in my mom’s pretty cast iron muffin tin

turns out it’s impossible to find a recipe for whole-wheat muffins that uses butter (they all use applesauce or vegetable oil!)
http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/100-Whole-Wheat-Blueberry-Muffins-632
I made this recipe but substituted one egg for the two whites (the egg was a light-blue one that came from our neighbor’s hens! Yum!) and 1/3 cup melted butter for the veg. oil. result is tasty but also gives the impression of being healthy.

http://www.thaitable.com/Thai/recipes/Pad_Thai.htm

http://www.thaitable.com/Thai/recipes/Tom_Yum_Goong.htm

YUM. I will definitely use these recipes in the future!

Cupcakes de Chocolate con Frosting de Limón y Crema

ingredientes
cupcakes:
30 gramos cacao (en polvo, sin azucar)
120 cc agua hervido
125 gramos harina
½ cucharilla bicarbonato de sodio
85 gramos manteca, templada
100 gramos azúcar
1 huevo grande
1 yema grande

frosting:
2 cucharas Crema de leche
10 gramos manteca templada
100 gramos azúcar impalpable
Jugo de ½ limón

preparación
Caliente el horno. En un bol chico, mezcle el cacao con el agua hervida, hasta que el polvo se disuelva, y deje enfriarse. En otro bol, mezcle la harina, el bicarbonato de sodio, y dos pizcas de sal. En otro bol grande, bata la manteca y la azúcar, agregue el huevo y la yema, y bata hasta que esté bien mezclada. Agregue un tercero de la mezcla de cacao, mezcle bien, y agregue un tercero de la mezcla de harina y mezcle bien. Siga hasta que todos estén combinados. Con un poco de manteca, engrase un molde para muffins. Ponga la masa en el molde con una cuchara. Hornee 8 – 10 minutos, y de una vuelta, y hornee 5-10 minutos mas, o hasta que estén bien cocidos. Prueba con un palillo: meta el palillo en el centro de un cupcake. Si el palillo sale limpio, están listo!

Cuando las cupcakes estén cocinando, prepare el frosting. Ponga el azúcar impalpable en un bol y agregue la manteca, la crema, y unas gotas de jugo de limón. Mezcle. Agregue un poco mas de azúcar (si es muy liquido) o mas gotas de limón (si es muy duro) para que sea la consistencia perfecta.

Deje los cupcakes enfriarse antes de untar el frosting en cada uno.

Disfrute!!!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Frosting!

ingredients
cupcakes:
1/3 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 cup boiling water
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 stick (6 tbsp) butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 whole large egg
1 large egg yolk

frosting:
2 tbsp cream
1 tbsp butter, softened
1 cup confectioners sugar
Juice from ½ lemon

preparation
In a small bowl whisk together the cocoa powder and the water until the cocoa powder is dissolved and let the mixture cool to room temperature. In a bowl whisk together the flour, the baking soda, and a pinch of salt. In another bowl with an electric mixer cream together the butter and the sugar and beat in the whole egg and the egg yolk, beating until the mixture is combined well. Beat in the cocoa mixture alternately with the flour mixture, beating well after each addition. Grease a muffin tin and divide the batter among 12 1/2-cup muffin tins, and bake the cupcakes in the middle of a preheated 350°F. oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Turn the cupcakes out onto a rack and let them cool completely.

While the cupcakes are baking, prepare the frosting. Mix the powdered sugar, butter, and cream in a bowl. Add a few drops of lemon juice. If the frosting is too liquid, add more sugar; if it is too stiff, add more lemon juice.

Let the cupcakes cool before spreading them with frosting.

Yum! Enjoy!

I’ve fallen in love with the tiny Chinatown of Buenos Aires, which is about 3 blocks in Belgrano next to the train station, on Arribeños and Mendoza. Most stores in Buenos Aires have a limited variety of food, so Chinatown is the only place to buy lots of the things that I miss from home. My favorite markets right now are Casa China on Arribeños and a bigger place (I think it’s called Asia World Market?) around the corner on Mendoza. Both places have everything you can imagine in packets and jars and boxes. Casa China has more bulk dried goods and homemade cookies and herbal remedies and on the weekends they sell *really* tasty vegetable buns and some kind of fried balls and noodle soup and other delicious vegetarian street-eats, from a window facing the sidewalk. Asia World Market has a bigger selection of fresh veggies (6 kinds of mushrooms, lemongrass, galangal, fresh herbs and greens, lots of fruits that I can’t identify) and a huge meat-and-fish market in the back with tons of slimy tentacles and fish heads and fresh everything on ice. They also have bulk frozen dumplings in big wooden barrels and some fresh bakery goods.
A craving for some Hot & Sour soup gave me a good excuse to go to Belgrano. I was remembering the soup I used to get every day from LaGuardia Grill in New York, plus some really tasty soup I used to eat with Emily at Da Lat in Worcester. I’m not really sure what’s the difference between Vietnamese or Thai Hot & Sour soups(?) so I looked up recipes for both and mixed them together with some other stuff I remembered from my favorite soups. I just used whatever ingredients I could find, and it tasted SO steamy and spicy and good!
* around 1/2 chicken on the bone, with skin
cut off the white meat and chop it into little bits and set aside. drop the rest of the skin/bones/carcass into a pot of water (around 4-5 cups of water), add plenty of salt, a bit of pepper, and simmer. Add all the vegetable scraps (onion skins, celery top, etc) as you cut the veggies. Add to the broth:
* two cloves garlic, chopped in half
* sprig of cilantro
* 1 tablespoon tom yum (hot pepper) paste
* 3 or 4 quarter-inch chunks of fresh ginger
meanwhile, cut into small peices:
* medium sized filet of white fish
mix in a small dish:
* 2 Tablespoon fish sauce (nuoc mam or nam pla)
* ½ teaspoon black pepper
* juice from one lime
pour 1/2 of this over the fish, stir it up, and put it in the fridge to marinate. pour the rest over the chicken pieces, stir it up, and put it in the fridge.
cut up all the vegetables while the stock simmers. After 1/2 hour add to the stock:
* 3 stalks lemon grass, crushed and chopped coarsely
* 2 chunks of lime rind (just the dark green part)
* 3 tablespoons fish sauce
after all the vegetables are chopped, taste the broth, add salt or more hot pepper if necessary. strain the broth and toss the bones and stuff. Then add:
* ½ teaspoon grated lime zest
* 1 teaspoon chopped green chile pepper
* 1/2 clove garlic, finely chopped
* 3 tablespoons lime juice
let it cook another 5 mins, then add:
* 1 small or 1/2 large onion, sliced in wedges
* fresh pineapple chunks
* sliced bamboo shoots
* 1 stalk celery, sliced
* kernels from 2 ears of fresh sweet corn
* 4 ounces fresh mushrooms, thinly sliced
cook it another few minutes and add:
* 1 fresh tomato, seeded, cut into thin wedges
* 1 cup fresh mung bean sprouts
serve hot! on the side, serve as toppings:
* 1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
* 1 sprig fresh basil, chopped
* 2 green onions, thinly sliced

“TOLL HOUSE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES”
250 grams harina
1 cucharada bicarbonato de sodio
1 cucharada sal
225 grams manteca, templada
170 grams azucar blanco
150 grams azucar moreno
1 cucharada extracto de vainilla
2 huevos
1 grande barra de chocolate. cortar en pedacitos.
calentas el horno a 190.
en un tazon, mezclas harina, bicarbonata de sodio, y sal.
en un tazon grande, batis manteca, azucar blanco, azucar moreno, y extracto de vainilla
añadis huevos. agitas.
poco a poco, añadis mezcla harina a manteca y azugar. agitas mientras añadis.
añadis chocolate. agitas.
con una cuchara, pones masa en la placa para horno.
cada galleta 4 cm a uno del otro.

horneas para 9 – 11 minutos.

disfrutas!!!