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Archive for January, 2012

January 26th, 2012

vacation

Seeing as how it will soon be about a month since I’ve posted on here…I figure it’s probably a good indicator that I am taking some time off.

I LOVE cooking, but between the hubs fasting, my recent bout with flu-like symptoms and the fact that we are moving halfway across the US in 2 weeks, it’s fair to say my cooking has been on hold.

Major hold.

Buy-premade-$8-pizza-from-Sam’s hold.

I don’t even like pizza.

These days I don’t like ANYTHING.

Except for Gatorade. And bananas. And bland foods.

I hate taking such a long break, because the last time I did that it turned into a couple of years! However, this is not like last time. My hope is that once we move to Texas and settle in, I will be back to my old baking queen persona and you’ll be able to enjoy my tasty treats!

Without making any promises, I’m striving for 4 weeks from today.

In the interim I might entertain you with random ramblings reminicent of my early blog days.

Or I might leave ya hanging.

In either case – don’t forget about me!

Until the oven is pre-heating again…

B.

Categoryblogging | Comment5 Comments »

January 13th, 2012

blackberry muffins with lemon zest

I’ve been having bakers withdrawl since hubs has been fasting from sweets… who else am I going to pawn all my goodies off to if not the hubs? Usually he has his fair share and takes the leftovers to work, but he has been gone so the oven has been cold and my pans and mixing bowls have been quite sedentary.  Until last night.

Often I peruse food websites late at night because I’m a glutton for punishment. I love drooling over beautiful pics of food at midnight, wishing the cheese stick or cookie I am nibbling on would taste half as good.  Sometimes I jump up and turn on the oven and othertimes I just continue to dream. While perusing this week I came across this recipe on Williams Sonoma for blackberry muffins and I just knew I had to try it! For one, it’s not an overtly sweet recipe and for 2, we have (had) frozen blackberries in the freezer!

sugar pecan crumble topping

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 3 Tbsp all purpose flour
  • zest of 1/2 lemon
  • 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
  • 1/3 cup pecans, finely chopped

Cooking Directions

  1. in a small bowl, stir together the sugar, flour and lemon zest. Stir in the melted butter until the mixture is crumbly. Add the pecans and stir to combine. Set aside.

blackberry muffins

Yield: 12 muffins

Ingredients

  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • zest from 1/2 lemon
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 5 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 2 cups fresh blackberries (or 2-1/2 cups frozen unsweetened blackberries)

Cooking Directions

  1. Preheat an oven to 375°F. Grease 12 standard muffin cups with butter or butter-flavored nonstick cooking spray.
  2. in a bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, lemon zest and salt. Make a well in the center and add the egg, melted butter and buttermilk. Stir just until evenly moistened. The batter will be slightly lumpy. Sprinkle with the blackberries and gently fold in with a large rubber spatula just until evenly distributed, no more than a few strokes. Take care not to break up the fruit. Do not overmix.
  3. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each to a bit above the rim of the cup. Top each muffin with the topping, dividing it evenly (the sugar will melt and produce a glaze effect).
  4. Bake until the muffins are golden, dry and springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes. Unmold the muffins. Serve warm or at room temperature, with butter.

I should probably take a cue that baking at night (and on a time limit – I was having a Skype date with the bestie) is probably not a practice I should take up regularly.

Apparently I have a hard time reading directions while under duress (I might be stretching it to say that being a few minutes late to my Skype date qualifies as conditions of duress…).  The directions specifically state to add the sugary pecan topping to the muffins before baking them, not after.

Oops.

No wonder I couldn’t get the topping to “melt” and form a glaze.

I was also annoyed at the mess it was making when the sugar failed to adhere to the muffin tops, so much so that I nuked it a few times in an effort to make it more syrupy…

I guess the bright side is that since most of it fell off, they were a tad healthier without the extra sugar!

I gave two to our maintenance man, two to our mail man, I ate two, and I sent the rest with hubs to work this morning. And it’s a good thing because another day in this house and I would have finished them off!

Categorybreads, breakfast, fruity, recipe | Comment5 Comments »

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January 5th, 2012

chicken salad with avocado dressing

My newest issue of Everyday FOOD is The Light Issue, which I suppose is kinda appropriate for the first of the year.  After all, aren’t every 3 out of 4 people resolving to lose weight (again) this year?

All that aside, I decided to make this recipe for dinner last night and for the first time in over a year my husband uttered the words a wife never hopes to hear:

I didn’t really like that.

*Gasp!* The hubs didn’t like it! But to give him credit, he did eat all of what I served him, so he’s strides ahead of toddlers who just scream and throw a fit when they don’t like dinner.

I’m thankful my hubs isn’t a toddler.

Without further ado:

chicken salad with avocado dressing

Total Time: 25 minutes

Yield: 6

Ingredients

  • 3-1/4 cups shredded cooked chicken (from 2 to 3 boneless chicken breasts)
  • 2 celery stalks, finely sliced
  • 1 large shallot, finely sliced
  • 1 medium avocado, diced small
  • 3/4 cup avocado dressing (see below)
  • coarse salt & pepper, to taste
  • 8 slices sourdough bread (I used 5 grain Italian)

Cooking Directions

  1. In a medium bowl, combine chicken, celery, shallot, avocado, and dressing. Season with salt and pepper and toss to combine.
  2. Serve on toasted bread.

avocado dressing

Yield: 2 1/3 cups

Serving Size: 1/4 cup

Calories per serving: 71

Fat per serving: 6g

Ingredients

  • 2 avocados
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 scallion (white & light green parts only)
  • 1/4 cup packed fresh parsley leaves
  • 1/4 cup packed fresh mint leaves
  • 3 Tbs fresh lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup water
  • coarse salt & pepper, to taste

Cooking Directions

  1. In a food processor, or blender, combine all ingredients and blend on pulse until smooth.
  2. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

So maybe hubs finally didn’t like something I made. So perhaps I may have slightly felt like I failed him. So maybe I was a little frustrated that there are so many ingredients he doesn’t like…

At least he tried it!

And, on top of that, I liked it! A lot!

In fact, I’m eating the leftovers today for lunch and I can’t wait. (Confession: I might or might not have seriously considered eating this for breakfast today.)

So I thanked hubs for eating it and for being honest. Then I handed him my recipe book and said, “Here, pick out something you will like and I’ll make it.”*

And he did. (In fact he chose several, but finally decided on one for immediate consumption.)

Tonight’s menu?

Egg Florentine Breakfast Sandwiches

: )

*I did limit him to choosing a not-too-labor-intensive meal since I’m usually working and cooking dinner at the same time.

Categoryrecipe | Comment9 Comments »

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