Organic "Red Velvet" Beet and Sweet Potato Cupcakes with Rosemary Mint Buttercream Icing

(Made 18cupcakes)

The original recipe I tweaked was from the October 2012 issue of Sunset magazine (pg89). I wanted to use wheat, and not as much(or refined) sugar or oil (since I was topping it with a sugary buttercream icing) as the original recipe hence the use of a sweet potato, honey and yogurt. I also thought that orange would compliment this well and help to blend the stronger flavor if the beets. I dare say it was a success. Kind of tastes like a orange spice cake with cool indiscernible tasty good accents.

The icing kinda came together since I just happened to buy rosemary and mint at the farmers market and it sounded good. Haha. I love beets and sweet potatoes roasted with rosemary, so the idea of sweetening it and mixing it with butter just made sense ;)

The fruit, veggies, and herbs came from the farmers market, everything else, except cinnamon, was at the co-op :)

Cupcakes:

4 small beets (abt 7 1/2 ounces) roasted, peeled, and puréed. Use all red if you want true bright red cake (fyi, might create a stronger beet flavor), I mixed 3 yellows and 1 red for a red batter (Instagram helped them be more dramatic with the end batter, because after adding the yogurt, they tinged more pink). Cooked however, they were pinkish orange.
1 medium sweet potato roasted, peeled, and puréed
2cups whole wheat pastry flour
2tsp baking powder
1tsp kosher salt
1/2tsp ground cinnamon (only non organic thing in the mix, I haven't re stocked all the spices with the O version yet, emphasis on the word yet!).
3 whole eggs, slightly beaten
1/3 cup raw honey (wild flower was my flavor ;)
1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt
Juice and zest of 1 medium navel orange (about 2tbs juice, 1tsp zest)

Preheat oven to 350.

Sift flour, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon together and set aside.

Mix all wet ingredients together, this included the puréed goodness and zest.

Fold in (fancy term for mix gently) dry ingredients in 3 stages, folding so the wheat doesn't get feisty and start to dense up on ya, until all the ingredients are well incorporated.

In paper lined or greased muffin tins scoop batter until cups are 2/3 full.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick come out clean and cake is springy. Mine cooked for 23minutes, but start gauging them at 20 just in case out ovens are different.

Cool COMPLETELY on a wire rack after taking them out of pan (the residual heat in the pan combined with cupcake heat can keep cooking them and dry them out).

They tasted pretty amazing with a little butter and honey, but were oh so much better with the icing. See recipe two lines down ;)

Icing:
1/2 cup cooling salted butter (if there is such a thing as cooling. Lol. If its too warm the icing won't get stuff enough and you'll end up putting in more powdered sugar than necessary to get it to thicken. Whereas if its too cold, you won't be able to whisk it. Go for "out of the fridge for about 10min" and help break it up with a butter knife before whisking kind of cool)
2 cups of confectioners sugar aka powdered sugar.
1tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary (if trying it with dried, automatically cut it down to 1/2tsp and possibly rehydrate it a little so you won't have crunchy bits in the icing ;)
1tbs of finely chopped fresh mint (go with the same rule if using dry and cut it in half)
2tsp-1tbs milk (you could rehydrate the rosemary in this before adding them)

Whisk (I use a handheld electric mixer with a whisk attachment on medium high) the butter and sugar together until it starts to look like really fine crumbles (it'll make sense once ya start). Then add milk, A LITTLE AT A TIME (no joke, it can turn runny quick) until the frosting pulls together and stats to get fluffy (again, it'll make sense when you see it). Once at this stage, add the herbs and taste :)

I used and small offset spatula, but a butter knife would work too, and spread each cupcake with about 2tsp of icing. This is totally enough icing for these cupcakes, so spread it thinner if you don't have enough by the time you get to 18.

I hope you try them, or find the fun in creating your own healthier version of those "guilty" pleasures.

This creation.., I had NO guilt eating *grin*

If I left anything out or ya need more explaining, please comment below.

Farmers Market April 4

Farmers Market

Cabbage
Red Leaf Lettuce
Spinach
Swiss Chard
Yellow Beets
Radishes
Tomatoes
Red Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Carrots
Rosemary
Apple Mint

Co-Op
Organic Whole Milk
Organic Cherry and Blueberries spreads
Organic fresh ground Peanut Butter
Organic Corn Meal

Plans this week will includes

Ethiopian fare: Tikil-Gomen (cabbage, carrots, and potatoes spiced with turmeric) - I might venture making Injera, the sour pancake type bread, otherwise its being eaten with a grain.

Salads everyday for lunch (utilizing the radishes, and tomatoes for sure)

Sweet potato and Lentil something ;)

Swiss Chard, Spinach and roasted Carrots with polenta

And Tuesday I'll be making Beet Birthday Cupcakes!!
(They look like red velvet when you use red beets, I'm going for bright yellow/orange and not as strong of a flavor with the yellow) The recipe is in the Organic Gardening magazine and it looks tasty! I'll try a rosemary mint buttercream icing too ;)

Creamed Kale and Swiss Chard

Farmers Market:
Lemon (1/2, juiced, about 1 1/2tbs)
Garlic (2cloves, minced)
Dill (2tbs chopped)

Co-Op:
Curly Kale (1large bunch, torn with stems removed)
Swiss Chard (1 large bunch, torn with stems removed)
Organic Sour Cream [only 2 ingredients, cream and culture] (2 heaping tbs, so probably 3tbs ;)
Shallots (1 bulb, thinly sliced)
Pecans (1/2 cup chopped)
Dried Rosemary (1tbs chopped)

Costco:
Organic Olive Oil [great buy today, 2qts for 13.99] (2tbs)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat up a large sauté pan on medium high, add oil, shallot, and garlic. Cook until shallots start to soften and are getting brown. Add Kale first since its a heartier green, after a minute of sautéing(when Kale is slightly wilted and brightening in color) add Swiss Chard and lemon juice. Cook additional minute.

Turn off heat then add sour cream, pecans, rosemary and dill. Salt and pepper to taste and enjoy.

Veggie Chow Mien with an Orange, Peanut, Ginger Sauce

Seriously, I know it sounds like a weird combo, but it tasted good! I would have went with a plum flavor for my fruit, but I had an orange so I went with it.

Farmers Market:
Onion (1 small onion thinly sliced)
Orange (zest and juice of 1)
Garlic (2cloves minced)

Co-Op:
Broccoli (2floret heads, I chopped up the stem after trimming it a little too)
Carrots (1lg or 2 medium diced)
Celery (1 stalk chopped)
Flax Seed (1tbs ground)
Sesame Oil (2tbs)

Asian Market:
Soy Sauce (2tbs)
Wheat Chow Mien Noodles (quantity depends on which kind of noodle you use, but the veggies make 4 servings worth)
Red Pepper Flakes (1-2tsp depending on your liking of heat)

I also used the beef broth (3/4 cup) I made for the soup last week.

Cook noodles per package directions (I haven't adventured into making my own Asian noodles yet. Someday I'll give ya that recipe too :)

In a large sauté pan heat oil and put in onions, garlic, stems of broccoli and carrots. Cook until carrots start to brighten in color and soften. Add celery, broccoli florets, broth, zest, oj, soy sauce, and red pepper flakes.

Once broccoli cooked, turn off heat and add flax to thicken sauce; then add cooked drained noodles and coat with sauce and veggies. It would be tasty with rice too.

Essential Spices in my kitchen:

ESSENTIAL (I had to capitalize it because I use all of them on almost a weekly basis;) Spices in my kitchen:

Kosher Salt
Fresh Cracked Pepper
Red Pepper Flakes
Garlic Powder
Ground Cumin (I keep whole cumin seeds too because I love it that much ;)
Rosemary
Basil
Thyme
Dill
Sage
Bay Leaves
Fennel Seeds
Ginger Powder (not pictured)
Curry Powder (I'm a yellow powder fan, but green & red are good too)
Turmeric
Paprika
Chili Powder
Cayenne
Ground Cinnamon
Whole Nutmeg (I also have pre ground nutmeg, but usually opt to grate some fresh because I love the smell!)

Co-op finds March 13

This weeks meals will include:

Red Leaf Lettuce
Curly Kale
Carrots
Celery
Baby Spinach
Broccoli
Onions
Shallots
Bananas
Pecans
Tomatoes
Red Swiss Chard

Salad with Spiced Berry Vinaigrette

Farmers Market:
Red Leaf Lettuce (about 2cups torn or 1 head)
Celery (1stalk, chopped)
Roma Tomato (1/2, diced)
Fuji Apple (1 small, sliced)
Dates (6 de-seeded, chopped)
Lemon (juiced 1/2, about 1 1/2tbs)
Honey (about 2tsp)

Co-Op:
Organic Olive Oil (6tbs)
Whole Raw Almonds (1/4 cup chopped and toasted)
Organic Super Fruit (bluberries, cranberries, cherries, and red grapes) Spread (2tbs)
Turmeric Powder (1tsp)

Salt and Pepper to taste.

The salad combo was amazing, but any combo of crunch and mild greens (I think spicy or bitter greens could be good) would work.

You decide on your salad fixins' I'll give ya the directions for the vinaigrette to top it :)

In a small bowl whisk together oil, lemon juice, berry spread, turmeric and honey. Add salt and pepper to taste and there you be :)

Super easy and super tasty. You can always change up oil, acid, heat and fruit combo to get a different flavor for the toppings you have :) experiment it's fun!

Let me know what you try it and if ya like it.