Gluten-Free Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

The first time we made these, we gobbled them up so quickly we forgot to take a picture. So, ummm, you’ve been warned about their delicious and slightly addictive nature. Enjoy!

(Adapted from glutenfreeville.com)

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup pumpkin

¾ cup brown rice flour

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp cloves

¼ tsp ginger

For the frosting:

4 oz. reduced-fat cream cheese

½ cup powdered sugar

3 tbsp butter (at room temperature)

1 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 375º and spray muffin tins with cooking spray.

2. Beat eggs and sugar together.

3. Add pumpkin, flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and ginger to the eggs and sugar. Beat together.

4. Pour batter into muffin cups and bake 13-15 minutes.

5. Whip the cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter and vanilla together until it’s well-combined and frosting-like.

6. When the cupcakes are cool, smother them with frosting.

Grilled Corn on the Cob

We may be way too dependent on corn, as Michael Pollan says, but fresh-picked local corn is DAMN GOOD, especially on the grill.

(Our friend Leah taught us this method.)

corn on the cob (unshucked)

1. Place corn in a large pan and cover with water. You may need to put a plate on top of the corn to keep it from floating to the surface. Let soak for about an hour.

2. Trim any excessively long silk threads and place the corn on a medium hot grill. Cover.

3. Flip the corn after about 20 minutes. Cook another 20 minutes and remove from heat.

4. Shuck (when it’s cool enough to do so) and eat. You don’t even need butter!

Veggie Burgers with Caramelized Onions, Goat Cheese and Balsamic Glaze

These scrumptious burgers are made with lentils and quinoa, but let’s face it, if you were to offer a “lentil quinoa burger” to a carnivore, they’d run.

(Adapted from Women’s Health)

½ cup quinoa

1 19oz can lentils, rinsed

½ cup gluten-free breadcrumbs

1 egg, lightly beaten

2 cloves garlic, chopped

½ cup walnut pieces

juice of half a lemon

1 tbsp butter

2 onions, thinly sliced

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

crumbled goat cheese

balsamic glaze (or balsamic vinegar reduced into balsamic glaze)

1. Combine quinoa and 1 cup of water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes or until quinoa is cooked. Set aside to cool.

2. While the quinoa simmers, melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and cook until they’re translucent, 4-5 minutes. Add brown sugar and balsamic vinegar. Stir. Reduce heat to medium low and cover the pan. Cook for about 30 minutes, peeking every once in a while.

3. Preheat grill to medium.

4. In a large bowl, combine the cooled quinoa, bread crumbs, egg, garlic, lemon juice and half the lentils.

5. Place quinoa mixture in a food processor and mix until it becomes well-combined mush. Add the walnuts and the rest of the lentils and pulse until they’re incorporated.

6. Form the quinoa mixture into patties, brush both sides with olive oil and slap ‘em on the grill. Cook for 4 minutes per side.

7. Serve each burger with caramelized onions and crumbled goat cheese and drizzle with balsamic vinegar.

Maple-Roasted Hakurei Turnips and Sweet Potatoes

Before our first CSA pickup of the year, I’d never heard of a hakurei turnip. In fact, I’m not sure if I’d ever even eaten a turnip of any kind (or if I’d ever had a desire to eat a turnip). I certainly had no idea how to cook them, but of course, the fabulous Laughing Stock Farm Cookbook had a suggestion. Roast them with oil, rosemary and salt, it said. I did it and I didn’t really like them. At first, they were yummy, kind of like potatoes roasted with rosemary, but then there was another taste that overpowered the savory taste of the rosemary. It wasn’t until a friend mentioned that she’d roasted them with sweet potatoes that I realized that it was the sweet aftertaste that had bothered me. And what do we do with sweet things? We cover them in maple syrup, of course.

Seriously, these are delicious, which is a good thing because it seems like these turnips will be in season all summer.

Hakurei turnips (just the white parts), diced

Sweet potatoes, peeled and diced

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp maple syrup

1. Preheat oven to 425º.

2. Combine hakurei turnips all ingredients in a large bowl and toss to make sure the vegetables are coated.

3. Pour the contents of the bowl onto a rimmed baking sheet.

4. Roast for 20-30 minutes (until the turnips and potatoes are pokeable and slightly brown).

Pepper Photo Shoot

Lime Ice Cream

We made this last night. Temperatures had finally fallen into the 80s, but the idea of eating was still rather unappealing…until I had a spoonful of this deliciousness. It’s creamy and refreshing and soooo yummy!

(Adapted from Food52)

¾ cup natural sugar

1 ½ cup heavy cream

2 tbsp grated lime zest

1/3 cup fresh-squeezed lime juice

1. Combine all ingredients and stir until the sugar is dissolved.

2. Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker (and make ice cream) or pour it into a shallow dish and freeze, stirring every once in a while.

Quinoa, Mango and Black Bean Salad

It’s been HOT in Maine for the past few days. When it’s this hot, the idea of turning on the oven is fairly repulsive. The idea of eating anything other than popsicles is also pretty gross, but eventually we get hungry enough to eat something cold and refreshing like this yummy salad.

(This recipe is adapted from Eating Well.)

1 cup quinoa

2 cups water

½ cup orange juice

4 tbsp rice vinegar

4 tsp sesame oil

2 tsp minced fresh ginger

1 mango, peeled and diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 can of black beans, rinsed

1. Pour the quinoa into a small dry saucepan and toast over medium heat, stirring often, for 4-6 minutes (until it starts smelling nutty).

2. Add water to the saucepan. Cover and bring to a simmer. Turn heat to low and cook until all the water is absorbed and the quinoa is tender, 15-20 minutes.

3. In a large bowl, whisk orange juice, rice vinegar, sesame oil and minced ginger together. Add mango, bell peppers and beans.

4. When the quinoa is done, stir it into the mango, bell pepper and bean mixture.

5. Serve as is or chill and serve.