chocolate avocado cupcakes

Our friend Steph recommended these avocado chocolate cupcakes to us. When she first told me about them, I was in complete disbelief because avocado chocolate cupcakes wasn’t something I was used to. But I do love avocados, and drink avocado milkshakes, and want to try this avocado frozen yogurt, so why not chocolate avocado cupcakes too?!

We used this recipe (for some reason the sites not working right now) that Steph sent over and it came out great. I did some slight changes to the recipe, like I only used 1/2 cup of sugar, used sweetened chocolate because that’s what I had on hand, and significantly lessened the amount of sugar in the frosting as well. The cupcakes came out nice and round fresh out of the oven, but then slowly sank down after a few minutes. I’m not sure if it’s something I did or the recipe (anyone have an idea why?), but whatever, we just slopped on some frosting, which was also made from avocado, added some sprinkles, and you hardly noticed the sunken in tops.

The girls all really liked and it and I especially liked the frosting. I think that would be my go-to chocolate frosting from now on, especially since it has a much more healthy fat than butter. True’s birthday is coming up and she has been requesting a vegetable cake (where she gets these ideas, I do not know). I’m thinking of either doing this again in cake form or I’m thinking a good red velvet cake recipe using beets. Anyone have a good recipe to share for that?

family meals: week 37

Linguine with Shrimp and Fennel. So good! Perfect for spring. We had lots of fresh fennel from our garden and used them all up in this recipe. I pretty much did times 10 the amount of fennel than the recipe called for. It only calls for half a bulb and I used the whole 7 bulbs! We didn’t have clams on hand, so we used shrimp (True went without it because she’s allergic). We added some parmesan cheese on top and a some lemon slices. True had like 5 little bowls full and Brave ate a ton of shrimp. Ben and I of course added red pepper flakes to ours because we just can’t live without that spice. We’re addicted. It’s not a dish with a lot of depth in the flavors, but it’s quick, easy, and tasty, so I’d say give it a try! I’d probably try another version of this dish soon with some slight changes for spice.

Chicken Enchiladas with Tomatillo Sauce. Yes! Yes! Yes! There was a party in my tummy. This recipe was bomb dot com. For sure. It does call for 9 serrano chilies in the sauce, which I did, but it ended up a little too spicy for my little girls. Good thing, I had a batch of chicken and cheese on the side to make them some tac0s, but Ben and I loved the spice. I also made the recipe without the 1 cup crema because that was my way of keeping it healthy. I’m sure if there was cream all over the top, it would be extra tasty, but it tasted superb without it, so I’d say leave it out. Well, if you want to go healthy. I’m making this again soon and I’m so glad that there are plenty left over. I will have to make two batches of sauce next time, one with the chilies and one without, so that the girls could enjoy it too.

Week 4/15 – 4/19
Monday: Hummus Wrap
Tuesday: Chicken Tagine
Wednesday: Salmon Tacos with Mango-Avocado Salsa
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Pizza night

It really helps our dinners when there is some sort of game plan. I give Ben my menu for the week and he does the shopping for things we might need. I do the cooking during the week and Ben does all the cooking on the weekend. Plus, he’s the one who takes care of all the dishes. Though, we tend to let it pile up on the weekends it’s a toss up on who takes care of it then. All in all, I think we’ve got a good partnership going on. How do you divide meal shopping, cooking, and cleaning jobs in your home? When the girls get older, they will definitely be joining in too. For now, they stick to setting the table.

P.S. This has nothing to do with food, but Me & Mr. Cassidy (blogged them here) are having their EP release party/show on Saturday night in Venice (listen to their newest song here, so good and you’ll totally be singing it too). If you’re local (or want to make a drive), you should definitely check it out. I’m trying to convince Ben that we need to be wild and crazy and stay out past 9 without the kids. Get more info here and I’d love to see you there!

family meals: week 36

Tuna Poke. Yum. The latest reader’s recipe and you can read more about it here.

Spring Minestrone with Turkey Meatballs. Our babysitter Steph shared this recipe with me. I’ve learned a few good recipes from her actually. Like avocado pasta…. oooh, so yummy!!! Anyways, she told me about this one and she was right, we love it! All of us, baby included. I did some slight changes based on what we had, like using ground turkey instead of chicken, using chard instead of spinach because we have tons growing in our garden, and green onions instead of chives. And of course, I quadrupled the recipe because my little family of 6 with four little girls, eat a whole bunch. You’d be surprised. This was so good and I highly recommend giving it a shot.

Week 4/8 – 4/12
Monday: Chicken Enchiladas with Tomatillo Sauce
Tuesday: Leftovers
Wednesday: Linguine with Clams and Fennel (maybe will substitute clams)
Thursday: Might just pick up food after swim class (this week’s going to be busy)
Friday: Pizza night

We never eat out as a family for dinners during the week. Actually, we rarely do it on the weekend. I’ll grab lunch with the girls and some friends here and there, but we’re just not eating out type people. Ben and I enjoy it, but with kids (and their bedtimes), it’s just easier to have family meals at home. We like to cook and we like to have meals at home. I think we eat out as a family about once every other month. It’s rare for us and isn’t done that often. Plus, it also saves us money eating at home. Though we do get pizza once a week, so that gives us a bit of a reprieve from the duties of cooking. Do you eat out often as a family?

reader’s recipes: tuna poke

Tuna Poke

Ingredients:
1. 4 green onions, minced
2. 1/2 tsp sugar
3. 1/4 cup macadamia nuts, finely chopped (optional)
4. 1 avocado cubed
5. 1/4 cup dried seaweed
6. 1/2 lb. sashimi-grade tuna (maguro or ahi) cubed (about 1/2″ – 3/4″)
7. 1 tsp sesame oil (I used 1 tbsp)
8. The best salt in the house
9. 2 tsp soy sauce (I used 2 tbsp)
10. 2 tsp toasted sesame seeds (I used 2 tbsp)

I added more sauce than the recipe she gave me because I wanted to make sure everything was completely coated, but if you just want a light coating of sauce, I’d stick to the original amounts.

Directions:
Toss everything together except the salt. Sprinkle the salt over the poke and serve over rice. For some extra added spice, sprinkle in some red pepper flakes. Actually, Ben and I did a downpour of red pepper flakes rather than a sprinkle because we like it spicy.

This recipe comes from Jozen of Lola’s Girl. Jozen is such a sweetie and we have been blog friends forever. I’m hoping she’ll make her way down south (or maybe we’ll go up north), so that one day we can actually meet. She totally knows how much I love sushi, so when she shared this recipe with me, I knew I wanted to try it out and share it with you. Ben and I aren’t typically a fan of raw tuna because the flavor is a little too mild for us, but in this dish, it was fantastic. The different flavors blended so well together and I especially loved the crunch you get from the macadamia nuts. We made this for our little date/movie night we had in our room on Friday night. I’m pretty sure this will be made for another date/movie night soon. I do still have some macadamia nuts leftover, so those need to be put to good use.

Want some other past reader’s recipes? Try Shrimp Fra Diavolo, Vietnamese Chicken Pho, and Paella Valenciana. Do you have a recipe you would like to share? If so, leave me a comment or just send me an email. I’ve had good luck with the ones I’ve tried so far, so I’d love to try more out and share it with everyone else! Thanks Jozen! This one was definitely a hit!  

i pinned raspberry lemon cream cheese cupcakes

I pinned these cupcakes and boy did they turn out yummy! Get the original recipe here from Pastry Affair. I made them for our Easter picnic and the girls loved them (and I had the same paper cups so I did mine the same way). My slight change though is that instead of 4 cups of powdered sugar for the frosting, I just used 2 and a half. I got the consistency I needed using less sugar, so I figured I’d stop before it went into calorie overload because it already had plenty.

Other than that, not much else to say but try the recipe… it’s yummy! Have you pinned any good recipes lately and then made it to see if it’s as yummy as it looks? This one was definitely as yummy as it looks!