Spice Muffins

Hi There,
I love this time of year.  Not just because the Christmas holiday season has everyone hustling around, but because its dark when I get home from work and I don't feel the "need" to do anything but cook dinner and curl up in my favorite blue chair in front of the fire.  This is my nightly routine and it stirs up memories of cookies baking and the smell of the "warm" spices that I love so much.  My "warm" spices are cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg and allspice.  These define the winter months to me.  I'm basically addicted to cinnamon.  Anything that has this wonderful spice in it, I love.  I use it as often as possible. 
My friend Donna told me about a Facebook page called The Alchemist.  It shares many wonderful recipes.  When I saw this recipe, I knew immediately that I had to try it.  I think these muffins are pretty close to perfection.  I hope you do too!

Spice Muffins:
2 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1 1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

2 large eggs
1 1/4 cup sour cream
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup applesauce
2 teaspoons vanilla

Topping:
cinnamon sugar
confectioners sugar
water


This recipe makes about 12 muffins. 
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Spray a muffin tin or use paper muffin cups. 

In a large bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients and set aside.  In a smaller bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients.  Pour the wet into the dry and stir.  Fold gently, just enough to mix.  Do not over mix or muffins will be tough.  Scoop the mixture into the muffin pan (I use an ice cream scoop).  Sprinkle each muffin with cinnamon sugar.  Bake for 18 to 20 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. 

While muffins are baking, mix a small amount of conf sugar with water.  After the muffins have cooked, drizzle this mixture over top. 

I hope you enjoy these muffins with a nice cup of coffee in front of your fire!!

Love,
Beth

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

Hi There,
I love this time of year.  Not only because God uses His paintbrush to create beautiful colors, but because it's the best time of year for food!!  Don't get me wrong, I was just as sad as everyone to see summer go......... however, nothing makes me forget summer faster than the smell of dried leaves and apples!  It brings me right to the kitchen where I instantly think about comfort food.  Soup, roasts, pies, - anything that takes a long time to cook and fills my house with an aroma that brings me right back to my mother's kitchen. 
Soup to me is the classic comfort food.  It feels good to cook, good to smell and good to eat.  Here is the soup that I usually start the season off with.  Butternut squash, with it's creamy texture, is on the top of my soup list. 
I forgot to take a picture before we ate it for dinner last night.  So sorry........... but you can envision a beautiful pumpkin colored soup that is like velvet to stir...................

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons oil
1 butternut squash - peeled and cut into cubes
2 medium sized onions - chopped
2 carrots - peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
3 apples - peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
salt and pepper
2 - 26 oz containers of chicken stock (I use Swanson)
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of dried thyme
2 more tablespoons butter

In a large pot, heat butter and oil.  Add onion and carrots and saute for 5 minutes.  Add squash.  Cook for another 5 minutes.   Add apples, and all remaining ingredients except the last 2 T of butter.  Cook until all vegetables are soft.   Turn off the heat and let the soup sit for about 1/2 hour.  If you have an immersion blender, use it to puree the soup.  If not, then use your blender, smoothing the soup in batches.  Be careful - hot liquid expands so don't fill the blender to the top. 

Return all pureed soup back to pot and reheat slowly.  Add the last two T of butter and melt right before serving. 

This recipe makes enough for you to eat and still have some to freeze. 

Enjoy!!
Love,
Beth

Is September almost over yet????

Hi There
Most of you know that September is a difficult month for me.  My stress level is very high and my patience level is very low.  Unfortunately I don't have the time or the energy to spend any time in the kitchen, doing my favorite thing - cooking.  I sure am hoping that October will be better and that I'll be able to share lots of new recipes with you.  So on that note, I really don't have much to share today other than a tip.  Here it is:

Are you a mushroom lover?  Do you like sauteed mushrooms over your steak or as a side dish to almost anything?  Well here is a trick - when you saute your mushrooms, don't salt them until they are completely cooked.  Put some butter and evoo in a pan, with a little pepper, and saute until browned.  If you do it this way, they will remain soft and juicy.  If you add the salt before they are cooked, it will deplete all the moisture in the mushroom and they will become tough and dry. 

That's all I have for today.  Please pray for my sanity!!! 

Enjoy!

Love,
Beth

Peach Crisp

Hi There,
This is a great time of year for fruit desserts.  Peaches are nice and ripe, usually from local farms.  I try very hard to maximize the bounty of the season.  Today I bought some wonderful peaches at a farm stand.  Some I saved to eat with my lunch but others I used for a delicious Peach Crisp. 

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup quick oats
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg (if you aren't a fan of nutmeg, omit it and double the cinnamon)
1/4 tsp salt
4 tablespoons melted butter
5 to 6 whole, ripe peaches - peeled and cut into large chunks
1/2 fresh lemon

In a bowl combine all the dry ingredients.  Add the melted butter to make a crumbly mixture. 
Squeeze the lemon and toss the juice over the peaches.  Put peaches into 8 or 9 inch square pan and cover loosely with the dry mixture.  Cover with tin foil and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  Remove the foil and bake for an additional 20 minutes. 

Serve warm with ice cream.  Don't let this dessert sit for too long.  It can begin to get watery.

Enjoy!
Love,
Beth

P.S. My grandson Caleb thinks this looks very gross.  But it really does taste good!!

Chicken Cutlets

Hi There,
This past Friday I cooked chicken cutlets.  My family likes them the easy, simple way, which a restaurant would call Chicken Milanese (my family is from the Milan area of Italy).  Milanese is anything that is cooked with a lemon/garlic sauce.  Very simple ingredients, very simple flavors, but oh so yummy. 
Today I had left over chicken cutlets.  I wanted to have them for dinner, but how should I serve them?  I didn't want to eat them the same way we ate them on Friday.  So I looked around the fridge and pulled out a container of fresh baby spinach, half of a hunk of fresh mozzarella and a tomato.  What could I do with these for a simple, clean dinner.  Here is what I decided:

I took the spinach and sauteed it for about 2 minutes in a bit of olive oil and 2 cloves of garlic.  I put the cutlets in a baking dish, and places a small amount of the mozz on top of each cutlet.  I cut up the tomato into chucks and added that too.  Then the spinach, garlic and all the juice over the top of everything.  I sprinkled a bit of chicken broth in the pan and placed it in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. 

This is such and easy meal and it was soooo good!!.  You could even buy already cooked chicken cutlets at the local meat market.  You will have an "almost homemade" dinner that will taste like you were in the kitchen for hours. 

Enjoy!!
Love,

Beth

Eggplant Donut Holes

Hi
I'm sure the title sounds silly, but believe me, these are delish!!!  This is another recipe for this time of year where you can use the bounty from your garden (or the local fresh market), in different ways other than the same old recipes your family is used to.  This one is fun and really good.  Let me know what you think.  So many of you responded to the Zucchini Bread recipe and I thank you for that.  I really want to know what you think of my ideas!!

This recipe was created because I remember seeing something similar on TV.  I couldn't remember all the ingredients so I just opened my fridge and used what I had.  Here is what I did:

1 large eggplant - cut the eggplant in half, lengthwise.  Score it with a paring knife into cubes but keep the cubes in the skin.  Sprinkle with a bit of salt, pepper and olive oil.  Bake at 400 degrees for about 40 or 45 minutes.  Let it cool. 

Scoop out the inside of the eggplant into a bowl.  Add 3/4 cup grated Parmesan, 1/2 flavored bread crumbs, 1/4 store bought pesto, 1 egg beaten, 1/2 tsp garlic powder and 2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley.  Mix together.  If the mixture is very wet, add a bit more bread crumbs. 

Heat some vegetable oil in a pan (I use cast iron) and using a small cookie scoop (or anything round) scoop the mixture into the hot oil and fry for 3 or 4 minutes per side.  Remove them from the oil and drain onto a paper towel.  Serve with tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese.  If you want this recipe to have a kick to it you can add some red pepper flakes to the sauce. 

I'm using these tonight as a first course for dinner - I have a friend coming over and I thought it would be nice to serve something different.  Please let me know if you give this a try!

Enjoy,
Love
Beth

Zucchini Bread

Hi There,
In keeping with my theme "all things zucchini" this month, today I'm sharing zucchini bread.  Now to some people bread sounds dull and boring.  I assure you this is not dull and boring bread.  It is sweet and moist.  Wonderful for breakfast with a bit of cream cheese or a late night snack.  My family was recently on vacation in Lake Placid, NY.  I brought two loaves of this bread to share.  It was devoured moments after it was served. 
This recipe makes two loaves.  When I make it I leave one out for us to eat and put the other in the freezer.  Nothing is better on a cold winter's day than to have a wonderful loaf of sweet summer bread with a cup of tea.

Zucchini Bread:

3 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup water
2 cups zucchini, grated
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grate the zucchini in a food processor or with a box grater.  Place the zucchini in a strainer in the sink and let it sit.  In a bowl combine the flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon and sugar.  In another bowl combine the oil, eggs, water, and lemon juice.  Squeeze the zucchini in the strainer as much as you can to get out all the moisture.  Add the zucchini to the wet mixture.  Add the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and stir.  Don't over mix.  Fold in nuts. 
Spray two loaf pans with nonstick spray.  Add half the mixture to each pan.  Bake for 1 hour or until tester comes out clean. 

After it's cooled, sprinkle with a little bit of powdered sugar and serve. 

Enjoy!!
Love,
Beth