MI Love: Cupcakes

I love cupcakes. They're dainty, small, pre-portioned, and delightful. Our senior year of college, Rebecca and I made 160 cupcakes for her sister's wedding. The guests loved it - there was more flavor variety than there would be in a tiered wedding cake, it was more cost-effective (the time was our wedding gift, and the bride comped us for the supplies), and the visual effect of that many cupcakes on a tier of antique cake plates was stunning.

A favorite cupcake recipe? These carrot cupcakes, which we made for the wedding because the groom likes carrot cake. I've made them a couple times since, and they've been just as wonderful each time.

My previous post discussed my first foray into cooking with beets. Why, you ask? Because yesterday I also ventured into the realm of red velvet cake.

I'm not a fan of Red Dye #40, and regular red velvet uses two whole bottles, but I love the visual effect of a red cake with creamy white frosting. What's a lesbian to do? When I heard about recipes using beets to achieve the vibrant red  color, I was intrigued.

I'm not sure why it's taken me so long to try this recipe - I've probably had it for two years. Someone mentioned baking cupcakes on facebook, and suddenly I had the itch to make a batch too - so I figured I'd scratch two itches with one stone. I altered the recipe slightly based on reading I'd done of a variety of recipes (some with beets and some with food dye). Here it is:

Fabulous Beet Red Velvet Cupcakes
Yield: 24

1 c all-purpose flour
3/4 c whole wheat flour
1 1/4 c white sugar (preferably Pioneer or another Michigan sugar beet brand)
3/4 unsweetened cocoa
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
1/8 t ground red pepper
1 1/4 cup milk (I used fat free)
1 T plain yogurt
1 t balsamic vinegar
1/2 c butter, at room temp
3 eggs, at room temp
2 t vanilla
2 cups beets, peeled and pureed
(Note that to puree the beets, you will probably need to add liquid. Do NOT add water - instead, use a small amount of milk and deduct that from the 1 1/4 c you'll put in later.)

Preheat oven to 350F. Line cupcake pans with liners. Stir together all dry ingredients. In separate bowl, stir together milk, yogurt, and vinegar (I did this to substitute for buttermilk; if you have buttermilk on hand you can just use that.) Beat in butter, egg and vanilla to milk mixture. Now carefully add the beet puree (so that you don't stain your counter, mixer, self, etc) and beat it in. Add wet to dry (or dry to wet, I don't think it really matters) and mix just until moistened - if you overbeat (or overbeet . . . ) the gluten will start to break down and your cupcakes will be tough.

Scoop into the cupcake pans so that cups are about 3/4 full. I highly recommend using an ice cream scoop, because this allows you to dump into each cup in one fell swoop and gives you nice, evenly sized cupcakes.

Bake for about 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Frost with cream cheese frosting (whatever recipe you prefer). I added a teaspoon of almond extract to mine.

A few notes:

These cupcakes came out more brown/purple than red. Next time, I will probably reduce the beets to one cup and add a cup of applesauce. I've also read that the amount of acidity in the batter can affect color, so I'll add an additional teaspoon of vinegar to the milk.

The beet flavor was present, but not too overwhelming. I got a hint of cinnamon, but no red pepper. I would increase the red pepper to 1/4 teaspoon next time, and possibly bump up the cinnamon as well. Most red velvet recipes don't call for these spices, but I thought it might help offset the beets, and I was generally pleased with the combination.

Happy baking!

MI Love: Beets

Sugar beets are a major cash crop in Michigan. In fact, Rebecca and I buy Pioneer sugar, which is made from them. (Yet another attempt to Buy Michigan.)

Yesterday I cooked my first beets ever. I've eaten them before, but I can't say that I had any idea how to prepare them. I'm not sure where these beets were from originally, but I bought them from Horrock's Farm Market, so I supported a local business in some way.

I had it in my head that I should boil them, but I'm glad I Googled - I learned that roasting is a good option, and that seemed potentially less messy. So I spritzed my beets with olive oil (using my Misto bottle, which is an eco-friendly, purer alternative to commercial aerosol oils) and wrapped them up in foil, then baked them for something like two hours at around 375F. (I can't tell you the exact time because I started checking them after 50 minutes and kept putting them back for another 20. According to the website I viewed, age and size of the beets affects baking time so much that that's basically how it goes.)

When they came out, they looked like this. After they cooled, I scraped the skin off with a spoon. (The beet roasting directions said that the beets would just slip out of their skin, but that was a lie.)

Next I pureed the beets in my food processor (in two batches, since my food processor was acquired during an apartment transition and is very small).

What did I do then? Read the next post to find out.

Letter to a Friend

On Sunday, my church, Mount Hope United Methodist Church (UMC), announced that the pastor of about a decade will be transferred in July. A church leader then requested that the congregation send input to help match  Mount Hope with a new minister. This is an e-mail I wrote to him.

Hi Mark,

On Sunday, you asked for input as to what the next Mount Hope pastor should be like. I want to share a brief story that might highlight one characteristic of a good match.

 After we moved back to Lansing for graduate school, Rebecca and I tried churches for about a year before we settled at Mount Hope. We weren't looking for a UMC specifically - to be honest, the list we worked off was of gay affirming churches. I had grown up in a church that blamed LGBT people for many of the problems of American society and considered the gay agenda to be one of destruction and hedonism. Rebecca didn't grow up in the church, and we had both gone to Riverview as undergrads, which was much less political than the church I attended as a young adult. However, Riverview was very big and I never felt as though I had become part of a community there, even after four years, so we wanted a change.

 We visited many churches that welcomed LGBT individuals, but didn't seem to joyfully greet Jesus himself. We were seeking a place where we could fellowship with other believers whose faith and worship were vibrant. We noticed on the list of gay affirming churches that there were some UMCs, so we decided to try the Oasis service. After our first visit, we couldn't tell whether we would be ostracized or judged for being lesbians.

Confronting this head-on, I sent Pastor Bill an e-mail asking what the church's position was. He explained that the official stance is that homosexuality isn't compatible with a Christian lifestyle, but "that my longing and hope would be that you would indeed find within our local church community of Mt Hope and Oasis a church family that will accept you without asking you to change.  I would understand if our official position is more than you want to deal with, but I would be honored if you would offer us the grace to welcome you and continue our journey in Christ together."

This kind of sensitivity to us as a group of people who often feel that the church, and by extension, God, does not love us is one reason that we have continued attending Mount Hope. While I know that the new pastor must respect the official position, I hope that he or she will be willing to extend open arms to all families who come in the church doors.

Blessings,

Erin

His Absence, My Absence

I apologize for my absence. My brother passed away during finals week, and I haven't really known what to say. He is absent from his earthly body now, which means that he is present with his Lord Jesus. I grieve knowing that I will see him again someday, but hoping that day will be a long time from now and understanding that I will always miss him deeply.

Josh was a beautiful soul. His kindness, joy, and patience were evident to many of the people whose lives he touched. He was known as the campus unicyclist at Grand Valley State and performed in several talent shows, juggling and unicycling to the delight of the audience. He was also a dedicated runner, posting ever-faster times to facebook. His intramural soccer team, Facepalm, played with enthusiasm.

He was also the only member of my family who planned to attend my commitment ceremony. He acknowledged that he didn't completely approve of my choice, but he was willing to grant me the grace of his love and acceptance in the form of his presence. That meant the world to me.

Finally Done

Rebecca finished her exams Monday morning and flew out yesterday to California to be with family there. (She'll be back next Wednesday.)

I gave a presentation today, then finished up a short reflection paper and my e-portfolio and sent them off to my professor. I still have work left to do for my thesis and the course I'm designing, but course work for my third semester of grad school is now over, and if everything goes well, I'll graduate in the spring. That's a little crazy to think about, since it means that I have to finish my course work and thesis in the next five months. Even crazier to think about is the fact that a week after I graduate, Rebecca and I will be taking our vows.

National Issue: Hillary Clinton's Speech

Hillary Clinton made a bold statement yesterday. "Some have suggested that gay rights and human rights are separate and distinct; but, in fact, they are one and the same . . . . being LGBT does not make you less human . . . ." she said. She went on:

"It is violation of human rights when people are beaten or killed because of their sexual orientation, or because they do not conform to cultural norms about how men and women should look or behave. It is a violation of human rights when governments declare it illegal to be gay, or allow those who harm gay people to go unpunished. It is a violation of human rights when lesbian or transgendered women are subjected to so-called corrective rape, or forcibly subjected to hormone treatments, or when people are murdered after public calls for violence toward gays, or when they are forced to flee their nations and seek asylum in other lands to save their lives. And it is a violation of human rights when life-saving care is withheld from people because they are gay, or equal access to justice is denied to people because they are gay, or public spaces are out of bounds to people because they are gay. No matter what we look like, where we come from, or who we are, we are all equally entitled to our human rights and dignity . . . .

We need to ask ourselves, 'How would it feel if it were a crime to love the person I love? How would it feel to be discriminated against for something about myself that I cannot change?'"

She did not outline consequences for countries that continue to perpetuate violent behavior, justified by legislation, toward LGBT individuals, although in October, UK Prime Minister David Cameron suggested ending foreign aid to countries that do not recognize LGBT rights. Several African countries objected, and Nigeria recently tightened legal discrimination against LGBT people.

Rick Perry, a now long-shot for the Republican nomination, upon hearing Clinton's speech, shared the thought that "Promoting special rights for gays in foreign countries is not in America’s interests and not worth a dime of taxpayers’ money." You can read more about his stance here.

While I don't that the U.S. has the right to control foreign governments (much as we did in a great portion of Latin America and other nations during the Cold War to "prevent Communism"), I believe that it is our right as a nation to give aid to those countries who uphold human dignity. I also believe that it should not be illegal to love someone. And I'm sure that this speech will not change anything overnight, but it is more hope.

And we could all use a little of that.

MI Hate: Joyce Daniels

I do not know Joyce Daniels. She doesn't know me either. She probably doesn't know any gay New Yorkers, if I had to guess.

And yet, as a mayoral candidate (now mayor) of Troy, Michigan (a city right next to the one in which I grew up), she posted on facebook: “I think I am going to throw away my I Love New York carrying bag now that queers can get married there.”

There is so much wrong with this. To suggest that one should discard a product simply because it was made in a place with disagreeable public policy is not a new idea. That, after all, is behind the Fair Trade movement. However, Daniels wasn't making a blanket statement that, for instance, she wouldn't keep things made in China because the country has a communist government. She was singling out one group with a hateful slur.

She has since removed the statement, and made some comment that it perhaps wasn't the best language to use, but she said it. She can't take it back. It's floating out there now with all its negative energy and political ramifications. 

This is why I don't identify as queer - I know that it's become an umbrella term for the LGBTA movement for some people, including one of the undergraduate student groups at MSU. But I will not claim hate and ignorance. I will not be discarded like this tote she has thrown out. I will stand up, because for me, that is what Committing in the Mitten is all about.