Best Blueberry Muffins

Inspired by the blueberries I saw at the grocery yesterday, I picked up two boxes of the tart little dark indigo berries, with dreams of streusel-topped muffins dancing in my head, well...maybe in the oven anyway.

Muffins:

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 cup fresh blueberries, rinsed and drained



Topping:
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cold butter, cubed
1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Grease muffin pan or line with muffin liners.

Make Muffins: Combine flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder in bowl. Place vegetable oil in a 1-cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup (about 1/3 cup). Mix into dry ingredients. Fold in blueberries.  (Batter will be thick consistency but add more milk, a tablespoon at at time, if it seems more like cookie dough.)

Make Topping: Mix topping ingredients with fork until it resembles pea-sized crumbs.

Spoon muffin batter into muffin pan almost to the top; leave room for topping. Sprinkle topping over muffins.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until done.

If using a dark pan, lower temperature to 375º.

P.S. Shots taken wtih the new camera - aaahhh, wonderful ! 

Life is so much easier with the proper tools. 

Speaking of tools, I must say Cookie Scoops win my vote for the day! 

More Fun with Turkey…

Funny, I have a gazillion cookbooks but for some reason, I do better making up my own recipes, either out of necessity, boredom, or being inspired by something. I was planning on making the Swedish ones below, but when it came time to fix them, I lost steam and didn't feel like it. But I had thawed ground turkey. What to do? And I had Montreal Chicken Seasoning….oohhh, okay, then we have something here.  These would also be tasty as a grilled turkey burger with grilled red onion on a crusty kaiser roll. 

Turkey Meatballs & Gravy

Meatballs:
1 pound ground turkey
3 slices white bread
1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon McCormick's Montreal Chicken seasoning

Gravy:
1 can low-sodium beef broth
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
Cornstarch (1 tablespoon dissolved in warm water)

Mix milk and bread to make a panade.  Add seasoning; mix well with ground turkey. Form into balls. Heat about 2 tablespoons olive oil in large skillet.

Place meatballs in skillet. Brown well, turning frequently to cook through. When golden brown, add 1 can of beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, and sugar. Bring to a boil. Add cornstarch slurry. Cook gravy until thickened.

Serve over noodles or rice.

Sorry, no pictures this time. BUT, I a have brand spankin' new Canon Rebel Ti2 and I just LOVE it; it's my new best friend. So next time, there will be some really cool pics of something new.

Swedish Meatballs with Sour Cream Dill Sauce

In my attempt to choose healthier foods and cook with healthier ingredients, I've made some changes to some of my recipes. One of the changes is switching out ground beef for ground turkey. Because there is less fat, we need to add some moisture into the mix and so, I've used a panade in this recipe. A panade is a mixture of milk and bread. I learned this from America's Test Kitchen. I've also switched out sour cream for light sour cream. I don't really notice much of a difference other than light seems to me more "dry" and kind of "bitter." A touch of salt helps eliminate this. So here is my version of lighter, healthier Swedish Meatballs.

Swedish Meatballs

1 pound ground turkey
1/4 cup minced dried minced onion
4 slices wheat or white bread
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1 tablespoon chopped chives
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon dried mustard
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Salt
Pepper

Preheat oven to 375º

Spray baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

In large bowl, soak bread in milk. Add turkey and mix well. Add remaining ingredients, mixing well. Let sit about 10 minutes. Form into 2-inch balls. Place meatballs on prepared baking sheet; bake at 375º for 30 to 40 minutes, until golden brown on the outside.

Sour Cream Dill Sauce

1 cup beef or chicken broth (I used beef )
1 cup sour cream, *room temperature
1 tablespoon dried dill
Salt
Pepper

Heat broth in saucepan. Add sour cream. Add dill, salt, and pepper. Let simmer and thicken about 15 minutes. For color, if desired, add browning sauce (Kitchen Bouquet) to your liking.

Serve over cooked noodles.

*Kitchen Tip:  If mixing mayo, sour cream, etc. ingredients with hot liquids to make a sauce or gravy, they will blend perfectly if brought to room temperature first.

Short Intermission

I'll be taking a break from food blogging for a short time while I gather my wits, reorganize some priorities, take on some extra work, perhaps practice some camera tricks, and try to get outside at least for a short walk every day. Stay tuned... we'll be back.

Pasta e Fagioli - The Name Alone Says Yummy Italian

A former colleague (Cynthia) used to make this (among other delectable Italian and Greek dishes) and bring it for lunch. It always smelled so wonderful and looked so pretty, but I wasn’t much into soups in the mid 90s or I would have begged her for her recipe.

I’d almost forgotten about this particular brew until my Cookstr page on Facebook reminded me by highlighting their chef of the day, Giuliano Hazan. In clicking through to his recipes, I found this and immediately printed it out. It couldn’t have been more perfect for a cold wintry day.

Pasta e Fagioli ~From Giuliano Hazan / Cookstr :

 

Although this recipe may take closer to 45 minutes to prepare than 30, Pasta e Fagioli is one of northern Italy's best known and loved soups and deserves to be included in this book. There are many variations of this soup and one of my favorites is from the Veneto, where the soup is thick and creamy, a texture that is achieved by mixing in some mashed boiled potato as well as mashing some of the beans. The beans traditionally used in this soup are cranberry beans, borlotti in Italian; some of the most famous ones come from a town in the Veneto called Lamon. A good substitute, if cranberry beans are not available, is cannellini beans. – Giuliano Hazan

Yield: SERVES 4

Ingredients

• 1 medium boiling potato
• ½ small yellow onion
• 1 medium carrot
• 1 medium celery stalk
• 2 medium cloves garlic
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 3 cups (2 15-ounce cans) canned cranberry or cannellini beans, drained
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 8 ounces fresh tomatoes
• 1 large beef bouillon cube
• 1 bay leaf
• 5 ounces short tubular pasta
• 3-4 sprigs flat-leaf Italian parsley
• ¼ cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Directions:

1. Wash the potato, put it in a pot, and cover it with water. Place over high heat and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to medium and cook until the potato is tender, about 30 minutes.

2. While the potato is cooking, peel and finely chop the onion. Peel the carrot and the back of the celery stalk and cut both into small dice. Peel and lightly crush the garlic. Peel the tomatoes and coarsely chop them. When the potato is done, put the onion, carrot, celery, and garlic in a 4- to 5-quart soup pot together with 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Place over medium-high heat and sauté until the vegetables begin to brown, about 5 minutes.

3. While the vegetables are sautéing, peel the boiled potato.

4. When the vegetables are ready, remove and discard the garlic cloves. Add the chopped tomatoes and continue cooking for 5 minutes. Add 2 cups of the canned beans, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring, for about a minute. Add 5 cups water and the bouillon cube. Mash the potato with a food mill or potato ricer and add to the pot. Do the same with the remaining cup of canned beans. Add the bay leaf, cover the pot, and raise the heat to high. When the soup comes to a boil, lower the heat to medium and cook for 15 minutes.

5. Add the pasta and cook, covered, until the pasta is al dente, stirring often. Chop enough parsley to measure 1 tablespoon. When the pasta is done, stir in the chopped parsley and serve. Drizzle some of the remaining olive oil and sprinkle freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano over each serving.

DomestiKitchen’s Review:

First, compared to what I remember Cythinia’s tasting like, this didn’t fit that taste memory. Once I decided not to compare, however, it’s a wonderful soup, made exactly as directions call for, except the beans. Here in Indiana, there is no way I am going to find anything like cranberry beans. Maybe cannellini beans, if I’m lucky. In the regular bean aisle of one of our larger groceries, no cannellini beans. Anywhere. Thirty people passed me by while I searched the shelves for cannellini beans. I substituted great northern beans, of which there were a gazillion varieties – all different “flavors”. Finally, on a shelf far below, I found 3 cans of regular, no spices added, great northern beans…69 cents a can. The great bean hunt was finally over. Several aisles down, in the international section, there were 2 cans of cannellini beans (woohoo) imported from a Middle Eastern country…$2.99 a can. As much as I was tempted to use the cannellini beans, for $2.99 a can, I felt my great northerns were an acceptable substitute.

On with the soup review:

* Prep all your veggies first.
* I think another potato would have provided more creaminess. I did peel and cut the potato in large chunks to boil to speed things up a bit. Mash the potato with the extra cup of beans. It would just save a step.
* Mince the garlic and leave it in. Beans and potatoes really don’t have much flavor on their own; they need help. The garlic is a nice helpmate.
* Tomatoes: Well fresh, juicy red sun-ripened tomatoes aren’t going to be found here in the Midwest in February. What’s in the stores is insipid, flavorless mush. Use a can of diced tomatoes. You’ll get more flavor and a product that doesn’t fall apart. I used “fresh” and the tomatoes just disintegrated in the soup. You can’t even see the tomatoes, let alone taste them. Sometimes fresh is not as good as canned.

I’ll definitely make this again!! It’s good. It’s hearty. And nutritious. There are leftovers in the fridge I will be slurping up for a late lunch today. As always, soup is best with a bit of crusty French or Italian bread.

Brioche...BBA Challenge #4

I'm still tagging along with the Bread Bakers Apprentice Challenge. I made #4, brioche, this weekend. Out of all of the breads so far, this one has taken me the longest to get around to for one reason or the other … the holidays, then getting settled back to normal routine, then waiting for the molds to be delivered….

Finally, however, I managed to start and finish the bread with much success. At first, I was really concerned about the dough. It did not seem to want to behave like normal dough or as in the instructions. Mostly, it seems timing was off.

The soaker was to sit for 20 minutes until it fell when the bowl was tapped. After 40 minutes, that never happened. I proceeded on with the bread making regardless. The next day then, the loaves were supposed to proof for 1-1/2 to 2 hours. After nearly 2 hours, the dough seemed cold still and had not budged an inch. I put the loaves on the stove, turned the overhead light on and in another 30 minutes, they had really puffed up and were ready to bake.

I made the Rich Man’s Brioche; all 5 eggs and 4 sticks of butter. Wow! But if I’m going to go through all the effort, I’m going to go all the way. I added it 1/4 stick at a time and the dough just got smoother and stickier as I continued adding more butter. I didn’t find it easy to work with but I managed to get it onto the sheet pan into the refrigerator overnight.

Working with the cold dough wasn’t as difficult as I had imagined. I made 2 medium loaves in molds, 4 petite ones in molds, and a 1-pound loaf for slicing. I gave the medium molded loaves away and the little ones were for ‘taste testing.”

I had never had brioche before and was quite pleased with the taste and texture. It's kind of like a croissant, perhaps a bit more dense and without as many flaky layers. I've tried to make croissants before. I'll stick with brioche - it's easier.

I think I like this treat in the petite size. Dinner rolls for Easter comes to mind. Or for breakfast with cinnamon sugar sprinkled on before baking. They could be easily baked in a large muffin tin or smaller cupcake pan. There is half a loaf left. I’m making a toasted ham and cheese sandwiches with for lunch. Mmmmm......

Next week:  Casatiello....a bread with meat and cheese baked in. After all the sweeter breads I've made, I'm up for something savory. Stay tuned.

It's A Deepa Disha Pizza Pie

Mostly, Fridays are pizza and movie night.  I've been wanting to kick up our standard homemade pizza recipe, so I tried my little hands at making a Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza. I can’t justify living within 50 miles of Chicago and not trying to make one of these delightfully tasty pies. 

Nothing better than the taste of success. So good!! Delicious, filling, satisfying. Another go-to dinner idea. Lou Malnati should taste this one!

Mind you, it’s not all scratch. I’ll get around to that experiment one of these days.

To Make A 9- or 12-inch pie (this was a 9-inch pie):

I used a 9-inch cake pan with 2-inch straight sides (I LOVE Chicago Metallic bakeware).

You can buy a pan specifically for deep dish pizza but this makes just the right size for two to four people.





Ingredients:

1 Tiseo's frozen pizza dough
1/2 pound bulk Italian sausage (same stuff we get at Hungry Hill)
1/2 medium onion sweet onion, cut in strips
8 to 12 ounces mozzarella cheese (slices are preferred but shredded is fine)
About 15 to 20 slices of pepperoni
1-1/4 cups of your favorite pizza sauce. I used Pastorelli Italian Chef Pizza Sauce (8 ounce can mixed with 3 tablespoons tomato sauce).
Canola oil

Thaw dough according to package directions.

Preheat oven to 425º.

Cook sausage with onion until sausage is almost done and onion is soft. Drain. Set side.

Roll out dough in a circle 2 inches larger than pan you will be using. Oil pan very well with canola oil. I prefer canola as it doesn’t leave the aftertaste that olive oil will leave. Place dough in pan, stretching dough up the sides. You may have to work it a bit, but the dough will stay.

Place dough in oven to parbake 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from oven.

Layer about 3/4 of the cheese on the bottom of the crust. Layer sausage/onion mixture, then pepperoni. Pour sauce over and spread out evenly over pie. Top with remaining cheese.

Bake about 25 to 30 minutes until cheese is golden and sauce is bubbly. Remove from oven. Cool about 10 minutes before cutting.

(Pictures lately are looking like crap...I really hate to take any until I get this lighting thing figured out. Flash, no flash. Lights on or off.  Backround. Natural light. So many factors. Not everything is yellow!)

Baked Fusilli with Sausage

Remember I said I put this week’s menu together from randomly leafing through magazines… Talk about random – This is from Working Mother, November 1985. Holy cow! I’m a recipe pack rat.

This was actually VERY good. Restaurant quality. Tasty, yummy – will definitely make this one again!

I give credit for a lot of the tastiness in this dish to Hungry Hill Sausage, a local specialty meat store where we buy our sausage.

Ingredients:

4 cups fusilli (corkscrew-shaped pasta)
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 green pepper, diced
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound Italian sausage
1 teaspoon oregano
1 can (16 ounces) plum tomatoes
1/2 pound grated mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350º.

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain in colander and cool under running water.

Meanwhile, over high heat in medium skillet (I used the cast iron skillet) heat olive oil. Add sausage and saute, breaking up meat as it cooks, about 3 to 4 minutes. Drain. Add pepper, onion, and garlic. Reduce heat to medium and continue cooking an additional 5 to 7 minutes. Add tomatoes, stirring well and breaking them up.

Add pasta, tossing to coat pasta with sausage mixture. Turn into  a baking dish (you can skip this step and save washing another dish if you use the cast iron skillet) and cover with cheese.

Place skillet on a sheet pan and bake in 350º oven 30 to 40 mins. until bubbly, heated through, and cheese is starting to turn golden.

Now you wonder, looking at the picture, where oh where is the fusilli? Well, I could not find any at my local store. I didn’t feel like running around all over NW Indiana looking for curly noodles. I needed linguine so I bought 2 boxes. Viola! Fusilli into linguine. Actually, I think penne would be the best choice for this dish.

Oktoberfest in January...Bavarian Comfort Food

My German roots are showing. I have roots all over the place; the quintessential Heinz 57 - some Scottish, Irish, French, German, Native American...

I love German food. There is a restaurant at home, Schmidt's Sausage Haus, that I love to go to. It's in German Village. I love German Village. Spending the day there is #1 on my agenda for next time I go home.

If you're in the mood for a hearty, wonderful Bavarian dinner (great for Sundays), this will satisfy that craving.

German Pork Roast (Bavarian Schweinebraten)


One 2-pound pork roast (I used boneless center cut loin)
1 large (or 2 medium) onions, sliced in thick rings
3 cloves garlic, minced or sliced
2 carrots cut into 2 x 1/2-inch pieces or 1 small bag of baby carrots
1 bottle of dark beer
Vegetable oil
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
Salt and pepper
Coarse ground spicy brown mustard (like Guilden’s)

Preheat oven to 350º.

Sprinkle vegetable oil on bottom of roasting pan. Arrange onions and garlic over that. Add the carrots and beer, and sprinkle caraway seeds over mixture.

Coat entire roast with about 1 to 2 tablespoons of mustard. Season with salt and pepper. Place roast on top of onion-beer mixture. Cover with lid or foil (whichever fits).

Roast in oven, fat side of roast up, for 60 minutes at 350º. Remove cover. Baste roast. Brush with another light layer of mustard. Increase heat to 400º. Roast, uncovered, an additional 45 to 60 minutes, or until meat and carrots are fork tender. Let roast rest 10-15 minutes before slicing. Thicken sauce with cornstarch or serve as jus on the side. Either way, it's heavenly.

Hot German (Potato) Noodle Salad

This is actually a potato salad recipe. We had potatoes last night, so I changed out the potatoes for noodles as a side for this dinner. Tastes just as yummy!

4 cups wide noodles ( or 4 medium potatoes, boiled in skins, if you're making potato salad)
4 slices bacon, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 tablespoon cornstarch
3 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon celery seed
1/4 teaspoon each, salt and pepper
1 cup water
3 tablespoons white or cider vinegar

Cook noodles according to package directions. (For potato salad, peel and slice potatoes very thin)

Meanwhile, in large skillet (cast iron is great for this), saute bacon slowly until crisp then drain on paper towels. Set aside. Saute onion in bacon drippings in pan until they are just beginning to caramelize. Blend in cornstarch, sugar, celery seed, salt, and pepper. Cook on low heat; mix well. Add water and vinegar. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil for 1 minute.

Carefully stir in noodles (drained) and crumbled bacon bits. Remove from heat. Cover and let stand until ready to serve.

*Amish noodles are fantastic in this dish.

And, I did whip up a batch of Snickerdoodles but 5 minutes into baking, they were smelling burnt. Nicely cracked on the top but the bottoms were burned. I used brand new cookie sheets. Wonder if that was the problem or if the temp was too high - recipe said 400º - maybe a combination of both. After I research a bit, I'll try again tonight.

Chicken with Peppers, Onions and Fill in the ________ : Creating Your Own Recipes

How many recipes can you make from trio of chicken breasts (cut in stirfry strips), peppers (red, green, or multicolored), and onions? I think you could round up several hundred if you searched long enough and far enough. You’re only limited by your imagination.

Some of my favorite combos are...

~ with teriyaki sauce over rice
~ with tomato sauce over spaghetti and sprinkled with parmesan cheese
~ with barbecue sauce and macaroni & cheese
~ with teriyaki sauce and pineapple over thin spaghetti or ramen noodles
~ with a wine-butter sauce and mushrooms over herbed wide noodles
~ with taco seasoning and Spanish rice

Shall I continue?

The point is, creating recipes can begin with something this simple and just using your imagination with sauces and switching out ingredients. Change out the chicken for pork or beef and you have something else entirely. Use ground turkey. Your options are endless. Be tastefully creative !!

Smoky Chicken Breast & Veggies

~From Penzeys Spices Catalog (2007)

1-1/2 pounds small new potatoes
1 6-ounce boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 2 x 1/2-inch strips (I used 2 chicken breasts)
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon Smoked Spanish Paprika
1 teaspoon Lemon Pepper Seasoning
1/2 teaspoon thyme, divided
1 medium red onion, sliced
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1 orange bell pepper, sliced

Potato Dressing:
2 teaspoons Country French Vinaigrette Salad Dressing Base
1 tablespoon water
1/3 cup olive oil
2 to 3 tablespoons balsamic or red wine vinegar

Directions:
** Wash and slice the potatoes into 1/4-inch rounds. Place in pan of boiling water; boil 6 to 8 minutes until fork tender. Drain. Let dry in a medium bowl. Mix Country French Dressing Base with water; let stand a few minutes; whisk with oil and vinegar. Coat potatoes with dressing. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside.

** I totally skipped /changed the above step. First, I (gasp) didn’t use Penzeys brand spices and therefore, did not have their Country French Dressing Base on hand.

Rather, I simply sliced the potatoes and layered them up in a casserole dish, drizzled with a bit of olive oil, sprinkled with salt and pepper, tossed to coat well, covered them with foil, and put them in a 350-degree oven for about 40 minutes, removing foil halfway through.

To make the Chicken:

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in large, heavy skillet. When oil is hot, add chicken. Season with half the Smoked Spanish Paprika, half Lemon Pepper Seasoning, and half the Thyme. Cook, stirring occasionally, until chicken is done (nicely browned on all sides). Remove from pan.

While the chicken is cooking, slice onion and peppers into strips. Add the other tablespoon of oil to the pan if necessary. Add onions and cook about 2 minutes, stirring. Add bell peppers and season with the rest of the spices. Cook another 3 to 5 minutes until everything is crisp-tender. Stir the chicken back in, heat through. Remove to plates and serve with the potatoes.

Okay, here’s the Review:

It makes a pretty plate: Red and orange pepper strips always make for an eye-pleasing plate. The paprika stained chicken, flecks of black pepper, and slightly caramelized onion just add to the appeal of this dish.

However...My first thought on reading the recipe was Spanish Paprika AND Lemon Pepper – Both ?? Really ??

It just doesn’t seem like lemon and paprika play well together but, who am I to say? I don’t think I likely have an exceptionally sophisticated palate (caviar = YUCK) so … well, I thought I would try it.

I was right. They don’t play well together, at least not on my taste buds. One or the other would have been wonderful.

I LOVE smoky and/or sweet Spanish Paprika. It’s really perfect on chicken and I use it ... a lot.

I also love lemon pepper seasoning, and it’s perfectly scrumptious on chicken, too, but I think it’s a better seasoning for fish.

So, although it passed for dinner, this particular recipe won't be included in my menu repertoire again. I would, however, make it with just one or the other, not both, of the seasonings.

Apple-Cherry Pan Crumble ... or raiding the fridge

I had some apples left over from the holiday baking, just sitting out there on the counter. And a small baggie with dried cherries. They looked so lonely. Hmmm...I also had a few cups of brown sugar and some butter I should use up. Dessert for tonight !!

Apple-Cherry Pan Crumble

Filling:
4 medium apples (recommend Granny Smith or Fuji); peeled, cored, and sliced into 1/2-inch thick slices
1/4 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons cinnamon
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 tablespoon cornstarch (mixed with a little cold water to make a slurry)

Topping:
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup oats
1/2 cup butter, melted

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350º F.

In medium cast iron skillet, add apples, cherries, water, cinnamon, brown sugar, and butter. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat slightly and cook till apples are just tender (can stick a fork in easily). Add cornstarch slurry to thicken liquid.

Meanwhile, make topping. In medium bowl, mix topping ingredients well. Mixture should be crumbly.

Place topping over apples in skillet.

Place skillet on lined baking sheet. Place in 350-degree oven for 30 minutes.

Cool. Top with whipped cream or ice cream.

(Sorry no pictures this time - still fussing with lighting)