My daughter is obsessed with pink. pink. pink. pink.

… and more pink.

There are days that this neutral and earthy color loving mom can barely stand it. I mean really, there’s only so much pink that I can take.  I clinched my teeth when she said she wanted to paint her room pink, cringed when she asked Santa for a pink bicycle, and shook my head when she said I should wear a pink dress to a James McMurtry show but there is one think I will never say no to and that’s pink cupcakes.

Made with all natural ingedients and free of red#40, these Beet Orange Cupcakes are sweet, delicious, and in retrospect, more nutritious than your standered cupcake. I know what your thinking — beets…in a cupcake…that’s never going to fly with my kid sock monkey slipper girl. You may be right but like my mom says (and I’m sure yours does as well) you will never know if you don’t try it.

Beet Orange Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting are sweet, delicious, and packed with just enough beets to provide the perfect pink hue and just a touch of awesome vitamins that beets have to offer without an overwhelming beet taste. This recipe is 100% Mia (the resident 4 year old) approved but she warns that they will turn your belly into the color of a pink sunset. Thank you Pinkalicious.

Beet Orange Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting makes 12

for the cupcakes:

• 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour, sifted
• 1/2 Tablespoon orange zest
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup butter at room temperature
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup beet puree*
• 3 Tablespoons cream cheese
• 2 Tablespoons orange juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

for the icing:

• 8 ounces reduced fat cream cheese
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 Tablespoon beet puree*

beet puree:

• 1 to 2 large beets

You will need 1 cup + 1 Tablespoon of beet puree for this recipe. Since every beet is practically different at anytime of the year, I can not say an exact amount of raw beets cooked and pureed will result in exactly the amount needed. Sometimes it takes 1 beet at a certain weight to make 1 cup of puree and sometimes it doesn’t. So it never hurts to make a little extra. I find using 2 large beets for this is always good backup and if you have extra puree, freeze it for another use (like pancakes!).

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Wrap washed beets separately in foil and place on a baking sheet. Roast for 45 to 55 minutes until the beets can be pierced easily with a fork. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Unwrap the beets and under running water peel the beets with your fingers. The skin will slip right off by simply rubbing it and your fingers will not be stained because of the water. Nice tip huh?

Place the beets in a food processor or blender and puree for 1 minute until extremely smooth. Reserve 1 cup + 1 tablespoon for the recipe. Any remainder can be stored in a freezable container or bag and kept frozen for up to 3 months. This puree can be made up to four days in advance and stored in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.

Now on to the cupcakes!

Preheat oven to 325°F. In a medium bowl, combine flour, orange zest, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.

In a stand mixer, combine sugar and butter and beat on medium-high until fluffy.

Add eggs one at a time to the butter mixture and mix until combined. Then add beet puree, cream cheese, orange juice, and vanilla. Once everything is incorporated, slowly add the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Be careful not to overmix at this point or you’ll end up with a tough cupcake. PINK! This is the point where Mia starts to scream.

Line a cupcake/muffin tin with cupcake liners (I’m using parchment paper squares because they’re purdy). Using a spoon or ice cream scoop, fill the liners with the batter. Place in the oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes until cooked through (a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean). Carefully remove the cupcakes from the tin and allow to cool on a cooling rack until completely cooled.

While the cupcakes are cooling, make the frosting. In a stand or electric mixer, combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and beet puree on high until combined and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. At this point you can put the frosting in the refrigerator to set a bit or go on and start icing the cooled cupcakes. The icing can be made a day in advance.

Once the cupcakes are cooled, use a spoon or piping bag to frost the top of the cupcakes. Serve immediately.

Soooo Pinkaliciously good! With this cupcake, I don’t mind if Mia has two. Cheers!

By the way if any of y’all are wondering… the foundation of this cupcake recipe is based off of Meyer Lemon Cupcakes from The Family Meal. It’s my favorite cupcake recipe base and I use it for every cupcake recipe I make. Love it!

Recently, we packed our bags and flew to San Francisco for my best friend’s wedding. Of course, I made sure to add a few days onto the trip not for sight seeing (although the galleries and the MOMA were a must), or tourists traps, or relaxing…no I added a few days merely to taste everything San Francisco had to offer. Unfortunately, traveling with a two year old did prohibit a lot of what I wanted to explore but when I came home I was satisfied with what I accomplished.

Now, living in the middle of the great state of Texas does not lend itself to many fresh seafood meals. Not once while I was there did I get near beef, chicken or anything that once walked on land. Why would I? I mean Texas does have the best beef in the U.S. (especially 50 minutes outside of Waco at a little ranch called the Steele 308) but I’m not biased or anything. *wink, wink*  It was a flurry of fantastic seafood and sashimi and I was in heaven!

One meal that stuck out in my mind was a simple cold crab salad from Waterbar. {please note this is not Waterbar’s recipe for their Chilled Crab Salad, just my interpretation of a fabulous dish} It was a fresh and delightfully bright salad with crab, sweet roasted beets, and crisp asparagus served on top of a cool dollop of green goddess dressing that I’m still thinking about! It paired well a Sancerre or a Sauvignon Blanc but honestly I can’t remember which one it was I was drinking or liked more. Literally the moment I landed in Dallas I headed to Whole Foods and then home to recreate this tasty dish.

Most likely, the kids will have nothing to do with this selection so I’m including this recipe in the Date Night category. This can be made up to a day in advance and makes for the perfect decedent lunch or a starter salad to a great date night with the hubs, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend…or whomever you want to wine and dine at home!

Chilled Crab Salad With Roasted Beets and Asparagus
serves 2

• 2 to 3 small beets, golden or ruby or both
• 1 bunch asparagus
• 4 to 8 oz fresh lump crab meat*
• lemon zest
  
  green goddess dressing:
• 6 scallions
• 1 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh dill
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 anchovy fillets
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1 cup creme fraiche
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise

Preheat oven to 400°F.

I like to cook a lot of beets at a time when I roast so I will have some for a beet and goat cheese salad or to puree for things like this (beets make great baby food too!). I looove me some beets. looove. Anyway, wash and chop the ends off the beets.

Wrap beets in foil, place on a baking sheet and place in the oven. Roast for 50 minutes until tender (test by piercing with a fork). Allow to cool.

When beets are cooled, remove the peel by simply brushing it off with your fingers. Warning you will be left with pink stained hands from the beets. If you would rather not have oddly colored hands for the rest of the day, by all means throw on a pair of gloves or peel under running water.

With a knife, quarter beets and set aside.

Bring a large saute pan with water to a boil. With a knife, slice off the ends of the asparagus.

Place the asparagus in the boiling water and reduce heat to a medium simmer. Cook for 5 minutes just until the asparagus are tender, yet still crisp.

Immediately transfer the asparagus to a bowl of water and ice for 2 to 3 minutes or until cooled. Transfer to a plate and set aside.

To make the dressing…

Chop the scallions. Place both white and green parts into a food processor or a good blender.

Do the same with the basil, parsley, and dill and add to the scallions in the food processor.

Chop the garlic and add to the herbs into the food processor.

Add lemon juice. Now you are ready to pulse. Pulse the food processor until all of the green herby goodness is finely chopped and mixed.

Add the anchovy fillets and give the food processor another quick pulse.

Next, add the creme fraiche, mayonnaise, and salt and pepper.

Puree until all ingredients are combined and the dressing is smooth. At this point you can make all of this a day in advance, refrigerate and plate whenever you serve.

Grab your favorite plate and place a dollup of green goddess dressing in the center. On top of that add 2oz (1/4 cup or however much you desire) of lump crab meat. Note: The best crab meat is going to come straight out of the crab. But honestly I will tell you to by a pound of crab in Texas right now was way more than I wanted to pay ($24) at the moment. I will admit I used Whole Foods brand lump crab meat that came packaged in a container. No prep needed. If you do this, beware of imitation crab and if you are not sure ask your fishmonger.

To Prepare fresh crab:

1. Purchase 1 bundle of crab legs, either King Crab (recommended) or Snow Crab. A bundle is basically one half of a crab. These types of crab will always come cooked and frozen. One bundle will produce enough for 4oz. If you desire more crab meat to make this a meal, purchase two bundles.
2. To easily remove the crab from it’s shell, wrap crab legs in damp/wet paper towels and completely wrap in plastic wrap. Because King crab is so large you will need to divide to 2 legs to a bundle.
3. Place on a microwave safe plate and microwave each bundle  separately for a minute & a half on regular power. You can also use an electronic or bamboo steamer for 3 minutes. Never boil crab. It just becomes a soggy mess.
4. Remove from the microwave and allow to cool to the touch.
5. With a crab mallet or hammer, gently tap the shells of the crab legs. Holding a crab leg in your hands, break the leg in half and gently remove all of the meat you can and place in a bowl. Discard shell. Repeat with all legs and claws. Place crab meat in the refrigerator for 5 minutes to cool completely.

Place the beets (about 4 to 5 quarters per plate) and asparagus (3 to 4 spears) on the plate near the dressing. This is where you can have a little fun designing your own plate. Go for it and then send me pics. No seriously, I want to see! Send to: meredith@insockmonkeyslippers.com, or post on facebook or twitter.

Top the crab with a little lemon zest and you are ready to serve! It’s bright and flavorful. The crab is delicate and slightly sweet which contrasts nicely with the tang of the dressing and earthiness of the beets and the asparagus. A perfect and simple date night meal that will sure to impress. Enjoy.

Can you believe I didn’t take my camera with me? I don’t even know how that one happened but thanks to my phone I was able to capture two of my favorite moments in San Francisco. On the left: Mia and The Husband in Chinatown after we stopped by the Empire Bakery to have four moon cakes mostly all consumed by little miss Mia. We also have found she is a very adventurous eater. On this trip it was her first time to try and devour ox tail, mussels, calamari, lobster bisque, grilled sardines and moon cakes. On the Right: a visit to the San Francisco Modern Museum of Art where she gave an insightful critique, “I like it…it’s red.”

With today being another snow day, I wanted to be able to make a recipe that Mia could help out with and enjoy. I searched and searched and all I could come up with were cookies that I had no interest in making. But as I was scrolling through the blogs I frequent most for ideas or recipes, I found the perfect savory snack for a snowy day. On one of my favorite blogs, Smitten Kitchen, I stumbled upon and old recipe, Cheese Straws, and was immediately inspired to create these…Beet Heart Shaped Cheddar Crackers with flax seed. I choose to add beets not only to add a little healthy kick but because I had a childhood friend that was severely allergic to red dye #40. I mean it made her turn into a wild tornado of CRaZY and from the age of 5, I decided to stay far away from red food coloring. I really did think about these things when I was a kid. It is a miracle that I grew up partly sane (notice I said partly). With Valentine’s Day around the corner, Beet Heart Shaped Cheddar Crackers are the perfect simple, savory, and flaky snack for everyone!

Beet Cheddar Crackers with Flax Seed (makes 35 hearts)
inspired and adapted from Smitten Kitchen’s Cheese Straws

• 1 1/2 cups (about 6 ounces) grated extra-sharp Cheddar cheese
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened and cut into 4 pieces
• 3/4 cup flour, plus more for dusting
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
• 3 ounces (about 1/3 cup) pureed beets*
• 1 tablespoon half-and-half (I used milk, because that’s what I had)

* A quick note: If you follow this blog than you know that we still puree food even though Mia is over 2 years old. I find I can put practically every puree into anything. To puree a beet: Preheat oven to 400°. Wrap the beet in foil and place on a baking sheet to catch any juices. Place in oven and roast for 50 minutes or until you can pierce the beet with a fork. Remove and allow to cool. Peel the skin off with your hands. Quarter with a knife and place in a food processor or blender for 1 to 2 minutes until smooth. Freeze in ice-cube trays and once frozen store in freezer bags. Each cube is an ounce. Keeps for 3 months.

Preheat oven to 350°

In a food processor, combine the cheese, butter, flour, salt and the ground flax seeds in five 5-second pulses until…

the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. (You caught me, I forgot to add the flax seeds and had to add them after I added the beets).

Add the beet puree and half-and-half and process until the dough forms a ball, about 10 seconds.

On a lightly floured surface, using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough till it is 1/8-inch thick. Honestly, you could go thinner than this for a crispier texture.

With your favorite cookie cutter, I chose a heart because it’s Valentine’s Day and the dough is perfectly pink/red, but you choose whatever you want, press the cutter into the dough. Repeat until all of the dough is used up. You will have to gather, re-roll, and use the cookie cutter at least twice.

Place the hearts on an ungreased baking sheet. If you have parchment paper use it.

Place on the middle rack in the oven for 12 to 15 minutes, or until crackers are hard to the touch.

Remove from the oven and set the crackers on a rack to cool. Serve at room temperature.

Salty, cheesy goodness and seriously good. So good in fact I had to give half of the batch to my neighbors so I wouldn’t eat them all in one sitting.

seriously…good.

This is Texas. We still don’t know what to think about snow.

Recently, I was up in Dallas where there is salvation in the form of a Whole Foods. I had an amazing “salad” for lunch called Roasted Fall Harvest or something like that. I can’t really remember. But what I do remember was how simple and delicious it was. After talking to one of the Whole Foods chefs I found that it was supper easy to make and perfect for the kiddos to help out with. Mia helped by siring all of the veggies together and if we weren’t completely covered with olive oil by the end of her creation I would have snapped a pic. Try this slightly sweet side dish warm or cold and enjoy all that fall has to offer. Carrots can also be replaced with butternut squash.

Roasted Green Bean, Beets, and Carrots serves 4 to 6

• 1 large beet
• 5 carrots
• 2  large shallots
• 1 pound green beans
• 1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
• 3/4 tsp Kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 tsp honey

Preheat oven to 400°. With a vegetable peeler, peel the skin off the beet.

With a sharp knife, slice the beet into quarter inch thick bite size slices and place in a large bowl.

Peel the carrots and slice into quarter inch slices. Place the slices in the bowl with the beets.

Peel the shallots, slice in bite size pieces and place in the bowl.

Snap the tough ends off the green beans and place in the bowl with the other veggies.

This is where I have to stop and tell you that when I was a kid I was forced into child labor. True story. I’ve mentioned her before, RoRo, my beloved nanny. I really don’t like to say she was me nanny because she was almost like a second grandmother. She took care of my great-grandparents when she was a teenager, helped raise my mom’s younger siblings and then, helped raise my brother and I. Whenever I think about her I smile and tear up a little. All of my fond memories have her included somehow and this is one of them. RoRo was an amazing cook! I learned almost everything from her since my mother was a hard working mom and hardly stepped foot in the kitchen. RoRo was known for her fried pies, collard greens, and fried catfish but what I truly loved was how she cooked green beans. Maybe one day I will share the recipe when I decide to forget my ever growing behind and cook a real southern RoRo style meal. but for now I’m keeping it to myself. It was her green beans I begged for everyday. So while blueberry muffins baked in the oven, RoRo and I would sit down in the living room with a big pile of beans and a large bowl. She would turn on her stories and say, “Squirt Tail (that was her nickname for me) if I’m gonna make beans for you again you’re gonna snap’em.” So in the midst of the daily dramas of The Young and Restless I would learn the ways of love, deception, how to style my hair 20 feet high (it was the early 80′s) and snap beans. There was nothing I’d rather do and still to this day every time I snap a bean I think of my RoRo, the smell of blueberry muffins and her stories.

Ok…back to it. Pour a tablespoon of olive oil over the vegetables in the bowl.

Add the salt and pepper and mix well.

On a foil or parchment lined sheet (you don’t have too, it’s just for easy clean up) spread the vegetables out and place in oven. Roast for 20 to 30 minutes until vegetables are tender. Once finished, drizzle honey over the vegetables and mix. Serve warm or cold. Hope you enjoy this as much as we did and if you actually live in a town with a Whole Foods and don’t want to cook stop by and try this today.

Hello Mr. Beet meet ChickPea. If you have a little one that loves hummus this is a great way to sneak a little veggie in! Beets are a wonderful source for calcium, potassium, and vitamin A. All essential for brain and growth development. Chickpeas are also full of protein and fiber. Try this great as a dip for veggies, crackers, fingers or alone with a spoon. And if you have a liking towards the awesomeness of hummus, then make sure to make extra because I guarantee it will go fast! By the way this is an ideal way to reduce the fat in hummus because the beets add the moisture that the 1/2 cup of olive oil usually brings to traditional hummus!

* To make this a stage 2 (8 to 10 months) recipe you must omit the tahini and lemon juice! Lemon juice (citrus) is typically introduced after 12 months. Tahini is considered to be in the nut allergy category and should be introduced between 12 and 36 months depending on if you have a nut allergy history in your family.  Please consult your pediatrician on when the right time is to introduce nuts to your baby. This excludes your Uncle George who is just a little off his rocker. Then that is up to you.

Beet Hummus {stage 2* and 3+}

• 1 small beet, washed
• 1 can (16 oz) chickpeas or garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 garlic clove, peeled
• 1 tsp tahini* (sesame paste), optional
• 2 tsp lemon juice*, optional
• 1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 400°. Wrap the beet in foil and place on a baking sheet to catch any juices. Place in oven and roast for 50 minutes or until you can pierce beet with a fork. Remove and allow to cool.

With your hands, I wear gloves to avoid stained red hands, gently rub away the peel of the beet. With a knife,  cut both ends off of the beet and discard. Chop the beet into quarters and set aside.

Place the chickpeas and garlic clove in a food processor or blender and give it a couple of pulses to get it started.

Next add the beets, tahini*, lemon juice*, and olive oil.

Puree until smooth. If needed, add extra olive oil to reach your desired consistency. Add salt to taste if you are making this for yourself or older children.

Store in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Enjoy those little red fingers!