Fallen Berry Muffins

I don’t make muffins very often because, for me, they are an awfully sweet way to start the day.  Besides, if I am going down the sweet breakfast road, I’m much more inclined toward pancakes and waffles.  D loves muffins, though.  I recently made some banana muffins out of Heidi‘s wonderful book Super Natural Cooking only to discover (after almost 8 years of marriage!) that D is not fond of banana in baked goods.  He does like banana bread, though…hmmm…

Anyway, I felt I owed him some of his kind of muffins.  These are them.

I wanted to make blueberry muffins, but discovered we had only a few blueberries left in the freezer.  Fortunately, we also had some strawberries, so I combined the two.  I decided to add some sour cream too because I wanted to offset the sweetness of the muffins (which we all know are really cupcakes in disguise, right?).  I started with a recipe out of the King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion and sort of winged it.  They turned out darned good, if a little flat on top.

Fallen Berry Muffins

• 8 T butter
• 1 c sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 t salt
• 2 t baking powder
• 1/2 t cinnamon
• 2 c AP flour
• 1/2 c milk
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1/2 c strawberries, roughly mashed (I used frozen)
• 1/2 c blueberries (again, frozen)
• 3/4 c sour cream
• cinnamon-sugar for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 375°.

Cream together the butter and sugar.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each.  Add the salt, baking powder, cinnamon and then the flour alternately with the milk.  Add the strawberries, but don’t do any more stirring than necessary.  Stir too much and the muffins will get tough.  Now, gently and gingerly, stir in the blueberries and vanilla extract.

Dole the batter out into muffin tins. (With liners, if you prefer.  I do).  My batch filled 12 muffin cups.  Take the sour cream and dollop the top of each muffin with about a teaspoon (but, really, don’t bother measuring).  Now smoosh the sour cream down into the center of the muffins with your spoon or a finger.  Whatever works.

Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with cinnamon-sugar.

Bake for 30 minutes.  Remove them from the oven and cool in the pans for 5 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack. (KAF tells me that muffins left in the pan will steam, creating a tough crust).

Yum 🙂

Creamy Broccoli Mushroom Soup

I am not sure if there is still anyone out there reading this lil’ blog anymore but, in the spirit of my original intent of posting recipes for my own recollection down the line, here we go again.  D and I both loved this soup and so here it shall be scribbled (typed?) down for us to refer back to.

I know, I know…you never thought I could do it, could get back to this.  In some ways, neither did I.  I’m working on a small goal of just 1 post every 2 weeks.  I should be able to do that, right?  We shall see…

This recipe is something I threw together on a week night really very quickly.  Usually, when I come across recipes that claim to be easily prepared in 30 minutes I grumble under my breath.  I’m not a fantastic sous chef (my knife skills could use some speed work) and things rarely come together that quickly.  This did, though.  And, since broccoli is in season (or heading out of season if you live here), now is a great time for some broccoli soup.

Also, I should tell you (should I?) that I took this photo the next day, on the floor, next to a playing baby right before I gobbled it down.  I ate it cold and it was still delicious.

Creamy Broccoli Mushroom Soup

• 3T olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 pound cremini mushroooms, sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 pound of broccoli florets
• 3 c vegetable stock
• 1 c sour cream

Sautee the onion, mushrooms, and garlic in oil until softened.  Add the broccoli and vegetable stock.  Cook until the broccoli is tender (this took me about 10 min.).  Stir in the sour cream.

Allow the soup to cool a bit (the cold sour cream helps with this) and puree in a blender.  If you are cooler than me, puree with an immersion blender (and don’t worry about waiting for it to cool).

Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.  That’s it!!

p.s. I just want to comment that I totally agree with Andrea: I love using parenthetical asides because it really makes it feel like an intimate conversation (don’t you think?), rather than me just typing willy-nilly on the internet…

Grapefruit Avocado Spinach Salad

To continue the citrus theme, I’ve got a grapefruit recipe for you this week.  After requesting suggestions in my last post, Dear Cousin Shiela gave me a rough outline of a recipe that she is fond of.  The original recipe comes from Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites.  I don’t have this book, however, so I sort of winged it based on Shiela’s description.

I prepared the dressing first, and separately, so it would be ready to go once the rest of the salad was.  Overall, I think I put too much garlic in the dressing, so the ingredient list below reflects a more toned down version.  You’ll probably have left-over dressing for use in other yummy salads.

I used a bunch of Bordeaux Spinach that I got in my CSA share and it was yummy and added some color.  Of course, I think the original recipe probably utilized plain old green spinach.  We had this for lunch with some fresh bread and brie – the combination of bitterness in the salad (grapefruit, garlic and spinach) and the slight sweetness of the bread and brie was divine.

Grapefruit Avocado Spinach Salad

• 1 grapefruit, sectioned and cut into smaller pieces
• 1 avocado
• 1 bunch spinach
• 1 clove finely chopped garlic
• 1/2 c extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Mix together the olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper to make the dressing.  Set aside.  Toss together salad ingredients and drizzle with dressing.

Lemon Bars

When I start thinking about favorite yearly events I always come up with two related to our lovely little lemon tree. The first, in spring when the tree is in bloom. That heavenly, intoxicating citrus bloom smell. I can hardly wait! The second, early winter when the lemons from our tree (and all the other citrus, for that matter), are ripe and ready to be enjoyed.

Several years ago, when we were living in Seattle, I encountered my first lemon tree in bloom at a nursery. Right then and there I decided that I would someday own a lemon tree. I may have to build a green house, but I would own a lemon tree. As such, when we moved to Tucson getting a lemon tree was a no-brainer.

We have a dwarf Meyer Lemon, which produces some of the most fragrant decadent fruit you can imagine. It’s a cross between a lemon and an orange, so it’s slightly sweeter than a straight lemon. We actually only got one lemon off of the tree this year (apparently citrus trees cycle up and down with their abundance of production). Because Meyer’s are so perfect for lemonade, I saved ours for that purpose.

The lemons for these bars came from next door. Our neighbors Malcolm and Barbara were lovely enough to plant a full-sized lemon tree next to the wall we share. It’s still small (they only put it in last year), but it produced a copious amount of lemons this year. Because they won’t be back in town until mid-February, we took the liberty of rescuing what lemons we could reach to save them from an ill fate. So, thank you Malcolm & Barbara!

It is already starting, but soon there will be more citrus than we can consume. The folks on the other side of us have an orange and a grapefruit. They usually take care of the orange but always have lots of extra grapefruits. Hmmm…grapefruit bars? If you have a yummy grapefruit recipe, please share 🙂

For now, I’m thrilled to have these Lemon Bars to wash away any cold-weather blues we may have been feeling. The dough that makes up the bottom of the bars is basically a shortbread, the top essentially a custard or curd, if you like. I sweeten the custard/curd with honey instead of regular sugar because I love the way lemons and honey go together. These bars are bright and tart, but not too tart. They taste like lemons in the best possible way!

Lemon Bars

• 1/2 lb unsalted butter, room temp (16 T)
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1/4 t almond extract
• 3 c all-purpose flour, divided
• 1/8 t kosher salt
• 7 large eggs
• 1 c honey
• 2 T lemon zest
• 1 c lemon juice, fresh squeezed
• powdered sugar, for dusting

Preheat your oven to 350° and greasing a 9×13 baking dish.

Cream together the butter, sugar and almond extract. Gradually add in 2 c of AP flour and all of the salt. Press the resulting dough into your baking dish. It’s likely that the dough will get really sticky, more so the warmer your hands are. If it’s hard to work with, stick the dish (dough and all) in to the fridge for a few minutes to help it firm up. It will be a lot easier to work with once it’s chilled. Prick the dough with a fork once it’s all pressed into the dish.

Bake the shortbread bottom at 350° for 25 minutes, until it begins to brown around the edges. Remove from the oven and set on a wire rack to cool.

Beat together the eggs, honey, zest, juice and remaining 1 c of AP flour.

Pour the curd mixture over the shortbread and bake (still at 350°) for 25-30 minutes. You want everything to be firmly set before you pull it from the oven – no jiggling. I baked mine for 30 minutes, but you oven could run hotter, so check at 30.

Cool completely and cut into squares or triangles, depending on your preference. I used my dough scraper, sprayed with cooking oil, to slice even bars. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

Mesquite Flour Pancakes

Early last fall one of my coworkers surprised me by bringing in two large buckets filled with mesquite pods she had collected from her property. She knew that I have a baking habit and thought I might be able to use the pods. All I had to do was take them to get ground into flour/meal. In Tucson we have a great organization called Desert Harvesters who set up at several locations around town in the fall to grind mesquite pods. Sadly, I managed to miss two different weekends when they had set up to mill the pods. In the end, the lovely pods that I had been gifted became infested with some sort of bug while sitting in my garage. I can not tell you how wasteful I felt. I had such a great opportunity, and I blew it.

Fortunately, acquiring mesquite flour isn’t terribly difficult in Tucson. Mesquites are the most common shrub/tree in the desert Southwest. The pods, ground into a flour or meal, have been a part of local cuisine for hundreds of years. In fact, several studies have show that, like many other desert foods, the sweetness of the meal is deceiving. In truth, mesquite flour can be wonderful for controlling blood sugar levels. Obviously, this is a boon to people with diabetes, but I think it’s really great for all of us.

I picked up some flour from my beloved Native Seeds/SEARCH. It is also available here, here and here. It’s a little pricey, but is used in smaller quantities and in combination with regular flour.

These pancakes have no sugar in the batter. In the picture, they are show with honey as a topping. For the gluten-free folks out there, just substitute your favorite gluten free flour mix for the all-purpose portion of this recipe and you’re all set!

Mesquite Flour Pancakes

• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup mesquite flour
• 1/3 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 cups milk, maybe slightly less
• 2 eggs, well-beaten
• 1/2 stick butter, melted

In a large bowl sift together the all-purpose flour, mesquite flour, salt and baking powder.

In a separate, smaller bowl whisk together the eggs, butter and milk. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. There will probably be some lumps, but if you mix too much your pancakes will get tough.

Pour your batter onto a hot , lightly greased skillet in 2 T increments for silver dollar sized pancakes or in 1/4 c dollops for full-sized pancakes.

Serve with warm honey, maple syrup or fruit preserves.

___________________

UPDATED 1.7.09:

Check out Peter’s comment below if you are planning to make these gluten free.  The picture below is his and shows the difference between waffles with mesquite flour subbed in using his method and plain GF flour waffles (looks like moslty just color to me).  He offers some experience with GF flour mixtures that I don’t have, hopefully it helps!

Fresh Dill Bread

I was recently blessed with A LOT of fresh dill as part of my weekly CSA pickup. I know most of the rest of the country is buried in (or melting out of) snow. I know, a fresh herb seems out of the question for you all. I guess this is one of the good sides of Tucson. Talk to me in June or July…I’m sure we’ll be able to find something for you to hold over my head…

Anyway, my dear friend Kim makes a fabulous dill bread that is yeasted, but has a very wet dough, so it’s really kind of like a quick bread. I wanted to try and create the same delicious dill flavor, but in a straight-dough yeasted loaf. I started with this recipe from King Arthur Flour (one of our standard favorite loaves) and changed things around quite a bit.In the end I was VERY satisfied with the result. So were Dylan and Kim 🙂

Yeasted Dill Bread

Sponge

• 1 c lukewarm water (8 oz)
• 1/2 t instant yeast
• 1 1/4 c bread flour
• 1/4 c white whole wheat flour

Dough

• all of sponge
• 1 c fresh dill, chopped (~2 oz)
• 8 oz plain yogurt
• 1 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 t instant yeast
• 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 c bread flour
• 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 c white whole wheat flour

Mix together the sponge ingredients and let sit covered, at room temperature for 3 to 12 hours. The longer you let it sit, the more interesting and complex the flavor of your loaf will be, but you can definitely do a short fermentation and still have a yummy loaf.

Once you are done fermenting, stir down the sponge and mix in the dill, water, yeast, salt and flours. You’ll probably do best if you add the flour in 1/2 c increments. You’re shooting for half bread, half white whole wheat flour, so keep that in mind when you are adding in flour.

Knead for 5 minutes (at speed 2 in a stand mixer). Let the dough and gluten rest for 10 minutes and then knead 5 more minutes.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and let rise 1 hr, or until doubled in size.

Deflate the dough and shape into whatever form you’d like. I’m a fan of free-form round loaves (often called Boules) because they are really easy. For the batch I photographed here I actually made 2 Boules.

Let the shaped loaf (or loaves) rise again for 45 to 90 minutes. I usually check after 45 because it’s always pretty warm in Tucson. Be sure to start preheating your oven to 475° about half-way through your expected rise time!

About 10 minutes before you’re ready to bake fill a shallow dish (Pyrex baking dishes work great) with about 1 inch of water. Set on the very bottom rack in the oven.

When your dough is ready to bake, turn the temperature in the oven down to 425° and insert the loaves. If you have a baking stone, I reccomend using that. Set the loaves on an upside down baking sheet.

Bake for 15 minutes. CAREFULLY remove the pan of water. Continue to bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, until a tap sounds hollow.

Remove and cool on a wire rack for (if you can) at least 2 hours.

One more thing…I’m submitting this bread for this week’s YeastSpotting over on Susan’s Wild Yeast Blog.

Pear Gingerbread

Every year, without fail, we receive a box of Harry and David Royal Rivera Pears. Sometimes we get two. One year we even got three! They are the most delicious pears in the world, but we can only eat so many between the two of us!

Because we find ourselves faced with too many pears, I keep my eyes open all year long for recipes that involve them. This year, I came across several gingerbread/pear combo cakes. After perusing a few of them I came up with this cake.

There isn’t too much sugar in this recipe and, while I really liked the level of sweetness, Dylan said he would have liked it sweeter. If you do want a sweeter cake, sprinkle some brown sugar in the bottom of the pan (on top of the parchment) before you lay the pears down. Overall, I think it’s a welcome treat that won’t push you over the sugar edge, which was a good thing for me!

Upside-Down Pear Gingerbread

• 3-4 pears, peeled, cored and sliced in 1/8 segments
• 1 1/2 c white whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 t ground ginger
• 1/2 t ground nutmeg
• 1/4 t ground cloves
• 1/8 t salt
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/3 c sugar
• 1/4 c butter
• 1/3 c molasses
• 1 egg
• 2/3 c milk (I used 2%)

Line the bottom of a 9″ spring form pan with parchment paper. I did this by removing the bottom and tracing it onto the paper. Then I cut out my circle.

Lay your pears in the bottom of the pan. Try to cover all of the space in the pan, if you can.

Sift together the flour, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, salt and baking soda. Set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the molasses and the egg and beat well.

Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the sugar/butter and mix in gently. Add 1/2 the milk and continue to mix. Add the second 1/3 of the dry ingredients, followed by the remainder of the milk. Finally, add the remaining 1/3 of dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Your batter won’t be especially runny.

Spread the cake batter evenly over the pears. Bake at 350° for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve with whipped or ice cream.

Khombi Tarkari (Spicy Mushrooms with Ginger and Chiles)

There is no doubt that Dylan and I have always been keen on spice. We love many different kinds of ethnic foods and often feel the spicier the better. I say “often” instead of “always” because there are times that this has come back to bite one of us in the butt. One particular instance, early on in our relationship, has nothing to do with this recipe, but it’s funny and will hopefully transport those who are snowed into their caves to a different place. Hopefully.

For our honeymoon we spent a couple of weeks on the island of Hawai’i (the Big Island). We chose the location partially because we have relatives there and partly because neither of us had been and we were intrigued by all of the different environments on this one island. Plus, it was a lot cheaper than flying to Fiji or Thailand or something. We had a budget to work within.

When our plane first landed, after a layover in Honolulu, we were shocked. Shocked by the alien moon landscape. Amazed by how relaxed the airport was. The airport in Kona is pretty much completely open-air. It’s also not very big. We grabbed our bags and high-tailed it to our B&B.

Our travel plans involved staying in various locations on the island for a few days. As we moved though our trip, we talked to locals about places that lay ahead of us. What should we do? Where should we eat?

By the time we were heading to Volcano Village, right outside Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, it was clear that there was one specific eating establishment that had to be on our itinerary. Thai Thai Resaurant.

It was my birthday and a somewhat special dinner out as part of our honeymoon. We were seated at a small table in this pretty small restaurant. Other tables were in near proximity to ours, but it added to the atmosphere. We ordered. What, I can’t remember, but I do remember that I ordered my dish medium spicy. I’m not sure why I did, as I usually order spicy, but somehow I felt I should be more cautious. Dylan, on the other hand ordered from the extreme spicy end of the spectrum, Thai Hot. That’s right, your spice level choices were mild, medium, hot and Thai Hot.

My dish was perfect. As I sat across the table from Dylan I realized that his, on the other hand, was a bit too much. He was quickly losing the ability to hold a conversation and eat his meal. His forehead was sweating and his face was turning red. I had never, never (and haven’t since) seen this reaction from him. Ultimately, he couldn’t finish his meal and had it boxed to take back to our B&B.

Before we left the restaurant a new couple was seated next to us. They both ordered their meals Thai Hot. We tried to warn them, but they would have none of it. As we left Thai Thai we wondered how their meal experience would be. They seemed pretty confident about their spice tolerance but, then again, that was how we had felt too…

As I mentioned before, the story really had nothing to do with this dish. Well, the fact that there are spices in this dish is a corollary, but it’s not spicy per se, so that’s about the only match. The Thai food we had was all about setting your mouth on fire.  Khombi Tarkari is an Indian dish, not Thai, and creates a balance of beautiful flavors and spices in your mouth.  The recipe is another that we have cooked out of Julie Sahni’s Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking.

If you like mushrooms, you’ll want to try this. We ate the mushrooms on their own as a side, but she suggests also eating them wrapped in a bread as a snack or tossed in a pilaf for a simple dinner.

Khombi Tarkari (Spicy Mushrooms with Ginger and Chiles)

• 3 T peanut oil
• 1 c onion,chopped
• 1 T ginger, chopped
• 2 t garlic, minced
• 2 hot green chilies, minced
• 1/4 t tumeric
• 1 1/2 lb mushrooms, cleaned and cut into 1″ pieces
• 1/2 t coarse salt
• 1 t cumin seeds, roasted and crushed
• 1 t lemon juice
• 2 T chopped fresh coriander (cilantro) for garnish

Start by measuring out all of the spices and setting them aside.

Heat the peanut oil in a wok or large frying pan over medium-high heat for 3 minutes. Add the onion and cook, stirring, for 3 more minutes. Add the ginger, garlic and chilies and cook for 2 more minutes.

Add the turmeric, mushrooms and salt. Cook, turning the ingredients, until all the moisture released by the mushrooms begins to evaporate and the mushrooms begin to fry (about 15 minutes).

Lower the heat and sprinkle on the cumin seeds and the lemon juice. Mix well and continue cooking until the mushrooms absorb the lemon juice and look fried (about 5 minutes).

Turn off the heat and serve warm sprinkled with the chopped fresh coriander.

Red, White and Green “Lasagne”

I am honored and excited to announce that today’s post is part of Andrea’s Off the Shelf series over at Cooking Books!

Andrea’s blog features delicious recipes she has prepared out of a wide variety of cookbooks.  I first discovered her space on the web through a mutual interest in Pflaumekuchen.  A few internet exchanges later we learned that we actually went to the same college – it sure is a small world!  Andrea makes such a wide variety of interesting, unique and tasty recipes that I look forward to each of her posts.  This is my attempt to fit in on her site!

The book I am cooked from, Kurt Beecher Dammeier’s “Pure Flavor,” is one I picked up this past summer when we were up in Seattle visiting friends.  The moment I saw this recipe I knew I wanted to try it – and this was the perfect excuse!

Please click through to Andrea’s blog to read the post for this yummy and unique “Lasagne!”

Caramels for Christmas

Last year at Christmastime we were very lucky to have my mom and sister come to Tucson to stay with us for the holiday.  Usually, we have to travel SOMEwhere, since neither of our families live down here.  Getting to stay home and celebrate with family was truly a treat!

We did all of the usual bustling and prepping.  We had a beautiful tree and stocking stuffers.  We planned a full menu and fun activities to keep us busy between meals.  As part of a tradition we plucked from the West, we got a box of candies from See’s (there is no See’s in Chicago, where I grew up).

Yeah, about that box of candy…we waited.  As long as we could.  Then, on the day they were supposed to arrive we got a call – they would be late.  Very late.  The weather out on the road between Chicago and Tucson was not great.

We opened the box of candies.

Then, before we knew it, they were mostly gone.  I know what you are thinking: are you kidding?  I’m not.  I think we ate them for lunch.

Dylan wanted to get more, especially the caramels.  I looked at him straight on and said, “There is not chance, NONE, that I will be driving over to the See’s at the mall on the day before Christmas.  Sorry.”

So we did what any resourceful people with time on their hands would do.  We started searching the internet for a recipe so we could make them ourselves.  (What would we ever do without the internet?)

We found this recipe on All Recipes and proceeded to completely butcher it.  We didn’t’ have corn syrup and I think we were missing a few other things too.  So, we improvised.  The caramels turned out tasty, but didn’t have a very long shelf life.

This year, we decided to give the caramels another shot.  I mean, why buy something that you can make yourself?  Especially when you can be prepared and have all the ingredients!

Below I have copied the recipe from All Recipes.  If you want to make more or less, I encourage you to visit the original, as you can adjust the number of servings you want and see customized ingredient quantities.

Caramels

• 2 c white sugar
• 1 c brown sugar
• 1 c light corn syrup
• 1 c evaporated milk
• 1 pint heavy whipping cream
• 1 c unsalted butter
• 1 1/4 t vanilla extract

Start by preparing the pan that you will cool the hot caramel in.  This recipe calls for a 12×15″ pan, which I don’t have.  I did some estimating and came up with two pans that yielded approximately 180 square inches of pan space (I multiplied 12 x 15 to get this number).  In any case, line the bottom and two sides of whatever pan you use with parchment and grease well.  Cooking spray works well for this.

Combine all of the ingredients except the vanilla in a large pot with high sides.  I used my 5.5 qt soup pot and it worked perfectly.  You probably don’t want something that is too tall, because you will need to be able to get down in there to measure temperature/cooking stage of the candy.

Turn the heat on low and stir all of your ingredients to incorporate them. Bring the mixture to a low simmer and keep it there.  You don’t want to cook the caramel too quickly – you will just burn the sugar and never thicken the candy.

Ultimately you want to heat your mixture to approximately 250º.  The temperature indicates how hard the caramels will be.  You want to reach the medium-hard ball stage – you want the caramel to form a smooth yet tacky ball.

You can use a candy thermometer to achieve this, but I highly recommend that you also do some testing the old-fashioned way.  To test the progress of your candy, drop a small amount into a cold glass of water.  You’ll be able to see immediately if you are close to the right temperature (in the above picture, the glass contains the winner).  Pour out the water and handle the little bit of candy.  What you feel here will be the final texture of your caramel, so shoot for what you want 🙂

You’ll know you are getting close to the right temperature when the candy gets much thicker and gloppy (for lack of a better term).  In the picture at the right, my caramel was at about 248º.  It took over an hour and a half to reach this temperature.  Be patient!

Once you reach the desired temperature, remove your pan from the heat source and stir in the vanilla.

Transfer your candy to the pan(s) you prepared and let the caramel cool completely.  I stuck mine in the fridge after 10 minutes on the counter.  You’ll need the caramel to firm up before you can do any chocolate dipping 🙂

As you can see from the photos, we chose to coat some of our caramels in dark chocolate.  The little garnish you see on top is Chocolate Salt, which I won in a giveaway last month.  Thanks to Katie from Salt and Chocolate for that extra special something!

Do you have a favorite candy at holiday time? What is it?