Monday Morning Muffins–The Easiest Pumpkin Muffins

by foodwinemine

Normally, I hold off on pumpkin muffins until fall, but last week Matt was begging for these. They are supposedly 2 or 3 Weight Watchers points, and are the easiest muffins you will ever make. They literally take 7 minutes to mix up and 12-15 minutes to bake!

Ingredients

(makes 12 muffins)

1 box Spice Cake mix

1 15 oz. canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

1/4 c water

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 c golden raisins (optional)

Directions

  • Preheat the oven to 350ºF. In a large bowl or stand mixer, mix the pumpkin puree and Spice Cake mix.
  • Add water, baking powder, and vanilla.
  • Add the golden raisins and mix well.
  • Pour into a lined muffin tin.
  • Bake for 12-15 minutes! Insert a toothpick or a knife and make sure it comes out clean! They are excellent when they are warm  with vanilla ice cream too :)

Chocolate Chip Cookies

by foodwinemine

Last night Matt had to work pretty late, so I decided I’d surprise him by baking some chocolate chip cookies for him to have when he got home. His absolute favorite ones, sadly, aren’t mine…they are the Wegman’s chocolate chip cookies that are almost soft, chewy, and dense. The one difference I’ve noticed in their ingredients list is the use of shortening instead of butter.

I figured I would use the normal chocolate chip cookie recipe I always use–the Toll House Recipe and substitute shortening for the butter, and go from there in perfecting the Wegman’s chocolate chip cookie.

The flavor of the cookies was spot on in compared to the Wegman’s cookie. The difference was in the size and the composure of the cookie, if you will. They were chewy, but not nearly as thick or dense. I think that if I let the dough rest overnight it would turnout better and make thicker cookies…but that is to be determined, and I will keep you posted.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

3/4 c light brown sugar

3/4 c white sugar

1 cup butter flavored shortening

2 eggs

2 1/4 c flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

1 c chocolate chunks

1 c chocolate chips

Directions

  • Preheat your oven to 350ºF.
  • Cream the shortening and both sugars in a mixing bowl. Once they are well mixed, add the eggs.
  • Slowly begin to add the flour to the bowl.
  • Once that is well mixed, add the baking soda, salt, and vanilla.
  • Mix in the chocolate chips and the chocolate chunks well!
  • Separate into 1 1/2 inch balls and place on a cookie sheet.
  • Bake for about 12 minutes until golden. You might need to rotate the sheet once to make sure they brown evenly!

Enjoy!!

Crab Crazy–Cream of Crab Soup and Annapolis

by foodwinemine

We went to Annapolis for the weekend, for a nice little weekend getaway. It was so nice to leave and not have to worry about anything…until I got an ear infection with a nice temperature. Both of which guaranteed I was grumpy for probably half of the weekend. Oh well, they improved as the weekend went on, and the antibiotics started kicking in.

If you’ve ever been to Annapolis, you probably remember that it’s a town absolutely crazy for their crab and Old Bay Seasoning…not that I blame them at all for either of those obsessions.

We pretty much ate our way through Annapolis this weekend, with a number of our meals focusing on crab or Old Bay, no complaints. Saturday, we had Naval Bagels for breakfast with Old Bay cream cheese…delicious. Dinner Saturday…sushi with…you guessed it, crab. Sunday brunch…a cup of cream of crab soup and a crab souffle, which was essentially a warm, crab-filled pillow that made me want to do nothing more than take a nap.

The three of us, Matt, my mom, and I, devoured the soup. Once we were done, Matt and I telepathically decided we both needed cream of crab soup for dinner. The cream of crab soup I made was unbelievably easy, and surprisingly healthy. I used no cream (only skim milk and fat free half&half)

Lighter Cream of Crab Soup

(Serves 6 as an appetizer or 4 as a meal)

Ingredients

4 TBS butter

4 TBS flour

1 onion (finely grated)

1 TBS minced garlic

1 TBS Old Bay

juice of 1 lemon

3 cups skim milk

2 cups fat free half and half

1 TBS xanthan gum

1 TBS Worcestershire sauce

10-12 oz crab meat (I used backfin)

1/4 cup of sherry

more Old Bay to taste

Directions

  • Finely grate onion. I first chopped mine and then placed it in the food processor.

  • In a large pot, melt the butter, be careful not to burn or brown. Once it is melted, add the flour to create a roux. Make sure to whisk well and break up the lumps of flour! Add the onion and the garlic. Let simmer for about 5 minutes, until the onions are translucent.

  • Next, add the Old Bay and lemon juice.
  • Add the milk and half and half, whisking well. Make sure all of the flour, onion and garlic is broken up well.
  • Bring to a quick boil and turn back down.
  • Slowly add the tablespoon of xanthan gum, making sure that it is evenly dispersed and completely dissolved. It will thicken the milk and half and half.
  • Add the Worcestershire sauce and the crab. Simmer for at least 15 minutes. do not bring to a boil.
  • Once the soup is poured into the bowls, pour desired amount of sherry into the bowl, and add more Old Bay if desired!

Note: Corn starch can be substituted for xanthan gum.

Told you it was an easy crab soup recipe!

 

 

Lazy Sunday Lime Tart

by foodwinemine

I did not want to do anything yesterday. It was rainy and miserable outside. I was not interested in running, cleaning, laundry, or baking. But eventually I convinced myself I needed to run, so I would feel better. I had to bake a dessert to bring to my in-laws for my husband’s birthday. And I needed to clean up my mess I made. So finally, around 2pm I started to tackle that list (finally)!

I was going to make a lime tart, copied from Thomas Keller’s Lemon Tart in Bouchon, but then I thought I didn’t have any almond meal on hand. Epic fail, Meg. Then I decided I would make Rocky Road Brownies from Michael Recchiuti’s cookbook, which only made sense because I had his chocolate on hand too. But while sifting through my pantry…I found almond meal. Back to square one.

Lime Tart

Loosely adapted from Thomas Keller’s Lemon Tart in Bouchon

Ingredients

Almond Meal Crust

(The recipe in Bouchon makes 3 batches of Pine Nut Crust….I used almonds and I halved the recipe and used it all. It worked well for my tart!)

1 c almond meal

1.5 c wheat flour

1/2 egg (I beat one egg well in a measuring glass and used 1/2)

1/6 c white sugar

1 stick of butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

Lime Sabayon

2 eggs cold

2 egg yolks cold

1/2 c lime juice (5-6 limes juiced)

3/4 c white sugar

6 TBS unsalted butter, cut

Lime green food coloring (optional)

Directions

  • For the crust, combine the almond meal, sugar, and flour. Combine well! Add the butter, egg, and vanilla. Mix with your hands or a stand mixer. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate prior to using.
  • Preheat the oven to 350°F. Once the dough has been chilled, mold into the bottom of a tart pan. Bake for 15 minutes. Rotate the pan and bake for another 15 minutes. Remove and cool.
  • Prepare a double boiler and begin to boil the water.
  • Prior to setting on top of the boiling water, whisk the sugar, eggs, and yolks well. Set the bowl over the pot and continue to whisk, while turning the bowl. After 2 minutes when the mixture is frothy, add 1/3 of the lime juice. Continue to whisk, when the mixture thickens again, add another 1/3 of the lime juice. Whisk again, add the final 1/3 of lime juice. Once the last of the lime juice is added, whisk, and allow to thicken one final time.
  • Turn off the heat, but leave the small bowl or pot over the hot water. Add the 6 TBS of butter, one piece at a time, whisking each piece as it is added. Add the food coloring this time, if you would like.
  • Turn on the broiler to high. Pour it into the tart shell, and set on a baking sheet.
  • Broil the tart for 2-3 minutes, making sure to check on it often until a nice color is formed on top. Do not let it burn! (Thomas Keller recommends keeping the door open!)
  • Refrigerate for at least an hour before devouring!

Cold Asparagus and Pancetta Salad

by foodwinemine

Happy Friday!! I am so glad it’s the weekend. Though there isn’t much exciting going on, it’s nice to have Matt home, get a long run in, and relax a little bit. It also gives me a little more time to cook or bake. Luckily for me (and everyone else around me), I haven’t had any SUPER crazy cravings or ridiculous aversions…yet. I just prefer to eat only cold foods or breakfast foods, that’s not weird, right? So last night, when I was looking through the fridge and trying to figure out what I wanted to cook for Matt for dinner, I saw a ton of veggies.

I remembered I had seen a recipe for a cold asparagus salad on Food Network a few months back, and I decided to give it a go.

Recipe adapted from Food Network’s Chilled Asparagus Salad

Ingredients

(Serves 4 as a side dish!)

1 lb of fresh asparagus, washed

heavily salted water for boiling

6-8 oz diced pancetta

2 TBS white sugar

2 TBS lemon juice

1 1/2 TBS dijon mustard

4 TBS olive oil

2 TBS apple cider vinegar

Directions

  • Once your pancetta is diced, fry it up in a large skillet or pan, drain it, and set it aside. I saved the grease for Bear’s food…it makes his coat prettier :)
  • Begin to boil a large pot of salted water. Wash your stalks of asparagus and trim the ends off…about an inch or so. Prepare an ice bath in the sink for your asparagus.
  • Once the pot is at a rolling boil (I always get incredibly impatient when waiting for this!) Add the 2 TBS of sugar to the water. Prior to looking at this recipe, I had never heard of adding sugar to boiling water prior to blanching, and to be honest, I can’t tell you if it made a huge difference or not.  Add the asparagus, and boil for about 8-9 minutes.
  • Remove the asparagus from the boiling water and place in an ice bath to shock it.
  • While that is in the cold water, mix up the dressing. Add the olive oil, apple cider vinegar, dijon mustard, and lemon juice. Whisk well, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
  • Remove the asparagus from the ice bath and cut into 1/2 in pieces.
  • DRY. DRY. DRY. Make sure your asparagus is DRY before adding the dressing to it.  
  • Add the dressing to the asparagus, toss well, and top with pancetta.
Please disregard the fact that I am potentially an airhead and neglected to take a final picture with the pancetta on the top :) I can assure you it was delicious!

 

Quick and Easy Corn Bread Muffins

by foodwinemine

Our air conditioning is finally fixed! Now that our home is no longer 79°F, I will actually turn on the oven and cook again :) Salads and left overs were all that I would cook…errrr, prepare, while it was out. I’ve been trying to clean out our freezer and make some room for new soups or meals, and I found some chili that I had made over the winter. It didn’t sound completely unappetizing–a rarity these days–so I figured, why not. Plus…I knew Matt would be stoked.

But who in their right mind eats chili without corn bread?

So…I looked through my recipe book/box and found a recipe for corn bread that seemed to fit the bill.

Ingredients

(makes 12 corn muffins)

1 c whole wheat flour

1 c cornmeal

1 c white sugar

2 eggs

1 c milk

1/2 c butter, melted

1 TBS baking powder

1 tsp salt

Directions

  • Preheat your oven to 350° F. Line a muffin pan with liners. I used silicone because I couldn’t find anything else on hand.
  • In a large bowl, add the eggs, flour, cornmeal, sugar, milk, and butter. Mix well!
  • Once that is mixed well, add in the salt and baking powder.
  • Pour the batter into the muffin pan and place in the oven.

  • Take out of the oven after about 25 minutes or when the tops are golden brown.

A BEAR-y delicious treat–Dog Treats

by foodwinemine

Sorry this is so late getting to you! My husband brews a bunch of different home brews throughout the year. A little over a week ago, he started a 90-Minute IPA, a copy cat of Dogfish’s 90-minute IPA.

Whenever he brews beer, I try to take the leftover grains (spent grains), dry it out, and make it into dog treats. Dogfish and a number of other breweries sell them at their stores. I used spent grains and flour in my treats, though you can use almost ANY combination of flours in these :) And your dog will be SURE to love them!

Final Product in Bear's Cookie Jar!

Ingredients

4 cups spent grains, or flour

2 cups flour

2 eggs

1 1/2cup peanut butter (I was very liberal with this)

1/2 cup of fat (bacon grease, butter, oil, etc.)

Note: This recipe can easily be halved to produce the same product! I just wanted to use everything we had!)

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 350 F. Measure out all necessary ingredients, and mix them in a bowl.

  • Once all ingredients are added, give your dog the left over peanut butter jar since you can’t eat the batter anyways :)
  • Mix the ingredients thoroughly. It will be lumpy, and you might have to use your hands…I did.

  • Roll the dough into small balls and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until they have browned a little bit!
  • Take out, let cool, and let your pup enjoy!