Bumble Bee Cupcakes

Lemon is in season!  I made some lemon ricotta cookies a couple of days ago and it was a hit!  My parents have a giant lemon tree in their front yard.  They get lemons all the time.  So I took some for baking :) There is a baby shower coming up, unfortunately I won't be able to make it.  I still bake some cupcakes to bring to work the day after though.  Hope the baby mama will like them. She likes homemade stuff.

Bumble Bee Cupcakes

(Lemon cupcake with honey buttercream frosting)

(24 servings ~ 200 calories each)

Ingredients:

for cupcakes

1 box Betty Crocker's SuperMoist lemon cake mix

1 cup water

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/3 cup low fat sour cream

4 egg whites

1 tsp lemon zest

for frosting

4 cups Confectioner's sugar

5 tbsp unsalted butter

4 tbsp honey

3 drops yellow food color

3-4 tbsp nonfat milk

for bumble bees

24 yellow plain M&Ms

12 brown plain M&Ms

melted semi-sweet chocolate

48 sliced raw almonds

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Line muffin pan with liners, set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl, using an electric hand mixer, mix lemon cake mix, water, applesauce, sour cream, lemon zest, and egg whites in low speed for 30 seconds, then switch to medium speed for 2 minutes.

3. Divide batter into muffin pan.  Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until toothpick comes out clean when tested.  Let cool completely before frosting.

4. Melt semi-sweet chocolate in a Ziploc bag, cut a little hole at the corner of the Ziploc bag and draw eyes and smiley face on yellow M&Ms.

5. Prepare buttercream frosting, in a large mixing bowl, mix in Confectioner's sugar, butter, honey, yellow food color and milk, using an electric mixer, mix on medium to high speed until you reach the right consistency for pipping.

6. Pipe cupcakes.

7. Arrange bumble bees on cupcakes: yellow smiley face M&M, brown M&M, yellow M&M, then stick two sliced raw almonds on the sides for wings.

Enjoy!

Stuffed Chicken Breast with Pumpkin sauce

I'm usually not a big fan of chicken breast.  This white meat is too rough and dry.  I want some juicy dark meat instead.  Now I'm in eating healthy mode, so I got myself a giant bag of individually frozen chicken breast from Costco.  Chicken breast is white lean meat, loaded with "make you full" proteins.  There are about 110 calories, 1.5 grams of fat, 24 grams of protein, and 60mg of cholesterol in 4 oz of chicken breast.  Best of all, there is no carbohydrates in it!  Good news for those who are trying to cut carbs off their diet.  Now all I need is a good recipe that can "soften up" this rough white meat.  Most people rave about stuffed chicken breast, let me try it and see how it goes...

Stuffed Chicken Breast with Pumpkin sauce

(serves 8 ~ 146 calories, 164 calories with sauce)

Ingredients:

for chicken breasts

4 individually frozen chicken breasts, thawed

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup shredded Swiss cheese

2 cups fresh baby spinach

2 whole fresh mushrooms, diced

a few slices of zucchini, diced

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1/4 small onion, diced

salt and pepper to taste

Pam no stick cooking spray

for pumpkin sauce

1 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 cup nonfat milk

1 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

1/8 tsp ground garlic

1/8 tsp black pepper

3/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp dried basil leaves

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F, line a baking pan with

aluminium foil and spray with Pam cooking spray,

set aside.

2. Slice chicken breast into halves, pound chicken

breasts flat to 1/4 inch thickness.  Season with salt

and pepper, set aside.

3. Saute baby spinach, mushrooms, zucchini,

garlic and onion with Pam cooking spray in a

small pan.  Let cool and set aside.

4. Lay chicken breast flat on a chopping board, sprinkle Parmesan and Swiss cheese, then put the sauteed vegetable mixture on top of the cheese.  Roll chicken breast then secure with two toothpicks. 

5. Bake in a preheated oven for 35-40 minutes until chicken breasts are no longer pink. *I cooked them too long, so they came out kind of dry :( It might be better to cover the chicken with aluminium foil next time.

6. While the chicken is having a sun bath, prepare pumpkin sauce by putting all the ingredients into a sauce pan and heat it up. 

7. Discard toothpicks from chicken breasts.  Pour about two tbsp of pumpkin sauce on top of the chicken breasts.  Enjoy!



 This recipe is pretty simple.  You may use any kind stuffing you like :) 

Lemon Ricotta Cookies

I have about half of the container of ricotta cheese left from making tiramisu last time.  Then I browsed around what I can do with the leftover ricotta cheese.  Lemon and ricotta looks like a pretty interesting combination, let's try them out! 

Lemon Ricotta Cookies
recipe adapted from here
(makes 40 cookies ~55 calories each)

Ingredients:

 

Cookies:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
8 ounches low-fat ricotta cheese
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 lemon, zested

Lemon Glaze:

3/4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 lemon, zested
(adjust glaze consistency to your liking)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.

2. In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.







3. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar using an electric mixer until light & fluffy. add the egg and beat until incorporated. add the cheese, lemon juice, and zest. beat until combined.

4. Add the dry ingredients until just combined.

5. Line baking sheet(s) with parchment and spoon dough, about two teaspoons for each cookie, onto the sheets. bake for ten minutes, until slightly golden at edges. remove from the oven and let the cookies rest for fifteen minutes.

6. While cookies cool, combine powdered sugar, lemon juice, and zest in a small bowl and stir until smooth. dip cooled cookie tops into glaze and let glaze cool and harden for about two hours.

My glazing was kind of runny so it didn't set.  The cookies turned out sticky but they are still good :)

The lemons are from my parents' front yard.  Zesting these lemons really work up my muscle.  It's a good way to use up some of the lemons.