Lemon Blueberry Pistachio Cupcakes (vegan + gluten free!)

Remember the ever-popular Sprinkles cupcake era of 2010; when Cupcake Wars was the best show on TV and gourmet cupcake shops were popping up at every corner? Cupcakes were adored by the little ones for birthday parties but also by the Grandmothers who loved pairing them with a cup of coffee for breakfast.

During that time period I learned that ordinary cupcake flavors almost always disappointed me. When I went to local cupcake shops, I stuck to the classica: chocolate with chocolate frosting and sprinkles, strawberry, red velvet, vanilla birthday cake, etc. They were never magical enough for me to want to return for another.


I remember the first time I chose something out of the ordinary: a mango cupcake with a mango orange buttercream. My goodness, it was downright sensational! From that moment, I vowed to choose the surprising, unique cupcakes flavors over basic bettys.

Today’s recipe was inspired by a lemon pistachio doughnut at Stan’s Donuts in Chicago. Tony took me there for my birthday breakfast and we ordered about 6 of their doughnuts (so we can have a bite of each!); we knew the lemon pistachio flavor stood out by a mile because it was devoured in less than two minutes.

Of course, when Earth Balance reached out to me and asked me to create a vegan cupcake to promote their awesome vegan cupcake challenge (with a grand prize trip to Colorado!), I knew that I would try to create pistachio cupcakes with beautiful with spring flavors (like lemon and blueberry). I used their soy free vegan buttery sticks for the both the cupcake and frosting and seriously, you’d never be able to tell that they’re vegan!


More about these cupcakes: Did I mention they’re gluten free too?! This means that anyone will be able to enjoy these beauties. They’re moist with a light crumb and the lemon buttercream frosting is the perfectly fluffy, sweet and tart. Keeping your fingers out of the frosting bowl is going to be pretty difficult, so good luck.

I love that you can actually taste the pistachios in the cupcake without having to use pistachio pudding flavor additives. The lemon flavor is also very prominent, making the cupcakes feel fresh and light.


I hope you love these cupcakes as much as I did. They’d make the perfect Easter or party dessert. If you make these, please let me know by leaving a comment below or snap a photo, upload it to Instagram and tag #ambitiouskitchen! xo.

Lemon Blueberry Pistachio Cupcakes (vegan + gluten free!)

Nutrition Information

• Serving size: 1 cupcake
• Calories: 286
• Fat: 13.9g
• Saturated fat: 3g
• Carbohydrates: 36.2g
• Sugar: 22.1g
• Fiber: 2.8g
• Protein: 4.8g

Recipe type: Cupcakes, Vegan, Gluten Free

Prep time:  1 hour 10 mins
Cook time:  25 mins
Total time:  1 hour 35 mins

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups oat flour
• 1 cup shelled roasted pistachios (pistachios without the shells)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from 1 large lemon)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1 tablespoon Earth Balance vegan soy free buttery sticks
• 2/3 cup organic cane sugar
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
• For the vegan lemon buttercream
• 1/2 cup Earth Balance vegan soy free buttery stick
• 1 cup organic powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• zest of 1 lemon
• For garnish: 2 tablespoons chopped pistachios

Read More: Lemon Blueberry Pistachio Cupcakes (vegan + gluten free!)

Asparagus Artichoke Breakfast Casserole

Looking for Easter or Mother’s Day Sunday brunch ideas? I love the convenience of a breakfast casserole because you can easily assemble it the night before and have it ready to bake in the morning.
Perfect hands-off cooking leaving you time for the important things, like Easter egg hunts, or Mother’s Day mimosas.
This breakfast casserole (the fancier term being “strata”) has asparagus (fresh) and artichoke hearts (canned), big cubes of rustic bread, bacon, onions, all held together with eggs, milk, and cheddar cheese.
It’s spring in an 8×13!

Asparagus Artichoke Breakfast Casserole Recipe

• Prep time: 25 minutes
• Cook time: 40 minutes
• Yield: Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients

• 6 cups of 1 to 1 1/2-inch cubed rustic bread (about half a loaf), or 6 slices of bread
• 2 ounces bacon (2 to 3 thick-cut slices), roughly chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 pound of asparagus, trimmed of tough bottoms, spears sliced on the diagonal, in 1-inch long pieces
• 1 15-ounce can of artichoke hearts (packed in water), drained, chopped
• 2 Tbsp minced chives or green onion greens
• 6 eggs
• 2 cups milk
• 8 ounces cheddar cheese, grated
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Read More: Asparagus Artichoke Breakfast Casserole

Ham Salad

One of the best reasons to serve a ham for a holiday dinner or family gathering is the prospect of leftover ham, don’t you think? Ham keeps well and can be used for a hearty ham and bean soup, a pasta dish with peas, or for a crowed pleasing ham salad.
It’s one of those feed-a-lot-of-people comfort food salads that makes you look forward to leftovers.
Put it in a sandwich (or a slider bun!), eat it plain, or add it to macaroni. The basic components of our favorite ham salad are ground or finely diced ham, sweet pickle relish (sweet works better than dill for ham, imho), and hard boiled eggs. Then something for crunch (celery and/or bell peppers) and mayo to bind it.
Add a little mustard and lemon juice to brighten the flavors, and maybe a touch of cayenne as a nod to deviled ham or eggs.
Do you have a twist on ham salad that you enjoy? Please let us know about it in the comments!

Ham Salad Recipe

• Prep time: 10 minutes
• Yield: Makes enough for 3 to 4 sandwiches

To make ground ham, chop leftover ham into cubes and either pulse in a food processor or put through a meat grinder.

Ingredients

• 2 cups finely diced or ground ham (about 3/4 pound)
• 3 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
• 1/4 cup sweet pickle relish
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 2 Tbsp minced green onion
• 2 Tbsp minced celery
• 2 Tbsp minced red bell pepper
• 1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• A large pinch of cayenne (optional)
• Salt and black pepper to taste

Read More: Ham Salad

Alfredo Asparagus Pasta

A tasty and delightful dinner loaded with flavor and delicious ingredients! Fresh asparagus is mixed into a fabulous meal loaded with bacon, parmesan cheese and creamy alfredo sauce. This will become a new family favorite!

Tis the season for asparagus and this may be my favorite new recipe to use it!
This meal is packed with insanely delicious flavor. The asparagus, bacon, parmesan cheese and creamy alfredo sauce really knock this meal out of the park! This was a huge hit with my entire family, making this recipe classified as a winner.
My husband, in particular, could not stop RAVING enough about how yummy it was. I am pretty sure he went back for 4 helpings of it. My kids gobbled it up almost as fast as it hit their plates. That is saying something because one of them is an extremely picky eater.

Asparagus is one of my favorite vegetables and I have a few really tasty recipes coming up that I am excited to share with you, today’s been one of them.
If you are looking for an incredible new dinner that your whole family will love and appreciate, give this one a try! You will not regret it!

Alfredo Asparagus Pasta

A tasty and delightful dinner loaded with flavor and delicious ingredients! This will become a new family favorite!

Recipe type: Dinner

Ingredients

• 1 box bow tie pasta, cooked according to package directions
• ¾ cup butter
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 cups heavy cream
• 2 cup half and half
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon white pepper
• 3 cups fresh grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup cooked and chopped bacon
• 3 cups asparagus, cut in 1 inch pieces

Read More: Alfredo Asparagus Pasta

Skillet Shrimp and Asparagus

Hello friends! I know many of you come here looking for something you can quickly and easily make, and tastes great. Something perhaps for a weeknight dinner when you have maybe only 30 minutes to cook, and even less to clean up afterwards?
Here’s a shrimp and asparagus skillet recipe that scores high on all points. It only takes half an hour start to finish, and only uses one pan. And the taste? Wow! I was really surprised by this one.
First you sauté onions and garlic, then add diced new potatoes with a little water, cover and let cook for a few minutes until the potatoes are almost cooked through. Then you add asparagus, cook a minute more, then shrimp with some lemon juice and zest.

The juices from everything cooking create the most lovely glaze. You have protein from the shrimp, green vegetable from the asparagus, and starch from the potatoes making a complete one pot meal.
If you wanted to, you could skip the potatoes and toss the shrimp and asparagus sauté in with pasta. You could also spice it up a bit with some chili pepper flakes. Enjoy!

Skillet Shrimp and Asparagus Recipe

• Prep time: 15 minutes
• Cook time: 15 minutes
• Yield: Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1 medium onion, quartered, thinly sliced (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced (about 4 teaspoons)
• 1/2 pound small red skinned new potatoes, cut into 1/4-inch slices or small dice
• Salt (to taste)
• Pinch of black pepper
• 1/2 cup water
• 3/4 pound of asparagus, woody ends discarded, spears thinly sliced on the diagonal
• 1 pound peeled and deveined shrimp (can leave tails on for presentation if you want), 16-20 count
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp minced chives or green onion greens

Read More: Skillet Shrimp and Asparagus

One Pot Chicken and Orzo

A few months ago my wonderful mother made what I thought was Spanish rice (a favorite around here, basically a rice pilaf with tomato) but instead of browning rice to start the pilaf, she browned orzo pasta.
Brilliant! It was so incredibly good. Silky and savory like our sopa seca de fideo angel hair dish, but with little rice-shaped orzo pasta. The browning of the orzo adds a toasty nutty flavor to the pasta.
So, I thought I would step the idea up a notch and make something akin to arroz con pollo, except with pasta instead of the arroz. It would be “Orzo con Pollo”.

It’s a winner! And the best part? Aside from it being absolutely can’t-stop-eating delicious, is that it’s really easy to make, all in one large skillet.
First you brown the chicken, then brown the orzo in the rendered fat, and then add some onions and garlic. Add the chicken back to the pasta, pour in some stock and crushed tomatoes, cover and cook until the pasta has absorbed the liquid.
You can do most of the prep while the chicken is browning, so the whole shebang takes maybe 35 minutes.

One Pot Chicken and Orzo Recipe

• Prep time: 5 minutes
• Cook time: 30 minutes
• Yield: Serves 4 to 6

To save time, while the chicken is browning, prep the onion, garlic, and parsley.
You can easily swap out the thighs for bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts. Depending on the size of the pieces you may want to cut them in half.
If you use boneless, skinless thighs or breasts do not brown them as long in the first step. They will not need as much cooking time as the bone-in, skin-on thighs.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 to 3 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, trimmed of excess fat
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon butter
• 12 ounces (2 cups) orzo pasta
• 1 1/2 cups chopped onion (about 1 medium onion)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 1/4 cups chicken stock
• 3/4 cup canned crushed tomatoes (including juices)
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Read More: One Pot Chicken and Orzo

Mediterranean Omelete

I’m almost embarrassed to share this simple 15-minute recipe—almost, but not enough not to share this easy Mediterranean Omelete.

Psst . . . to bypass all the flavor building, go for deli olives and peppers. Just make sure to buy the pitted ones. I made the mistake and didn’t do that, so I had to spend a few extra minutes pitting. For the greens I skipped the traditional spinach add-in and went for micro arugula because I prefer the added peppery bite.
See how fast and easy that is? Fast enough that I made it twice in one day, but more because I didn’t want to waste the few deli olives that weren’t used in the first round, but more than that—I absolutely hate a cluttered fridge.

It stresses me out. I like a clear sight to the back of the fridge. I know, weird quirk #300-and-eleventy!

Recipe note: This recipe easily scales up or down according to your serving needs. As you can see in the photo, I made a serving for just me because my little guys hate Feta (at least for now). The recipe as written is scaled up to serve 4.

Mediterranean Omelet

Ingredients:

• 6 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Filling

• 2/3 cups (4 oz.) pitted deli olives, diced
• 1/2 (3 oz.)cup roasted red pepper, diced
• 1/4 cup (1.5 oz.) Feta cheese

*Optional: 1 oz micro Arugula

Read More: Mediterranean Omelete