Archive for July 2009

Wrote by Maki

As I am typing up, I hear the clang, bang and sweet sound of demolition. It's been a long 7 year wait but our main floor bathroom is finally getting the gut. YAY! We kept putting off the bathroom since we had bigger projects but now it's finally happening. Though we aren't fully prepared for it as we sort of decided that we will start today instead of next month. Nope, we don't have any tile, don't know what color the walls will be but I think the biggest step is usually getting started. This is how we roll, what can I say. I am sooo so excited!

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When I made the Blueberry Lemon Muffins, I thought I'd try out a savoury muffin too.

My herb garden was needing some pruning and I found this recipe that seemed to fit the bill. Plus, I really like sour cream and buttermilk and find they really are great in baked goods.

You can use any assortment of herbs and the next time I make these, I will probably add even more. And there will be a next time as I really enjoyed these.

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sour cream herb muffins
makes 12 muffins

2 1/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
1/4 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
1/4 cup green onion tops
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill (I didn't have fresh dill so I used 1/2 tsp dry dill)
2 teaspoons chopped oregano
Melted butter

Whisk first 4 ingredients in large bowl to blend well. Whisk buttermilk, eggs, sour cream and oil in medium bowl to blend; whisk in herbs. Stir buttermilk mixture into flour mixture. Divide batter among prepared muffin cups. Brush tops lightly with melted butter.

Bake muffins 20 minutes in preheated oven at 350°F. Brush tops with butter. Continue baking until golden on top and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 15 minutes longer. Turn muffins out onto rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

recipe adapted from: sour cream and herb muffins, Epicurious website.

Wrote by Maki

These are great for breakfast or a snack. I had some lemons kicking around and thought I'd give these muffins a try, though the original recipe called for oranges. But, I've never been one to follow a recipe exactly as written.

It got me thinking when that happened. I'm sure that as a young adult, when I was new to cooking and baking, I probably followed every recipe as written. But, I think with time and experience, I've gotten comfortable with my skills and don't usually flinch when I see that I don't have certain recipe ingredients.

It's gotten to the point that I will try new recipes all the time and my guest will be my guinea pigs. Books will say that you should really only make things you are comfortable with or have made over and over again -the tried, tested and true recipes. But, my guest and I will be sitting around the dinner table all wondering what the food tastes like.

Though there have been a few times I was left with a dud recipe. I think there as only been one dinner party where I can say that a dish was a total flop. Tasteless and boring. There was another time that I used soybeans (edamame) with the shells intact, thinking they would be like peas in a pod, but nope, they were certainly not. The shells are not really edible and I admit I was embarrassed that my guests had to shell each of those darn pods to eat them. A sit down dinner and everyones is using their fingers or mouths to open up the shells. Sigh. Forget napkins, I had to get wet naps out for everyone!

But no worries, these muffins turned out swell.

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blueberry lemon muffins
makes 12 muffins

3 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
zest of one lemon
Juice of one lemon
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1.5 cups frozen blueberries(do not thaw)

In a bowl, whisk together eggs, buttermilk, lemon zest and juice, oil and vanilla.

In a second bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Take 2 tbsp of the flour mixture and mix it with the blueberries to coat them.

Add dry ingredients to the wet. Mix until just combined. Gently fold in blueberries.

Spoon mixture into prepared muffin tins, right to the top. Bake at 375F for 25 minutes. Cool on rack for 15 minutes and remove muffins from tins to cool completely.

Recipe adapted from: Blueberry Orange Muffins, Published in Edmonton Journal Newspaper.

Wrote by Maki

As I was sipping my morning coffee, I realized that we are in July. JULY! Where did the time go? July, then August, and then my kids are back in school and summer is over.

OVER!

It hardly feels like it began here at all! (I'm talking about the weather because really, it feels like my kids have been home for at least two months now, but that's an entire post of its own!)

Yes, we had one good week of weather but holy moly, it's been chilly the last while.

Wow, two months and summer is officially over. So, I guess we better enjoy it to the fullest. And if you are into cooking and baking, that means enjoying all the produce to it's fullest capacity.

The strawberries have been so good the last while. Oh so delicious! I bought a huge batch of them to make the these cobblers. I had my family over a short while ago and made individual ramekins instead of one large dish. There is something so lovely about individual ramekins! Glad I'm using them!

This was a pretty easy recipe, similar to a crisp. Unlike some of the cobbler recipes I've seen, where you make the dough, roll it out and cut it into circles to put on top of the fruit, this one is just spooned on top. I like that. I love pretty looking desserts but I'm not that interested in anything that requires a lot of steps. I will definitely be making different varieties of cobbler this summer season.

Enjoy your produce and summer!

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strawberry & raspberry cobbler
serves 6

filling:
5 cups total of strawberries & raspberries, any ratio you prefer
1 tbsp lemon juice
3 Tbsp sugar (I used splenda)

topping:
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1.5 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar ( I used splenda)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
6 tbsp cold butter, cut into 1/2- inch pieces
1 tbsp sugar mixed with 1/4 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375F.

Filling:

Mix the fruit filling ingredients together. Spoon into 6 one cup ramekins. Place ramekins on baking sheet and into oven for 10 minutes.

Topping:

In a bowl, stir together buttermilk and vanilla. Set aside. In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Add butter pieces. Mix on low until large, coarse crumbs appear, like the size of peas. Slowly pour in buttermilk mixture and mix until just combined.

Drop the dough by heaping spoonfuls onto hot fruit. Sprinkle with the cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Bake in the oven for about 30-35 minutes until fruit is bubbling and topping is browned (or at least until toothpick comes out clean). Transfer to rack and cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Adapted from: Fruit Cobbler, Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Baking.

Wrote by Maki

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