blueberry-rhubarb muffins

Friends, I've been in the kitchen.

I decided to make blueberry muffins last week and while rummaging in the freezer for the berries, I had to move a bag of frozen rhubarb. Eureka!

So, I made blueberry-rhubarb muffins instead and The Hubby is very happy about this development. He calls these the best muffins ever. And I am totally in love with rhubarb again. A lovely vegetable that I've been neglecting for years. Guess I need to make up for lost time: I've been doubling this batch and sharing with the neighbors.

This recipe is inspired by one I found in an old Williams-Sonoma cookbook.

Ingredients:
2 c. whole wheat flour
2/3 c. turbinado sugar
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 c. milk
1/2 c. melted butter
2 eggs
2 c. frozen blueberries
1 c. frozen rhubarb

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Butter standard muffin tins. (Be generous with the butter, especially when it comes to the creases, or you'll regret it when it's time to remove the baked muffins.)

In a medium bowl, stir and toss together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside. In another medium bowl, whisk together the milk, butter and eggs until smooth. Add the combined dry ingredients and stir just until blended. Add the blueberries and rhubarb and stir just until evenly incorporated.

Spoon into the prepared muffin tins, filling each cup about 3/4 full. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, 15-20 minutes.* Let cool in the tins for 5 minutes, then remove.

Makes about 16 standard muffins.

*A few years back I decided to cave and buy an oven thermometer, at the recommendation of some cookbook author. And it has made such a difference in my baking and cooking experiences. Oven temperatures - no matter their age - are surprisingly temperamental. My oven in Arizona is 15 degrees off the mark. My oven in Virginia is 50 degrees (!!!) off the mark. I can only imagine the disasters I'd be creating (and ruining) if I couldn't tell the true temperature of my oven. Go buy an oven thermometer: it's worth the money. 

beauty matters

I was just reading as article in the Boston Globe that discusses Cornell professor Brian Wansinks' work in trying to improve school food. In part it reads:

"But it turns out that students are susceptible to the same marketing strategies that grocery stores have been using for years. Several experiments have shown that children will be more likely to eat items if they see them early in the lunch line and find them attractive and convenient to pick up. Putting fruit in a good-looking bowl works. So does putting a salad bar in a prominent place. Calling your carrots “X-ray vision carrots” can double sales."

I am struck by the idea that putting fruit in good-looking bowls increases a students' chances of actually selecting that fruit and then eating it. The irony is delicious.

As we cut, cut, cut school budgets across the the country, art and music are usually the first to go. But this simple example shows that these "frivolous" concepts of beauty really do matter. They aren't just a nice little add-on, a bonus.

If an apple doesn't look appealing, a child won't take it, won't eat it. Does it get any more fundamental than that?

Read more about this subject here.

off the wagon!

Two months ago I decided to give up coffee because...

Wait. Why does anyone ever give up coffee? Oh, yes. I gave up coffee because the caffeine was getting me really wired and goofy. I had a sinus infection at the time and was sticking to drinking herbal tea until things settled down. And I just realized that now would be a good time to stop drinking coffee. So I did. It was no big deal.

Let me be clear. I was not weaning myself off drinking a gallon a day. I was weaning myself off of about 8 oz. per day - give or take 2 oz. No big deal.

A few weeks ago I started getting up really early (too early) to write and have some "me" time and I started drinking coffee again. I missed my coffee so I started drinking it again. There is something very nice about selecting my mug for the day, holding that warm goodness in my hands, smelling the coffee aroma and just enjoying the ritual.

So some new friends come over and I offer them coffee or tea. Everybody wants tea except one lady who sidles up to me and says, "I'm going to be bad and have the coffee. I had given it up..."

I turned to her and said, "I gave it up, too. And when I started drinking it again I wondered why I had ever stopped. Drinking coffee was like strapping a rocket booster on my butt! I actually got things done."

Of course, now I have another sinus infection. But, I don't blame that on coffee. I blame it on Virginia. I'm pretty sure that I'm allergic to this place: three sinus infections in five months. Yuck.

bread alone

Without really meaning to, I have somehow started making all the bread that my family eats. This began as a sort of dalliance many months ago. Now, it's something that I do regularly. And it's all thanks to this book:

I enjoy making the free-form loaves, but I most often make pan loaves. And while they recommend making a large batch of dough and then making loaves as you need it, I find it much easier to make a large batch of dough and then make all the bread at once. I just freeze what we aren't planning to use immediately.

The most common bread I make is the soft whole wheat sandwich bread because my husband can take it to work. I've been intentionally trying new recipes as of late: quinoa bread and the mixed berry bread last week. I'm planning on the whole wheat flaxseed this week. Oh, and I use their basic whole wheat recipe to make (and freeze) pizza crust for five pizzas.

It makes baking yeast bread totally accessible. I've tried traditional bread baking in the past with no success but lots of frustration. This is a simple, easy method to make yeast bread. And it's delicious.

What are you up to in your kitchen?

sweet potato fries

We've been plowing through the sweet potatoes over here and have recently discovered a new and simple way to prepare them. (Previously, we'd just bake them in the oven for an hour.) Now, we make sweet potato fries - without the fry! Here's how:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Peel the sweet potatoes. I peel one potato per person.
3. Slice the potatoes into fry shapes.
4. Drizzle with olive oil.
5. Add sea salt, fresh-ground black pepper and a dusting of cinnamon. Toss.
6. Spread on a rimmed pan.
7. Bake for 45-60 minutes, stirring once or twice. You'll know they are done when a fry can be smooshed between your fingers.

apple days

We've been on an applesauce kick over here: eating and making it. Here's our favorite recipe.

20 apples - we're using a mix made mostly of courtland with a few granny smith and macoun (I think?) thrown in - we take what the farmer's market provides
2 T. cinnamon
1/4 c. turbinado sugar
1/4 c. brown sugar
2 T. vanilla extract
1 c. water

Peel and dice apples. Combine apples with remaining ingredients. Simmer until soft. Use immersion blender to smooth until you achieve the desired consistency.

We keep about 4 cups in the fridge and then freeze the rest in quart-size ziplocs after the applesauce has cooled.