Whole Wheat Pumpkin Cupcakes with Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting

Happy Sunday, friends! How have your weekends gone thus far? Besides watching my March Madness bracket get torn to shreds, our weekend has been pretty relaxing and blissful.

I'm gearing up for a pretty crazy week, which I'll fill you in about later. So before things get busy, let's finish the weekend up with cupcakes, shall we? Most of the time I avoid doing any serious baking unless I know that I'll have a place to bring the baked goods I make. I mean, do two people really need an entire cake sitting around, begging to be eaten? I would argue no.

Thankfully Christina over at Dessert For Two has those of us baking for two covered. Christina has made a wonderful blog based on scaled-back desserts that taste just as delicious as their larger counterparts, so when a craving for cupcakes hit a while back, I knew where to go. Of course, I couldn't help but tweak the recipe to make it a little healthier - swapping out whole wheat flour for all-purpose and cutting back a bit on the sugar. Since I made the 'cream cheese' frosting vegan, I also included an option to make the cupcakes vegan as well. Though in my version (pictured above) real eggs were used.

And while I know that pumpkin desserts don't exactly go hand in hand with the month of March, I'm guessing a few of you out there have some leftover canned pumpkin that could stand to be used before summer hits. Not that I'm saying you need a reason to eat canned pumpkin. Personally, I could eat it all year round.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Cupcakes
Adapted slightly from Dessert for Two
*7 tablespoons whole wheat flour
*1/2 teaspoon baking powder
*1/8 teaspoon baking soda
*1/4 teaspoon salt
*1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
*1/4 teaspoon ginger
*1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
*1 large egg (make this recipe vegan by substituting a flax egg: 1 Tbsp. ground flax and 3 Tbsp. water mixed together)
*1/2 cup pumpkin puree
*2 tablespoons brown sugar
*2 packets stevia
*3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Instructions
*Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a muffin tin with four paper liners. Spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
*In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.
*In a second bowl, combined the egg, brown sugar, stevia and oil. Stir to combine.
*Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins. Bake for 24 to 26 minutes, until toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost completely clean (small crumbs are okay). Cool completely. Frost with Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting. Makes 4 servings

Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting
*2 tablespoons vegan cream cheese (I use Trader Joe's Non-Dairy Spread)
*1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
*2/3 to 3/4 cup powdered sugar

*In a small bowl, combine all the above ingredients. Stir until well combined and smooth. Add additional powdered sugar if necessary to reach desired consistency (if you aren't using vegan cream cheese, you may need to add a splash or two of milk). Spread atop cupcakes.

Happy Baking!
Madison

Inside My Fridge

Good morning and happy Friday, everyone! Do any of you have fun plans for this weekend?

One of my favorite parts of the weekend is grocery shopping. Call me strange, but I could spend forever at the grocery store, browsing the isles and checking out the new and quirky products. I also love seeing inside the fridges of strangers. Maybe it's a bit nosy on my part, but I can't help but love it! Today, I'm spreading the fridge-peaking love by giving you a glimpse into my own. Let's take a look, shall we?

Top Shelf: Greek yogurt, light (80-calorie) yogurts, ricotta cheese

Other top-of-the-fridge items: Better 'n Eggs liquid egg replacement, leftovers (steamed broccoli for lunches), large eggs, fresh strawberries, canned pumpkin puree

Moving further down: Leftover sparkling apple cider (from NYE), whole wheat bread, boneless, skinless chicken breasts, Leinenkugel's Honey Weiss (for Joe)

The produce drawer: Cauliflower, red peppers, carrots, oranges, grapefruit, apples, lettuce and broccoli

And the condiments: Mustard, Dijon mustard, soy sauce, poppy seed dressing, ketchup, barbecue sauce, sugar-free pancake syrup, raspberry vinaigrette

 

And because your Friday needs a little cute in it, a picture of this little Nut...

Make it a good one!


Madison

Maple Glazed Grilled Chicken

Before Joe and I got married, one of my greatest stressors was what we were going to do career-wise. I was working (very happily I might add) in my current job in Des Moines and Joe was searching for a job back in Iowa (he was working in Illinois at the time). Knowing how much we both loved our jobs, I was worried about one of us having to sacrifice a career we loved.

Thankfully, Joe's company ended up giving him a work territory in eastern Iowa, meaning we could live halfway in between his territory and my work. And since that meant I would be over an hour from work, my company allowed me to work two days a week from home in order to save money and my sanity.

Initially, it was a little difficult to adjust to working at home. So many distractions, poor internet connection at home, you get the picture. Thankfully, Joe and I discovered that a building right across the street from our apartment rents out office cubicles. I can promise you that once we decided to rent out a space, my work situation improved immensely. It's so nice to be able to have a little work/life separation during the days I work from home, and I feel as if I get so much more accomplished.

Of course on the days I work from home, I have two extra hours on my hands (!!) In the morning, I use my extra hour to get caught up on blog work, do laundry or clean up around the house. And in the evening, I usually spend my extra hour preparing meals that are a little above and beyond what I would normally make on a weeknight.

This week I put my efforts into making this Maple Glazed Grilled Chicken for Joe*, paired with homemade mashed potatoes, which I never make. The sauce that goes atop these chicken breasts is incredibly easy to make and packed with flavor. If you have even more time to spare, I imagine that this sauce would make a great marinade for the chicken a couple hours before putting it on the grill. But, if you're anything like me, planning that far in advance is not going to happen. In that case, using it as a barbecue sauce (as in the recipe below) works out nicely, too.

*For those of you wondering, I made myself roasted kale and roasted sweet potato fries with cumin and ground mustard.

Maple Glazed Grilled Chicken
Loosely adapted from Cooking Light magazine 
Ingredients
*1 large boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut in half width wise to make two thin chicken breasts
*Salt and ground black pepper
*1/4 cup maple syrup
*1/4 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
*2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced 
*1 tsp. dried oregano
*1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
*2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar 
*1/2 tsp. Worcheshire sauce
*2 tablespoons ketchup

Instructions
*Preheat grill to medium high.
*Meanwhile, season chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Set aside.
*In a medium nonstick skillet over medium high heat, combine the maple syrup, chicken broth, garlic, oregano, Dijon mustard and balsamic vinegar. Bring to a simmer, stirring frequently with a silicone pastry brush or rubber spatula. Add in the worcheshire sauce and ketchup and continue to cook for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring frequently, until the liquid is reduced slightly and the mixture has thickened to resemble thin barbecue sauce. Remove from heat.
*Brush chicken breasts with some of the sauce. Lightly grease the rack of your grill with nonstick cooking spray.
*Place chicken breasts on grill and brush with some more of the sauce. Grill for 3 to 4 minutes. Flip chicken. Brush with some more of the sauce. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes more or until chicken is cooked through and no pink remains. Remove from grill. Serve with mashed potatoes.

Happy Cooking!

Madison

No Fat Talk Tuesday: Amanda's Story

Today's No Fat Talk Tuesday post comes to us from Amanda of the ever-informative food and fashion blog, Slow Like Honey. I've been following Amanda's blog for over a year now and am constantly amazed with how she manages to blog while working her full-time job in fashion. This girl is superwoman or something. Thanks, Amanda, for being willing to share your story! -Madison 

Looking back, I can pinpoint the minute I started fixating on my weight and it was a sunny day in 8^th grade. I had just walked home from school and decided that instead of eating my daily snack of apples and peanut butter, I’d eat nothing. Because I had to lose weight.

That was me, at 13. And this vicious cycle didn’t end for another 13 years.

The minute I turned 13, everything changed. Hips suddenly sprouted, boys started flirting and all of a sudden, the only things my friends ever talked about were dieting and exercise. On top of that, these same friends started getting very judgmental. I mean, everything bugged them. What I said, what I wore. It was like Mean Girls but without Tina Fey. It was rough and this lasted all through high school. I wish I could say that I got stronger, that I stood up and walked away from these toxic friendships. And, in a way, I guess I did. I started developing better, more meaningful friendships with two girls who I’m still close with today. But my relationship with myself never improved. 4 years later, in high school, I was 30 pounds heavier with zero confidence and raging eating disorder. I purposely avoided shopping for clothes, I binged and purged 3-5 times a week, I avoided hanging out with friends. I kept telling myself that it was going to get better, that once high school ended, I would stop hating myself. But after my first year of college, I was worse than ever. I had moved out with a friend (which ended pretty badly), met a few boys (which ended pretty badly) and got stuck at a government job that left me miserable.

The entire time, I told myself it was all my fault. You are the reason you are alone. You are not worthy to be loved. You are fat. You are ugly. Hurtful, vicious and degrading, these were the thoughts I had. I remember one day deciding to just start restricting, thinking that if I was skinnier, I’d be more lovable. Calorie counting became my obsession. I was a woman on a mission, and hey! Guess what? I lost 30 + pounds. It was divine! I could fit into clothes and felt like I was finally ready to live my life. Except, my minor hobby reared its ugly head and developed into something bigger, stronger. Each day I battled with myself, to the point where I couldn’t focus on anything else. Eventually, I reached a breaking point. Binging, purging, starving. None of it had made me love myself any more. In fact, I hated myself more. I remember sitting in a parking lot, tears streaming down my face, thinking that this was it. My life would never start until I dealt with the tiny voice in my head was silenced.

I picked up the phone, and called a therapist.

The next two years, I underwent cognitive behavioral therapy and started my self-exploration quest. It wasn’t easy; in fact, I can’t count the times I left that office a total wreck. But I truly believe therapy saved my life. Without it, I would have been lost.

Now, I am 26, living in New York and making my dreams come true. Instead of being fearful of food, I run a food blog and exercise daily (yoga + running) to make myself strong and feel more alive. I’m not perfect and sometimes fall into my old patterns but now I know how to pull myself back up after beating myself down. My struggle with body image and self-love has taught me more than I could have ever imagined and I’m stronger because of it.

If I could tell one girl out there who is going through the hell I put myself through it would be this: you are worthy of every ounce of love that is out there in this world. Don’t ever tell yourself otherwise. And, when you feel like the whole world is going against you, know that you can always reach out and find help. There is always an answer.

If you're interested in sharing your No Fat Talk story, e-mail me (madisonjanemayberry@gmail.com) for more information! 

Tamale Casserole

 

Being someone who loves to cook, I didn't anticipate the stress that would come from having to prepare a meal for our little family every night. Before Joey and I got married, dinner used to be the meal I used to round out my day. If I had eaten a lot of fruit for breakfast and lunch, I would choose whole grains and veggies for dinner. And if I was low on protein earlier in the day, dinner would be based around something like beans or a veggie burger. 

But now that I live with a guy who likes a good square meal on the table each night, it's not quite so simple. Meal planning must not be in my DNA because I find the task of finding new weeknight recipes that are quick, simple and healthy a bit of a chore. Anyone with me?

Most weekends when I'm looking for recipes for the week ahead I go to Cooking Light magazine. Their recipes are health conscious, easy to prepare and don't require a host of expensive ingredients. And for someone who is watching their grocery budget that's a major bonus.

I made this Tamale Casserole from Cooking Light for dinner a couple weeks ago and it received rave reviews from Joe. Since he loves casseroles, I searched out a healthier casserole recipe that I could easily make vegetarian. Although the recipe calls for putting chicken atop the entire dish, I left off the chicken on about a third of the pan so I could enjoy it, too.

This dish is dense, flavorful and reheats well the next day as leftovers. And if you make the chicken breasts ahead of time, it comes together in no time at all. While the original recipe called for an entire can of enchilada sauce, I cut it back to a half cup since it seemed like an entire can would make the dish soggy. But if enchilada sauce is your thing, feel free to add more than the half cup I call for. 

Do any of you feel the stress when planning meals for your family during the week? What's your solution?

Tamale Casserole

Adapted slightly from Cooking Light 2010

Ingredients

*1 cup shredded Mexican cheese blend

*1/3 cup fat free milk

*1/4 cup egg substitute

*1 teaspoon ground cumin

*1/8 tsp. ground red pepper

*1 (14 3/4-ounce) can cream-style corn

*1 (8.5-ounce) box corn muffin mix (I used Jiffy brand)

*1 (4-ounce) can chopped green chiles, drained 

*1/2 cup enchilada sauce

*2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast

*1/2 cup fat-free sour cream (optional, we didn't use it)

Instructions

*Preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly grease a 13x9-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside. 

*In a bowl, combine 1/4 cup of the cheese, the milk, egg substitute, cumin, red pepper, cream-style corn and corn muffin mix. Bake for 15 minutes or until set. 

*Remove dish from oven. Pierce the surface liberally with a fork. Pour enchilada sauce on top. Top with the shredded chicken breast and the remaining cheese. Bake for 15 minutes more. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes. Cut into squares. Makes 8 servings

Happy Cooking!

Madison

{Cupcakes from our pastor's wife, Karen. They were amazing!}

{Our nephew, Baylen, hanging out with Nutmeg.}

{Nutmeg went on a lot of long, muddy walks, meaning she also took a lot of baths.}

{Dedicated dog washer: Joe!}

{Self-portrait, camera-style.}

Although our weekend was, undoubtedly, a sad occasion, we did have some wonderful time with family over the past four days. We took countless walks with Nutmeg and my mom around the golf course, ate a lot of wonderful meals with family members and reminisced over family memories. My uncle Alvin also shared a bit of family history over dinner on Friday night, which all of us soaked up. 

Now that I've returned home, I'm realizing how exhausted this weekend left me. Thankfully, we are enjoying a day of relaxation - watching basketball, going for a jog outside, and spending a quiet night in preparing to get back to a semi-normal routine. 

I hope you had a wonderful weekend, all!

Broccoli Beef

Before I say anything else, I want to thank all of you for your kindness and support during this bittersweet time for our family. Although I knew the community found though blogging was supportive, I can't begin to describe how supported I felt by the community created on this site. Through Tweets, Facebook messages, e-mails and blog comments, you made your support known. Thank you!

Funerals and visitations aren't really picture-taking affairs, so I only have a couple photos from the last couple days. One was, not surprisingly, of food and the other of family. I would imagine that Grandma Dorothy would have been okay with that. We celebrated her life in a beautiful way, with music and worship and lots of hilarious stories. Oh, and did I mention good food? It was all as beautiful as a funeral could be.

I intended to post the following earlier this week, but with all the craziness going on, it got pushed under the rug. So without further ado, here is a little tasty inspiration for your weeknight dinners that will have your family begging for more.

Living in Iowa, I'm a big fan of the blog Iowa Girl Eats. Kristin is bursting with energy and her blog is packed with creative recipes and challenging workout routines. She seems to abide by the 'workout hard, eat well' mentality, which I love.

Joey has always had a soft spot for Chinese food, so when this recipe for Easy Broccoli Beef popped up on Iowa Girl Eats last week, I knew it would be the perfect meal to make for dinner. Although I don't eat meat, I do get excited about cooking with different cuts of meat. Even if you don't see flank steak in the butcher's counter, make sure to ask. My local store had frozen flank steak in the back that suited this recipes just fine.

This recipe was a huge hit at our house, and I was happy that I could enjoy the broccoli, along with a little brown rice. I can't say for sure, but this seems like a dish that could be made with Tofu quite easily, too. Just a thought!

Hop on over to Kristin's site for the quick and easy recipe, which can be found HERE!