Butternut Squash Cupcakes

October 13, 2012

Winter squash is a staple of fall and winter produce. It’s tough skin and hard flesh makes it a perfect cold weather crop and it’s plethora of vitamins and minerals makes it a healthy fall treat.  The fun part about winter squash and pumpkins is they can be used in both savory and sweet dishes. One of my favorite squash dishes is a staple in Chef Josh Ingraham, the Executive Chef of the Dunkin Donut’s Center’s, Christmas kitchen! Maple roasted butternut squash, wrapped in sage and bacon is seriously to die for and so easy! I’ll try to get him to post his famous recipe!

I am a huge fan of Jamie Oliver’s cooking; he cooks so rustic and true to home. His cooking has finesse but isn’t fancy. One of my favorite recipes of his are his Butternut Squash Cupcakes. Unfortunately, they can be a bit heavy! A ton of oil, fatty dairy and white flour make them not something I want to bake on a regular basis. So I decided to try and make them suitable for Hippie Babies and I think I did alright. Here’s what I came up with:

Healthier Butternut Squash Cupcakes:

Makes 23-24 cupcakes

14 oz butternut squash, cubed with skin on

2 ¼ cups of light brown sugar

4 large free range eggs

1 tsp kosher salt

2.5 tsp baking powder

1 ¼ cup AP Flour

1 cup Whole Wheat Flour

¼ cup ground flax seed

1 tsp apple pie spice (or cinnamon)

½ cup apple sauce

¼ cup olive oil

1 cup organic vanilla yogurt, strained

1 orange, zested

1 lemon, zested

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla extract (I promise the vanilla bean is worth it!)

2 tbsp powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350.

In a food processor, process the butternut squash until well chopped up. (You will need to constantly scrape down the side of the bowl.)  Add in the brown sugar and eggs and pulse for a few seconds. Add in flours, flax seed, salt, apple pie spice and baking powder and a pulse a few more seconds. Last, add in the apple sauce and olive oil until well blended.

Divide the batter among muffin pans lined with cupcake paper. Bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer poked in the middle of the cupcakes come out clean.

While the cupcakes are baking, make the icing. Mix together the yogurt, vanilla bean, lemon zest, orange zest, powdered sugar and lemon juice.

Cool the cupcakes on a rack until cool to the touch. Top the cupcakes with icing and serve for a healthy treat!

What I Secretly Loved About Being Pregnant...

Me and My Love at Papago Park, Phoenix, AZ, exactly two days before my water broke!

Being pregnant definitely has its up and downs. For instance, I am pretty sure I had a fire torch in my chest my whole pregnancy and of course baby always wanted spicy Thai Food! Heartburn was the absolute worst. Restless leg syndrome keeping me up the last 2 months and being nausea every day for 15 straight weeks was by no means fun. Pregnancy led me to hate some of my former favorite foods and made me fall in love with some new ones. The smell of ramen noodles now turns me off in a second; I can’t even be in the same room with it!

                 

Then there are the things all moms love while they are pregnant. They love their glowing skin, the flutter of the baby kicking inside of them, picking out baby names and online shopping in the middle of the night. (You know you did that too!)

              

I read an article the other day with a title along the lines of, 15 Things You Never Say to Pregnant Woman. While most of them I agreed with, such as telling a pregnant woman her life is now over and to live it up now, there was one in particular I actually secretly loved while I was pregnant.

                

I loved when people told me how big I was! When I was 30 weeks pregnant, I got on the city bus in Phoenix and 3 people moved for me saying I looked like I was going to give birth that minute. I later went home and complained about it, probably even put it on face book, but secretly, inside I loved it. I loved knowing there was a growing baby inside me and my giant belly was what signified that! Yes, I felt huge, my back hurt and it was hard to walk without looking like a duck. But there was still a special feeling when people talked to me about my belly, even if it was to tell me how big I was. I was constantly asked if I was having twins and people always were surprised when I told them my due date because they didn’t think I had that much longer to go. I may get scrutinized for this secret love of mine, but that’s ok! I gained 35 pounds when I was pregnant, which in retrospect was over a third of my pre-pregnancy weight. But it was the most amazing 35 pounds I will ever gain and I would do it all over again, even if it means strangers on the bus thinking my water was going to break on their feet.

                 

What was your favorite part about being pregnant?