Food Friday - Super Snacks

From Kris B.

Cinnamon Almonds and Salted Butter Toffee Pecans

It is always a pleasant surprise when you meet someone who not only likes and appreciates your "good" qualities, but also understands and even shares some of your more quirky and less mainstream ideas and traits.

In an effort to establish a plan for our upcoming posts, Tracey and I were sharing ideas back and forth about Food Fridays.  Since the Super Bowl is this weekend, I suggested that we might share recipes for a few of our favorite snacks.  The email exchanges between the two of us on this topic were rather hilarious, at least to me:-)

Me: We are not football fans, but next weekend is the Super Bowl.  Maybe we can do a favorite snack recipe?? 

Tracey: ... LOL. I can remember in high school, my boyfriend played and I'd go to his games, but I'd always get there late, then it was a big social fest for me, lol. I can remember him asking me about whether or not I saw this play he made or that one, and lol, nope, sorry....Football was just never my thing and I don't understand it either, so that doesn't help. ;-)  Baseball is my game, I love hockey too. 

Me:  LOL!  I was a band nerd so I went to every single game and could tell you nothing about any of them.  As far as the band was concerned, the games were just something that messed up the field got in the way of our halftime shows:-). I never had the boyfriend issue because in high school, football players surely didn't date band nerds.  Cheerleaders were their choice,  probably because those girls actually watched the games!!!

And as it turns out, neither of our husbands are football fans either.  Mine takes great pride in being able to say that he has never watched a pro football game from start to finish.  He will watch the Super Bowl commercials on YouTube after the fact, but that is the limit of his Super Bowl involvement...well...except that he is willing to share in game day snacks.

I have to say that at my house we are much bigger snack fans than we are sports fans.  Snack foods are quick, easy, and, to me, pretty satisfying.  Because I am a snacker, I have to be intentional about the snack foods that I make and keep at home.  I would be perfectly happy with chips and cookies regularly, but even I know that that is not a good idea. LOL!  I, the snacker, also have a viscous sweet tooth; so, as to be a responsible snacker, at least on the surface, I have tried to find snack foods that have at least a modicum of nutritious-ness as well as the ability to satisfy my need for sweet.

My solution is this week's recipes for spiced and candied nuts - sweet protein!

Cinnamon Almonds

1 large egg white

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 cup packed brown sugar 

2 teaspoons (or more to taste) cinnamon

3 cups of raw nuts (I usually use almonds, but pecans work well too.)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Line an 11x15 baking sheet with parchment paper.  (You could also use a silicone pan liner, but I would not use foil.)

In a medium bowl, combine both sugars and the cinnamon.

In a small bowl, whisk the egg white with a tablespoon of water.  Whisk until the egg becomes "frothy."

Place the nuts in a large bowl.  Pour the egg mixture over the nuts and gently stir until all of the nuts are coated.  You want to be careful not to break the nuts as you stir.  Once all of the nuts are coated stir in the cinnamon-sugar mixture, again stirring to coat all of the nuts.

Spoon the nuts onto the baking sheet and spread into a single layer.  Bake for 25-30 minutes, stirring at "half-time."  Despite the football reference, that means at the 15 minute baking mark, not during halftime of the football game, unless of course you are making candied nuts rather than watching the first half of the Super Bowl and the two happen to coincide:-)

Let the nuts cool completely before serving.  They can be stored in a sealed container for a couple of weeks.

And for those of you that prefer sweet and salty to just the sweet, here is an option for you.

Sea Salt Coated Butter Toffee Pecans

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar
2/3 cup water

6 Tbsp. butter 

5 cup whole pecans

1 Tbsp. Sea salt

2 tsp nutmeg (freshly grated is a nice touch)

Spray an 11x15 baking sheet with cooking spray.  Set aside.

In a small bowl combine sea salt and nutmeg.  Set aside.

In a deep skillet large enough to hold all of the nuts and give you stirring room (I use a large cast iron skillet), add 2/3 cup water, sugar, and butter.  Heat over medium heat until the butter melts.  Stir constantly.  Then add the nuts.  Gently stir the nuts coating them with the butter mixture.   Continue you cooking and stirring until the sugar becomes powdery, 12-15 minutes.. Continue to cook about 10 minutes longer until a deep golden candy coating forms on the nuts.

Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in salt and nutmeg.   Quickly spread the nut mixture in a single layer onto the prepared cookie sheet.  Sprinkle with additional salt, if desired.

Allow to cool before serving.

These recipes satisfy both my hunger and my sweet tooth.  I feel a little less guilty about eating a handful of spiced nuts than I do about eating a half a bag of chips or a handful of cookies.  

And for those of you who are avid football fans and have an emotional investment in the outcome of the Super Bowl, recent research shows that nuts are good for your emotional health.  Some have gone as far as to say that a handful of almonds are as good as Prozac for combatting depression.  This is attributed to their ability to lower blood sugar and raise seritonin levels.  So, if your team is on the losing end of the scoreboard this weekend, have a few nuts to cheer you up and find solace in knowing that the football season starts again in seven months!


From Tracey G.

I love any excuse to make snack foods or appetizers - they happen to be my favorite kind of meal ;-) I was reminded  of myself when I saw the movie "Mermaids" many years ago and Cher's character, the mom, made every meal as appetizers/cocktail party food with toothpicks and all, lol. I was like "Yeah! That's the way to eat!" :-D And I think it must be genetic as well, because Harry's become a fan of  "picky foods" for dinner, lunch etc. If he had his way, it would be dinner that way every night for no special reason ;-) 

As Kris said, when we were bandying about our ideas for food on Fridays, Super Bowl Sunday came up, regarding snacks and so forth and then the quite humorous discussion on whether or not we actually watch the game at all, lol. I guess I used to way back when, but that doesn't mean I enjoyed it, it was on the television by majority rule, so I just made sure I had a book to read, and that's how I spent my time while it was on - reading between prepping and serving the snacks! And honestly, it's been years since I've seen a Super Bowl, and that's not an exaggeration! I know it's a fairly simple game, but for some reason I threw up a mental block that since I didn't enjoy it, I therefore will not understand it and that was that, lol. There's no getting it through to me now... But snacks, they speak loud and clear and I have a great understanding of those! ;-)

I've collected my fair share of recipes for that sort of thing ("entertaining") through the years, and have tried many - some good, some not so good, lol. The good ones have found their way into "The Book" (my handwritten tried and loved recipes all collected in a spiral bound do-it-yourself recipe book) and there are many many, more in my collection of recipes that I've yet to try.  

This recipe came with my Wilton cookie press that I got a few years ago, I remember seeing it in the little recipe book that came with it and I thought  what a fabulous thing!! I was going to make this because it just sounded so darn easy and even more fun and easy because you use your press to make them! That's fast! And fun! But, I never did make them...until the other day. And by this time, I've lost the booklet that came with my press, so I had to travel to the Wilton site (no hardship there either, but way too easy for me to get off on a tangent of looking at cupcakes, cakes etc, lol) to see if by some stroke of good fortune they'd have it (or a version of it) on the site. Thankfully, they did! (and can be found here, under the appetizer section - Cheddar Cheese Spritz Crackers ) Of course, I deviated as I usually do, lol, because I find that for me, a recipe is a "guide". I don't  think I've ever made a recipe "straight up" as written - there's always been something I've added or changed, I just can't help myself. Usually though when it comes to baking I try to stay on the straight and narrow because it's a lot of science too as to how the  ingredients work together to produce a certain texture and so forth. But that doesn't mean I might not mess with the seasonings/flavorings etc, lol. And this recipe I made my "own" by adding more Worcestershire sauce and a few extra dashes of hot sauce  ;-) 

I also discovered that even doing a step wrong didn't hurt a thing, lol. In my haste I missed the part that said "in a separate bowl, mix the flour and seasonings together", lol, so I accidentally dumped the seasonings into the butter and cheese mixture along with the Worcestershire and hot sauce, lol. But, no harm done - I just made sure I mixed the "wet" ingredients extra well so that the seasonings were evenly distributed and combined well. And with that said, let me move on to the making of the crackers! Get the oven preheating to 375°F....

Next, shred the cheese finely, and it's stated to not use pre-shredded cheese, so it's the old fashioned way to get shredded cheese, lol. 

Once you've gotten your cheese shredded, it's time to mix it up with the butter...

Now it's time to add the seasonings, only the wet ingredients were to go in, the Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce, but I accidentally added the dry seasonings - salt and paprika, as well, lol. As I said earlier though, I just mixed them all very well to make sure it was all incorporated evenly, and it was fine ;-) 

Now add in your flour to the butter/cheese mixture (and if you're following the recipe as you're supposed to, once you measure out the flour, it's time to add your dry seasonings to it - the salt and paprika, and combine it well with the flour)....

 ......and mix until the dough forms a smooth ball.

Next you place the dough into your cookie press, and using the disk of your choice, make your crackers. You can use the traditional spritz cookie disks, or I tried the disk that makes the flat ribbon. I extruded a long strip and then cut to the desired length with knife.

Place the cut ribbons onto the ungreased cookie sheet  - or if you're doing a traditional spritz cookie shape, press right onto the cookie sheets...

You then bake them 10-12 minutes (I think I took mine even a little longer because they weren't brown enough yet, so it all depends on your oven etc) or until they are light golden brown. You let them cool 2 minutes on the cookie sheet on a rack, then transfer the crackers straight to racks to finish cooling. That's it!! Much simpler than I even imagined!

Now, here's the recipe, courtesy of Wilton.com, makes about 8 dozen crackers:

Cheddar Cheese Spritz Crackers

1 lb finely shredded natural cheddar (not processed and not pre-shredded) sharp cheddar or aged Swiss cheese

1/2 c butter, softened

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

dash hot red pepper sauce

1 1/2 c flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp paprika

Preheat oven to 375°F. In a medium bowl, cream cheese, butter, Worcestershire sauce and hot red pepper sauce until smooth. In a separate bowl, mix flour and seasonings together. Gradually add to cheese mixture. Mix until dough forms a smooth ball. Shape dough into small logs and place in cookie press. Using desired disk, press shapes onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Cook 2 minutes on cookie sheet on cooling rack. Remove from sheet and continue to cool on rack.


____________

Thanks, Tracey!  Now I want a cookie press!

 

Food Friday - Comfort Food!

From Kris B.

Smokin' Macaroni and Cheese

We all know that we shouldn't use food to calm our fears, ease our stress, or generally make us feel better, but let's face it, we all do.  Whether it is that mandatory cup of coffee first thing in the morning to make us feel that we are prepared to face the day, a grilled cheese sandwich like the one mom used to make for lunch on those cold winter afternoons, or that big plate of French fries that we know will taste oh so good in that moment at the end of a very long work week, we all have something that we call comfort food (or drink).  And there are as many reasons for wanting and needing that comfort food as there are foods themselves.

Last weekend, Tracey and I were both in need of comfort food, but for very different reasons.  Tracey's entire family was hit hard by the stomach yuck.  We all know what a terrible existence that is!   She was looking for some kind of food that would help herself and her family keep their chins up and their lunch down.

I was in Delaware beginning the serious work of cleaning out the house that my grandparents and then my parents had lived in.  My grandfather was quite the historian, collecting books and paraphernalia about U.S history, British history, and Delaware history.  He also had a penchant for art and antiques.  And having been a young adult during the Depression,  he never threw anything away.  The house was bursting at the seams!

Though my parents had only lived in that house about fifteen years, they too had collected a lot of stuff, primarily just the stuff of life-papers, pictures, books, trinkets from here and there.  I discovered that my dad had not even cleared out all of my mom's clothing, despite the fact that she died in 2006.  All of this to say that the task that my husband and I were faced with was huge, requiring much more time than the long weekend that we had to tackle it.  The sorting needed to be done last weekend because an auctioneer was coming the following Wednesday to take many of the unwanted things.  The upside of this short timeline was that it forced me to take only the tangible things to which I had an immediate emotional response.  That is a good thing.  I really don't need more "stuff" nor do we have room for much more of anything. 

As I went room by room, through drawer after drawer, closet after closet, and shelf after shelf, I was physically exhausted and even more emotionally spent.  It suddenly dawned on me that going through all of this stuff was almost more painful and stressful than the deaths themselves.  In the choices I was making about what to keep, what to send to auction, what to donate, and what to put in the trash, I was deciding which pieces of the lives of my grandparents and parents were important enough to be preserved and which ones would now only live on as memories.  Needless to say, I was willing to accept comfort from almost anywhere.

Despite a stressful forty-eight hours, I can now look back and say with confidence that I think things worked out for the best.

You know that you have a good friend when in between trips to the bathroom dealing with an unhappy tummy, she sends you s quick email to let you know she is thinking of you...and as evidence that she is at least  somewhat conscious.  As tough as my weekend was, I'm not sure that I would have wanted to trade places with Tracey.  I don't handle upset stomachs very well, not mine or anyone else's.

All that to say that by the time we returned home to Dallas late Monday night, I was in desperate need of some comfort food.  When I am physically tired, my instinct is to turn to sugar.  When I'm emotionally tired, I want to be comforted by something that is warm and soothing to my insides as well as being at least a little bit healthy.  My "go to" food in this situation is macaroni and cheese.  Yes, it's full of fat and carbs, which sound anything but healthy, but over time I have combined several different recipes in an attempt to make it a little better for my body and still satisfying to my soul.

This recipe is adapted from Michelle Obama's recipe in American Grown:  The Story of the White House Kitchen Garden and Gardens Across America..  She says that it is a favorite of her girls.  I have made a few changes that perhaps give it a more "grown-up" appeal as well.

Since it is called "macaroni and cheese," I think it is fair to assume that these two ingredients are the most important.  I use medium shells rather than traditional elbow macaroni because I like how the sauce fills in the shells creating pockets of cheesy goodness.  This brings us to the cheese, in my opinion, the cheese is THE most important ingredient.  

I am a fan of smoked cheese, any kind of smoked cheese, but my favorite is smoked Gouda.  Therefore I use a mixture of sharp cheddar and smoked Gouda, as well as a little fresh Parmesan in this recipe.  Don't you think smoked Gouda gives it a grown-up feel?

Michelle Obama adds chopped parsley to her recipe to give it a little color.  I am a bigger fan of spinach than parsley, so I use that instead.  Green is green, right?  

The big difference between this healthier recipe and "homestyle" macaroni and cheese is in the creamy cheese sauce mentioned above.  Rather than beginning with a fat based roux, the cheese is combined with puréed cauliflower to create the sauce.  Don't roll your eyes until you try it!  I bet you wouldn't know the difference between the two if you weren't told.

This way we can save that butter to add to a crunchy breadcrumb topping if you'd like.

The Recipe

Here is the cast of characters:

16 oz. medium shells pasta

1 cup 2-percent or skim milk

8 oz each of shredded smoked Gouda and sharp cheddar cheese

1/2 head cauliflower, cut into florets

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1 bag of fresh baby spinach

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp ground mustard

1/2 kosher salt 

black pepper to taste

a pinch or two of red pepper flakes

If you would like a crunchy topping, mix 1/2 cup of your favorite breadcrumbs, crackers, or chips with a table spoon of melted butter spread this over the top.  (Admittedly, this moves this recipe a few degrees to the negative on the healthy scale, but a few degrees toward the positive on the goodness scale.  And remember, we are talking about comfort food here, so go all the way!)

Preheat the oven to 350

Steam the cauliflower until soft,  approximately 10 minutes. Do not discard the water.

Cook the shells according to the package directions.  In the last two minutes of cooking, add the spinach.   Remove from heat and drain.

Puree the cauliflower in a food processor or blender.  Add a few tablespoons of the steaming water.  If the mixture seems too thick, add a little more water.  Add in all of the spices and seasonings.  Process until smooth.

In a large mixing bowl, pour the pureed cauliflower mixture and the pasta and spinach mixture.  Stir to coat.  Add all of the cheeses.  Stir until well combined.

Spoon the mixture into a 9x13 baking dish or multiple dishes of other sizes.  (This recipe can be frozen and reheated.)

If you want the crumbly topping, mix the melted butter with a half a cup of your preferred carbohydrate.  Sprinkle on the top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Enjoy!

I’m not going to lie to you; this recipe is more labor intensive than opening that blue box and mixing the magic orange powder with milk and butter, but it is so worth the effort!  It tastes better, it is healthier, and, remember that we are talking about comfort food here, while you are cooking, your mind is on something other than the issue that caused the need for comfort food in the first place!

From Tracey G.

Homemade Chicken Soup

It seems to be one of those recipes/foods you turn to when you're coming down sick with something. I have been trying lately to remember it in good health too because it's also just flat out yummy! And now that I've finally realized it's pretty easy to do, I find I'm turning to it a lot more these days because it can also be a fairly inexpensive meal. It takes a little more time, but not a lot of effort I've discovered, so not a lot of "pot watching" is required. ;-) It's great to make on weekends when you have some time to be around the house.

And let me say that, for me, it was needed this past weekend that's for sure! I'd bought all the ingredients the day before I came down with that nasty stomach bug. I'd thought it'd be a good thing for Harry as he'd been home sick from school most of the week, and it ended up being a good thing for me too! I am so glad it's a recipe that doesn't require a lot of babysitting, because just as soon as I was able to get out of bed for any length of time - I seized my opportunity to get it made! :-)

It's truly one of the original comfort foods! As Kris and I were talking, we realized we both needed comfort foods, and I think it spurred us to actually think about what roles food can play in your life. Which leads me back to my motto of everything in moderation. I find that the fastest way to get me to want something is to tell me I can't have it, lol. Even if it's something I never really cared for, as soon as it becomes off limits, I want it! Well, there are a few exceptions, tell me to avoid okra and I you'll not get an argument from me, lol ;-)

This is my favorite Chicken Noodle Soup recipe, it's crazy simple, even more simple than what I used  to use and for some reason it's better, lol. I don't have many exacts for this, it's more of a method I suppose, since it's actually pieced together from a couple recipes with a few changes thrown in, lol. So, when it comes to vegetable amounts, it's personal taste that you can let dictate what and how much you add. :-)

The Recipe

So, here we go... I start with my 7qt Dutch oven, and throw my whole chicken in it. Add water to cover.

I then add the salt (I prefer Kosher salt), peppercorns, bay leaves, garlic - and you can add thyme or dill, or both! I just usually add dill as not everyone in my house likes the taste of thyme....

I bring the mixture up to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook - times can vary, if it's a 3 lb chicken it can take an hour or a bit more until the chicken is tender, I usually use a larger chicken, usually about 5 lbs, and cook it longer, I get my best flavors at about 3 hours (and honestly, it's cooked longer depending on what's going on that day, lol, I just keep adding water if it starts to disappear, lol, and it's always turned out just fine.)

By the time the chicken's fully cooked, it's usually so tender it's falling off the bones, so it can get a bit tricky to get out of the pot, lol. I get what I can with my tongs and then I strain the whole shebang through a colander into another bowl (or pot). Then, the broth goes back into the pot for the rest of the recipe. Once I get all the chicken I want to use accounted for, I shred the meat and set it aside.

I then bring the stock back up to boil, and add my sliced carrots and celery.... 

While the vegetables are getting a head start cooking, I get my noodles going. I like to use Kluski style noodles, they are my favorite, but I've also used whatever I've happened to have on hand, regular wide egg noodles etc, whatever you like :-) 

I like to cook them in a pot of water on the side when I think of it, then just as they are about finished, I drain them and let them finish cooking in the soup. I've also cooked them right in the broth, and either way it turns out just fine, but if I partially cook on the side, I don't lose as much broth, lol.

Once the veggies are tender and the noodles are good, I throw in the shredded chicken so it can warm back through and it's ready to eat! Makes a large amount so it's a good thing it tastes even better the next day, and then it freezes well too for future meals :-) 

As for the recipe, here's the general amounts I use:

Broth:

1 3-5 lb whole chicken (fryers work just fine for this too)

1 whole head of garlic, cut in half, horizontally - not peeled or anything (it gets strained out at the end of cooking).

2 bay leaves

6 sprigs of thyme or some dried dill - if I'm using dried of either herb, I'd say I use about 2 tsp or so...

4-5 black peppercorns

2 tbsp Kosher salt

Vegetables (Feel free to use as much or as little as you want, although I do know that one time with another recipe I used too many carrots and the soup ended up too "sweet", lol):

6 or 7 carrots, sliced

3 stalks celery, sliced - I slice mine in large pieces as I like the flavor it adds, but I don't want to eat it and larger pieces makes it easy to pick out, lol. Feel free to cut any way you like!

I use about 3/4 of a standard sized package of Kluski noodles, or however many I want at the time, it's another ingredient you can customize to your liking. 

All that's left is to pair it with some yummy bread of choice and maybe a nice salad of some sort and enjoy!

Food Friday - Muffins!

From Tracey G.

Muffins are one of my favorite things to make. I like to have them on hand for myself for breakfast as, I'm not a big breakfast fan. But if it's something I can grab and eat, with not a lot of effort, to enjoy with my morning (or afternoon, lol) coffee - I'm all in. So, by that definition, muffins are perfect for me :-)

 This is my favorite banana nut muffin recipe of all time. It took me years to find it and get it the way I want it (and I still play around with the recipe sometimes!). I was tired of banana nut muffins that had a cake-like texture - I wanted a texture like banana bread! That moist, slightly dense banana nutty goodness that I loved so much. And I do have to say that I've always had this recipe turn out just that way. Well, except for the time when I was seeing just how far I could cut back on the vegetable oil in them, and I went a tad too far, lol, lesson learned on that one!. ;) 

You can make the recipe as it is, or if you're like me and like to try to lighten these kinds of things a bit, I've found I can cut back on the oil and sugar with the more bananas I use in it - for example, it calls for 2-3 mashed very ripe bananas, 1/2 c vegetable oil and 1 c granulated sugar. Well, by using 4 large bananas (or even 5, lol), I have cut the oil back to 1/4 c and I've cut the sugar back to 3/4 c and it turns out just as well, if not yummier, because of the extra banana. But, as I said, you can make it as written and then as you become more familiar with it - try your own additions/subtractions and so forth ;-) I'll have the recipe at the end of the post!

 First things first, preheat the oven to 350°F, that way while you're getting your muffins ready to go, it will be ready for your muffins!

The recipe makes approximately 12 muffins, so, get your muffin tins ready - you can use liners or grease them with a little butter or shortening. I personally prefer foil liners, as there's less mess AND the bonus of helping to keep them moister longer during storage, my opinion is that paper liners leach the moisture out of cupcakes and muffins. 

And now onto getting the ingredients mixed:

 In your bowl or bowl of your mixer, combine the sugar, oil and eggs.

 Mix the sugar, oil and eggs until they are light yellow...

And keep going until.....

 ....the mixture looks like this

While the sugar, oil and eggs are doing their thing in the mixer to get to the light yellow stage, combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium sized bowl, whisk (or stir) together until well combined.

Once you reach the light yellow stage, add your mashed bananas and chopped nuts (I chop my own if I don't have already chopped) to your sugar, oil & egg mixture...

I make sure I mix them in well before I add the dry ingredients...

Next, I unceremoniously dump in my dry ingredients and mix the heck out of it until smooth - that was part of the original recipe, and it went against all the stuff I'd learned about quick-breads & muffins - you're only supposed to mix just until combined! Yikes! But I followed the directions and it worked so I've never changed it...

Now onto filling the muffin tins, I fill almost to the top, seems to be a nicer looking end-product when I do.

Once they're filled I pop them into the oven for about 30 min, and then I start checking them for doneness using the toothpick-poked-into-them method, if it comes out clean, they're done. 

When I take them out of the oven, I let them cool about 5 min or so in their tins then transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling :-) Once they're cooled I usually take some and wrap to freeze. I like to individually wrap each one tightly in plastic wrap, throw them into a zipper-top freezer bag and pop them into the freezer. They come back to life just beautifully after they've been thawed. ;-)

And now, the recipe!

 Banana Bread Muffins

**Preheat oven to 350°**

1 cup white sugar

1 egg

½ cup vegetable oil

2 or 3 very ripe bananas, mashed

¼ cup walnuts or nut of choice

2 cups flour

½ tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1)  Place cupcake liners in muffin pan, or grease muffin tins with a little butter.

2)  Mix sugar, oil and egg until creamy and light yellow. Add bananas and nuts. Add flour baking soda and salt. Stir until completely smooth. Spoon batter into muffin tin.

3)  Bake approximately 30 minutes or until toothpick poked in center of muffin comes out clean. 

Food is almost always a good photography inspiration for me, maybe because I've always enjoyed reading cookbooks and looking at the yummy and beautiful photos they can contain as well. I love having props for plating my subjects etc. I look at food magazines and can't help but think "wow, I'd love to be the food stylist/photographer as they must have a plethora of props (plates, cups, napkins etc) at their disposal!" :-) I love going to stores like Home Goods and seeing all the interesting pieces in the dishware section. And it's nice because you can buy just one or two pieces, not having to purchase a full set that you may or may not ever use outside of photos! lol I love using white dishes, cups etc as I think they compliment rather than compete with the subject. And finally, with food photography, you can eat your subject when you're done! 


From Kris B.

Plain and simple, I love muffins!  They are a perfect snack, a perfect treat, and often a perfect meal.  Muffins, like a good friend, are flexible and right there when you need them to be.  Muffins are sweet, but not too sweet.  Filling, but not too filling.  Healthy…or not.  They are portable.  They are freezable.  Muffins can be dressed up in fancy muffin cups or jump out of the tin naked.  Muffins are just all around goodness.  As one who is not a fan of icing (except chocolate), I prefer muffins to cupcakes almost always.

I took muffins to share with my students during final exams last semester.  One of them asked what the difference was between a muffin and a cupcake.  Aside from the icing, I wasn't sure how to answer his question so I turned to a professional, my daughter, who is a trained pastry chef.  Her response, “Sugar level, sort of.  Also two stage mixing method vs. creaming, but that’s debatable.”  This is the kind of response you get via text message when you are both supposed to be working.  On my way home from school that same day as this question was asked, I stopped by a local card and gift shop.  I stumbled  across a tea towel that said, “Cupcakes are just flamboyant muffins.”  Well there you go.  Mystery solved!

The towel is from "Primitives by Kathy." Her tagline is "LOL made you smile."   How can you not love it?

Since muffins can be all things, it seems only reasonable that they should include all things that are favorite ingredients of mine - oatmeal, brown sugar, eggs, butter (sorry!), fruit, and chocolate!   This recipe is an adaptation of several that I have tried along the way.  I cant remember where I found the original one, maybe Taste of Home magazine???

I am one of those people that gets all of the ingredients out before I start preparing anything.  This comes from several instances of starting to make something and then realizing that I was missing some crucial ingredient.

Here is a practical use for your photos.  Take a picture of all of the ingredients necessary for your favorite dishes.  Store the photo on your phone.  Then next time you are at the grocery store and cant remember the recipe, there are the ingredients right there in your hand.  This also serves as a way to test how carefully you look at a picture.  This method is not guaranteed.  You may still forget something!

MY FAVORITE THINGS MUFFINS

This recipe makes eight dozen mini muffins or two dozen regular sized muffins.  The recipe can also be halved.  Or, muffins can be frozen.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  

1 cup butter

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

2 eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups applesauce

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups oatmeal (not instant)

2 cups chips - I prefer mini chocolate chips but any flavor will work.

Cream the butter and sugar.  Add the eggs.  In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Mix the dry ingredients with the wet ones.  Add the applesauce and the vanilla.  Mix in the oatmeal and your chips of choice.

Scoop into muffin tins and bake 25 minutes for regular sized muffins and 15 minutes for mini muffins.  Fill the muffin cups 2/3 full.  I use a muffin scoop for the larger muffins and a cookie scoop about half filled for the mini muffins.

Enjoy!

Take your camera with you into the kitchen…even if you don't like to cook.  There are lots of interesting photos to be had by observing not only the food in your kitchen, but also the utensils, appliances, and other kitchen gadgets.

A muffin tin with colorful liners.  (You don't have to actually make the muffins.)

It just becomes abstract kitchen art.

Lots of things in the kitchen create cool reflections…

For instance, the batter scoop…

It makes your kitchen look a lot bigger than it really is!

Or, perhaps you’d rather be upside down.

This just goes to show that you can have fun with those everyday tasks.  When you think everything around is boring and mundane, look again.  There is always something to see.  Granted it may be what kind of shape you can discern in the streaks on your stainless steel fridge, but hey…that’s something!