Fruity Oat Muffins

While I was working in Tooele the past couple of weeks, I had no time for breakfast before I left the house.  Therefore, each Sunday I would make these muffins to take for breakfast in the car throughout the week.  I tried two varieties, banana and peach.  The peach flavor sort of dissolved in the baking, so I think I would add probably an extra cup of peaches if I were to make them again.  I considered making pomegranate with the frozen jewels (that's what they're called, right?) we have, and I'm sure any kind of fruit will do just fine in this kind of muffin.

The base recipe was essentially the banana bread muffin recipe I've posted before, only with alterations in the flour (I take it no one ever made those muffins when I posted it before because the flour is GREATLY under-measured.  Sorry about that.)  Also, sorry I don't have any pictures.  I never really had the time or thought to do it.  But please please please trust me they are really good.  Anyway, here we go:

Fruit Oat Muffins
based on Reyna's banana bread, altered to meet my needs
makes about 15-18 muffins


1/2 stick butter (notice this means 1/4 cup of butter)

1 1/3 c. sugar (I've been meaning to try it with less, perhaps 1 cup?)

2 eggs

1 1/4 tsp. vanilla

1+ cup of flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

3/4 c. sour cream

3 mashed ripe bananas or 2-3 cups diced peaches, or any amount of any fruit you want to try

cinnamon and nutmeg to taste (I use a LOT, like maybe 2 T?)

1+ cup oats

1. Preheat oven to 350 and prepare muffin pans.

2. Then, beat butter until fluffy.  Gradually add sugar. Continue beating until light and fluffy.

3. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla.

4. Add sour cream to the sugar mixture.

5. Add bananas or whatever fruit you're using.

6. Sift flour, baking powder, soda, and salt together.  Add to mix until just blended.  Add cinnamon, nutmeg, and oats.  If the batter is not the right thickness, add a little more flour until it is (I don't know how to describe it...not very runny, sort of chunky?).

7. Turn into prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30-35 minutes (depending on your oven) or until pick inserted into center of muffins comes out clean and they look and smell delicious.

Home-made Macaroni and Cheese

I like macaroni and cheese.  I used to have it maybe every couple of days before I got married (the alternate days were nearly always pizza...what was wrong with me).  I hardly ever eat it now, so we don't really buy it.  When I'm craving it, I am sad.  Until I finally sat down and did a little research on how to make it on my own!

When most people hear "home-made macaroni and cheese" they think of a breaded casserole that you eat with ketchup or something.  This is like legit macaroni and cheese in a pot like you'd get in a box.  Only better because it isn't made with powdered cheese curds or whatever, and you can make it from what you have on hand.

It took me a couple of tries to get this recipe to be really good.  The first time it was incredibly bitter and not very creamy.  Also, when I did this, I wasn't really measuring, I was just going by proportions, so hopefully you will still be able to follow.

In my research (during which I became quite familiarly acquainted with Paula Dean's personality during a side track) I learned that you must have an appropriate amount of cream in order for the cheese to bond and not clump.  Or somesuch.  That is why most mac and cheese recipes require cream.  However!  I don't keep cream on hand.  It also supposedly turns out better if you use two to four different types of cheeses.  But all we have is medium cheddar.  So there are a lot of other options for making this kind of macaroni and cheese if you go buy different ingredients (or maybe you regularly stock your fridge with cream and three types of cheese), but this recipe is mostly to make it with what you have on hand and make it taste delicious!  Now, read on, MacDuff!

Creamy deliciousness.

Home-made Macaroni and Cheese
from THE MIND OF ME
serves about 1-2 people

1 cup or however much pasta you are making (I like elbows chiffere, the ridges catch more sauce)

1/4-1/2 cup stick butter or margarine (depending on how buttery you want it...I like it buttery)

1/2 cup milk (keep more on hand in case you need it later)

1/2-1 cup cheese of choice (if you use a milder or white cheese, you might want to supplement with a little of something sharper)

fresh ground black pepper

sweet basil (dried/flaked/whatever...in your spice cupboard)

1. Boil and drain the pasta and return it to the pot on low-medium heat.

2. Add the butter and stir around until pasta is coated.

3. Add the milk.

4. Add the cheese.  Make sure the heat is up enough to melt the cheese relatively quickly (turn it up if you have to, I don't remember how hot I had it in the end).  Stir the cheese into pasta slowly, making sure it melts and doesn't clump.  If you need to, add a little more milk, or if you want, more cheese.

5. Grind in a bit of pepper.  Don't add too much!  The cheese will already be a little bitter and you don't want to overdo it.  Stir again, keeping an eye on the cheese and making sure it has melted properly.

6. Add a little basil, to taste.  The mildly sweet herb will help to offset a bit of the bitterness.

7. Taste test!  Add more of whatever you think it needs, or just eat it!  Say yum.

Nutella Cupcakes

I really love cupcakes.  Mucho.  And while the regular flavor kind with regular flavor frosting is my favorite, I love experimenting with different kinds, especially when it means I don't have to frost 3 dozen tiny cakes.  Which I've done.  And I wanted to shoot Betty Crocker.

And so, when I saw this recipe for "self-frosting" nutella cupcakes on Pinterest (it doesn't always have practical application, but this was one of those times when I trusted it), I decided to try them as a nice treat, because I think it's been like two weeks since I've made dessert, and that's a grave oversight.

NUTELLA.  It rules the universe in some places.

The only problem I had with these was that it was nearly IMPOSSIBLE to "swirl" the batter to make it look even remotely nice.  I tried using a chopstick first and when that was impossible, I quit and switched to a butter knife, which was even more difficult.  I don't think skipping the muffin papers would help either, because the dough would probably stick to the pan, even if it was sprayed.  So just be patient as you are swirling in the nutella and keep chanting to yourself "nutella, nutella, nutella..." or whatever it takes to keep the end goal in mind.  Because they are really delicious.

The only other thing is that the cupcakes get firm around the edges really fast, so you're probably going to have to eat them really quickly.  OH WELL.

Swirly twirly -ish

Nutella Cupcakes
by Babble.com at Shine via One Ordinary Day

1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup canola or mild vegetable oil
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4-1/2 cup Nutella, at room temperature

Preheat the oven to 325F.  In a medium bowl, beat the butter, oil and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth.

In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt; add to the butter mixture and beat on low speed just until combined.  Divide the batter between 12 paper-lined muffin cups.  Drop a spoonful of Nutella on top of each, and swirl through the batter with the tip of a bamboo skewer or knife (or chopstick.  Or claws of death-- patience, young padawan!).

Swirl away, my son

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until springy to the touch.  Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 12 cupcakes.

Lemon Vinaigrette Dressing

Yesterday evening Sam and I went over to have dinner with our good friends Mel and Eric.  Mel made some delicious baked macaroni and cheese and provided bread and drinks, while I brought the ice cream and a salad.  Well, we brought them, but I made them.  So there.

Anyway, I didn't want to bring a boring salad, so I decided to try making an interesting dressing.  After some cud-chewing (with myself) I decided on a lemon vinaigrette.  All of the recipes I found included ingredients I didn't have, so I winged it (wung it? who knows).  And the dressing was actually really good.  Here it be:

Lemon Vinaigrette Salad Dressing

1/3 c olive oil

ALL the juice in one lemon

a few grinds or shakes of pepper

same of salt

1/3-1/2 purple onion, diced small

1/2 t dry thyme or one sprig fresh, leaves broken up to release flavor

1 tsp honey

1. Chop the onion.  Combine all the stuff.  Stir it up.

2. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours so the flavors will leach into each other.

3. Pour onto/toss into salad.

Cronshe me.

 A note on the salad: I bought a spinach/romaine/spring greens mix bag because it had all I wanted with no excess.  Then I chopped up a fresh tomato from Sam's grandparents' garden and tossed that in, along with a bit of crumbled feta cheese.  Then the dressing went on.  Oh, and the onion was also fresh from the garden.  I sure do love fresh produce!

Look at the ripeness and red juiciness!  Also, that's my favorite knife.  It's like a mini-santoku. 

Peach Ice Cream

So what do you do with a zillion fresh peaches sitting in your freezer?  Why, you break in your ice cream maker with fresh peach ice cream!

The recipe is simple.  It's adapted from one I found in the booklet that came with our ice cream maker (we have this model).  It makes about 1.5 quarts.  And it is so very delicious!  

Peach bits and vanilla...yum!

Fresh Peach Ice Cream
Adapted from "Cuisinart Recipe Booklet"

All you need

1 1/2 - 2 c fresh peaches

3/4 c whole milk

2/3 c granulated sugar

pinch salt

1 1/2 c heavy cream

1 1/2 tsp vanilla (I think I may actually have put in 2 or even 2 1/2)
1. Put peaches into food processor and chop, mostly thin and small, but with some bigger chunks.  This works a lot better when the peaches are frozen.  Otherwise they kind of just turn into a mush.

2. Combine milk, sugar, and salt in bowl.  Whisk until sugar dissolves.  Stir in cream and vanilla.  Stir in peaches, juice and all.  Cover and refrigerate 1-2 hours.

3. Freeze according to your mixer.  With ours, all you do is pour it in and turn it on for 15-20 minutes (although it was done in 12).

Mixing mixing mixing...

4. It will be soft.  Serve immediately or put in airtight container and put in freezer for 2+ hours (or overnight and all day).  It will be rock hard, so pull it out a few minutes before you want to eat it.

Ready for freezing

Red Beans and Rice

Here's a fun fact: It's possible to learn new things about people you know really well, even after you've known them a while.  I recently found out that Sam has Cajun blood in him (who knows what secrets I'll discover after 50 years of marriage).  The following information may be slightly wrong, and is based off of quick research based off of Sam's hazy memory of the subject.

So.  Sam's mom's dad lives in Louisiana.  His family has for a while.  When I asked why, I learned that Sam's German ancestors (there are a lot of those...on both sides) went to New Orleans and mixed with some French Cajun peeps.  La di da.  This is no doubt of great interest to you all.  What does it mean for you?  It means access to family recipes for Cajun food...

Tastiness in a bowl

Red Beans and Rice
Ye Olde Familie Recipe
[side note: the original recipe serves ~2 people.  We made 4x that for some reason, but it's delicious so I don't mind the leftovers]

1 lb dried red beans

1 stalk celery (we didn't want to buy a whole huge bunch, so we got little celery snack packs, which, incidentally, were cheaper, and Sam had little packages of them for lunch)

3 bay leaves (~1 per cup of beans)

1-2 cloves garlic

1 medium onion, "naturally chopped"

12 oz Cured salt pork (this is the closest thing available around here to the pickled pork originally called for)

Rice (for serving over/with...Sam added a little Zataran's blackened seasoning while steaming for kick but it was very subtle)

1. Prep and soak the beans over night.  Rinse and cull again.

2. Set beans to boil in just enough water to cover them.

3. After about an hour, sautee celery, pork, onion, and garlic.  Dump entire frying pan into pot, juices and all.

4. Let it all boil for another hour and a half.  Stir often to keep beans from sticking to bottom and sides.  As water level gets low, add more periodically (just enough to keep them covered).  Add some salt and pepper if you like that (if you prefer it sweeter, instead of salt, and 2T sugar as it says in the recipe below).

5. About 30 mins before the boiling time ends, add a glob of butter.  Sam added a half a stick, but as his grandma says "You can nevah have too much buttah!"

6. Serve hot over prepared rice.  You're supposed to serve it also with a crusty french bread to soak up the juice, but they don't believe in good bread in Utah and I didn't have time to make any, so we just used what we had.

Other things: you can adjust the recipe for how much you're making, because obviously we did.  Also, Sam says don't ever cook it longer than 2 hours "unless you're making a really, really, really big batch."
Another thing, don't cut off any gristle or fat before you cook it because it adds to the flavor.  But you can cut it off and boil it in, picking it out later.  You're going to pick it off at some point anyway, unless you like eating fat.

And, just for funsies, the original family recipe (complete with awesome southern talk and random tidbits):

"The smell will start to make you hungry, so have a glass of white wine along about now." 

How to Dry Fresh Herbs

Yesterday Sam and I went to pick up a piece of mail from his grandparents' house.  They have a garden.  It's near the end of the season.  They were going out of town.  We got full and complete access to their produce!  YES!

Good thing, too, because Sam completely forgot to hit "okay" when purchasing our Bountiful Basket earlier this week, and we missed the deadline.

So what did we get?  We got a huge box of peaches (which were nearly all ripe, overripe, bruised, etc, and so got cut up and put into portions in the freezer for smoothies and maybe fresh peach ice cream), we are "the proud owners of three great purple onions," we got a few zucchinis at various stages of nibbling and growth, a few little green bell peppers, a few enormous beefsteak tomatoes, and a couple of Anaheim chilis.  Oh, and a bunch of fresh herbs!

I believe we acquired: basil, rosemary (used here), thyme, oregano, sage, savory, marjoram, and a couple of stray chives.  Like I said, we used a bit of the rosemary last night, and this morning I took it upon myself to attempt herb-drying.

There are a few different methods, especially depending on the herb.  Knowing my luck, I'm not expecting all of these to turn out.  But in the meantime the kitchen smells amazing.

The only thing you really need to know is whether your herbs are low or high moisture content.  I think a good way to tell is: do they start to wilt when they have been picked for a few hours?  Basil I know is a high-moisture content herb.  Things like rosemary, savory, thyme, etc, are low-moisture content.  A simple google search will tell you whether you can air dry the herbs or you need to dehumidify them.

Simplified tips on how to dry your own herbs (cause I know you have lots of them):

Unwrapped and wrapped piles, plus scissors and string that we had on hand.

All herbs for air-drying (low-moisture content) have been tied at the stems with their few base leaves removed.  The base leaves will be mostly flavorless when they are dry because they are oldest.

In the mean time, the basil, which must be dehydrated or it will get moldy (it has a high moisture content like mint and some other herbs), sits in the oven on the lowest heat setting for 20 mins.  It will sit in their for 1-2 days, and once or twice a day I will turn on the low heat again for 10-15 minutes. This is because I don't have a dehumidifier/dehydrater.  I'm sure it's easier with one of those.

The low-moisture-content herbs are hanging in a cool, dry place.  It was recommended that I put them in a slotted paper bag to keep dust and spiders off, but I didn't feel like it.  Plus we have no paper bags.  I feel like I live on a French farm or something awesome.  The huge bunch at the bottom left is Savory.  I've never used Savory before, but it smells delicious and soft.