Category Archives: food

Better Blueberry Almond Muffins

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It’s all about texture, and these muffins are perfect—not dense, but substantial, and just as delicious warmed up the next day.  They’re not the usual bakery-style blueberry offering; these are grainy, not “white” or strudely.  Inspired by Martha Stewart, it’s the first muffin recipe I’ve found that actually makes exactly 12 perfectly-sized (that is, normal muffin pan-sized) muffins.

Combine in a medium bowl:
10 Tbls. butter or oil, melted
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup milk
1 egg

Whisk together in a large bowl:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 Tbls baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease a standard 12-cup muffin pan.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and add:
1 cup frozen blueberries (keep them frozen!)
1/4 cup chopped almonds
(use any combo of fruit and nut or filling desired, up to 1 1/4 cups).

Fold batter together, using as few strokes as possible—the least mixing necessary.

Fill cups with about 1/4-1/3 cup batter, bake for 17-19 minutes.

The Canlis Salad

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It takes a very special salad to make it onto a company dinner menu twice in one week.

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This SALAD is that special. Served simply with chicken (once grilled, once roasted) this dish makes magic at the table.

I learned it last year while living in St. Louis, a former waiter of the famous Canlis restaurant in Seattle lived nearby and brought this exact salad to a potluck. How lucky we were!

Though ripe for improvisation as encouraged in the recipe, make as written at least once – it’s worth the effort to keep the strange looking ratios. You will be rewarded! Enjoy all spring long…

Why We Fast

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A friend told me yesterday that she didn’t quite understand why we fast; this year, she said, it made her grumpier than usual.  Usually, it makes me grumpy, too. 

Why do we get married?  Why do we go to church?  Why do we keep changing our baby’s diapers?

It’s not because we want to, or because it’s particularly edifying, or because it’s glamorous.

We do these strange, nonsensical things because they take us out of our comfort zones, they make us better people, and sometimes, we notice God better when we do them (not always, by any means, but they provide an opportunity).

Lent is about making room for God (I said the same thing about Advent and Epiphany; how about this: LIFE is about making room for God).  By changing things up in our lives–removing some of our habitual painkillers, and adding a bit of silence or space–we make things uncomfortable enough to notice where God might be around us. 

For Valentines: Brownie Pudding

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From one of my fellow sweet-tooth sufferers: “This pudding looks decidedly unpromising when it goes into the oven—a stiff batter covered with a flood of liquid sauce.  It is, however, one of those miracle dishes: as it cooks, the sauce thickens and sinks down under the batter, which is transformed into a light, squidgy brownie.”

Preheat oven to 325 degrees; grease a glass pie dish, or an 8×8 glass pan.
For the chocolate fudge sauce:
2 oz dark chocolate, roughly chopped
1/2 cup turbinado sugar
5 Tbls. cocoa powder, sifted
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups water
place all ingredients in a saucepan and bring slowly to the boil, stirring occasionally.  Boil for 2-3 mins, stirring constantly, then remove from the heat and leave to cool for at least 15 minutes while you prepare the brownie.

For the brownie pudding:
1 cup flour
2 tsp. baking powder
5 Tbls. cocoa powder
3/4 cup crème fraiche (or sour cream, in a pinch!)
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1/2 cup pecans, chopped into large pieces
1 tsp. vanilla extract
pinch of salt
Sift the flour, baking powder, cocoa, sugar and a pinch of salt into a bowl and stir.  Add the crème fraiche, melted butter, pecans and vanilla and stir to combine.  Spoon this mixture into dish and level the surface.

Pour the sauce over and immediately place in the oven for 40-45 mins, until the brownie has risen to the surface and feels spongy.  Leave to cool for 5-10 mins and serve warm, with or without cream.

Edited by Emily Hylden; inspired by a recipe received from Sam Wells.

 

Tea Party

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20140129-164724.jpg“If you don’t have fun planning the party, it’ll show!”

~something you’d imagine the Barefoot Contessa would say (alas, only the Ina Garten in my head said it)

A few Saturdays ago, I threw my first tea party at Bee Cottage; I lured some ladies over with the promise of baked goods–and entrapped them to planning church social events with me.  It was the perfect excuse to pull out all my Franciscan Desert Rose and do a lot of baking.  One of the dear attendees asked to bring cheese straws, so I focused on sweet additions to complement our tea.  Scones are not only my favorite baked good, but also a requirement for a tea party; I pulled out my favorite scone recipe (whole wheat, oat & maple syrup scones) finished the menu with cookie-like “biscotti bites” from Martha’s January issue (sans chocolate-dip, due to time, and also due to an aversion to overindulgence–it was generally agreed that the extra coat would have been a significant mistake).

Scones freeze beautifully (most-beautifully if you make the dough and cut them out, and then stick them in the freezer on a sheet pan instead of the oven–take out a few at a time to bake fresh, or just to be prepared a week or two ahead), and though the biscotti bites probably ought to be eaten within a week, they were still delicious two weeks on–dipped in tea.