Food and Recipes Archives - Page 4 of 8

Bzzzz September 23rd, 2008

The nip of fall in the air always makes me want to bake. One reason is that the garden chores don’t feel nearly so urgent as in the spring and summer. It’s also easier to turn the oven on when the house isn’t above 80 degrees. But also, there is something about filling the house with the scent of baking bread, savory fruit muffins and chocolate that make me want to nestle in for the winter.

I’ve been droning on about chickens so much that I’ve been asked to join chicken blog directories. Who knew there were such things? Now, just to mix things up, I’ll throw in a recipe.

These are my favorite Very Simple Wild Blueberry Muffins. They take five minutes to toss together and less than 30 minutes to bake. So in about 35 minutes you can be sitting down with a glass of milk and a fresh blueberry muffin.

You could use fresh blueberries or frozen. If you use frozen, I recommend the Wyman’s brand of frozen wild blueberries. Wild blueberries are smaller than regular blueberries and the Wyman’s brand are the smallest I’ve seen.

Ingredients 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted 1 cup packed light brown sugar, plus extra for topping 1/2 cup milk (I use skim since that’s all we keep in the house) 1 large egg (I use eggs from my own chickens, of course!) 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 cups blueberries

Directions Heat oven to 350 degrees and prepare muffin tins with paper liner or non-stick spray.

Mix butter, sugar, milk and egg until well blended. Add baking powder, cinnamon and salt, again mixing well. Gently fold in flour and mix, just until combined. Very gently fold in blueberries.

Divide batter into muffin cups. I usually make about nine from this recipe, but you can get 12 out of it, if you want smaller muffins.

Top each muffin with about 1/4 teaspoon of additional brown sugar.

Bake 25 minutes or until knife inserted comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Posted In: Food and Recipes

Tags: Baking, muffins, Recipes, wild blueberries

13 Comments

Bzzzz July 31st, 2008

This week is all about cucumbers. How about this Armenian Yardlong Cucumber? Yes, it is supposed to be this light yellow, almost white color. And this one is well on its way to being a yard long.

Unfortunately, my first Armenian Yardlong Cucumber was bitter.

Here’s a great way to enjoy the flavor of your garden fresh cucumbers–Asian Cucumber Salad. My favorite!

Ingredients

3 medium cucumbers, peeled, de-seeded, sliced lengthwise and in thin slices 1 tablespoon kosher salt 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar 3 tablespoons toasted sesame oil 1/2 teaspoon sugar 1/4 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes 1 1/2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted in a skillet until golden brown

Toss the cucumbers with the kosher salt and place in a colander in the sink. Place an ice-filled bag on the cucumbers to drain for 45 minutes to an hour. Whisk all the remaining ingredients, except the sesame seeds, until blended and the sugar is dissolved. Rinse the cucumbers and dry with paper towels. Toss the cucumbers and dressing. Top with sesame seeds and serve immediately.

Posted In: Food and Recipes, Gardening

Tags: cucumber salad, cucumbers, garden, recipe, Vegetables

11 Comments

Wild Blueberry Muffins

Got Cucumbers? Try this Asian Cucumber Salad