Favorite Blueberry Muffins

This is my go-to muffin recipe.
It's been tweeked a hundred times.
Actually, I don't think I ever make it the same, twice.
But here is the gist of it:

Blueberry Muffins
makes 12 muffins (or 8 regular sized and 2 jumbos, if you're a fan of variety)

- 5 tbsp salted butter, softened (if you don't use salted butter, I definitely recommend adding a dash of salt, it really heightens the flavor!)
- 1/2 cup raw honey
- 1 large egg
- 3/4 cup yogurt (I buy a ton of single-serve yogurts when they go on super-sale at Sprouts. I think they're about half a cup. This time I used Brown Cow - Vanilla with a splash of milk to make up for the difference)
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/4 cup wheat germ (sometimes I'll use flax meal or ground oats)
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 cups blueberries (in my home, a blueberry muffin MUST be jam-packed full of berries)
- Turbinado sugar for sprinkling

Wisk all the wet ingredients in one bowl, and the dry in another.
Toss blueberries around in the dry mixture.
Add wet to dry and stir until just combined. (should be fairly wet)
Fill your oiled/buttered/lubricated-in-some-way muffin tin almost to the top.
Sprinkle a bit of sugar atop each muffin for added crunch.
Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes.


Devour!

Blueberries look really tiny in the jumbo muffins...

Stuffed Pumpkin Recipe - Revisited

October. The month of falling leaves, rusty ochre, and pumpkins. Blogging is still a weird, new world to me; shy little thang, sharing my words with strangers. I was surprised to see a recipe that I posted two years ago get a bunch of hits this month, and I honestly don't remember how well it turned it out, so it's time to revisit the Vegan Stuffed Pumpkin!

Note: this recipe is not vegan, but it could easily be adapted. You can use a meat substitute such as ground Quorn, TVP, tofu, tempeh, or you can skip the substitute to add more quinoa and veggies.

Stuffed Pumpkin Recipe - Revisited!


(loosely adapted from MotherEarthNews)

1 cup uncooked quinoa
1 2/3 cup water/broth
3 sausages or whatever substitute you desire (I used chicken-apple sausages...yum)
butter or ghee for sauteing 
1 large onion,  chopped
1/2 of a red bell pepper (eat the other half, pronto!)
2 small apples, chopped 
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1/2 cup raisins
2 eggs
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp basil
1 tsp sage 
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 small pie pumpkins

The Pumpkin:
Preheat the oven to 350.
Firstly, clean the outside really really well.
Cut the tops off, scoop out the seeds and scape all the pulp out.
Save those seeds for roasting!
Coat the inside with melted butter/ghee/oil and sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg.
Bake while you prepare the other ingredients!
  

The Stuffing: 

Start with the quinoa:

Rinse thoroughly! It's full of saponins that are likely to turn your stomach.

After it's rinsed, heat quinoa and water/broth until boiling, then simmer until done. (I cheat a little here and add veggie Better Than Bullion to the water - makes the quinoa so good!)

Brown the sausage:

Cut the casings off the sausage and mash up a bit in the pan.

Browning and mashing as you go.

You might have to pour the grease off a few times (I saved it for later sauteing)

Once thoroughly cooked, set aside for later.

And then the veggies: 

Melt a dab of butter or ghee in a large skillet. (I use cast iron for everything)

Sauté the onion and red pepper until they are slightly softened.

Throw in the rest of your seasonings.

Add the apple and cook until golden.

Make some room in the center of the pan, add a little more butter/ghee and cook the garlic until translucent and fragrant.

 

Mix mix!

Mix together the cooked quinoa, sausage, sauteed veggies, raisins, and walnuts (soaked first, if you prefer).

Wisk two eggs and mix into this concoction.

Stuff 'em!

Stuff your "stuffing" into the pre-baked pumpkins.

My pumpkins were tiny! I had enough to fill four so I froze the rest.

Bake 'em!

@ 325 degrees for another hour or so, depending on the size of your pumpkin.

I only had time for this super quick picture before running off to see my midwife, and as soon as we got home, our dinner guest was waiting at the door!

To serve: Cut pumpkin in half, then peel the outerbits off (they come off super easily if baked long enough!)

Yield: Two pumpkins were more than enough for three people (we each ate less than half of one) especially if you serve it with other yummy things, like...

Roasted Brussels Sprouts!

Wash 'em. Trim stems and outer leaves. Cut in half.

Toss in melted butter. Bake! 

 

I baked them with the pumpkin for about half an hour then turned the oven off and let everything coast for a few hours. 

Dinner parties are one of my favorite things! 

Ooey Gooey Cinnamon Buns

Nothing says "Get Well" like a pan of buttery, cinnamon-filled buns... right?

How about now?
 

If you've heard of Pioneer Woman, you've probably heard of her cinnamon buns. And if you're like me, you're reluctant to make them because the serving size of 8 actually means 8 PANS of these delicious sticky buns. (that sounds great if you're feeding hoard of humans, or sending them as gifts... or have a huge freezer.)

Luckily Kitchen Mage did all of the calculations so I could make just enough of these way-too-good buns:

Small Batch Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls

Makes 12

You can find the instructions, as well as tons of pictures over on the Pioneer Woman's website.

1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (1/2 package)
2 1/8 cups all-purpose flour (plus 1/4 cup for kneading)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder (heaping)
1/4 teaspoon baking soda (scant)
1/4 tablespoon salt (heaping)
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
2 teaspoons melted butter, for pans

I used brown sugar and didn't bother measuring the cinnamon. Also made cream cheese frosting (mix cream cheese, a bunch of powdered sugar, + a drop of vanilla to a nice thick consistency)

Disclaimer: these are freakin' delicious. If you aren't giving them to a friend, you just might eat them all.

Herbed Tomato Bread

As soon as the weather gets a slight chill, I go into full-gear baking-mode. This year it started with my beau's amazing ability to manifest material things. He's always wanted a Zojirushi Mini, and expresses it every time we see a bread machine in a thrift store. I did a little research and started swooning as well. 

And the next day...

he came home with this:

A thrifted Zoji-mini for ten bucks! 

What?? Isn't he amazing? I don't know how he does it, but we found a second one a few days later (gifted to his brother).

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This is the first bread I made to accompany homemade tomato + veggie stew.

Herbed Tomato Bread

Ingredients (for 1-lb. breadmaker):
from the Zojirushi website

• 3/4 cups tomato juice
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2-1/4 cups bread flour
• 1-1/2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1-1/2 Tbsp. dry milk
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1-2 tsp. dried basil
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. active dry yeast

I'll be honest, I used to scoff at bread-machine-users (in my days of kneading the dough by hand, "real" bread, as I thought) Gosh was I ever naive! This thing is awesome! Add the ingredients in order, hit "start" and voila, perfect bread a few hours later. I've even used the Dough setting, where it kneads and rises in the machine, then I can bake in the oven to have more control over the shape and crust (Also used it to make the dough for green chili rolls - yum!)

Okay, I'll admit, I'm in awe of this new-fangled machinery, and I might be a little obsessed. But seriously, I can see this being super helpful in a year when I'll have a babe attached to my breast most of the day, or a while later when the little one is running around, curiously getting into my yarn stash. 

Alright, I'm done. Stay tuned for more pictures of yummy bread that's long been eaten and the recipe I used!

Recipe: Vegan Shepherd's Pie

what's better than a homemade birthday dinner?
pie.
birthday-dinner-pie.
happy LifeCreationDay mama!

Vegan Shepherd's Pie

I used these two recipes to meld together my own concoction of deliciousness!
*disclaimer! I don't use measurements when I cook, so everything you see here are approximations and are written down from my (slightly pathetic) memory. feel free to add more or less of any of the ingredients.*
4 medium potatoes
2 large sweet potatoes
3 tablespoons "butter"
enough non-dairy milk to make the potatoes creamy

2 small onions
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 medium carrots
2 celery stalks
1 green bell pepper
2 cups broccoli
1 cup mushrooms
1 pound extra firm tofu

1/2 cup quick oats
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons tahini
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

fresh basil
fresh parsley
sage (just a lil' teeny bit)
crushed red pepper
cayenne pepper
sea salt
black pepper

preheat oven to 350

wash and chop the potatoes into smallish cubes (leave skins on).
boil until nice and mash-able. (20 minutes or so).
mash with butter, salt, pepper, and your choice of milk. (I like 'em chunky)

saute the onions and garlic until onions are nearly clear.
add carrots, celery, bell pepper, and broccoli. (10 mins)
add mushrooms and tofu. (5 mins)
mix in oats, flour, and nutritional yeast, along with the seasonings.
then thoroughly mix in the tahini and water.

spread veggie concoction into a casserole dish.
top with mashed potatoes.
garnish with parsley and other fresh herbs.
bake until slightly golden brown (25 or so mins)

devour!

Vegan Stuffed Pumpkin Recipe

Find the Revisited version here!

  

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Alright, so I'm not a superb cook or anything of the sort, but I've been experimenting! Yesterday I baked a pumpkin stuffed with rice and veggies. It was tasty, but a little under-seasoned. Anyone have any tips for using herbs and spices?

Vegan Stuffed Pumpkin

1 cup (uncooked) brown rice

2 1/2 cups veg-stock (or water with veg-stock seasoning)

1 medium sized carrot, thinly chopped

1/2 of a red and green bell pepper

5 or so mushrooms

1 can black beans

1 can corn

Preheat oven to 350. Bring rice and vegetable stock, or water, to a boil. Turn heat down and simmer for about 40 minutes. While the rice is cooking, clean pumpkin, and cut the top off like a lid. Scoop out all the goopy insides - save the seeds so you can roast them later! Pop the pumpkin in the oven for 20-30 minutes, you want the fleshy bits to only slightly soften.

Chop up all the veggies, and fry them in whatever seasonings you like. Add the corn and beans to the pan when the veggies are tender, and turn off the heat. When the rice is tender, mix it in with the veggie concoction, and scoop into the pumpkin. Bake again for another 30-40 minutes until the pumpkin is super tender and a luscious, golden orange.

To serve, scoop out some stuffing, then scoop some pumpkin pulp from the sides. Voila!

No-Bake Peanut Butter Balls

no-bake peanut butter balls, drizzled in dark chocolate, delicious!
find the recipe here.