Green Tea Cupcakes with Green Tea Buttercream Frosting

 In my most recent menu I mentioned my plans to make these green tea cupcakes. I got around to it that evening, and they are quite tasty.

The cupcakes have almond extract in them, which I think stands out as a prominent flavor, and it goes nicely with the frosting where the green tea is more prominent. They definitely taste like green tea, but since they are cupcakes (and have plenty of sugar), you may like them even if you don't like green tea. 

This recipe calls for matcha powder, which is green tea that is ground to a powder. I've never prepared it as a drink before. So far I've only used it in mochi ice cream and these cupcakes. I also have a muffin recipe I'm planning to try. Maybe someday I'll try it as a drink, but for now I enjoy baking with it! After all, most things are good with butter and sugar if they are good alone, right?

Green Tea Cupcakes with Green Tea Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients for cupcakes:

2 1/2 cups flour

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

1/2 cup butter, melted

3 tablespoons matcha powder

2 teaspoons almond extract

2 eggs

Ingredients for frosting:

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

2 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon matcha powder

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with 24 muffin cups (Or do two batches, or make a half recipe like I did)

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add in the milk and melted butter, whisking until thoroughly combined. Now add the matcha powder, almond extract, and eggs, and whisk again until combined. 

Pour batter into muffin cups, filling about 3/4 of the way full.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

While the cupcakes are cooling, prepare the frosting.

In a small bowl, whisk the butter with about 1/3 of the powdered sugar. Blend well, then add half of the remaining powdered sugar. After that is fully incorporated, add in the remaining sugar, the milk, and the matcha powder. Whisk until thoroughly combined and fluffy. Set aside until cupcakes are completely cool, then frost as you please.

Recipes courtesy of Foodnetwork.com

Enjoy! Maybe with a glass of milk, coffee, or green tea (?) : )

Menu + Baking Recap and Plans

Monday - leek-potato-sausage soup with homemade bread -- Even though the Fall weather has completely disappeared and the highs for next three days are in the 80's, I still feel like Fall cooking. Soup is a year-round thing for us anyway, but it's just so comforting when it's chilly outside. I guess I'll have to wait a bit for that part...

Tuesday - sausage-potato-kale skillet

Wednesday - pork lo mein - I combined several different recipes to come up with how I plan to make this. I hope it's good enough to make the blog in the near future.

Thursday - Dinner with our church group -- I'm contributing peanut butter cookie dough brownie bars. A gluten free version so everyone can enjoy them!

Friday - apple pork roast - Pork, cider, apples, onions, salt, slow cooker, several hours = Dinner!



For the last couple of days I've had a strong desire to bake. Plans got in the way, and other than a pumpkin bread I didn't manage to bake until today.

I have my sandwich bread baking in the oven, French bread rising on my counter to have with dinner, and I plan to make green tea cupcakes with green tea buttercream frosting either tonight or tomorrow.

The problem with me having an itch to bake is that there are only two of us right now. however, these desires of mine are good news for our friends/neighbors, because sometimes they inherit the products of my labor!...

....And no, there are not any apartments available around us ; )


Happy end of October!

Chicken and Black Bean Enchilada Skillet

This dish definitely falls into the fast, easy, cheap category. It's tasty, pretty healthy, and  takes about 20 minutes to throw together.

Here are the ingredients to prepare your chicken and black bean enchilada skillet.

The star of the show here is really the enchilada sauce, which is store-bought, so make sure you get a good one. I found a brand called "Frontera" at the market, and I like the taste AND the ingredients list. There's nothing I can't pronounce and I know what all of the ingredients are....It's also inexpensive. Not sure if that brand is carried all over the country, but it's worth a shot if you can get it. 

This is not spicy even with the diced tomatoes with green chilies (note that I used the mild variety), so I wouldn't use plain diced tomatoes here. You could, but the extra flavor from the green chilies might be missed.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon oil or butter
10 corn tortillas, cut in half and then into strips
2 cups cooked chicken, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 10 oz. can diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained
1 package enchilada sauce - Frontera is 8 oz. A can may be a bit more, but that would be fine.
1 15 oz, can of black beans, rinsed and drained - Or 1 1/2 cups post boiling if you boil them yourself
1 1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided

Directions:
Pour enchilada sauce over chicken and set aside. Add a tablespoon of oil or butter to a large skillet and set to medium heat. Add the onions and tortilla strips. Saute for about 5 minutes until the onions are translucent. Then add the garlic and cook an additional minute.

Now add the chicken and sauce, diced tomatoes, black beans, cumin, garlic powder, and 1/2 a cup of cheese. Mix together, cover, and let cook for about 5 minutes until everything is heated through.

Add the rest of the cheese to the top, cover, and let cook an additional minute until the cheese is melted.

Serve immediately. I don't add anything to mine, but you could top it with sour cream, salsa, cilantro, avocado, whatever floats your boat!


I love that this comes together so quickly. When I have time earlier in the day I like to do all the chopping, shred the cheese, and mix the sauce and chicken together, that way it takes even less than 20 minutes when I get home from work. It's hard to be that!


Hope you enjoy this great weeknight dinner!

Menu and Tasty Chicken Reminder

Tuesday - honey lime sweet potato tacos

Wednesday - chicken and black bean enchilada skillet

Friday - leftover quinoa sausage bites, broccoli, and delicious scalloped potatoes that a friend brought to us!

Saturday - Probably a use up leftovers and whatever's in the fridge kind of day.

Sunday - curried pumpkin pasta with chicken, peas, and toasted walnuts


Oh, and remember that smoked gouda and leek stuffed chicken that I mentioned? It's even better than I remembered, and easy to throw together!

Delicious!

Happy Cooking!

Menu - Time for Fall Cooking!

Sunday - coconut curry quinoa with chicken, roasted Brussels sprouts on the side - I'm following THIS recipe, except I'm using quinoa instead of sorghum.

Monday - pumpkin spaetzle - Following THIS recipe, except I'm using spaetzle in place of the pasta.

Tuesday - quinoa sausage bites (with cheddar instead of goat cheese) on kale

Wednesday - potluck! I'm contributing spiced apples, which are much tastier than they may sound.

Thursday - turkey quinoa meatballs with creamy tomato sauce

Friday - pinenut pasta - Can't believe this recipe is not on the blog! It's SO good!


I find an extra excitement for cooking in the Fall. I've already bought four pumpkins because every time I go to the market I see the cute pie pumpkins hanging around for $1.69 and I just can't help myself! This menu isn't particularly representative of Fall, but the warm comfort-style food is creeping it's way into our daily eats and I love it!

Is cooking in the Fall more exciting for anyone else? Any other pumpkin lovers out there who have favorite recipes to share?

5 Minute Pumpkin Spice Energy bars

As many of you may know, I try to make as much of the food we eat as possible. For me that means starting from real, whole foods, and avoiding as many packaged sauces, mixes, etc. as I can. This was difficult in the beginning with breakfasts and snacks since cereal, store-bought granola bars, chips, and packaged trail mixes seem to be the norm.

After a couple years of searching for and trying new recipes, we now have a good repertoire of breakfasts and snacks that I make at home, and we rarely eat breakfast from a package. In fact, Marshall said that muesli could replace cereal and that I didn't need to buy it anymore!

 I've mentioned my sourdough English muffins, oatmeal, I recently talked about muesli,

I've mentioned my favorite homemade granola bars many times,

and you've seen several muffin recipes, including these coconut chocolate chips muffins, but I have a new discovery.

Recently I've started making Lara bar-style bars, and now that I started I wonder why I waited so long. But now is better than never, right? 

I mentioned 5 minute power bars at the bottom of THIS post, but they have a fraternal twin that I just discovered, and I love them. They have a secret ingredient that I've never put it a  bar before.Want to know the secret? I bet you could guess.

PUMPKIN! 

Say hello to a chunky-chewy Fall flavored bar. It's a bar with a vegetable!

These are very easy to make as long as you have a food processor or a powerful blender. I love the combination of the chewiness from the dried fruit with the crunchy nuts. 

5 Minute Pumpkin Spice Energy Bars

Ingredients:

• 4 oz. dried cranberries
• 4 oz. dried apricots
• 3/4 cup pecans
• 3/4 cup cashews
• 3/4 cup walnuts
• 2 T. pumpkin puree
• 2 T. maple syrup -- Add an extra tablespoon or so of syrup or brown sugar if you like things pretty sweet
• 1 T. pumpkin pie spice -- I used DIY pumpkin pie spice

Directions:

Place all ingredients in a food processor or powerful blender and blend until everything is in small chunks (as seen in the picture above). 

You could make these as smooth as your machine will make them, but that's up to you. I'm sure a food processor could get those chunks much smaller than my blender would if you think you'd prefer them that way.

Then press the mixture down into a lined pan (mine was about 8" x 9"), refrigerate for a couple hours, and then cut into bites or bars. Store in the fridge.

Adapted from THIS recipe

The nut and dried fruit types can be exchanged for whatever you have or think you'd prefer. And I'm sure they would be great with chocolate chips mixed in : )

I know the whole food blog world is blowing up with pumpkin recipes this time of year, but I couldn't help myself! I'm just as in love with this fall vegetable as the next person, and there's a limited time to enjoy it. I don't want to miss any opportunity to enjoy pumpkin this season.

Who is with me? there must be other pumpkin lovers out there!

A Small Recipe Round-up

Psst - I have a secret to share with you....

My menu does not always end up happening the way I post it....Gasp!

I'm sure this actually isn't shocking since I'm a real person and, as we all know, life brings many surprises, but I thought it was only fair that I tell you.

Last week turned out slightly different than I expected (just Saturday), and I know that the coming week is a bit up in the air, so this week I am just going to post some of  the things we have eaten in the past that may have never made the blog, including some recipes I'll manage to make this week. There are dinner, muffin, and other snack/breakfast recipes, so make sure you check them all out!

Dinner Ideas:

Turkey quinoa meatballs with an easy creamy tomato sauce- I've never made these...Really hoping they're good. No pasta underneath....Just quinoa on the inside. So just a big ole pile of meatballs : ) ....And a vegetable.

Cheeseburger pasta - Made this for the first time last night. Turned out pretty well!

Homemade gnocchi (Making this tomorrow) - Much easier than it may sound! I'll serve this with a butter and fresh thyme sauce (maybe with some onions), and sauteed cabbage on the side. Anyone interested in the homemade gnocchi recipe?

Smoked Gouda and leek stuffed chicken breasts - I only made this once, but it was oh so good!

Chicken and black bean enchilada skillet - Marshall said this had too much meat. I found that a bit surprising! We both liked this so I'll definitely make it again, but with less chicken and more cheese.

Quinoa sausage bites - I like to serve these over a pile of sauteed kale. I cooked 1 cup of dry quinoa instead of using 1 cup of cooked, so obviously much more quinoa than the recipe calls for, but we liked them this way. OH, and I used cheddar, not goat cheese. The breakfast sausage is really what makes these so good.

Muffin recipes:

Apple cheddar muffins - I wasn't sure about these prior to making them, but they were delightful.

Banana Nutella muffins

Chocolate zucchini muffins

Snack/breakfast recipes:

Apple peanut butter snack bars

5 minute power bars - I tossed 1/2 cup dried apricots, 1/2 cup craisins, 1 cup cashews, 1/2 cup pecans, 1/4 cup cocoa powder, 1/4 coconut oil, and 1/4 cup honey into my blender, blended until it was as smooth as it would get, pressed it into a lined pan, and put them into the fridge. Cut and eat as you please! We actually prefer them frozen, but either way works.

Muesli - Oh how I enjoy this.


I just bought my first pumpkin of the season (Eek!), so get ready for some pumpkin recipes!

Yay for October!