Buttermilk Spice Muffins

If you've ever been to Mimi's Cafe, you've sampled their spice muffins along with the assorted bread basket.  I adapted this with some minor revisions.  Instead of all whole wheat flour, I mixed it up.  These are not overly sweet at all.  Next time I'll even add more spice...love that spice!  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

For the muffins:

1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs plus 1 egg white

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup all-purpose flour (or you can use all of either one)

2 tsp baking soda

1 large tsp cinnamon (I would sneak more in)

1 tsp nutmeg

3/4 cup plus 1 tbs low-fat buttermilk

For the topping:

1 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a bowl, beat the oil, applesauce and sugar.  Then add the eggs, egg white and continue to beat.  In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Add the flour mix  in batches alternating with the buttermilk and mix well. 

In a small bowl mix the topping ingredients.  Prepare a muffin pan by spraying with non stick spray or by using muffin liners.  Fill each cup 3/4 full.  Sprinkle the nut topping over the top.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Memorial Day - Remembering and Grilling

What does Memorial Day mean to you?  Hopefully, it means remembering and honoring our wartime heroes.  These men and women made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom, so thank you !

When Memorial Day comes around,  the rush to the campgrounds and gathering around the grill begins.  Me?  I'm usually busy in my garden and more than likely covering my newly planted tomatoes with sheets and such to protect them from the evil late May snow storm.  It happens every year..you think I'd learn.  But, my garden survived and is thriving with all the saturating rain, a treat for the high desert region.

So, what's going to be on your grill as you celebrate our fallen soldiers with friends and family?  Here's a mix of suggestions.  And before you take that first bite, say a prayer and thank God for the freedoms we enjoy every day!

Maple salmon

Gorgonzola sliders

Shrimp kabobs

Grilled and steamed steelhead trout

Why not grill a pizza?

Grilled eggplantwith melted mozzarella

Whatever you decide, have a great day!

My Signature Pasta - Pasta of the Month

I guess it's no longer a secret, huh?  This recipe goes back to 1997 or so, when my son had relocated to Monterey California.  We went to visit for Easter and took him out to a quaint restaurant (name unknown, darn it) which was housed in an old Victorian home.  Each room had a few intimate tables, service was great as was the food.

I love pasta but didn't want the "red sauce" kind.  The dish I chose was a penne pasta with simple garlic, spinach, mushrooms and pine nuts.  Perfect!  As I devoured it, I secretly "picked it apart" ingredient by ingredient so I could replicate this at home for my family.  Job well done, she says!   It's my "go to" signature pasta now.  I can probably make it in my sleep!

Ingredients:

2 cups dry penne pasta

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 large garlic clove, minced

1/3 yellow onion, sliced

3 cups spinach

7-8 mushrooms, sliced

1/2 cup raisins

2 handfuls of pine nuts, toasted or not

2 ladles of reserved pasta water. extra drizzle of olive oil

Parmesan cheese for garnish (optional)

Boil water for the pasta.  Meanwhile, in a large skillet, saute the onions first.  Add the mushrooms, garlic and spinach and cook until spinach is limp.  Add the raisins, then the cooked pasta, remembering to drain and reserve some water.   Add the pasta water to moisten, the extra drizzle of olive oil and pine nuts.  Stir well and serve.  Great left over, too!

NOTE:  Sorry..no picture.  I'll post it next time I make this wonderful pasta!!

Lancer's Spinach Salad Dressing

If you've been around these parts for at least 25 years, you would recognize the name, Lancers, as being the restaurant that burnt to the ground on Mount Rose Highway.  It had a prime spot for viewing the lights of Reno and evidently the food was amazing.  I did manage to salvage their spinach salad dressing recipe, which in my opinion, is the best! 

I made a batch for Easter dinner and now that my spinach is maturing in my garden it may be time to make more.  It's that good!

Ingredients:

1/2 Tbsp sugar

1/2 Tbsp salt

1/2 Tbsp dry mustard

1/2 Tbsp steak sauce (like A-1)

1 tsp garlic powder

1/4 cup burgundy wine

1/4 cup ketchup

1 cup olive oil

1/4 cup wine vinegar

1/4 cup honey

Mix all the ingredients in a 4 cup capacity bowl.  Pour into a jar and shake.  Serve over spinach.  Delicious!

Dutch Baby Pancake for Momma!

Last Sunday, Mother's Day I rose early.  Not much sleeping in when a cat is in the house!  I decided to fix myself and hubby, of course, a special breakfast.  Most mornings start with coffee and cereal for him and usually an egg or egg white with fruit for me.   On Sundays years ago when my son was small we'd have pancakes or french toast! 

This recipe for a dutch baby pancake was so easy it's scary.  Just mix it all and throw it in the oven, but what a special treat!  Now, I've never claimed to be a morning person and this morning I proved that!  Instead of the "required"  3 eggs I only cracked open two, spaced out a bit and continued with the ingredients!   Should have had more coffee.  The results were still quite good.  It was more of a custard instead of a light pancake. 

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp butter

3 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

zest of half a lemon

3/4 cup flour

a dash of cinnamon

1 cup of partially frozen blueberries


Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  Put the butter into a 10-12 inch oven proof skillet.  A cast iron one is perfect.  Put the pan in the oven while making the batter.

In a blender combine the eggs, milk, salt, vanilla, and zest.  Then add the flour, and cinnamon and mix.  Take the pan from the oven and pour the batter into it.  Sprinkle the berries on top and bake until puffed.  Around 12-15 minutes.

Garnish with powdered sugar, a dab of butter and syrup.    This is a baby a mother could love!!

such a pretty baby!

Limelight Rice

If you want to transport yourself to the islands, this rice will do it for you!  Because we're becoming "one with the grill" the addition of a light lime infused rice was the perfect complement to go with my grilled trout.  The rice also gets more fresh flavor from ginger, cilantro and pineapple.

Ingredients:

2 cups water

1 cup white basmati rice or long grain

1 Tbsp coconut oil

1/2 tsp lime zest

1/2 tsp minced ginger

1/4 tsp coriander

1/4 tsp dried cilantro (fresh would be much better but I didn't have any!)

a pat of butter (optional)

3-4 oz. crushed pineapple

Bring the water to a boil with coconut oil, zest, ginger, coriander and cilantro.  Add the rice, reduce to simmer and cover.  Cook for about 20-25 minutes until rice is done.  Add a pat of butter, crushed pineapple and at the last moment I added some Thai basil from my garden for more flavor.  Stir and serve.  Very nice!

What's on the Grill?

I have to admit, I've never been much of a grill person.  Even though fire is a necessary part of cooking, I still have a fear of singeing my eyebrows or hair when lighting the beast, the grill.  I usually always leave that task to my hubby, the up and coming grill master!  He's gone through the  fire lighting steps numerous times but I still can't quite go there.  It's kind of like teaching him how to start the washing machine, I suppose....must be a mental block!

We still work well together no matter what the project is.   When grilling, I'll do all the prep and then he takes over.  This weekend we grilled marinated pineapple and foil wrapped new potatoes.  When roasting potatoes in the Winter, the oven method is the only way to go, but I love the results you get on the grill.  If cooked right the potatoes have a nice crunch around the edges but still very moist.  The pineapple was unbelievably juicy,  and sweet with a hint of ginger and lime.  So good!

For the pineapple marinade:

Place the following in a small bowl.

2 Tbsp honey

1 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 lime, juiced, with a bit of zest

knob of ginger (thumb size), minced or zested

1 1/2 tsp low sodium soy sauce

Place cut pineapple on the grill a few minutes on both sides to get those beautiful grill marks.  Then baste with the marinade, turn and baste again.  These don't need much cooking time, 10-15 minutes total.

For the foil wrapped new potatoes:

Spray a large rectangle (about 15 inches long) heavy duty foil with cooking spray.  Arrange 3-4 potatoes  (1/8 inch thick) slices on the foil.  Sprinkle with a  a Tbsp of fresh chopped chives and parsley, a bit of salt and pepper.  Drizzle with olive oil and dot with about 3 Tbsp of butter (optional)  If you have chive blossoms on your plant, include some of those!   Throw on 2 cut up garlic cloves and close the foil package.  Cook on the grill (upper part) for about 35 minutes.   Enjoy!  And especially enjoy the fact that there aren't any dishes!!

Blueberry Raspberry Cinnamon Cake

A few years ago I wanted to try my hand at berry growing.  I went to the local home/gardening store and picked up a small black raspberry bush and half jokingly planted it in a sunny corner of my yard.  The first year the yield was not too good.  Then, it became "established" and started to thrive.  After learning the ins and outs of proper pruning, I can depend on a nice crop of berries. 

Last year they all seemed to ripen at the same time, right around the time my kitchen was being remodeled.  I quickly packaged and froze a few batches to put into recipes later on.  That "later on" arrived this last week when I made this berry cake laced with cinnamon. 

The only thing I would change on this would be to remove the annoying seeds by mashing and pressing the berries through a sieve first.  Can't wait to try that with this year's crop!  If you can't handle the seeds, just use all blueberries!

Ingredients

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup milk

1/8 tsp salt

1 1/2 cup flour (I used cake flour)

1 Tbsp cinnamon

1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen

1 cup black or red raspberries, fresh or frozen

a sprinkle of baker's sugar (for topping)

1 Tbsp chopped pecans, optional for topping

a few "dots" of butter

Butter and flour a 9 inch round pan.  Heat oven to 350 degrees.  In a bowl blend the eggs, sugar, milk and salt.  Add the flour, cinnamon and fold in most of the berries.  Save some for topping.  Pour into the pan, add the extra berries, dot with butter and sprinkle with sugar and a little more cinnamon if you want.  Bake for about 55 minutes, until done.  Cool and serve.  Great snacking or brunch cake!

Texan Style Pulled Pork Tacos

Even though the weather has gotten warmer, don't put away that crock pot yet!  I usually pack it away into the deep dark corner of my pantry only to emerge again when the weather warrants some good crock pot stew or pot of beans. 

This recipe would also work well with beef or chicken or possibly turkey.  I'll make it again with different spices and guaranteed it will come out perfect every time.  The magic of crock pots!

This Texas style pulled pork was great into tacos.  I could also envision it for pulled pork mini sliders! 

Ingredients: (for 4 servings)

1/2 tsp oil

1 (2 lb) small pork shoulder roast

1/2 cup of your favorite barbecue sauce

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup chicken broth

1/8 cup light brown sugar

1/2 Tbsp mustard

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 large onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 tsp dried thyme

Assembling this is a cinch!  Just pour the oil into the crock pot, add pork, then the remaining ingredients, stir and cook on high for about 5 - 6 hours.  Remove the pork and shred the meat using two forks.  Return to the crock pot to absorb the juices for a bit and serve either with tacos, enchilada or as mini pulled pork sliders.  So easy!   You can easily double this recipe for approx. 8 servings.

Cinco de Mayo - Green Chili Chicken

If you're wondering what to make for a Cinco de Mayo celebration, look no further!   I stole this recipe from my father who seems to make it on a regular basis.  One of his grandsons always requests it when he comes to town for a visit.  I wanted to know what all the fuss was about.  Then I made this!  This is one of those great recipes with loads of south of the border flavor, but it doesn't need to simmer for half a day!  I'm sold!

The original recipe calls for a whole fryer chicken cut into pieces (thigh, legs, etc)  I've used skin- on chicken thighs, but breast meat pieces would be good.  Just adjust the cooking time down.

Ingredients

4 - 6 chicken thighs

2 tsp chili powder

1/4 to 1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp oil

2 garlic cloves, pressed or minced

1/2 cup diced onion

1 (4 oz) can diced green chilies

3/4 cup chicken broth

2 Tbsp flour

2 Tbsp water

1/2 cup sour cream (room temperature)

Place the chili powder, cayenne, cumin and salt on a shallow plate.  Rub the chicken pieces in this.  Heat the oil in a large skillet or Dutch oven.  Brown the chicken on all sides, then add the garlic, onion, chilies and chicken broth.  Cover and simmer for 35 to 45 minutes.  Remove the chicken to a platter and drain the juices back into the pan.  Blend together the flour and water in a cup, then add to the juices.  Cook while stirring as the sauce thickens.  Stir in the sour cream and mix.  Pour over chicken or leave as a side sauce.   Bueno, bueno!