Lemon Berry Muffins

In an attempt to eat breakfast more frequently, I've started making these muffins for Ryan and me on Sundays. They are quick to make, and surprisingly healthy (about 185 calories and 7 grams of fat per muffin) - to make them even healthier use whole wheat flour. You can experiment with whatever type of berries you like - raspberries make them very tart, blueberries are a nice compliment to the lemon also and tone down the tartness. I'm thinking the next time I make these I'm going to put a 1/2 tsp of lavender in the processor with the lemon and sugar to see how that changes the flavor.

Before

After

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients
1 lemon
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup lowfat buttermilk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 tsp real vanilla extract
2 cups flour (wheat, white or half and half)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup frozen berries (any type or mixed - whatever you like)

Pre-heat oven to 400

Peel rind off lemon with a vegetable peeler, avoiding white pith.  Place rind and sugar into a small food processor and pulse until lemon is well chopped and blended with sugar.  Put lemon sugar into a medium bowl, and add buttermilk, vegetable oil, egg, and vanilla.  Stir with whisk to mix and set aside.

In a larger bowl, mix dry ingredients (flour through salt) and then add wet ingredients to dry and stir with spatula to mix.  Add frozen berries and gently fold into batter.

Spray a muffin pan with oil and using a large spoon (I like my soup spoons for this part) scoop a spoonful of batter and place into each muffin cup.  Bake for 25 minutes or until brown on top.

Remove from oven and eat one or two while they are hot just to make sure they turned out ok :)

Once cool, place them in a ziploc bag and store in the fridge - they'll last you all week!

Breakfast Casserole

Thank you to Danielle for providing the original recipe.  I made a few changes/added some things - it was delish!  Perfect breakfast for a holiday morning because you can make it the night before and cook it up in the morning.

Ingredients
1 32oz package frozen Ore Ida Southern Style hash browns
6 oz fresh shredded cheese - I used a combination of sharp cheddar and smoked gouda
3/4 lb sausage, cooked and crumbled
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1/2 sweet yellow onion, diced
1 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
6 eggs
1 cup whole milk (make sure to use whole or casserole will cook up watery)
1 cup water

Pre-heat oven to 350.

Saute bell peppers and onion in a little bit of olive oil - season with salt and pepper.  In a large mixing bowl, mix frozen hash browns, sauteed veggies, cooked sausage, cheese, mustard and cayenne pepper.

In a small mixing bowl, lightly beat eggs then mix in milk and water.  Pour over hash brown mixture and mix thoroughly.  Pour mixture into 9x13 Pyrex dish.  At this point, cover and refrigerate overnight if making ahead of time for breakfast.  Otherwise, bake for 1 hour 15 minutes until bubbling on top and cooked through.  Pop under broiler for 5 minutes before serving to get a nicely browned top, if desired.  Allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Peggy's Angel Biscuits

Makes 3 dozen.  Dough can be made several days ahead of time, and biscuits can be baked the day before though they are best hot out of the oven. 

Ingredients
5 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 cup Crisco
1 pkg dry yeast
2 cups buttermilk
2 tbsp melted butter

Mix together first 5 ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.  Dissolve yeast into 2 tbsp warm water, then add buttermilk.  Add buttermilk and yeast to dry ingredients and stir together.  Cover and refrigerate for at least a few hours.

Roll out dough on lightly floured surface to 1/4 inch thick.  Cut and re-roll scraps to create additional biscuits - can be done twice.  Place on lightly greased baking sheet and brush tops of biscuits with melted  butter.  Cover biscuits with wax paper and let rise in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours

Bake at 400 for 15 minutes until golden brown.

Autumn Apple Cranberry Bake

Thanks to Carol for introducing me to this dish!  Ryan and I have an ongoing debate over whether this is a breakfast or dessert.  I argue that most items with fruit in it can be eaten for breakfast or desert (and any other hour between).  This includes but is not limited to apple pie, peach cobbler and carrot cake (yes the last is a veggie but it still counts).

Adapted from the Franklin TN Junior League Cookbook

Serves 6

Pre-heat oven to 325

Filling:
3 cups chopped, peeled green apples
1 12oz package fresh cranberries
2 tbsp flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Toss apples and cranberries with flour, sugar and cinnamon and pour into greased 9x13 baking dish.

Topping:
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup walnuts, chopped

Mix brown sugar, flour, cinnamon in a bowl.  Cut in butter and mix with fingers until crumbly.  Add walnuts and mix.  Spoon over apple mixture and bake 30-40 minutes until apples are tender and top is golden brown.

Pumpkin-Walnut Muffins with Cinnamon Streusel Topping

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1 can of pumpkin puree
1/2 cup half-and-half
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 cups sifted flour
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees
Combine in large mixing bowl and cream together: butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Fold in Pumpkin puree, and slowly add in half-and-half.
Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Fold into wet mixture. Stir in vegetable oil. Add in chopped walnuts. In a lined muffin pan, fill cups full. Should make 12 very full muffins.

Streusel Top:
Combine 1/3 cup sifted flour, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 cup cubed chilled butter. Mix together with a fork and knife, until large pearl sized clumps are formed. Sprinkle topping over muffin batter.

Bake muffins for 20-25 minutes.

BISCUITS!!!

I found this recipe online and with only a few modifications was able to make some amazing big biscuits. Sorry no photo for this one- alex and i devoured all 8 of them straight out of the oven!

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoon white sugar
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 1 cup milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Cut in the shortening until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Gradually stir in milk until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl. You may not need to use the full 1 cup- i used all but 1/8th cup!
   
3. Turn out onto a floured surface, and knead 15 to 20 times. Coarsely roll dough out to 1 inch or 1 and 1/2 inch thick. Cut biscuits with a large cutter or juice glass dipped in flour. Repeat until all dough is used. Brush off the excess flour, and place biscuits onto an ungreased baking sheet. Should make about 6-8 huge fluffy biscuits.
   
4. Bake for 14 to 16 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges begin to brown.

Quesitos for Breakfast, Mofongo for Dinner

Myself and several Let's Dish ladies went to Puerto Rico last week.  While we were there we ate some amazing food - and two of our favorite dishes were mofongo and quesitos.  This is true Puerto Rican cuisine - no kidding!  Here are recipes I found for both - I haven't made them yet but hope to give it a go this weekend. 

Quesitos (Puerto Rican Danishes)
We ate these almost every morning once we discovered the little bakery across the street from our hotel.

1 puff pastry sheet package (specifically, 1 sheet)
8 oz cream cheese, softened
3 Tbs sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup light corn syrup
Egg white of 1 egg

Mix together cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Cut pastry sheet into 3” x 2” rectangles.

Place about 1 tsp. cheese mixture in the middle. Grab one edge and pull into the center of rectangle. Pinch tip into the middle of the sheet. Grab the edge across from it and wrap around towards the end across from it. Pinch at the bottom.

Brush with egg whites and roll in sugar. The sugar is to taste, but ideally a quesito has a nice sugary crust that crunches when one takes a bite.

Bake 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees until golden. Remove from oven and brush with a moderate amount of light corn syrup over each one. Let cool for 10 minutes before eating.

Mofongo
This was a really unique dish - made of deep fried, mashed plantains that are stuffed with various meats/seafood and served in a gravy.  The equivalent of Puerto Rican soul food.

Makes 25 Mofongo Dumplings

2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 cloves Garlic Clove
1/4 lb Hickory Smoked Ham
1/4 cup scallions
1/4 cup Cilantro, Fresh
1/2 cup Manzanilla Olives
1 1/2 lime yields Lime Juice Raw
1 cup Tomato Puree
1 cup Tomato Sauce
2 lb Raw Shrimp Medium
4 cup Plantains
1/8 cup Corn Oil

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet.

Add the stuffing ingredients (olive oil, peeled and crushed garlic, diced ham, sliced scallion, roughly chopped cilantro, chopped manzanilla olives, lime juice, tomato puree, tomato sauce), except the shrimp, and saute over medium heat for five minutes.

Add the shrimp (peeled, cleaned, cut in half) and cook until they turn pink. Set aside.

Peel the plantains and cut them into 1/2-inch slices. Heat the corn oil in a large skillet and fry the plantain slices until they are golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

Mash 5 or 6 plantain slices (in a mortar) with a little of the stuffing liquid. Fold in 1/2 cup of the shrimp mixture and shape stuffing onto a ball with your hands. Repeat the process five more times.

Apple Breakfast Cake

This is warm and delicious (ie, perfect for the unending deluge of snow we have had in NYC lately) and easy to put together.

Cake
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup soft butter
1/3 cup milk
1/3 cup fruit juice (I used pineapple, but you can use any type, or just an additional 1/3 cup milk)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large apples, peeled and sliced thin

Oatmeal Crumble
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt and baking powder. In another bowl cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time and beat until thoroughly incorporated. Add vanilla, fruit juice, cinnamon and allspice and mix.

Mix together wet ingredients into flour mixture. Then add the milk a little at a time to bring it to batter consistency. Fold in sliced apples. Pour batter into a greased and floured 9inch cake pan.

For the oatmeal topping, mix melted butter, oats, brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl til combined. Crumble oatmeal mixture over the top of the cake batter. Bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and the top is golden brown.

Blueberry Pancakes

These are delicious!

Combine in large bowl:
2 ½ cups flour
¼ cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

In a smaller bowl beat:
2 eggs

Beat in:
4 tbsp vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups buttermilk

Beat wet ingredients into dry until smooth.

Fold in 1 cup fresh blueberries

Cook on a hot griddle. It's time to turn the pancakes when they have bubbles rising to the top- about 2 minutes. Cook for another minute after turning.
Serve with butter and maple syrup.

Breakfast Blueberry Crumb Cake

Sift and combine in mixing bowl:

1 cup and 1 tbsp Flour

1 cup dry instant oatmeal (or additional cup flour if you do not want to use oatmeal)

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp kosher salt

Mix in to dry ingredients:

1 egg slightly beaten

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup milk

2 cups blueberries (frozen or ripe)

Spread into cake pan. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Crumble Streusel topping over the cake batter.

Streusel topping directions:

combine in bowl:

1/4 cup white sugar

1/3 cup gently packed brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

(mix)

stir in 1 stick melted butter

(mix- will be very liquidy)

sift and mix in 1 and 1/3 cup flour. (will become very paste like)

crumble streusel paste over top of cake batter with your hands- use all of it!

Place cake in oven- cook for 45-50 minutes, check with fork, if not done cook further and check at five minute intervals. Best served hot with french pressed coffee!

Best Banana Bread

Cream together in mixing bowl:
1/2 cup softened butter
1/2 cup gently packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract

Add in:
2-3 ripe mashed up bananas
1 cup dry instant oatmeal
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg

Separately sift together then mix in:
1 and 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Mix into wet ingredients then add in 1/2-3/4 cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts- i prefer pecans)
NOTE: if batter too thick add 1-3 tbsp milk or vegetable oil.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Spread batter into greased bread pan. Sprinkle top of bread dough generously with dry oatmeal flakes. Bake for 55-60 minutes. Prick with fork to check when done, fork should come away clean, if not done cook longer at 5 minute intervals.