JM's Detox Water

Imagine this girl screaming at your face...

via tumblr

Oh lawd.

Anyways, that fine lady up there has a Detox Water recipe that claimed to help you lose up to 5lbs in excess water in 7 days... Bloated? Try it.

You will need:

• 60 oz of distilled water
• 2 tablespoon of lemon juice/water
• 1 tablespoon pure cranberry juice (unsweetened please)
• 1 bag of Dandelion tea

Put it in a jar, let it fuse in the fridge and drink up thru out the day.

I used the Yogi DeTox tea. It does have an acquired taste, but it's not too bad. I sweetened mine a bit with stevia and it's pretty fresh on a hot day. 

 

I like pretty water so I added frozen strawberries and some mint leaves. It does make the water/tea taste better & fresh. 

This recipe is all over Pinterest and I've read some blogs and they claim that this water works. I'm pretty intrigued on trying this for a week, since I feel bloated all the time.

I will let you know on an update!

hopefully-bloat-free,

Rima

Food Time: Kahlua Coffee Cupcake with Kahlua Infused Buttercream with Espresso

Alright! I've been promising and promising and promising for new food post and HERE IT IS! *fist in the air* Excuse me while I indulge myself with bread filled with Cookie Butter, Nutella and these fine bits.

Seriously, who doesn't LOVE Trader Joe's? That grinder full of awesomeness is soooo good on top of your cream cheese & toasted bagels. I can have breakfast anytime now. 

Well, tonight I'll be sharing you one of my favorite cupcakes (and a fav for my alcoholic friends... JK), The Kahlua Cupcake!!!

As I whip open my handy dandy recipe book, I realized I need to organize it better. It's so messy, full of flour and powdered sugar, it smells sweet.

got this at borders. oh how i miss that bookstore.

Let's get started! Get your bottle of Kahlua and party on.

Kahlua Coffee Cupcake with Kahlua Infused Buttercream with Espresso

adapted from multiple sources. I combined and recreate it to my own version. Woopah.

Thou shall need:

Cupcakes

• 1/2 cup butter, melted and cool
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs, at room temp
• 1 3/4 + 3 tbsp cake flour
• 3/4 cup dark chocolate cocoa powder (I'm a fan of Van Houten)
• 1 whoopin' tbsp of Espresso powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup of Hot Coffee (start with 1/4 cup first)

Preheat the oven to 350 F degrees. And line your cupcake pans with fun and pretty liners. This makes about 24 cupcakes.

In mixer bowl, with the paddle attachment, mix together butter, sugars, vanilla and eggs until completely combined for about 2 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, cocoa, espresso powder, baking soda, baking powder & salt in a large bowl.

Alternating flour and buttermilk, add the flours in thirds, beginning and ending with flour, mix in medium - low speed. Scrape the sides and only mix until combined. 

Fold in 1/4 cup of the hot coffee and mix until combined.

Fill in the liners 3/4 full and bake for 18 minutes.

Let them cool in the pans for 5 minutes then transfer those lovelies to a wire rack for about another 5 - 10 minutes.

While still warm, poke holes onto the cupcakes with a toothpick and using a brush, smother those babies with Kahlua, 2 to 3 to 4 to 5 times. Haha. A friend of mine actually told me I should just soaked them in Kahlua. Then let them cool completely and they should be ready to get frosted.

Frosting

• 1 cup (2 sticks) of unsalted butter, room temp
• 3 - 5 cups of powdered sugar, sifted (I usually end up using 4 cups)
• Pinch of Salt
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 1 tsp Kahlua (in my case, I substituted the Vanilla with an extra teaspoon of Kahlua. Yay)
• 1 tsp Hot Coffee (or, if you really love Kahlua, opt this out and add another teaspoon of Kahlua)
• 1 tbsp of instant coffee granules/espresso powder

In a mixer bowl, whip the butter until light and fluffy. One cup at a time, add the powdered sugar. Scraping the sides of the bowl after each addition & mixing until combined. Between the addition of sugar, alternate between adding the Kahlua, coffee and Vanilla (or the full 3 tsp Kahlua haha). Then mix in the coffee granules/espresso powder and whip for about another 2 - 3 minutes. If you notice your frosting is pretty thin, you may add 1/4 cup of powdered sugar at a time until you find the consistency you like. 

You may chill the frosting in the fridge until you're ready to use. Whip for a minute or two, and frost away. 

I usually garnish it with chocolate covered espresso beans, BUT that Trader Joe's Grinder above would be perfect as well.

Let's me know if any of you decided to make this. I would love some feedback :)

moonbeams & bunny kisses,

Food Time: Maple Blueberry Scones

Stars. Yes. I see stars. No I did not bump my head against the cabinet again (true story. twice!) The other day at work, a co-worker offered me a scone that she got from Target, and I told her, "Oh, I used to love making scones!" Then an epiphany happened today and I was inspired to make, er, scones. Yet I want to have fun with it so I decided to get my star cookie cutter and made star scones. It came out pretty funny... with some of the star legs crooked. Who cares. It tasted good. 

I browsed around and found this recipe from The Shoe Box Kitchen, who she adapted from Smitten Kitchen (one of my favs!).

Food Time: Chicken, Corn & Wild Rice Soup

So today was pretty chilly for a Sunday Afternoon in Southern Cali. Like really chilly. The breeze was good but it does pierce the bones, at least mine (I can't stand the cold). Couple of weeks ago I had Panera's Chicken & Wild Rice soup and ever since then I wanted to make my own version of it, so I thought today would be a great day to attempt this great soup. 

So here we go...

Food Time: Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Such a mouthful name.

So this is it. My first Recipe entry. I had so much fun making this, to the point that I forgot to get my camera and used my iPhone 4 instead. So forgive for my picture taking skills.

Anyways, it was during the Halloween-going-to-Thanksgiving weeks where I decided to browse around like a maniac (for about 2 weeks!) to find some Pumpkin Cupcake recipes and incorporated to my version of it. I always have fun in the kitchen by myself, I felt like I was in my Zen Mode. I love Yoga, but screw that, the Kitchen is my Zen. I probably will need a Bonsai Tree in my Kitchen.

The smell of all the spices as the cupcakes were in the making was so awesomely delicious, I kept on staring at my oven window like a hungry cat waiting for the mouse to come out (mkay, Tom & Jerry?). After I got the cakes out of the oven, I was literally like Homer Simpson when he thinks about beer and donuts.

The cupcake was pretty dense, but the combination of the frosting and cake in your mouth, yum-fest.

First of all, as a novice baker, I recommend a good & solid mixer. Mine is the KitchenAid 5 qt one. It's my mum's but lately I've been using it a lot. For this kick, I used the Paddle attachement.