Angel Food Cupcakes

The Guinea Pig likes angel food cake, so angel food cake I makes.  I like the idea of having the cake in single serving sizes, so the cake idea turned into cupcakes.

We settled on the simplest recipe we could find.  I used 1.5 cartons of liquid egg whites, cut down confectioner's sugar to a cup, and poured a generous tablespoon of vanilla extract.  The cupcakes needed only 20 min to bake.

The yield was 36 cupcakes that had to be made in batches.  I noticed (too late) that the later batch needed to be beaten again before pouring into forms.  The "bottom of the barrel" got too "soggy" and didn't bake properly.

The resulting [good] cupcakes came out fluffy and yummy.  We devoured about half right away with and without whipped cream on top.  These definitely won't last long before being consumed.

Carrot Fennel Soup

Carrot Fennel Soup

As part of my recent soup frenzy, I came across this recipe and being a carrot lover could not pass up the chance of making it.  After a closer inspection, I wasn't as eager, but it was too late by that point.

I have never heard of a soup being roasted in the oven, which shows how much I know.  At the time I wanted to make this soup, my oven was being occupied by a nice little Cornish hen that was roasting slowly at 250° F and would continue to do so for a few hours longer.  Since roasting the veggies was simply out of the question, I went with an all stove top prep method.

I heated up a bit of oil in a large pot and sautéed the onions a bit.  Then I added carrots and fennel, sprinkled all with salt and pepper, and sautéed them all for a bit hoping to get some roasted flavor.  I then added 4 cups of water to the mixture and cooked the veggies until they were soft.  Then, I blended everything in two batches and added a bit more salt to taste.  I used the water I cooked the veggies in rather than adding chicken broth.

The soup had enough flavor and wasn't bland  at all.  I guess I'm not a fan of fennel as that particular taste I could have gone without.  The carrot soup looked and felt much like the butternut squash soup, but the taste was different.  I prefer the squash soup to this one.

If I were to make this again, and that's definitely an if, I would cut the quantity of fennel and compensate with more carrots.  I would probably stick with my stove top preparation method, but maybe sear the veggies a bit more.  The garnish can be left out completely as it felt like eating strands of grass.

Chicken and White Bean Chili

Chicken and White Bean Chili

I love me a good chili!  I usually just used the packaged seasonings and made it with beef and whatever else I felt like tossing in at the time.  When I came across this recipe, I jumped at the chance of getting away from the norm.

Based on reviews, and to keep things in the same color scheme, I went with red bell pepper instead of green.  I chose petite diced tomatoes and cut the quantity in half.  I left out the tomato paste and bean juices altogether.  I rinsed my beans well and added a half a cup of water to compensate.

To get the flavors to really stew together, I simmered the chili on low for about 2 hours.  When I was happy with it, I reduced it a bit for less watery consistency.

The resulted dish turned out amazing.  It didn't even need cheese and I LOVE cheese, almost as much as Rocky from Chip and Dale.  It had that melt-in-your mouth feeling with a little bit of a kick to spice things up.