A Ghastly To-Do List. And Halloween Cupcakes To Die For

The to-do list went on and on, even as a sense of foreboding and doubt built, as if it were The Ten Commandments. Only it outnumbered them:  

• bake 75 cupcakes for three different parties - two Halloween, one a ghoulie-girlie birthday
• decorate all said cupcakes
• attend physio for a hand injury (same hand needed for baking)
• find H1N1 clinic for adults
• fix punctured car tire (ended up replacing the thing)
• write three stories
• organize photos for another story chase up a photo assignment
• organize craft items for a school party
• deliver stuff relating to a school fundraiser
• grocery shopping
• pack and post a parcel via UPS to a keen Craigslist buyer
• pick up child and his playdate from school  

Lots of unknowns. How much would get done today? What happens if I don't finish up? How would I organize myself? How did I get myself into this mess? 

One thing I knew for sure - I had to get cracking. The eggs complied.

By the end of the day, 10.00pm to be exact, this is what I had to show for it, in terms of cupcakes anyway. 

My kitchen comes with it a butler's pantry, with a view (see the last pic) that transforms with the seasons - the autumn one is my favorite.

Happy Halloween!

 

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Chicken Stirfry with Red and Yellow Peppers and Cashew

This is one of the fall-back recipes I've kept from decade to decade. It worked as well in the BC days (before children) as it does now - the only difference being in how I use my free time (far more frivolously in those days) and is inspired by the fresh and quickly prepared 'street food' in Singapore.  It's easy, you only need the one wok, and takes 15-20 minutes from start to finish. Just put the rice in a rice cooker before you start chopping the veg and chicken fillets and watch everything come together at the end for a steamy-hot comforting meal on a cold-weather day like today. The red and yellow peppers may be substituted for green beans, broccoli or sugar snap peas. For an alternative method, check out this one on the Food Network.

• Chicken fillets, 4, sliced or cubed
• Red and yellow peppers, 1 of each, sliced long
• Dried red chillies, 4, leave them whole
• Shallots, 2 large, sliced
• Garlic, 2 cloves, chopped
• Ginger, 1 tsp worth, grated
• Soy sauce, 3 tbsp
• Brown sugar, 1/2 tsp
  
• Corn flour, 1 tsp, heaped
• Coriander, ground, 1 tsp
• Cinnamon, 1/2 tsp
• Cashew nuts, 1/2 cup, roasted
• Sesame oil, 1/2 tsp
• Canola, coconut or peanut oil, 2 tbsp
• Water or stock, as needed
• Coriander leaves/cilantro, handful
  

1. In a small bowl, combine the sesame oil, corn flour, soy sauce, brown sugar and whisk. Keep aside
2. Heat the wok, add the oil and saute shallot and chillis, adding ginger and garlic once the shallot is softened
3. Add cinnamon and coriander, saute till fragrant
   
4. Keeping the heat up, add the chicken and some of the seasoning in that bowl in step 1
5. Saute quickly till the chicken pieces plump up, adding a little stock or water if needed
6. Add the peppers, stir fry till it begins to just soften, add the rest of the seasoning, drop in half the cilantro
   
7. The juices will start to thicken at this stage, quickly add the cashews, the rest of the cilantro and combine
8. Take it off the heat and serve immediately with brown rice and a salad

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Roasted Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

It was nostalgic cooking with butternut squash recently, a much-neglected activity since the early months of weaning both my children. It has literally been years since I have picked up this fruit, preferring instead to make pies, couscous, roasted veg dishes and soups with pumpkin instead. 

Back in the day, I'd skin the Mr-Peanut-shaped, pale beige butternut, cube and steam it, then whizz it into the most attractive orange-colored puree that the children both lapped up with enthusiasm (from 7 months onwards), sometimes with pear or apple, but mostly unadulterated. There would be gallons of this, and dozens of other purees - avocado and pear, sweet potato, spinach and apple, carrot, lentil, prune and oatmeal, chickpea, apple, pear, apricot, peach, nectarine, mango. Everything would be lovingly chopped,  steamed or baked, liquidized, frozen in ice-cube trays, then popped out into neatly labeled baggies, ready for mix-n-match baby meals. By the time the kids started to eat regular food, I was exceedingly happy and grateful not to need to countenance another butternut squash again for a while.

Fast forward five years, in tribute to those memorable days, to the seasonal bounty of fruit and squash, and to the fact that both children are still good eaters, here's that puree again, reincarnated as a rich and nutty soup for the family, flavored with apple and aromatic spices.

• butternut squash, 1, skinned, chopped into a few pieces
• apples, 4, skinned, cored and halved. Drizzle with lemon juice
  
• cinnamon, 2-3 tbsp
• nutmeg, 1/2 tsp
• ginger, fresh and grated, 3 tsp
  
• vegetable stock, 3-4 cups
• celery, 3 sticks
• shallot, 1, chopped
• butter, 1 tbsp
• olive oil, 1/2-1 tbsp
• sage leaves, 2
• lemon juice, 1 tbsp
  
• seasoning

1. Preheat the oven to 420F
2. Place the butternut squash and apples, drizzled with some oil and with some cinnamon sprinkled over them, in the oven and bake about 30-40 minutes
   
3. Allow to cool and chop further
4. In a large saucepan, saute celery and onions till fragrant, add sage leaves
   
5. Add the squash and apples and stock, along with the cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg
6. Allow to simmer, about 20 mins. Remove sage leaves
   
7. Season and puree through a food processor till smooth, adding water or stock as needed
   
8. The soup may be cooled and refrigerated at this stage
   
9. Serve with a drizzle of neutral-fragrance oil (eg grapeseed) and some roasted pumpkin seeds

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Cinnamon Cupcakes

These are immensely popular with adults and kids alike. I thought I'd throw the cinnamon in instead of vanilla, betting confidently that this would keep the kids at bay. But no such luck.

Make them mini bite-size cupcakes and even the ladies on permanent diets will reach for seconds, even as they protest (feebly).

(Makes 40 regular ones, about 70-80 minis)

• eggs, 5
• butter, 2 1/2 sticks
• sugar, 2 cups
• salt, pinch
• milk, 1 1/2 cups, room temperature
• cinnamon, 1 1/2 tbsp
• wholemeal flour, 1 cup
• plain flour, 2 1/2 cups
• baking flour, 1 tbsp

1. Preheat oven to 350F (170C)
2. Cream butter and sugar till fluffy
3. Add eggs and continue blending, one by one
4. Sift together the dry ingredients
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet in about 3 goes
6. Using a tiny ice cream scoop or spoon, fill cupcake liners, leaving the top quarter free
7. Bake 10 minutes, turn the pan around and bake another 10 minutes. Cool.
8. Frost with vanilla/cinnamon icing
9. Hide them from the kids ;)
   

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