Chocolate Velvet Birthday Cupcakes

Happy (belated) Birthday Hubby! 

Words can't begin to express how lucky I am to have such an amazing man in my life. He is kind, caring, supportive, everyone loves him and most importantly, he LOVES my food! As Ryan dives into the last year of his 20's, he celebrates friends, family and things that are important to him. It is amazing how things come into perspective as you grow older.

We have been together for nearly 10 years, something that we find hard to believe. We met in college during our freshmen year through mutual friends. The journey has been unforgettable, going from this....

After 6 months of dating!!

to this...

After 1 year of marriage and 9 years together!!

Chocolate Velvet Cupcakes

His birthday just happened to also be Oscar day!! We decided to throw a little Oscar party to celebrate. The champagne was flowing, bets were made for the "Oscar Pool," and "red" velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting were consumed. I say "red" because I was unaware of how much food coloring was required to actually make them red. In my mind, I just thought there was some sort of red ingredient that naturally turned the batter red....but, no! That is fine with me, because food coloring creeps me out. So I made chocolate velvet cupcakes instead with cream cheese frosting. Hop on over to Foodiecrush, where she admires the recipe from Cucina Marie.

Red Velvet Cupcakes from Cucina Marie

Cream Cheese Frosting from Cucina Marie

Vegetable Tempeh Curry

Last year, Ryan and I started experimenting with Indian spices and flavors. Our favorite dish, which is also the most popular, is Tikka Masala. Unfortunately, this is not a very forgiving dish for the waistline. 

In true Jessica Kettler fashion, I embarked on a journey to recreate the recipe so my beloved husband and I can enjoy it and not feel so guilty!

Curry is a flavor that I am much more comfortable cooking with now after posting a few recipes on the blog:

• Curry Egg Salad
• Curry Broccoli Couscous
• Lentil Soup with Curried Brown Butter
• Moroccan Salad with Mango Yogurt Dressing

Searching through several recipes didn't leave me with a good sense of basic ingredients that I could easily substitute for healthier ones. I increased my search and came across a curry recipe on 101 Cookbooks that resembled the taste and texture of Tikka Masala sauce that I was looking to mimic. This was the perfect starting point since I love both Heidi's writing style and recipes. Obviously the biggest difference here is that there is no meat! I thought the tempeh was a great substitution for a veggie-friendly dish. However, chicken could easily be substituted in (see notes below).

Vegetable Tempeh Curry

Adapted from 101 Cookbooks recipe Yields: 4-6 servings
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes

4 cups of vegetables (suggestions: cauliflower, sugar snap peas, broccoli, zucchini, Brussels sprouts)
½ yellow onion
1 large shallot
1 T ghee (or butter)
1 T olive oil
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp curry powder
½ tsp turmeric
1 tsp cayenne (reduce amount for less heat)
1 15.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes (no salt added)
¼ cup water
2 tsp red curry paste
½ tsp salt
¼ cup plain Greek yogurt
2 Portabella mushroom caps, cut into ½-inch pieces
8 ounces tempeh, cut into ½-inch pieces

To prep ingredients, start with the vegetables. Steam the four cups of vegetables until almost to the desired doneness. 
In a small bowl, blend the cumin, curry powder, turmeric and cayenne.

In another small bowl, combine the red curry paste and water and stir until well combined. 

In a large skillet, melt the butter in the olive oil, add the onion and shallot. Cook over medium heat until slightly translucent, about 7 minutes. Stir in the spice mixture, then after about 30 seconds, stir in the tomatoes, red curry water mixture, and ½ tsp salt. Remove from heat, stir in the yogurt and blend with a hand blender. Note: you might need to transfer it to a bowl to puree, then return it to the skillet.

Once the curry is back in the pan, add the mushroom and tempeh and bring to a low simmer. Let this cook for 5 minutes and then stir in the steamed vegetables until everything is coated in the curry sauce. Cook another 5 minutes covered on low heat.


Note: If using chicken, sauté in the large skillet with heated olive oil until mostly cooked through. Remove from the skillet and set aside. Don't wash out the skillet and then melt the butter in the olive oil and cook the onions and shallots.

This can be served over fresh spinach, quinoa, couscous, any type of rice or with a toasted piece of naan.

Chocolate Baked Doughnuts

2400 calories, 12 doughnuts, 5 miles, 1 hour. That was the challenge.

When you live with a runner, it's only a matter of time before you become a runner. Ryan jumped on the bandwagon last fall and finished his first race this weekend! Yay! Go Hubby!!

This race didn't only involve running, but eating as well. The Krispy Kreme challenge is an annual event held in Raleigh that challenges not only your physical ability, but your stomach strength as well. 

Probably the worst idea for a race, but it started with a few NC State students on a dare.  The race is now one of the largest charity races in North Carolina (not to mention a great shout out for Krispy Kreme).

Two of our closest friends drove up to run in the race with us. Jordan decided to partake in the dozen doughnut consuming aspect of the race, but Nancy and I were smart, we just ran and watched everyone be miserable!

Since Nancy and I stick to a gluten-free diet, it was only fair that we get doughnuts too! So I made these chocolate gluten free doughnuts for us to enjoy! I know, most people hear gluten free and run, but honestly these were amazing!

Since this was my first time making doughnuts (thanks for the baking dish bro), I did a little research to get started. I found inspiration at Running To The Kitchen, another fantastic healthy food blog that provides a lot of raw, gluten free and Paleo recipes. I started with a recipe for Chocolate Baked Donuts and went from there.

These were a great guiltless treat after the race. Here's to having your doughnuts and eating them too!

Chocolate Baked Doughnuts (Gluten Free)
Adapted from Running to the Kitchen Chocolate Donuts
Yields: 10 doughnuts
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10-12 minutes
3/4 cups almond meal/flour
1/4 cup raw cacao powder (or unsweetened cocoa powder)
1/4 tsp baking soda (gluten free)
pinch of salt
3 eggs (separated)
3 T melted coconut oil or melted butter
4 T honey (add more for sweeter doughnut)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp espresso powder

Preheat the oven to 350F and lightly grease a donut pan.

In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, cacao, baking soda, espresso powder and salt. In two smaller bowls, separate the eggs putting the whites in a slightly larger bowl. Set the whites aside and add the melted coconut oil, honey and vanilla to the egg yolks. Whisk to combine and add to the dry ingredients bowl, stir to combine.

Beat the egg whites with a hand held mixer until light and fluffy. Fold the egg whites into the batter until just combined. Pour the batter into a large Zip-loc bag or piping bag and squeeze the batter into the donut pan, about 2/3 full. Bake for 10-12 minutes, remove from the pan and cool before eating.