Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Who likes cupcakes? ..Mexican Stuffed Zucchini!

The cupcakes were made for our friend Kelly's birthday party on Tuesday evening. I stayed up past midnight Monday evening making these, whoa. There were coconut cupcakes with raspberry frosting and vanilla and vanilla-chocolate marble cupcakes with cookies and creme buttercream. I used Back to Nature cookies.Vegan with a Vengeneance chocolate chip cookies, with hazelnuts, for the office: (the molasses makes them wonderful)No true Midweek Munchies post this week. However, I bring you to the following contribution - Rice Bran Oil. We received quite a few bottles at work from a company we deal with. It's a very "clean" oil, like canola without the faux buttery ness? It's apparently the secret to awesome tempura, and is trans fat free. Anyone have any experience with this oil? I've read you can use it in baking, cooking, salad dressing..so far I've roasted and sauteed with it. Roasted local russet potatoes. These were seasoned with oregano, sea salt, pepper and paprika. Oregano was a nice change from our beloved smoked paprika crazy taters.Next up we have last night's main course - Mexican stuffed zucchini~
Perfect for the enormous zucchinis you find at the farmer's markets! Last year I made some Italian stuffed zucchini before but this was practical in the use of leftovers and canned goods we had in the cabinets.
I've had it in mind for a bit and thought it would be a great meal to go with my 2 hour lost season finale & random Hugarian wine evening. 4 toes !First, I halved the zucchini and boiled it for a few minutes. The filling started off with freshly minced garlic sauteed in rice bran oil. I added organic Muir Glen diced tomatoes, chopped zucchini innards from the boiled half (I didn't use the other half and cubed it in the fridge) and simmered for a few minutes. I then added leftover brown rice and the following spices: well, sea salt, chipotle chile powder, oregano, cumin and leftover taco hot sauce we had in the fridge. Just before I was done simmering I added black beans. Stuffed zucchini, baked for 25 minutes at 350F. Stuffed zucchini (half the zucchini went to Thomas, it was too awesome to cut and make a mess yet!), avocado sprinkled with sea salt and roasted potatoes. The tortilla chips were added for a sail boat effect.

11 comments:

Harmonia said...

I'm stuffed from just looking at these photos! Thanks for posting! Yum!

Will you be posting the cupcake recipes?

jess (of Get Sconed!) said...

Harmonia - awesome!

I used the vanilla cupcake recipe from the veganlunchbox as a basis for the cakes.

Eat Peace Please said...

Jess, you are amazing. Those cupcakes make me want to pay you to send me some. And everything else is mouth-watering. What a post!

KleoPatra said...

Jess, those cupcakes!!!!!!!!!!!! "Wowee zowee!" as Christopher Walken would exclaim. If I can get past staring at those and look at the "real food" you have posted... I think I'd rather stare at the cupcakes though...

Vicki's Vegan Vice said...

I do! I do! I'll take a coconut cupcakes with raspberry frosting! You never cease to amaze me with your cooking skills!

primaryconsumer said...

You've outdone yourself, cupcake wise. (Everything else looks awesome too.) When I first saw the pictures of the cupcakes, I thought either Isa had made them, or you were cupcake testing for the book. I should have known you came up with them. :)

Carrie™ said...

Glad you're back posting. Holy moley, do you make up for lost time! I'm feeling like I'm getting a cold, so I'm all sucky and wanting junky, rich treats to cheer me up. Cupcakes would be perfect! I'm liking the cookie ones.
Like you, I'm not a fan of the heat. Leslie was saying it's 102 in Arizona!! I'm more of a 60-70F fan. I'm afraid for the summer. I never know what to expect. But that salad with strawberries would be great on a warm day. Hell, anything with strawberries is good. OK, I'm drooling on my keyboard and I'm afraid it will short out.

Amanda said...

Alright you. With the cupcakes? Knock it off, lady! Those are so freaking adorable I want to lick my screen. I'm such a sucker for pink icing. It's just... cute.

Your roasted potatoes always look so brown and toasty and good. Also, that is one crazy huge zucchini!

Amy O'Neill Houck said...

The Zucchini boat is so cool-and of course those cupcakes look amazing... Yum!

Flo @ Yielded Heart said...

Amazing. amazing. amazing. amazing. I know, pictures are better than words.

Grace said...

There you go again, tempting me with those yummy, pretty looking cupcakes.