At least four other people rode their bikes to work today. So, in the grand scheme of things, it’s not monumental that I rode my bike to work today, but in my little world it was super exciting. And what was more exciting than that was that I rode it to work toting my April Cupcake Hero entry: Prickly Pear Lemon Cupcakes.

There was some definite engineering that happened before this bike ride began this morning. I have a front basket on my bike, so it seemed logical that I tie them to that. I also choose a cupcake caddy that had deep wells, so that they would stay in place during the journey. But the best plans don’t always work out. Some where between Chandler and Gilbert the sidewalk/bike lane literally ended and I had to go off road. You can see that there were a few of them that took a tumble.

But it was actually fun watching them bounce around. By the time I made it to the office, they had all bounced upside down and right side up again. And that caddy stayed in place the whole way. It was interesting for me to see how many different ways I could go green with this challenge. Here’s some of the eco-friendly things that went into these babies:

• Choose a prickly pear product that was bottled within 100 miles of Phoenix (eat local)
• Selected locally grown lemons from a local farmer’s market (eat local)
• Used silicone cupcake cups rather than using paper (reduce/reuse)
• Rode my bike to work to transport these little babies to the office (reduce)

Prickly Pear Lemon Cupcakes

These cupcakes were so moist and the lemon flavor zinged. I think I am officially hooked on prickly pear syrup (margaritas and iced tea posts here). The flavor is subtlety sweet. I choose a lemon cake recipe from Chockylit and made a simple butter cream and added in the prickly pear syrup. I chose this frosting because I wanted the prickly pear taste to stand out and I see a buttercream like a good paint primer, it’s a frosting that helps whatever you mix in really stand out.

Lemon Cupcakes
12 regular cupcakes / 350 degree oven

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
½ cup milk
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
zest of one lemon

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
2. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until incorporated.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Measure out milk and vanilla.
5. Add flour mixture and milk alternatively, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
6. Mix in lemon juice.
7. Fill the ice cream cones about 1/2 inch from the top (just over the lower ridge). Tap the cones to ensure the batter fills the bottom. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.

Note: The batter makes 12 regular cupcakes.

This is my April 2008 Cupcake Hero Entry for Earth Day!

Sara and Pat flew down for breakfast this morning from Tucson. The last time Pat attempted a visit I had to rescue him from Eloy’s covert Guinea Pig farms. So, a simple breakfast sounded nice. We met at Hangar Cafe, which is the diner style restaurant at the Chandler Airport. Not many (any) of my friends have babies except for Sara, so it’s always fun to see how fast the tot is growing and how fast he move.

They’ve conditioned him from birth to be in the air. Sara was 7 months pregnant and franticly trying to finish her private pilot’s license before she gave birth. Me on the other hand, if the commercials switch too quickly on the television I get a little queasy.

But I couldn’t resist an invitation to go up in the air and Pat is an excellent pilot. It was really a great experience. Pat was good about walking us through our safety briefing, explaining the instrument panel and letting everyone feel like they were taking part in the adventure.

I know I was green the whole trip, but I was so much fun going up with them. They’re so passionate about flying and made such an effort to make me as comfortable as possible. And as for the tot, do you think we already know what he’s going to be when he grows up?

I love that I’m 30 years old and my parents still take the time to send me an Easter basket. Today my whole family is in Texas, cooking a big Easter lunch, hiding eggs for the two who are still young enough to hunt them and going to the Lake to try to get some hint of a tan.

There’s something that has always been deceptive about sunshine, Easter and tanning for us. It’s this time of year that it’s sunny enough that the lure of brighter days tease that it might be warm enough to actually get some sunshine and start working out the gray that’s set in over the past 3 months. And it never fails that after Easter lunch, someone will say, “Hey. Let’s head out to the lake and lay out for a bit.” And it never fails that we get swim bags put together, drive out to the lake and get settled out on the pier, only for 20 minutes to pass before the first person says, “Hey. I’m going to head inside.” It’s not long after that one by one we all start to head back into the house.

Since I’m too old to hunt Easter eggs and I’m not going to be around any kiddos today, I didn’t dye any this year. But I have been craving egg salad and today seemed as good as any to make some for lunch this week. Egg salad is simple, so paying attention to the quality of the components is important.

Boiling eggs as you can imagine is pretty fundamental when making egg salad. When prepping to boil the eggs, set them out for 10-15 minutes to help take the chill off of them. This will help ensure that they boil evenly through out. Put enough water in pot so that all the eggs are submerged in water. Bring the water to a rolling boil and add the eggs. For a hard boiled egg, it only needs to boil for 10-12 minutes depending on the size egg. (Soft boil eggs require 4 minutes for runny, 5 for medium and 6 for a partially firm yolk). When they’re finished cooking run cool water over them and I allow mine to sit for a few minutes in the cold water. Crack and peel. And don’t be fooled you can over boil and egg.

Easter Egg Salad
Makes 2 big sandwiches

5 hard boiled eggs (coarsely chopped)
1/4 cup mayonnaise (homemade if you have it)
1/2 juice of a lemon
1 t yellow mustard
salt and pepper to taste.

Combine all ingredients and serve on a sandwich or crackers.

And in case you were wondering, it’s 65 degrees in Central Texas today.

I’ve always heard that you can tell that a girl’s from Texas if she can drink beer. Most people equate Lone Star Beer with The Lone Star State, but a beer that I’m finding more often outside of Texas is Shiner Bock beer. In college Shiner was elite keg party beer. Usually the Shiner keg was tucked away and you had to be invited to have some. Now that I’m gainfully employed; I can get Shiner whenever I want.

Shiner, TX is a small town about an hour to 90 minutes east of Austin. The population of the town is about 2,500 which is  about the same size of the town I grew up in. Do you know that kind of place? There was a time in high school that my friends and I sat at the lunch table and named everybody in the room (first and last name). That’s a small town!

This St. Patrick’s Day I wanted to make Irish Stew, but as I was mixing and simmering in the kitchen I started to deviate from the recipe and ended up with what I’m calling, Shiner Bock Stew.

From the Shiner website, they describe their beer as:

Shiner Bock is a distinctive, rich, full-flavored, deep amber-colored beer. Its handcrafted brewing process creates an inviting smooth taste without the excessive bitterness that characterizes many micro, specialty and imported beers.

Shiner Bock Stew

32 oz Beef broth
2 Bottles Shiner Bock Beer
1 T garlic
1 T dry Thyme
2 T tomato paste
2 lbs stew beef
1/4 c oil
3 lbs yellow potatoes (chopped about 1/2 inch slices)
1 lg yellow onion (diced)
2 c chopped carrots (chopped)

For the broth
Brown the beef in soup pot with oil. Add beef broth, beer, garlic, thyme and tomato paste in large soup pot.

For the other ingredients
Brown potatoes, onion and carrots in large skillet for about 10 minutes. Add veggies to beef broth.

To finish
Allow to cook for 40 minutes. Tastes better the next day.

One of my favorite Phoenix blogs is Lunch Bucket Bento. Lisa and crew are a bento toting, Daring Baking group. A few times a week, she posts snapshots of what I believe are the coolest lunches in town. Sometimes her posts are a simple list of what was packed and other times, she shares simple, but delicious recipies.

My work routine has changed this past quarter and my plans to ride the bus one day a week haven’t been working out. So, in thinking about how I can change just one thing in my day to help out Mama Earth, I’ve been taking my lunch to work more. I’ve been pretty good these past few weeks and as I was packing my lunch, I kept thinking how useful a bento box would be.

This weekend I acquired my very own bento box! I’m so freakin excited and it’s so much fun thinking about how much flavor I can pack in on little box!

This week I’m working through a batch of Sonoma Chicken Salad and Cantaloupe with Chili Powder and Honey.

I don’t know what website I was trolling when I saw this simple recipe for Cantaloupe with Chili Powder and Honey, but it’s super tasty and has really hit the spot this week.

Cantaloupe with Chili Powder and Honey

1 Cantaloupe (balled)
2 t locally harvested Honey and Mint
1-2 t chili powder

Method:
Mix it all together and enjoy!

Mayday! Mayday! Keesha I’ve had to make an emergency landing in Eloy and I need your help. That’s how my Saturday night started. My BFF’s husband Pat was flying a super secret mission over Eloy and had to make an emergency (thank God, not crash landing) unexpectedly.

It’s only now that the mission has been declassified that I can even speak of it to you. You see Patric has special training in spotting and obliterating highly illegal Guinea pig farming communities. The work he does for mankind really is quite amazing and he’s that silent hero type. You see the explotation of these small creatures doesn’t often make mainstream news, but these little guys are often exploited as small pint sized Border crossing patrolmen. This program is being tested as an alternative to putting up that big $20Billion dollar wall.

So, this mission was highly important and secret. And, it’s only been now 8 years since he graduated from the Air Force Academy and two deployments overseas later had prepared him for this critical mission. It was during this flight that he was going to have to battle a local militant group of Flying Elvis’s- Eloy Chapter.

I don’t know what happened up there in that big blue sky my friends. All I know is that somewhere between the Timberwood Saloon and the railroad tracks, I found Pat on the side of the road eating beef jerky.

Sweat equity. That’s how I’m approaching this next year with the Junior League. For those of you not so familiar with the JL, it’s a women’s volunteer group and our purpose is to engage in activities that help to build our community.

Activities can involve hands on volunteer hours, fundraising events and bonding with other women. This year, I’m going to try to dive in just a little deeper and work a little harder in the community.

I’m falling in love with the idea of helping however I can with these Junior League programs:

Phoenix Day-Phoenix Day has grown into one of Arizona’s most innovative and progressive child learning centers, today providing low-cost child care and health services for 3,500 children and working families. By offering subsidized childcare and early education programs, as well as free health screenings, referrals and meals, Phoenix Day helps families better meet the challenges of daily life.

Girl Scouts First Saturday- First Saturdays targets girls ages 5-12 from economically challenged and ethnically diverse neighborhoods in the East Valley. What started as a pilot program at one location five years ago serving 295 girls has grown to four locations and serves 500 girls a year. Current program locations are Tempe, Chandler and Mesa.

 Journey of Me- The Junior League of Phoenix and Arizonans for Children have teamed up to capture and document the life history of foster children in Phoenix. These books often provide the only history of a foster child’s life. In addition to documenting their life history, Life Books help foster children to focus on the positive and establish goals.

If you want to find volunteer opportunities in your community try volunteermatch.com or if you’re a woman who lives in the Phoenix Valley and want to consider joining the Junior League leave me a note.

19:25 hours in the car HURTS and doing it straight is INSANE.

I did learn some things from from listening to AM radio in the middle of the night driving through West Texas.

• Grown men have conversations about BigFoot versus Werewolves.
• Listen to John Birch Society commentary; And get scared.
• Learn the difference between a meteor, meteorite, meteoroid

I hope everything is getting back on track for you, 20 hour drive or not. Yawn.

This is the first Holiday in a LONG time that I haven’t gone crazy being away from the office. I’ve taken extended time off, almost a whole two weeks. Yes, I have checked in a few times, but not obsesevely.

What’s been keeping me busy? Family, friends and a new venture I’ll reveal more about later.

In my house, I’m the oldest grandchild at 30 and as a group we’re all getting older and there are some traditions that have been in my family since my mom and aunts were little girls. The most important: Reading the Night Before Christmas as a family.

This tradition was fun and created anticipation as a child. As an adult, mixing in a little egg nog can make it fun, but in a more grown up kinda way.

Here’s a recipe my Aunt Betsy used this year to feed an army on Christmas morning, but it’s so easy and prepares so easily, that I plan on using it the next time I have guest staying over for the weekend.

Sausage Potato Bundt

2 T. dry breadcrumbs

2 lb. breakfast sausage

½ c. chopped onion

½ c. chopped roasted bell peppers, drained

4 c. shredded hash browns, thawed

2 c. shredded cheddar cheese

14 eggs

½ c. milk

1 t. salt

¼ t. pepper
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Generously butter a 10 or 12-cup bundt pan and sprinkle with breadcrumbs. 
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook sausage and onion until sausage is no longer pink.  Drain very well.  Add peppers, cheese and hash browns.  Mix well. 

In a large bowl, stir together eggs, milk, salt, and pepper.  Mix well.  Spoon sausage mixture into egg mixture.  Pour into prepared pan; press firmly.  Bake at 400 degrees for 55 to 65 minutes.  Cover loosely with foil for the last 10 minutes or so, if needed to prevent over-browning the top.  Casserole is done when knife inserted in center comes out clean.  Let stand 5 minutes.  Loosen edges, then invert onto plate.  10-12 servings.  May cut recipe in half and use a 6-cup bundt pan or an 8” x 8” pan.  

Happy New Year Y’all! I’m big on tradition and for New Year’s I must have black eyed peas. I found this recipe to help make up for the fact that most black eyed pea soups call for a ham bone and I don’t have one handy.

This salsa is so refreshing and light and flavorful and it was a perfect snack after hiking Camelback Mountain’s Echo Trail yesterday. And not to brag, but temperatures were in the mid 70s, sky was crystal blue and this is the type of weather that makes you happy that you live in Arizona.

I think Carey and Corey were a little sun-struck too! We did a bit more sight seeing, had a margarita in Old Town Scottsdale and then headed home to grill dinner. Look at the love birds. Holding hands and hiking.

Texas Caviar
Active Prep Time 10 minutes/ Inactive 3 hours

1 can black beans, drained
2 cans black eyed peas, drained
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 pint plum tomatoes, quartered
4 stalks scallions, diced
cilantro to taste
8 oz zesty Italian dressing
salt and pepper

Mix all ingredients and allow to marinate for at least 3 hours.

Variations: Add jalapeños, green chilies, garlic.

Other recipies:

Old San Antonio Texas Caviar 

Texas Caviar 

Grandma’s Texas Caviar 

Cowgirl Hall of Fame Texas Caviar