Mason Jar Salad: Day 1 (And Banana Muffins)

Today's jar salad was fantastic! (It was also the talk of the staff room for both Hubby and I.)  I managed to leave enough room for a good shake an successfully mixed it all up! The lemon vinaigrette was perfect.  The beets managed to colour everything a nice shade of purple too! Of course today was day one. Hubby has a couple more salads in the fridge for his week but I am leaving for 2 days of camp with the grade 8s tomorrow so I didn't make more. I am however tempted to make a couple to take and store in the camp fridge. (I'm not sure if I can handle mass produced camp Cesar salad...)

In keeping with my experimenting theme, I decided to make some banana muffins to take with me to camp. That wasn't the experiment. The experiment was switching out the white sugar for maple syrup! I researched a bit online and decided to use 1 cup of maple syrup in exchange for 1 1/4 cups white sugar. I also added an extra 1/4 tsp baking soda and another 1/3 cup flour. Oh, I also only used 2 tbsp of canola oil instead of 1/3 of a cup and I have a sneaky suspicion that I may be able to omit the oil altogether!

Here's the recipe....and FYI, I'm not sure these guys will actually make it out of the house and to camp...they are just that tasty!

Maple Syrup Banana Muffins - printable recipe here

2 Tbsp canola oil
1 cup maple syrup
2 eggs
5 over ripe bananas
2 1/3 cups flour
2 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt (or less if you prefer)
1 cup chocolate chips

Pre heat oven to 325

Whisk together the oil, maple syrup, and the eggs until the eggs are thoroughly mixed in.
Mash the bananas, add them to the liquids and mix it all up.
Add on top, but don't mix yet the flour, baking soda, and salt. Use a fork to quickly stir the dry ingredients before mixing them into the wet....this just saves dirtying another bowl!
Mix the dry and wet ingredients together until almost combined, add the chocolate chips and finish stirring until just combined.

Scoop into lined muffin tins (This made 24 muffins) and bake for 20 to 25 minutes...these ones took 25 minutes but always check at the earliest time.

Try to allow these little gems to cool first but try one if you must. (Remember, they are tasty warm but the flavours will have time to meld and these will taste even better the next day!)

Not too shabby!

Wish me luck at camp!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!

Between The Crosses, Row on Row

I know I posted this video on my 9/11 post, but this one is so fitting for Remembrance day. If so inclined, please donate to (or go check out) the Hero fund at Herofund.ca. As the saying goes, We can never give as much as they did. This song also gets me a little teary eyed.

The poppy is a symbol of Remembrance, with thanks to the poem Flanders Fields by John McCrae.  McCrae wrote this poem during World War I after being witness to the death of a friend.  Poppies flourished in the soil on Flanders' field were the war dead are buried. Due to this, poppies have become the most noted symbol of Remembrance I know. We buy our poppies every year and wear them with pride as a sign that we pause to remember and think about all the brave people who have risked everything for us to be able to live the way we do.  Here I've found a video with the poem being recited.

Because of the poppy, I thought baking something with poppy seeds might be in order.  Naturally, I immediately thought of lemon poppy seed loaf.  Naturally, I turned them into some cupcakes.
I adapted the recipe from the Canadian Living website.

Lemon Poppy seed cakes

• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp lemon zest, grated
• 3 tbsp poppy seeds
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup milk

Beat together the butter and the sugar until light and pale coloured.

Add the eggs one at the time, beating well after each one.  Continue to beat the mixture until it all comes together and is a pale yellow.

Add the lemon zest and mix in.

Most people will tell you to mix the dry ingredients in another bowl, which you can do if you like. I prefer fewer dishes to wash so I just add the flour, baking powder, salt, and poppy seeds on top of this mixture.  Mix everything together.

Add the milk and mix until it is well incorporated. This batter is quite thick but bakes up oh so tasty!

Line a cupcake tine with liners and divide the batter evenly between the 12 cups.

Bake at 325 F for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

While the cakes are in the oven. Mix together 1/2 cup icing sugar with enough lemon juice to make a thick glaze.  Put a teaspoon of glaze on the top of each hot cake and let it melt and ooze all over.

Allow the cakes to cool and enjoy! These little beauties got the full thumbs up approval by both Hubby and Boy (and me as well) I will be making these again!)

Until next time, stay warm and eat well.

"What do I Aways Say is the Most Important Thing?"

Bonus points to anyone who knows where the quote in the title comes from and knows the answer to the question!

It is another cold morning on the prairies, yes I know I have been complaining about the freezing temps and many of you are most likely thinking "Suck it up buttercup, you live there, get used to it.....blah, blah, blah....)" I will say this about this morning's weather:  At least there is no windchill.  After a certain point I wonder if it really matters what the temperature is, cold is cold.  The sun is shining, which is nice as that means no more snowfall for the time being. And since it is cold, it is the perfect time bake something so I can turn the oven on!!

I have been wanting to make these tasty little morsels of breakfast goodness for quite some time....I would hazard to say since Mandy from Whipped posted the recipe I have had these in the the back of my mind. So here I am almost an entire year later finally making them!!  I did make a few adaptations to Mandy's original recipe. Partly because I only had buttermilk in fridge and partly because I have been trying to incorporate more while wheat flour into my recipes.

Mmmm....bacon....

Bacon Cheddar Breakfast Muffins

In a small bowl, mix together 1 strip of crisp cooked crumbled bacon and 1/4 cup grated cheese and set aside.  This will be used as a topping for the muffins.

Spray muffin tins with non stick spray, or brush with oil, melted butter.....something to keep the muffins from sticking.

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

In a large bowl, mix together:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 4 1/2 tsp baking powder

Mix together with a whisk and add to the dry ingredients:

• 1 cup grated old cheddar cheese (or which ever cheese you have on hand)
• 7 strips of crisp cooked bacon, crumbled
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions, or chives

Mix until the cheese, bacon, and green onions are coated in the flour mixture.

In another bowl mix (beat) together:

• 1/2 cup canola (or veggie) oil
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup sour cream (I want to try these with ricotta)
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp maple syrup

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until well combined.  The batter will be thick.  Scoop into the muffin tins.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Allow to cool for 5 to 10 minutes then remove from pans.  I loved the crispiness these muffins have from the cheese melting and crisping up on the edges of the pan.  Cheddar bacon breakfast muffins are indeed tasty and everyone enjoyed them on this cold winter Saturday morning. Highly recommended!

Stay warm and eat well!

Complete ingredient list:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 4 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup grated old cheddar cheese (or which ever cheese you have on hand)
• 7 strips of crisp cooked bacon, crumbled
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions, or chives
• 1/2 cup canola (or veggie) oil
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup sour cream (I want to try these with ricotta)
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp maple syrup

I'm Going Bananas & Blueberry Muffins

It has been a busy week!  Between baseball practices, work gatherings, family dinners, and head colds this week has flown by and I realized I hadn't posted anything new.  When we got back from our family dinner tonight I felt the need to bake up some banana muffins.  It really had more to do with the extremely over ripe bannas that were sitting on the counter, beckoning me to mash 'em up into an oh so yummy batch of muffins than the need to have something for the teen age bottemless pit to snack on.  This recipe I have had hand written in my recipe binder for longer than I can remember.  I have made so many changes and notations in the book that it has become my own famliy recipe.  I usually turn loaf recipes into muffins to help with portion control...although the bottomless pit sometimes makes that attempt futile!

Banana Bread/Muffins
Printable recipe

Over ripe bananas are sweeter

• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1 ¼ cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 5 bananas over ripe...the more over ripe the better
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup wheat bran
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking soda

Possible add ins:

• Chocolate chips, blueberries, nuts, 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

In a bowl mix together:

• 1 cup ap flour
• 1 cup wh wh flour
• 1/4 cup wheat bran
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking soda

Set this flour mixture aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or a bowl with a wooden spoon..whatever you have) mix together until well combined:

• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1 ¼ cups sugar

Add and mix well:

• 2 eggs

Now add and mix well;

• 5 over ripe bananas

Mix well, mashing the bananas up as you go.

Add the flour and mix until just combined.  Remember that with muffins you do not want to over mix the batter or the muffins will be tough.

This will make 2 loaves or about 24 muffins (depending on size of muffins)

Muffins bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Loaves bake for 40 – 45 minutes or until golden brown and the top springs back when pressed with your finger.

Crantastically speaking it was an Experiment

Today I was rooting through the fridge looking for what I had (and tossing a couple of items that needed to go) and I found a couple of bags of fresh cranberries.  Thinking back to my plums and peaches recipes I wanted to try doing the same sort of thing with these cranberries.  It took some tweaking to get the sauce tasting right. The first time I asked Hubby to taste it, it was still quite tart.  The amounts I am giving in this recipe are approximate as I did have to constantly taste and add some sweetner and flavourings.  I was quite happy with the end product but then I found myself wondering 'what am I going to do with this cranberry sauce.  I wonder if I can make muffins?'

Before I knew it I was adapting my favourite banana bread substituting the cranberry sauce for the mashed bananas.  Although the muffins did not rise quite a well as I had wanted the results were quite tasty.  The boys both liked them.  I may have to play with the amount of baking soda and perhaps add some baking powder. I think next time I would definitely make the sauce sweeter and add some white chocolate chips and nuts to the muffins.
After the muffins had fully cooled and we tasted them again, they were even better than I had thought.  I also felt like they needed a little something else so I mixed up a glaze to top them with.

 

Cranberry sauce 

•   2 pkgs fresh cranberries 
• ½ cup brown sugar 
• ¼ cup honey
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• Juice of one orange
• Zest of one orange
• 2 cinnamon sticks or 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Rinse and sort through the cranberries

Place cranberries in a pot on medium heat with the other ingredients

As the cranberries start to pop and the juices bubble, use a masher to crush the cranberries

Taste as you go so you can adjust the seasonings and the sweetness to suit your tastes.

Cranberry muffins

In a bowl, mix together: 

• 2 cups flour
•  1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking soda

In the bowl of the stand mixer combine:

  

• 1/3 cup canola oil
•  1 ¼ cups sugar

Mix well with the paddle attachment and add:

•  2 eggs

Continue mixing until well combined and add:

• 1 ½ cups cranberry sauce

Keep mixing until the cranberry sauce is well incorporated.

Add the flour mixture and mix until just combined.

Stir in with a wooden spoon some nuts of your choice and some white chocolate chips.

Spoon into a lined muffin tin to 2/3 full and bake in a 350 degree F oven for 20 minutes or until fully baked.

To make the glaze mix together:

• Fresh squeezed orange juice
• icing sugar

Play with the amounts until you get the consitency you want to spoon on top of the muffins.

Pumpkin, spice, and everything nice

There are times when we have a very tough time being 'traditional'.  I like the idea of traditions and try to keep in touch with some of the traditions we had as kids but most of the time honoured family traditions tend to be food related.  Pumpkin pie is one of the most tasty traditions I know.  Every Thanksgiving my Mom would look after the meal and my Aunt would look after the pumpkin pies!  It always proved to be a tasty combination. I remember the excitement of the Turkey in the oven, Mom's special Scottish stuffing known simply as "Scurly", helping to mash the potatoes, and just hanging around the kitchen all day.  I wonder if I was actually helpful or just being a pest.  Dinner always seemed to turn out great!  The next big excitement of the day came as we eagerly watched our Aunt walk up the front walk with pumpki pie in hand!  I think having something like pumpkin pie saved for this time of year makes it all the better as it becomes such a treat!!

Somehow I managed to marry one of the few people I have ever met who does not like pumpkin pie. (Strangeness abound!)  My Aunt would still make her delectable pumpkin pies but she would also make brownies for my dear Hubby.  I found (and of course adapted somewhat) a recipe for a pumpkin spice cake that I bake in cupcake form.  These cupcakes are a hit with everyone (Hubby included) and have become a tradition in our house.  These are so popular that I was even asked to make them for Darryl and Mandy's Wedding!  This weekend, I have made the pumpkin spice cupcakes but to also apease the pie lovers, I have down sized the pie into tarts.  I hope they taste as good as they look.  I may have to ask my Aunt for her recipe though.  For now we will try out these.  All they need is a dallop of whipped cream!

 So many smells, tastes, and textures to remember and savour.  My only wish is be able to once again have Mom at the table with us for our delectable meal.  She is terribly missed but fondly remembered as I cook up some of the family's favourite dishes that she would only make for Thanksgiving.

Today I share with you my beloved Pumpkin spice cupcake recipe. I originally found this cake recipe from Martha Stewart.  It was an instant favourite.  I haven't made it as a cake for quite some time.  Instead I have been making cupcakes! Some of Mom's recipes may have to wait to be shared.

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes
Printable recipe
Pre heat oven to 350degrees F.

In the bowl of your mixer combine:

• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs

Mix well until it takes on a lightened colour and is nice and smooth.

Add to the bowl and mix well:

• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup warm milk

In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients:

• 1 2/3 cup flour
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground allspice
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda

Add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl and mix with the paddle attachment until well blended.  The batter should be smooth but not overmixed...I know that doesn't make sense but bear with me!

Scoop into lined muffin tins.  Fill to about 2/3 full.  I like to use a scoop to ensure same size cupcakes.
Bake for about 20 minutes.  Test for doneness by inserting a toothpick in the centre of a cupcake.  If it comes out clean, they are done.  Cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then remove from the muffin pan and cool on a rack.

Once these are cooled...it is time to make the icing!!!

Brown Butter icing.
Printable recipe
In a small saucepan, melt:

1/2 cup butter
Let the butter get all foamy and cook it until golden brown sediments form on the bottom of the butter.

While the butter is melting, place in a bowl:

• 2 cups icing sugar
• 2 tsps vanilla

Once the butter is a nutty brown colour, gently pour it into the bowl with the icing sugar. Make sure to leave the browned sediment in the sauce pan!!
Start mixing the icing and add:

• milk, 1 tbsp at a time until the icing is the consitency you want.  Add more milk if you want a glaze like icing.  

This icing has a nice consistency for spreading but sets quickly so it is important to use the icing right after you make it.