finally came back on after not having any since 3:45 AM, I was gonna be baking even though I would have rather been sleeping.

On to the cupcakes which were my pick! I love carrot cake and was excited to see it turn just a bit to the healthier side and of course Ellie came through with another recipe I enjoyed. Of course, I was the only one who stayed up to sample them, but that just meant more for me.

Look at what a great job I did measuring them out. Did I mention, I didn't have electricity at work today and spent the day taking claims for grumpy customers in a hot office? Please forgive give my CEiMB. I really am a horrible host, but I promise I had planned to make some stunning carrot cupcakes with mouthwater pictures.

Wait a minute, this might have worked to my advantage. I mean some of them are 230 calories but see that little one, it is way less than the big one, right? This means less than 230 calories which means I should have two of them. Okay that philosophy might not work....

Thanks for baking along with me and of course allowing me to stay on in the wonderful CEiMB group that I enjoy. Now go see what the other bakers did and then if you haven't yet, make this recipe. You won't be sorry. I mean cream cheese and carrot cake, YUM even at midnight after a sleepless night in a storm cellar with 15 people and five dogs.

Ingredients
3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup natural applesauce
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups finely shredded carrots (about 2 medium carrots)
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons finely chopped walnuts
4 ounces 1/3 fat cream cheese (recommended: Neufchatel)
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.
Sift together the first 6 ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk the oil, brown sugar and eggs until well combined. Whisk in the applesauce, vanilla and carrots. Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Stir in 1/4 cup of the chopped walnuts.
Divide the batter between the muffin cups. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
With an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and lemon zest until smooth and creamy. Frost the cooled cupcakes and sprinkle with the remaining 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts. The cupcakes should be stored in the refrigerator.

Oven Baked Onion Rings with Ellie!!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE onion rings. Onion rings, onion blossoms, onion straws. Doesn't matter what they are called, I love them.I went so far as to buy that onion blossom tool that was featured on an infomercial.

Like all those other GREAT things as seen on TV, it was an onion disaster. I could have saved money on the experience and went to Outback.

But, leave it to Ellie to come up with a wonderful recipe to feed my onion addiction without the need for the Fry Daddy.

There was only one flaw with the entire Baked Onion Ring experience.... they didn't last long enough for the picture. See my mom showed up as I was pulling my rings out of the oven. She promptly walked over to sample one. That is what my family does, they come to your house to show or tell you something around dinner time. Then they eat your food. In this case, I knew I had a problem after she was pleased with the first onion ring she ate. If I left the room for the camera, I left the onion rings. Mark and I looked at each other, nodded and shoveled the rest of the onion rings on our plate. Picture be darned. Mom looked a little miffed but seriously, onion rings are not meant for sharing.

Well, I felt a little bad so all those onion scraps that Ellie tells you to leave for something else, I made more onion rings. We ate those too. Well all but two of them. I knew I didn't need them since I ate way more than one portion so I asked my mom if she wanted them. She said that she ate before she came. Imagine that! So I put the last two rings in the trash. Mom looked horrified by my action and dug them out of the trash. She said they were on top of some plastic. I was too scared to look.

I will make more Oven Baked Onion Rings tonight for pictures. Well provided no one else shows up to eat them.

Go see Mary Ann's Blog Mare's Food and Fun to view her wonderful pictures and pick up the recipe.

Aromatic Noodles with Lime Peanut Sauce

Aromatic Noodles with Lime Peanut Sauce? Yes I believe I will. After all this time, I will have to come for the Aromatic Noodles with Lime Peanut Sauce. Not sure what that says about my food choice. Actually I have made a few of the recipes and I will try to go back and post them. I really remember the Breakfast Cookies being delicious. An unexpected healthy type of delicious.

But anyway, the Ellie recipe for this week was from Supplicious and it was wonderful. I was able to throw this recipe together in under 20 minutes and enjoy every bite of my effort. On my way out the door to take our disobedient, quite dopey canine, I mean Lab, to dog training class.

This recipe was quite tasty both before class with Mallie when I had it hot and after class with Mallie when I photographed it cold. No wonder it has such rave reviews on the Food Network!

However, I do have to disclose - Do Not... skimp on the lime. I forgot to add the lime in mix on accident and when I sampled the sauce and was so disappointed. After rechecking ingredients, I realized my mistake. The lime completes the sauce. Just take my word for it. And do also take my word that it is a perfect meal to eat before and after dog training class. As you can eat two servings of this and not feel too guilty. At least I didn't.

As for dog training class. It just wasn't as successful. I felt Mallie tied with Marley in the World's Worst Dog. Seems class unleashed the beast in my adorable, slightly dopey, completely unobedient, never aggressive, socialite Mallie. Now all of Mallie's 80 pounds are completely submissive to our heavy weight six pound, Dixie. Mallie is frequently bitten on the nose and abused during rough play instigated by Dixie. Mallie is usually the self appointed babysitter to my fifteen-month old niece and only wags her tail when Maddie pulls her tail or grabs her ears. Mallie adores my children. But put in her a class of seven other dogs that are interacting together and she freaks. Not when the other dogs are sitting and calm but when the other dogs interact together. Oh My Goodness. Katy bar the door! Mallie was kicked out of class and is allowed in another class with two other dogs. Folks that's bad. Now mind you I was only trying to teach her to come back when called. That's it. She was wonderful in every other way. Okay that's a parent's point of view. But... it seems she has more to learn that I anticipated. Out of seven dogs there, five were Labs. Is that saying something?

Tuesdays with Dorie Cinnamon Squares

I baked and I took pictures for Tuesdays with Dorie this week... It feels so good to be back baking again. My family is ever so happy to have me baking again too. This week's recipe was Cinnamon Squares. What an easy recipe to come back to baking. Easy and delicious. The recipe was chosen by Tracey from Tracey's Culinary Adventures. Wonderful pick. You must go get the recipe.

I followed the recipe with the exception of the pan. My metal pan has disappeared. So I had to use a retro corning ware pan that was a little larger than called for. So the squares were a little shorter but still a delight.

I also used chocolate chips because I didn't have minis and milk chocolate because I don't do bittersweet. So my beautiful swirl featured in most cakes was nonexistent.


But nothing is going to get in the way of the fact that I baked and so enjoyed it.





Now go get the recipe!

I ♥ Faces Week 19 - Blurb Photo Book Contest Entries

Because I need to be about more than food and I ♥ faces, I have decided to move along from being a total foodie and add a little bit of photography. I clearly have taken way more pictures of food this year than my family. So here's an attempt to add a little family in with the food!



This week's contest over at I ♥ Faces is to enter your favorite photo. I don't know that I have a favorite photo. I love all the imperfect pictures of my family that I have collected. So here is one of my favorite pictures that I have taken of my youngest daughter. It defines her sandy face and all and I believe that is what I love about it. It was also one of the first pictures I took when I got my DSLR back when I took pictures all the time. I gotta start doing that again.


Thanks for looking and join in the fun at I ♥ Faces

I am submitting this photo into the www.iheartfaces.com Blurb Book photo contest. I am granting I ♥ Faces permission to use my photo in a printed version of a book for commercial use and possibly advertising of a photo book on both the Blurb and I ♥ Faces web sites.

Tuesdays with Dorie

So I make up my mind to continue with Tuesdays with Dorie even though it wreaks havoc with any dieting attempts and I am just plain weak when it comes to desserts. I was so excited this week to get back to baking just to.... BAKE the WRONG recipe. Just so you know the recipe for next week is AWESOME. I ate way to many of them. I will tell you about them next week. Until then, enjoy looking at every one's mango bread. It really looks good not that I would know because I baked the WRONG recipe.

Late, Late, Late CEIMB - Jerk Chicken with Pineapple Salsa

PLEASE don't count me out yet. I am sorry that I have missed the past two postings. I have struggled with balance over the weeks wondering where this blog thing fits in with busted water pipes that means no water for a few days, a trip to CT and NYC to visit friends that were laid off from their job where I worked for over eight years, daughter's dance competition with twice as many practices, two finals, end of the school year field trips, trying to maintain a 70 pound weight loss, dogs escaping the pen, and I am sure there are many other things that have happened over the span of time, but I don't even want to remember them. The funny thing is I made some of the recipes, just couldn't find the time to blog them.

But, I apologize that I have missed posting while other members of the group have faithfully posted. Thank you for keeping the group going. I will try to remake meatballs and get to the risotto. I have to say upfront that I might have to slow down on some of the postings. It seems it is harder now to balance family, work, school, cooking, exercise and posting. Just not enough hours in the day. However, I love that this group helps me to cook healthy recipes and keeps me from offering hamburgers and veggie burgers yet again.

So off to Jerk Chicken. I love anything Jerk! I think I even liked that movie, it's been awhile on that one. Well, I hate dealing with a jerk, but more specifically, I love jerk seasoning. So I was excited to make this recipe, but wondered where the cucumbers fit in.

However, I thought everything fit together wonderfully. I actually loved the salsa minus the mint. I turned my back on the chicken when I put in the sauce. It got a little brown from the soy but was still really good.

Definitely a recipe I will make again. Please go visit Jen from Notes from the Table to get the recipe. Also be sure to visit the members of the Craving Ellie In My Belly.