Blueberry Muffins made with Yogurt

I love, love, love blueberry muffins - but almost every recipe I see calls for a stick of butter or a cup of oil.  Now that I am over 40 and have to make an effort not to gain weight, I just can't bring myself to make those old recipes any more.

I did find this recipe that uses yogurt in place of almost all the fat.  It makes the texture a lot like pound cake AND it provides a couple grams of protein, which is always a plus in our house since we don't eat meat all that often.

I pretty much always double this recipe.  When I double it I end up with 18 regular (not super sized) muffins and 12 mini muffins for the kiddos.

For a single batch (12 muffins) you need:

2c Flour  
1/3 c Sugar
1 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Baking soda  
1/4 tsp Salt  
1/4 c Orange juice  
1 tbs Vegetable oil  
1 tsp Vanilla extract  
1 cup lowfat vanilla yogurt
1 Egg
1 c Fresh blueberries (or frozen ones that are defrosted - that's what I always use)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl.

Combine all the wet ingredients (NOT THE BLUEBERRIES) in a separate bowl

Make a well in dry ingredients, add wet and combine just until moistened (it will be a thick batter)

Gently fold in blueberries.

Pour into sprayed muffin tins.  Top with a little raw sugar if you want.

Bake for 18 minutes (for big ones) or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Remove for pan immediately and cool on wire rack.

Per Muffins Info:

Calories: 139

Fat: 1.8g

Protein: 3.5g

Carbs: 27.2g

Chopped Apple Bread / Muffins

I have been recently had several people ask me about my bread recipes, so it got me thinking I should post another one that I love.  It is a little labor intensive, but it makes LOTS and it is soooo yummy.  The original recipe was for bread - but I found it made spectacular muffins, as well.  So I made both.

Like I said, it is labor intensive (plan on hanging out at home about 3-4 hours for this one), so make sure you read through the entire recipe before you start - maybe even twice - to get your bearings.

To keep you motivated, I put some pictures throughout the recipe. :)

Bread Dough:

• 6 1/2 - 7 cups of bread or AP flour  (I used AP and it worked just fine)
• 4 1/2 tsp dry yeast (this is 2 packets for the occasional baker)
• 1 Tbs salt
• 1/2 cup dry milk
• 2 1/2 cups hot water (120-130 degrees)
• 3 Tbs shortening (I am thinking of trying to sub coconut oil for this, but haven't yet)

Apple Mixture:

• 2 cups apples, chopped into 3/4 inch cubes
• 2 eggs lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped into pea sized pieces
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 Tbs ground cinnamon

Pans : 2 medium (8x4ish) loaf pans, greased AND lined with buttered parchment paper
           muffins tins, greased (to hold hte bread that doesn't fit in your loaf pans

Now start cooking!   (I did the whole recipe by hand, no fancy equipment)

MIX:

• Combine 3 cups of the four with all the dry dough ingredients in a LARGE mixing bowl.  Pour in the hot water and stir in the shortening.  Beat the batter about 100 times by hand with pretty hefty strokes.
• add flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until you get a dough you can scoop/lift it from the bowl and get it on the counter.

KNEAD:

• Knead this massive ball of dough until it is elastic and smooth.  Sprinkle more flour as you go if it gets sticky.  Be patient and enjoy the process!

FIRST RISE - 1 hour:

•  Place the smooth dough back into a greased bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and set aside to double (about an hour)

PUNCH DOWN / SHAPE:

• Punch down the dough and place it back on a floured counter.  
• Press and roll the dough into a large (18 inch or so) square about 1/2" think
• Let the dough rest a few minutes 

NOW IT GETS MESSY:  

• Spread the chopped apples evenly all over the surface of the dough, then pour the eggs over the apples.
• Add the nuts, sprinkle on the sugar and cinnamon
• FOLD the dough into a package (of sorts)  From this point on it will look like a huge mess, but that means you are doing it right!

• Using a dough scraper of large knife, chop the dough into random pieces about and 1" in size.  They should be random and not uniform.  It will be a huge mess.  It is OK.

• Scoop up the pieces and dump them and random/messy into your loaf pans until they are about 2/3 full.  Any that don't fit - put in the muffin tins.  DO NOT give in to the idea of over filling the loaf pans.  This bread really grows

SECOND RISE - 40 minutes:

• Cover the pans with wax or parchment paper and put aside to rise until it is just above the edge of the pans.
• Preheat the oven to 375 about 20 minutes into this rise.

BAKE:

The parchment paper is a must!

• Place in the oven and bake until golden brown.  The loaves take about 45 minutes, the muffins about 20.  You can test them by doing the 'cake test' trick.  Remember the apples may try and fool you into thinking the loaf is wet - so be careful.

• Remove from the oven and ever so carefully turn it out (lift edges of parchment to transfer) to a wire rack to cool.  Be careful!  The bread is still fragile when hot.

While you are waiting on the loaves to cool, you can behold your incredibly beautiful bread and muffins.  They really are spectacular - and they taste as good as they look. 

How freaking good does the look?

Saturday

Today had really yucky weather - so we spent the day at home.  I decided to use the time to try making bread for the week for us.  I used a recipe from An Oregon Cottage with only slight modifications.  I am really happy with the results.  This may be then end of us buying store bread!

Even though we were inside all day, the boys (Doug included) stayed VERY busy and played very hard.  Around 4:00 a few of the boys held still a little too long and this happened:

Eggs!

Bear

Fish

Who would think hard boiled eggs could be fun to have for dinner?  Well, if they look like this they are!

Bunny

Meal Planning Monday (well, almost) : Jan 17, 2012

Yeah for long holiday weekends!  Of course, this meant that I did not get around to meal planning because I had an extra day.  Somehow more time often translates into less accomplished! Well, maybe not less - but different.  I did get a nice trip to Costco accomplished, as well as some serious deep cleaning to the upstairs wood floors, so maybe it all balances out :)

We are continuing our "use what you have" project.  We spent right at $50 last week.  I haven't done a regular shopping trip yet this week.  I did grab 6# of ground beef ($18), ravioli ($9 for a big bag), and a 3 pack of pizza ($11) and a gallon of milk ($4) at Costco.  So those $42 dollars will make at least 10 meals - just not all this week.


Plan for the remainder of the week:

Tuesday:  Soft Tacos / Taco Salad Choice
Wednesday: Asparagus Ravioli and Grilled Chicken
Thursday: Crock Pot BBQ Pork Chops, Baked Potatoes, and veggies
Friday: TBD...

Saturday: Polynesian Flank Steak w/rice and stir fry veggies and grilled pineapple  (never got made last week)

Linking to OrgJunkie, where Meal Planning Monday lives.

Once a week bread

Easy Artisan Bread 

• 3 cups warm water
• 1 scant TB instant yeast 
• 2 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups whole wheat flour  
• 4-1/2 cups unbleached flour  

In my bread machine --

1. Put the yeast, salt and add the water.
2. Add all the flour at once and run the dough cycle.  (Mine over flowed a bit once it was done, but it seemed OK.)
3. Remove from bread machine and transfer to a large bowl to go in the fridge.

Then -

1. Put in the refrigerator for up to 14 days (FYI - This got big fast! - I had to actually use two containers.)
2. When ready to bake, place a dutch oven, with lid, in a 450 degree oven. Dust the dough with flour, grab a quarter, third, or half (depending on the size loaf you want) and cut off piece with a serrated knife. Using well-floured hands, shape gently into a ball and place on a piece of parchment paper resting on a cookie sheet. Dust the top with more flour.
3. Let sit on the counter 30 minutes. Then slash the top of the loaf with a serrated knife.
4. Transfer the loaf to the hot dutch oven using the edges of the parchment, replace the lid, and cook for 15 to 17 minutes.
5. Remove lid and continue to cook for another 15 to 17 minutes, or until loaf is a golden brown.
6. Remove to a cooling rack for 30 to 60 minutes before cutting.

I made this on a pizza stone, too - and they both turned out great.

Sunday Morning : Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins

This Sunday I decided to do a little baking (not like me) so we would have some quick easy snacks this week as we start planning to make that 10 hour drive to SC again.  After much internet searching, I had some ideas and some starting points.  I was trying to make these not too sweet and without a stick of butter - which apparently makes me the odd man out - because that seemed to be the theme of most of the recipes I found! 

It took three batches before I was completely happy with the results, but these are pretty darn good - and I don't feel guilty eating them. 

1 cup unbleached, all purpose flour
1 cup wholewheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp allspice
1 cup canned, solid pack pumpkin
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water / juice -- see instructions
2 large eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup dried cranberries
a juicy orange

Some raw sugar from sprinkling the tops.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners and give them a little spray of oil.

Put the dried cranberries in a small bowl and zest the orange into the bowl with them (I used a microplane to keep it really fine), then squeeze the juice of the orange over the cranberries. Let sit while you do everything else.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Put aside.

Mix together the pumpkin, sugar, eggs and oil until smooth.

Now back to the cranberries - drain the cranberries over a measuring cup and keep 1/4 c of the juice.  If you don't have 1/4 cup - just top it off with water.  Stir this liquid into the pumpkin liquid.  Any extra juice should be discarded.

Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and stir until the batter is just combined, then stir in the drained cranberries.
 
Spoon the batter into the paper liners, filling each one almost to the top. Sprinkle the top of each with some raw sugar and bake on the center rack of the oven for 20 – 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Set to cool on a wire rack.

This made 12 regular muffins and about 9 mini muffins.  My muffin tins are over 30 years old, so they are a bit smaller than the monster size muffins you get now - but I think if you had the newer/bigger size tins it would make a dozen.

Green Tomato Relish

An annual favorite that everyone wants me to share!  This recipe makes 9 pints of relish, which is super yummy piled up on top of a some steaming hot collards, kale, spinach, or other greens.  (Throw in some homemade cornbread and you have a tasty meat free meal!)

Coarsely grind (a food processor works fine:)

• 4 cups of onions (this takes 3-5 onions)
• 4 cups of cabbage (1 small head should do it)
• 4 cups of green tomatoes (use what ever kind you have)
• 4 cups of green bell peppers
• 1 1/2 cups of red bell peppers

Put all of this is a large bowl and stir.  Sprinkle 1/2 cup of pickling salt on it, cover, and let it sit overnight.  The next day, drain in a colander and rinse well.

In a large pot, combine:

• 3 cups of sugar
• 2 Tbs mustard seed
• 1 Tbs celery seed
• 1 1/2 tsp tumeric
• 4 cups cider vinegar
• 2 cups water

Stir to dissolve the sugar.  Add in your drained veggie mixture and bring to a boil, then allow to gently boil for 5-7 minutes.  Fill your prepped/hot canning jar, adjust lids, and leave to cool.  Check to make sure they sealed.

If you have any jars that didn't seal, put them in the fridge and use them first.

Best Pizza Dough Recipe EVER

Seriously.

We have been making pizza in out house for 20 years. I have over 100 cookbooks in my kitchen alone. This is THE BEST pizza dough recipe I have encountered. We have been using it in our house for over a decade. It always works and always is delicious. Buy a tiny bag of rye flour and keep it just for this pizza dough. You'll be glad you did :)

It comes from the Fields of Greens vegetarian cookbook.

Makes One 15-Inch Pizza Or Two 9-Inch Pizzas (It always makes two good sized pizzas in our house)
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
6 tablespoons warm (110°F) water
6 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fine cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon rye flour
About 1 3/4 cups unbleached white flour
1 to 3 tablespoons additional flour for rolling the dough
Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and set aside in a warm place for 3 to 4 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the milk, oil, and cornmeal in a 1-quart bowl. Add the yeast mixture, then the salt and rye flour; mix well. Gradually add the white flour, making a soft, workable dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for about 5 minutes, sprinkling in a little flour as necessary to keep the dough from sticking to the surface. Put the dough into an oiled bowl and turn it once so the surface is coated with oil. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place until it has doubled in bulk, about 35 to 40 minutes.
Prepare the topping. (This pizza cooks in about 5 minutes, so you might want to saute/cook any toppings you would like to not be raw.)
Preheat the oven to 500°F and heat the pizza stone, if you're using one, for 20 minutes.
To shape the pizza, first form the dough into 1 round ball or 2 equal-size smaller balls. Roll out on a floured surface, turning it regularly to keep a round shape. It should be about 1/8 inch thick, slightly thicker at the edges. Lay the dough on an oiled pizza pan or a well-floured wooden peel. Cover with the topping you have chosen. Bake the pizza on its pan or slide it onto the heated pizza stone.
It takes about 5-7 minutes in a screaming hot oven. A minute or so less on a screaming hot grill.

French Onion Soup

The air has turned crisp and I saw a few leaves skipping across the street on my ride home today. This means (in my little world) that it is soup season. This is a happy occasion.

Here is my French Onion Soup recipe. It makes 4 bowls - of which, I will eat three.

Slice 4 large sweet onions (though any will do, really) and toss them in a large soup pot with about 1 Tbs of olive oil in it. Saute low and slow for 30-45 minutes, until they JUST start to brown a touch. When you see them start to brown, toss in 2 chopped cloves of garlic and stir and cook another 1 minute, then add 2/3 cup dry sherry and deglaze the pan. Bring to a boil to cook off the alcohol.

Add 2 cups chicken broth AND 2 cups beef broth to the onions. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, cover for about 20 minutes.

While the onions simmer, dice up about 2 cups (more if you really like it) crusty bread in 3/4 in cubes, toss on a sheet pan in about 2 Tbs olive oil. Sprinkle with 1 Tbs fresh chopped rosemary and 1 Tbs fresh thyme. Season with salt and pepper. Bake in the oven (350) for about 15 minutes, shaking the pan a few times.

When the croutons are done, pull them out and switch the oven to low broil. Now toss 2-3 Tbs more rosemary and 1 Tbs more thyme into the soup pot as you turn off the heat. Ladle into oven proof soup bowls. Top with a handful of croutons, then top with Gruyere cheese (or sharp provolone instead). Broil until bubbly.

Yuuuuuuummmmmmm.......

Navy Bean Soup

Navy Bean Soup from the Crock Pot

I love to make navy bean soup in the crock pot.  I never knew just how easy it was until a little old lady who helped us take care of my mom told me how to do it.  I was amazed at how few ingredients were in it and how completely delicious it was.

1 pound of dried navy beans, rinsed and sorted
1 c. diced carrots (I use 3, never really measure it)
1 large diced onion
2-3 bay leaves
1 left over ham bone (like from an Easter spiral ham) OR 2-3 meaty ham hocks
salt to taste

Throw all this in the crock pot and cover with water.  Cook on low or high until beans are tender.  Low is about 8 hours, High is about 4.  Pull out the bay leaves before serving. 

Recipe Under Construction

I am working on a new recipe. Feel free to help! I am combing a few ideas - banana bread and nutella cupcakes. I'll post a picture of mine as soon as I manage to find the camera cord the kids hid somewhere.

Self Frosting Banana and Nutella Muffins

Here is round one:

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix together:
1 1/2c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Mash together:
2-3 very ripe bananas
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg

Cream together:
1/2 c butter
1/2 c sugar

Mix three components (mashed, mixed, and creamed) together. Batter will be really thick and you'll have to work it a bit to get it all mixed. Scoop into 12 lined and sprayed muffin tins.

Nutella topping:

scoop some nutella into a ziptop bag. Squish it around so it is soft and smooth. Snip the tip and squeeze out a squiggly or ring of nutella onto the top of the muffins. Swirl in.

Bake 23 minutes.

Current Status:

Now - in theory - I was supposed to be able to swirl the nutella in the top. I couldn't. The batter I made was too thick. However, I would make this change next time: Fill the muffin tins reserving about a tsp per muffin. Take the nutella and zap it a few seconds in the microwave to make it thinner. THEN squeeze the nutella on the muffins and spread the reserved banana batter on top of it. I think this will work better.

They tasted super yummy - even with the rather messy swirling attempt I made. The nutella that pokes out the top does look like frosting. Even the nutella under the surface ends up tasting like frosting.


UPDATE: I made the changes suggested above and got a much prettier muffin!

Mango and Coconut Muffins

1 3/4 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. sugar

2 eggs at room temp
3/4 c. coconut milk
3 Tbs oil

1 c. mango chopped 1/4 inch
1 c. shredded sweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 350. Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl. In another bowl mix together wet ingredients. Pour into dry and mix to combine (don't over mix.) Fold in mango and coconut.

Pour into greased muffin tins. (should make 12-14.) Bake 20-25 minutes.

(Mine took closer to 25 minutes. They are a pale muffin, so don't over bake.)

Red Lentil Soup with a Spicy Sizzle

Red Lentil Soup with a Spicy Sizzle

Making this for dinner tonight - as penance for the HUGE taco salad we had for dinner last night. It was super fast to get in the pot (15 minutes - including time to locate the bulgur on the top shelf in the pantry.) It smells pretty good bubbling away on the stove. I'll check it in about 25 minutes and see what we have!

It was very yummy - the 'sizzle' topping is quite spicy - and this is coming from someone who loves spicy food. This is NOT a pretty soup - but it is tasty (s0 not pretty I didn't even take a picture to post.) I think that maybe a swirl of yogurt might be a nice contrast to the spice of the oil. It was just as good for lunch the next day.

There's the REAL Recipe, and then there is the way you ACTUALLY make it...

As I was making dinner tonight it struck me as amusing the difference between the way the recipe I was using was written and the way it was actually unfolding in the moment. So here I offer insight into our home at dinner time.

I have set out to make a tuna noodle casserole (don't laugh, everyone in this house loves it) that I wanted to be ready when Doug got home with the twins. So I grab my recipe and ingredients, bring Reece into the kitchen with me and set out to make dinner. So, the recipe is my Mimi's Tuna Noodle Casserole - the only recipe my Papa wanted out of her recipe box when she died.

You will need (according to recipe card):

1.5 cups of cooked egg noodles
4 oz condensed milk
7 oz can tuna, drained
1/3 c. chopped onion, sauteed in butter
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1 can of cream of something soup

All of this gets mixed together and dumped in a 1.5 qt (or 8x8) baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Top with more cheese and breadcrumbs. Bake at 350 until hot and bubbly - which is about 30 minutes.

Now what makes this funny is how it actually happened....

1.5 cups of cooked egg noodles .....or the half a bag of noodles way back in the cabinet that I found. I have no idea how many cups it was. What I do know is that it was way more than fit in the pot I had water boiling in. So I had to transfer said noodles - now hot and wet- to a bigger pot.
4 oz condensed milk...hmmm..this is now sold in 5 oz. cans. Dumped it all in a big bowl.
7 oz can tuna, drained...again, tuna is now sold in 5.5 oz cans. Better use two - I have a lot of noodles boiling!
Right as the noodles were finishing cooking, Reece decided he was starving and could not wait one second more for his bottle, so I drained the noodles and dumped them in the big bowl I was going to mix everything in and went and fed him.

20 minutes later - I'm back! Noodles are now one solid mass. Hhmmm...should have stirred them into the soup and milk before I left. Crap.
1/3 c. chopped onion, sauteed in butter ...1/3 cup? How about the half an onion I saw wrapped in plastic wrap in the fridge. Good enough - right? Oh, and while I was fishing around for the onion I knew I had seen earlier I found a pack of mushrooms. Grabbed a half dozen of those to add to the pot, too. Done, and in the same pan I made the noodles - woo hoo! Dumped that in the bowl, too.
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese ...monster bag of preshredded cheddar from Costco. Check. Dumped it in until it looked like about a cup. Or two. Again - lots of noodles were made.
1 can of cream of something soup ...I had Cream of Celery. Store Brand. In it went (actually first.)

So I start stirring it and realize the masses of noodles are not giving up on their own and I am going to have to go in. Sleeves pulled up, word of warning to Reece that I will be otherwise occupied for the next few minutes, I stick my hands in the whole mess and start peeling apart the clumps of noodles.

While peeling apart noodles I realize I am going to have to make some veggies for the boys...OR ....to the freezer I go! I dump about 2 cups of frozen peas straight into the bowl.

Once that is basically mixed up I called it done and poured it into - well, not the 8x8 pan I got out - it was clearly not going to fit - but the larger 2 qt oval pan I found.

Top with additional cheese (ugh. I already put that away - get it out again.) and bread crumbs. Yeah - we don't by bread crumbs, we make them from stale loaves of bread. Check the cabinet for some - nope we're out. I COULD use my Mimi's standby of crushed potato chips, but we don't have any of those either. And then I remember... when I came in the house yesterday my FIL was standing in the foyer holding a sleeve of mashed up crumby crackers that he had apparently taken away from Grayson. Mind you, not before the child had chewed (?) through the sleeve and left a trail of crumbs all of the foyer. Looked all over and FOUND said crackers, further smashed them up on top of the casserole and sprinkled more cheese. Popped it in the oven. Where it bubbled away for at least 40 minutes.
Thank goodness this is an incredibly forgiving recipe. It might actually be impossible to mess it up. It was gobbled up for both lunch and dinner.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes

My kiddos eat well. They actually request pancakes at least twice a week - so we have been working on new flavors all summer. Since fall is upon us, pumpkin seemed to be the obvious choice. We tried these out this morning and they are super yummy!

The batter was really think, so when I put a ladle of it in the pan I spread it out a bit with the back of the spoon. I cooked these at a lower temp than I would a regular pancake because of the whole wheat flour and the sugar in the pumpkin. They cooked up nice and fluffy and golden brown.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes

• 1 C. whole wheat flour
• 1/2 C. AP flour
• 1 t. baking soda
• 2 t. baking powder
• 1/4 t. salt
• 1 t. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 t. ground ginger
• 1/2 t. ground nutmeg - I used a scant 1/2 t.
• 1 C. buttermilk - I keep the powdered buttermilk in the fridge and used that.
• 1 C. canned pumpkin puree
• 2 eggs
• 2 T. oil
• 1 t. vanilla
• 2 T. dark brown sugar

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the first eight ingredients (whole wheat flour through nutmeg). In a separate bowl, whisk together the last six ingredients (buttermilk through brown sugar).

2. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and blend together with a wooden spoon until just combined. Lumps are ok, just make sure all the flour on the bottom of the bowl is mixed in. If batter seems too thick to pour, you can gently stir in a little more buttermilk.

3. Drop pancakes by ladleful onto a medium-hot griddle. Pancakes are ready to turn when the edges start to look a little dry and you can see small bubbles forming on the surface.

Brown Sugar Chicken

Back to the crock-pot. I had Back to School night today/tonight and I wanted to make sure all the boys had something to eat. I have been trying recipes from my newest cookbook Make it Fast, Cook it Slow. I have to give credit to this book for what will certainly end up being many pounds of extra fat on my a$$, as it taught me how to make an outstanding Creme Brulee in the crock pot. But I digress - tonight was chicken...

Ingredients:

• 6 boneless, skinless breast halves (could use 12 thighs instead if you wanted)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup lemon-lime soda
• 2/3 cup white wine vinegar
• 3 cloves smashed and chopped garlic
• 2 T soy sauce
• 1 tsp ground black pepper

The Directions:

Use a 4 quart crock-pot for this recipe.

Put your chicken into your crock-pot. Cover with the brown sugar, pepper, chopped garlic, and soy sauce. Add the vinegar, and pour in the soda. It will bubble!

Cover and cook on low for 6-9 hours, or on high for 4-5. The chicken is done when it is cooked through and has reached desired consistency. The longer you cook it, the more tender it will be.

Serve over a bowl of white rice with a ladle full of the broth.

The Verdict:

The kids love, loved, loved it. It was tender - you could shred it with a fork. I'll try to get a picture of it before everyone eats it all. It turned a pretty mahogany color.

I found it to be a bit too sweet for grown up tastes, but I am not a sweets kind of person. (I don't think anyone else in the house would agree with me!) I am sure we will make it again. I am thinking two new directions to go with this would be 1- serve with a stronger flavored veg, like sauteed bok choy to balance out the sweetness or 2- used the chicken and broth as a base to build a noodle bowl. Maybe cut the sweetness with a little more chicken broth and add udon noodles and some crunchy veg like you would expect in a typical noodle bowl.

More adventures with the Crock Pot

So I have been trying to learn how to use my corck pot for things other than stews and big hunks 'o meat. While some of the things don't so much save me time in the sense that they aren't done faster - what they are is done EASIER. As in, put the stuff in, turn it on, walk away and don;t worry about the oven buzzer going off while you are bathing the kiddos or in the basement doing clothes and then come back to fine your food ruined.

A week or so ago I adapted an old recipe I have for a Mexican chicken that required making a yogurt sauce, marinating the meat in said sauce, removing from marinade, baking in oven, then topping with more marinade to work in the crock. Basically I threw in frozen solid chicken breasts and the dry spices, turned on the pot, and walked away. Four hours later, the chicken was cooked through so I turned down the pot then mixed in the yogurt sauce and let it heat/marinate for about 30 minutes (I decided to dice up the cooked chicken). Worked perfectly.

So it seemed only appropriate to move on to new things...so I tried this:

Slow Cooker Peanut Butter Cup Cake

Yep, you read it right. A peanut butter and chocolate sauce cake that bakes happily away in your crock pot whilst you go about your business. Who knew this was even possible??

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar (divided. this is important, don't just start dumping, read on!)
1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup boiling water

Directions:

• Use a 4-quart slow cooker coated well with cooking spray. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder and salt.

• In the microwave, melt peanut butter for about 30 seconds, and then add to the mix along with milk, oil, and vanilla. Stir really well to combine.

• Spread this mixture into the bottom of your slow cooker.

• In a separate bowl, mix together cocoa powder, the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar, and 1 cup boiling water (be careful!) Pour this evenly over the peanut butter batter in your cooker.

• Cover and cook on high for 2-4 hours, or until the top has set and an inserted toothpick (into the cake--underneath the cake is molten chocolate) comes out clean. Let the cake sit uncovered in an unplugged crock pot for about 20 minutes, then serve warm in dessert bowls. (Mine took right at 2 hours.)

Verdict: Oh my....so yummy. Since this was my first attempt at baking in the crock I followed the directions exactly. It makes 4-5 nice bowls of cake/sauce. It was super easy and didn't require any special ingredients - just a bowl and a spoon! This is my kind of baking.

Now that I have, and it was very tasty (not all that pretty, but tasty) I am planning on doing it again but tweaking it to make it even better. I am thinking of adding a little cinnamon to the cake batter and then - and this is what I am excited about - replacing about half the water in sauce with a very strong coffee. (Because what is better than a chocolate sauce with coffee????)

Pasta with Raw Sauce

It is so hot outside....so ridiculously hot. We knew we needed to eat something - but the idea of cooking and eating something even a degree above room temperature was less than thrilling. So we decided to look around the kitchen and see what we had that could count as dinner that would fast and require minimal effort and cooking. We decided to do a pasta (OK, we did have to cook the pasta) with a raw sauce. It was literally thrown together while the pasta cooked.

Pasta with Raw Sauce

Start your pasta (we used linguine because we had an open box, but use what ever you like).

Make the sauce: Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl.

1-2 cups diced fresh tomatoes

1/2-1 cup finely diced onion (I would use a nice sweet or red onion)

1/2-1 cup diced olives (we had a container of mixed greek olives in the fridge - so we used some of those)

a healthy scoop of capers, drained

a couple of basil leaves, chopped at the last minute

drizzle of olive oil

kosher salt

pepper

Optional (we had it, so we used it) : a big spoon (1/2 c maybe?) of ricotta cheese goes in the bottom of each serving bowl.

When the pasta is done, drain it and add it to the sauce and toss well. Put the tossed pasta in each bowl on top of the ricotta cheese. Stir in the bowl or as you eat it.

Verdict: VERY tasty and very easy and fast. The measurements don't matter - just do what looks good to you. It hard to go wrong if you use good tomatoes and olives.

Crockpot Gyros...who knew??

30+ inches of snow today meant it seemed like the time to break out the crock pot again. I read a recipe for gyros that could be made in the crock pot and I have been dying to try it. However, we live in Strasburg in the middle of nowhere - so finding ground lamb has proven to be very difficult. I did finally find lamb at the lovely (ugh) Food Lion, but they refused to grind it for me. (Yes, the 'full service' butcher's department refused to grind it because it would, and I quote, "contaminate our machines." What planet do I live in???) Anyway, the hunt continued and this time I found lamb in Martins in Stephen's City - but a price that was outrageous. So I once again left the store sans lamb. By this time over 2 months from my original quest had passed and I still had not managed to try the recipe.

And then....

I hit the Costco! They have lamb! And the BIG surprise, they have lamb in reasonably sized packages (like 5 pound roasts) at a great price, only $3.99 a pound. So today we tried the recipe. Here it is as we tried it, followed by our thoughts:
Crock Pot Gyros
For the meat:

1/2 pound ground lamb
1/2 pound ground turkey
2 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. paprika
1 medium sized onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
juice from 1 lemon

For the tzatziki sauce:

1 c. plain yogurt
1 T olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbs mint (yeah, we have 3 feet of snow, we don;t have this. Oddly, dried dill works very well)
juice of 1 lemon
cumin - to taste
grated or small diced cucumber (we didn't have this either, but it is fine without)
salt to taste

Mix all sauce ingredients together and put in the fridge to marinate while the gyro meat cooks.
Directions:

1. Mix the lamb and turkey with the paprika and oregano and make it into a meatloaf in the size and shape of your crock pot.
2. Chop the onion and garlic and spread it on the bottom of the crock then lay the meatloaf on top of it.
3. Squeeze the lemon over top of the meatloaf and cook on low for 3-4 hours or high for 2 hours. Test for doneness with thermometer (170 degrees)

Slice thinly and serve with sauce in pitas with your choice of toppings (we used lettuce, feta, tomatoes and slivered onions.)

The Verdict:

Not bad. It was not at all greasy like the gyros we get in the restaurants. When I sliced it I was surprised by the slight pink hue it had from the paprika. When I tasted it straight from the loaf it seemed a little dry, but once it was in the pitas with the sauce it didn't seem dry at all. I think it will be nice on a salad as left overs, too.

This was our first time ever making gyros of any sort so we stuck to the recipe - which I usually do the first time I try any new recipe. We enjoyed it but felt like it was a bit bland for our taste and a few small changes could make a big difference. When we make it again I am going to grate some onion into the meat mixture as well as add several cloves of minced/mashed garlic. It could also use a little salt and some super coarse black pepper added in, too.

I think this recipe was a really good starting point. I am going to a little more research on what is traditionally used to flavor gyros and I will be trying this again. It was certainly easy enough - and fast enough - to be a keeper.