It's my little angel's 22nd month today! We usually do a simple celebration every month by baking a cake (out of the box. hehe..) so she can blow a candle. So I thought of that cream cheese frosting again, and had the idea of making carrot cupcakes. I found a simple recipe from the Joy of Baking website, but I didn't have apples nor applesauce (it makes the cupcake moist) so I replaced it with mashed bananas instead. Actually, the recipe is almost similar to my banana muffin recipe, I just added the cream cheese frosting this time.
Carrot Banana Cupcake
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3 large eggs
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
3/4 cup canola oil
1 cup grated carrot (approx. 1 medium-sized)
1 cup mashed banana (approx. 2 medium-sized)
3/4 cup raisins (optional)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Cream Cheese Frosting:
4 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 deg. C). Place paper cup liners in 12 cup muffin pan.
In a medium bowl mix together the flour, baking soda, salt and ground cinnamon. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar, and oil. Fold in the flour mixture to the egg mixture then add the grated carrot, mashed bananas, raisins and chopped nuts. Mix until well blended.
Pour the batter to the paper cups. Place the pan on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. It's cooked when you insert a toothpick in the middle of the cupcake and it comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and let them cool completely.
Frosting: With a hand mixer (or in a bowl of an electric mixer), beat together the cream cheese, confectioner's sugar and vanilla extract until smooth and creamy. Spread the cream cheese frosting on top of each cupcake. Store the cupcake in the refrigerator.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Friday, August 6, 2010
Tuna Bacon Alfredo
This is one of my old-time pasta recipes. Some of my friends and relatives had been asking me this recipe before but I never found the time to write it down and, sort of, "structure" the ingredients and procedure. I used to call it "carbonara", but I do not put egg in the recipe, which differentiates carbonara from alfredo. So now I call it tuna bacon alfredo. For those based in the Philippines, I have some notes on the alternative ingredients at the bottom of this post.
Tuna Bacon Alfredo
Ingredients:
1 lb (450 g) linguine or spaghetti
4 strips bacon, chopped
1 small can mushrooms (4 oz / 113 g), sliced
1 small can tuna (5 oz / 142 g)
2 tbsp butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup white wine
1 can table cream (225 ml)
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup (10.5 oz/298 g)
1 1/2 cup water
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese (or any cheese), grated + some for toppings
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 tsp sugar
1 small green bell pepper, chopped
Cook pasta according to package instructions.
In a skillet, cook the bacon until brown. You may divide the bacon and crisp the other half for toppings. Place in paper towels and set aside. Remove some bacon fat and saute the mushrooms. Set aside.
In a medium-sized saucepan, melt butter and saute garlic. Add tuna and wine. Simmer uncovered until about half of the wine has evaporated. Stir in cream, mushroom soup, water, cheese, sugar, salt, and pepper. You can add more salt and pepper according to taste. Simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add mushroom, bacon, and bell pepper. Simmer for another 5 minutes. Mix sauce with pasta. Top with grated cheese.
Make it more nutritious for your little one: Add a cup of chopped vegetables, like cauliflower (my daughter likes this), broccoli or zucchini, together with the mushroom, bacon & bell pepper.
Note: I use lemon-lime soda (sprite or 7-up) instead of wine if I don't have it. Still does the work of removing the fishy taste of the tuna. For those back home, you can use 1 tetra pack of all purpose cream (we don't have that here in the US). Also, you can use the powdered mushroom soup, if condensed soup is not available, by dissolving it in 1 cup of water. You might have to cut back on the additional water, and make it 3/4 to 1 cup instead of 1 1/2 cup.
Tuna Bacon Alfredo
Ingredients:
1 lb (450 g) linguine or spaghetti
4 strips bacon, chopped
1 small can mushrooms (4 oz / 113 g), sliced
1 small can tuna (5 oz / 142 g)
2 tbsp butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup white wine
1 can table cream (225 ml)
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup (10.5 oz/298 g)
1 1/2 cup water
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese (or any cheese), grated + some for toppings
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 tsp sugar
1 small green bell pepper, chopped
Cook pasta according to package instructions.
In a skillet, cook the bacon until brown. You may divide the bacon and crisp the other half for toppings. Place in paper towels and set aside. Remove some bacon fat and saute the mushrooms. Set aside.
In a medium-sized saucepan, melt butter and saute garlic. Add tuna and wine. Simmer uncovered until about half of the wine has evaporated. Stir in cream, mushroom soup, water, cheese, sugar, salt, and pepper. You can add more salt and pepper according to taste. Simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add mushroom, bacon, and bell pepper. Simmer for another 5 minutes. Mix sauce with pasta. Top with grated cheese.
Make it more nutritious for your little one: Add a cup of chopped vegetables, like cauliflower (my daughter likes this), broccoli or zucchini, together with the mushroom, bacon & bell pepper.
Note: I use lemon-lime soda (sprite or 7-up) instead of wine if I don't have it. Still does the work of removing the fishy taste of the tuna. For those back home, you can use 1 tetra pack of all purpose cream (we don't have that here in the US). Also, you can use the powdered mushroom soup, if condensed soup is not available, by dissolving it in 1 cup of water. You might have to cut back on the additional water, and make it 3/4 to 1 cup instead of 1 1/2 cup.
Banana Muffin
My unpredictable toddler had a sudden change in taste this week, and now refuse to eat bananas which used to be her favorite. So, to avoid a waste of throwing rotten bananas, I made some banana muffins - for the first time! Muffins are actually easy to do, but I wasn't into baking before. It was my hubby who bakes often. Love his blueberry muffin. Anyways, I found Giada de Laurentiis' recipe at the Food Network website and did some tweaking on her recipe. I skipped the mascarpone cream frosting (mascarpone's too expensive, and too rich!) but I might try some cream cheese frosting on my next batch.
Banana Muffin
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
2 large eggs
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
2 large bananas, peeled and mashed
Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 12-cup muffin pan with paper cup liners. (Or you can simply grease the muffin pan, if you don't have paper cup liners.)
Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and ground cinnamon in a medium bowl. In a separate bigger bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, melted butter and vanilla extract. Stir in the mashed bananas in the wet mixture. Add the dry ingredients and stir just until blended. You'll have a pancake batter-like mixture, and it's alright to have a few lumps.
Pour the batter on the muffin cups. Bake the muffins in the middle rack for about 25 minutes. Cool in a wire rack and serve.
Note: For first time bakers like me, you can tell that the muffin is cooked when you insert a toothpick in the middle and it comes out clean. If you don't have a wire rack, just let it cool a little bit in the pan and serve. Enjoy!
Banana Muffin
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
2 large eggs
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
2 large bananas, peeled and mashed
Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 12-cup muffin pan with paper cup liners. (Or you can simply grease the muffin pan, if you don't have paper cup liners.)
Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and ground cinnamon in a medium bowl. In a separate bigger bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, melted butter and vanilla extract. Stir in the mashed bananas in the wet mixture. Add the dry ingredients and stir just until blended. You'll have a pancake batter-like mixture, and it's alright to have a few lumps.
Pour the batter on the muffin cups. Bake the muffins in the middle rack for about 25 minutes. Cool in a wire rack and serve.
Note: For first time bakers like me, you can tell that the muffin is cooked when you insert a toothpick in the middle and it comes out clean. If you don't have a wire rack, just let it cool a little bit in the pan and serve. Enjoy!
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