Strawberry Fruit Filled Sour Cream Muffins

"A thought is a thing." "I'm okay, you're okay." "Everything that happens was meant to happen." Blah-blah-blah-blah-BLAH. . . World I live in, a thought ain't no thing 'til you get off your fat patootie and make it so. World I live in, I'm okay (today), but the guy next to me in the grocery store checkout line is, for all I know, an axe murderer. World I live in, everything that happens is MADE to "happen" by me, myself and I -- I make it up, bake it up and when things get REALLY dull I freakin' shake it up!!!

Which leads to my next thought: These little muffins are really good, so only make as many as the recipe does and don't double on this one. See, the more I learn about gluten-free baking, some stuff can survive a couple days, and other things not so much, as is the case here, and you don't want to have to choose between tossing them and eating more than is good for ya! The first day is THE day for these. Serve 'em warm with some good strong coffee or a nice English breakfast tea! No reason in the world to ruin these tasty morsels with globs of butter or cream cheese . . . but hey, do what you feel you must! I know I always do whatever floats my boat. So, NO JUDGMENTS. That's what's so great about this blogging thing, you can't see me or what I'm doing, and in turn I can't see what you are doing to my recipe or the results of it, so . . . if you want to use butter (or whatever), it's really not for me to dictate, just . . . advise. Butter would be delicious on these, I can't deny that, but just so you know, following the recipe precisely, each muffin has 141 calories and 5.4 grams of fat. Pretty good if you ask me, but not if you have, well, TOO DARN MANY of 'em!!So think twice as you glance over at the swim suit on page 3 of the fashion section of the "Times," take heed .....Summer is here! And as you know the water is warm, so . . .

Strawberry Fruit Filled Sour Cream Muffins:

Preheat oven to 375º F and line and grease 16 muffin tins. Mix together:

1-3/4 cups white rice flour and 1/2 cup tapioca flour, or 2-1/4 all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. xanthan gum (if using gluten-free flour)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup Splenda or sugar or a mix of the two

Add to dry mix:

1/2 cup 2% milk

3/4 cup fat-free sour cream

2 tsp. vanilla

3 tbs. canola oil

Mix in until well-incorporated:

1 jar strawberry Simply Fruit or preserves

Drop a dollop of batter to fill 1/3 of tin and top with a spoon of strawberry Simply Fruit or preserves, top that with another dollop of batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and a gentle press springs back, or a tooth pick comes out clean. Cool slightly and serve warm.

And as always, Enjoy!!!

LIVE, LOVE, LAUGH, COOK!!!

© Jennifer Green Alger 2010

Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes w/ Cream Cheese Frosting

This year I was not looking forward to my birthday. It was merely another reminder that I was getting older. Then I found myself at a crossroads: I could go down to the kitchen and bake myself a b-day treat, OR . . . go to Sprinkles in Beverly Hills and buy half a dozen dark chocolate marshmallow cupcakes and eat every last one myself -- bad idea, but very tempting and available. But I figured since baking always cheers me up anyway, why not??!! So down to the kitchen I went. I put on my favorite music (XM Satellite Radio's 60s station) and my favorite apron, opened my favorite soda (Fresca) and poured it into a wine glass, and got down to my favorite work. I'd been dying to try a certain recipe using my latest, greatest non-gluten formulation, i.e. the white rice and tapioca flour mixture, but keep everything else the same: Full butter 'n' sugar and full down 'n' dirty Chocolate Style using (naturally) Green & Black's cocoa, the best!!!!

By the time I assembled my ingredients I was happy as a clam. The music, the vibe, the dogs all lined up asleep -- what could be better?? Not much, because for me that place I go in my head when I'm cooking is the most relaxing place in the world, full of possibilities, hopes, wishes, dreams, desires -- I create a wonderland, a sanctuary if you will, where no thing and no one can harsh my buzz, baby!!! It's like my special, most favorite apron is my superhero costume; when I put it on I will be using special powers and abilities no one else has, and possess an extraordinary lightness of being -- I can leap small kitchen appliances with a single bound (don't try this at home, kids)!!!

These particular cupcakes came out so great I'll be making them again and again, and that my friends is why I'm sharing this recipe with you!!!

Gluten Free Chocolate Butter Cupcakes:

Line 16 muffin tins and spray with cooking oil. Preheat the oven to 350ºF about 20 minutes before baking. Mix:

1/2 cup + 1 tbs. Green & Black's Cocoa (available at Whole Foods) with

1/2 cup boiling water and stir well

Cover with plastic wrap and set aside. To speed cooling place in fridge.

Whisk together:

2 eggs

3 tbs. water

1-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Set aside.

Mix dry ingredients:

Sift:

1 cup white rice flour

2/3 cup tapioca flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

Add:

1 cup superfine sugar

1-1/2 cups unsalted butter

 Softened chocolate mixture then, the egg mixture.

Mix well until all ingredients are incorporated, scaping down the sides of the bowl often. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a tooth pick comes out clean and they spring back when pressed gently. Cool on a rack and don't frost until fully cool!!!

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 12 oz.-package cream cheese, softened

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1 package or 3-1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar

2 tsp. vanilla extract

First cream together cheese and butter with a hand-held mixer. Then add vanilla and then powdered sugar a little at a time at first, creaming and making sure there are no lumps.

Frost cupcakes and serve!!!

And as always, Enjoy!!!

LIVE, LOVE, LAUGH, COOK!!!

© Jennifer Green Alger 2010

Baked Truffle & Sage Chicken Rolls and a Dry Riesling Caprese Salad

Well, the Memorial Day Party was a fabulous success!!! People were thrilled with the food, the company and the music, and the weather cooperated fully! I worked my ass off for two days prepping and cooking so that all would run smooth as silk, and it did, not the least because I'd planned the menu during the preceding week, selecting from among what's already here on the blog to avoid the extra stress of documenting every little thing I did!!! I was even able to make some of the wonderful Baby Rose Banana Cakes the night before because I had prepped and worked so methodically through the whole process. Sometimes I'm just so darned smart--I ROCK!

Eating the leftovers for the next few days was great!!! However by Thursday night I had some things left that absolutely had to be cooked or frozen. Now, I must say, one of my favorite things in the world is when an idea just comes to me out of nowhere, demanding no special trips to the store, just working with what is already in the house. That kind of inspiration makes for some of the best meals I've ever made. In this case, there were so many odds and ends from the party to choose from, I had almost everything I needed at my anxious little fingertips!

I love to cook and create, it's my biggest thrill, an incredible rush of absolute joy as the idea travels from my mind through my palate over my tastebuds, tingling through my spine down to my hands and then they just seem to know where to go! How cool is that? Pretty freakin' cool if you ask this girl!!! Now, mind you, this was done with 30 minutes prep, about 35 for cooktime and 10 minutes to rest and set the chicken!! Not much more than a hour for such a GLAM meal!!! Did I mention I ROCK?????

Baked Truffle Sage Stuffed Chicken:

First:

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Cover a cookie sheet with foil and spray with PAM. Then set out:

5 chicken breasts (pounded just enough to make round and ready to roll up, in other words don't kill it, it's already dead!)

1 package soppresata (or other Italian dry cured meat)

1 package semi-hard truffle cheese - I used Robusto

1 package fresh sage leaves (if you can take them from your garden, all the better)

Breading:

2 cups panko breadcrumbs (Japanese, and quite delicious!)

1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

1 tsp. (each of these) or to taste: truffle salt, garlic salt, fresh black pepper, paprika, Cajun seasoning, and dried sage (crumbled)

3 eggs (or the equivalent in egg whites or Egg Beaters)

Add a dash of milk and stir well, then set aside.

Pound chicken and line with Soppresata. Place a few sage leaves and some cheese in the middle, roll chicken up like a burrito and secure bottom with toothpicks. Roll in egg and then in breading mixture and place seam side down on cookie sheet. Spray chicken with a light coat of PAM to help with browning; repeat until done. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes , remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes. Slice as shown and serve.

Dry Riesling Caprese Salad:

4 tomatoes, sliced

3 packages mozzarella di bufala, sliced

1 package fresh basil (picked over for the perfect leaves)

Extra virgin olive oil

Dry Reisling wine vinegar

Truffle salt

Fresh ground black pepper

Assemble and serve!!!

And as always, Enjoy!!!

© Jennifer Green Alger 2010

LIVE, LOVE, LAUGH, COOK!!!

Mediterranean Red Quinoa Salad

I amaze myself sometimes. Thinking back over my childhood, "Growing Up Hippie" in Big Sur, all the communes' crazy folks 'n' weird situations 'n' funky log cabins 'n' wood stoves for cooking and heat, outhouses with little moons on the doors (which put a new spin on the term "funky"), long and treacherous trails that went on seemingly for an eternity just to get home from The Road, a/k/a Highway 1 . . . schlepping groceries 'n' laundry 'n' wood 'n' this, that 'n' the other . . . you'd think -- actually, I'd think -- that would've made me hate it all! But quite the contrary, I love the distinctive smell of wood stoves and rustic old cabins under the sky-scraping Redwoods -- I still have an affection for all of it. And even for the food that was cooked up in these humble little places, so many, many moons ago -- although as in the case at hand, I have. shall we say, rehabilitated some of those recollections.

See, I've been doing a lot of experimenting with those culinary memories, using some of the freshest and healthiest ingredients to do so, and this particular instance involves red quinoa, something I'm sure as a child I vowed never to eat again as long as I lived, along with wheat berries, brown rice, avocados, beans, mushrooms, tofu -- all foods I now love; the list was so long you can't even fathom it. I was convinced at the time my mom was making me eat these foods just to torture me, and when I would arrive at school with one of her famous "Rock Bread Avocado Sprout Sandwiches," I would promptly find some gullible waif toting a bologna-on-white to trade with me. This set me well on my way to a career in crime, door-to-door sales, tending bar or food blogging. Take your pick, 'cause I've done 'em all. And of all the things I've done nothing makes me happier than making things taste delicious, so try this one out on your family to keep them happy AND healthy!

Mediterranean Red Quinoa Salad:

In a saucepan with put:

2 cups red quinoa

With 2 tbs. olive oil, sauté until it gives off a nice aroma, about five minutes.

Then add:

3 cups chicken stock OR water with bouillon

Reduce to simmer and cook 15 minutes. Remove from heat and remove top, fluff with fork and allow to set awhile and cool. Meanwhile get all this stuff together in a really large bowl:

1 bunch fresh basil, chopped

4 cloves garlic, pressed

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup lemon juice

3 tomatoes, chopped OR 1 package grape tomatoes, all halved

3 medium cucumbers, chopped

1/2 -3/4 cup chopped Kalamata olives

1 6- to 8-oz package of feta cheese, chopped or crumbled

Add the still-warm quinoa to the rest of the ingredients and toss. Salt and pepper to taste if necessary; the bouillon cubes, olives and feta are all very salty, so really taste before shaking out any more at this point. Serve at room temp.

Serve at room temp.

And as always, Enjoy!!!
LIVE, LOVE, LAUGH, COOK!!!
© Jennifer Green Alger 2010