Strawberries 'n Cream Muffins

I signed up for the Cooking Club of America without knowing that you had to pay membership dues and all of that bullshit. Mike signed up for the Hunter's Club and didn't have to pay a dime...and they sent him a pant load of cool gear. WTF. Same thing I guess, only I get delicious recipes, kind of. Anyway- they send me a cooking magazine which, for the most part, sucks. However, in the back of the April/May 2010 issue, there is a "flashback" recipe which looked scrumptious. I just had to try it. Besides, tomorrow is Mikey's birthday...he's gotta have something good for breakfast!

Strawberry-Cream Cheese Muffins

2 c all-purpose flour

3/4 c plus 3 tbsp sugar, divided

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

6 Tbsp unsalted butter, chilled, cut up

1 c chopped strawberries

3/4 c plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk

1 egg

1 (3oz) pkg. cream cheese, cut into 12 cubes

1. Heat oven to 400 F. Grease bottoms of 12 muffin cups or line with paper liners. Combine flour, 3/4 c of the sugar, baking powder and soda in a medium bowl. With pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in butter until mixture is crumbly-ish. Stir in strawberries.

2. Whisk buttermilk and egg in a small bowl until blended. Gently stir mixture into flour mixture until just combined. Divide evenly among muffin cups. Dip cream cheese pieces in 2 tbsp of the sugar; press cubes in the center of each muffin (do not cover with the batter). Sprinkle muffins with remaining 1 tbsp sugar.

3. Bake 20-25 minutes or until light brown and toothpick inserted off-center comes out clean (don't put the toothpick in the cream cheese). Cool on wire rack 10 minutes Remove from pan; serve warm or at room temp. Store in refrigerator.

Note: I made 6 large muffins. I baked at the same temp for 25-30 minutes-ish.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKEY!!!

Vodka Blue Cheese Dip/Spread

I made this dip for a birthday party and served it with crackers and veggies (the celery went the fastest!) It truly is delicious!

1 1/2 cups blue cheese, crumbled

1 1/2 cups fat-free cream cheese

3 tbsp peppar vodka (or regular vodka and 1/2 tsp ground pepper-or to taste)

3 tbsp fresh dill, chopped (parsley would be fine as well)

1/2 cup sesame seeds

Cream blue cheese, cream cheese, vodka (or vodka and pepper) and dill until smooth.

Refrigerate mixture at least 30 minutes

Once chilled, shape into a large ball, cover with sesame seeds and serve.

Garlic Spinach Dip

Today, I received my Michigan Door To Door Organics box which included such goodies as Abate Fetal Pears, Avacado, Yellow Baby Carrots, Red Cabbage, Cilantro, and Spinach, amongst many other things.  Mikey and I aren't big veggie eaters, but we're (make that - I'm) trying.  I need some ideas to use the veggies, instead of let them go to waste, like I have so many times before. :(

I don't like regular spinach much anyway-especially cooked (belch), but I'll try anything so I decided to start scavenging "the internets" for ideas.  I didn't come up with anything, so I 

decided to experiment.  After discovering that my blender sucks and murding one of my favorite mini spatulas, I got out the ol' food processor (which I've never used) and it worked like a charm! THANKS GRAM! 

<~~~~~~Murdered Spatula. :(

So, I came up with this.  Mikey gave it a smile, nod and thumbs up!

Garlic Spinach Dip

1/4 c, plus 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 slice french or white bread, 1/2 in thick/ 6 inches wide (approx)

1/2 lb spinach, raw, stems removed

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 clove garlic

1 tsp grated Parmesan, plus extra for garnish

In a small bowl, place 2 tbsp olive oil. Place bread slice in the oil, turning once to coat. Let set until all oil is absorbed, then tear into cubes. Set aside.

With a food processor, finely chop the spinach. Add the bread, lemon juice and garlic and process until well blended.  Add remaining 1/4 cup of olive oil and grated Parmesan cheese, puree.  Place mixture on/in serving dish and garnish with desired amount of grated Parmesan cheese. I served this with whole wheat pita bread bits (pita bread torn into pieces).

Thai Green Curry Stir Fry

A few weeks ago, we went to Stir Crazy at the mall. Before then, I hadn't been there since high school. It was SO GOOD! We did the create-your-own type of thing, where you pick your meat, veggies, sauce and noodles, etc. I decided to try their Thai Curry sauce...OMG I'm obsessed. It's one of the few things I crave on a constant basis.

Because we haven't been back (Mikey won't eat "un-american foods" more than "once in a while"), I decided to try my own Thai Green Curry sauce. mmmmm. I came pretty close. Surprisingly, Mikey liked it...he usually only likes teriaki.

This was enough for 3-4 people and measurements are approximate as I was taught to cook with "a teacup of this" and "a pinch of that" lol.

For the Green Thai Curry Sauce:

1 can (14 oz) coconut milk

2 tsp green curry powder (I used M & B Spices, which is 100% organic)

2 tsp Light soy sauce

1 tsp rice vinegar, red wine or regular should suffice as well

Noodles:

1 box rice noodles, cooked according to box directions

Stir Fry:

sesame, olive, veggie or other cooking oil

1 lb chicken, cubed

1 vidalia onion, cut into bite sized pieces

1 red, yellow and or green pepper, bite sized

1/2 c water chestnuts

1/2 c baby corn

1 c broccoli, coarsely chopped

3/4 c baby carrots

3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

Bean sprouts, cilantro, and lemon wedges for garnish and or flavor.

Sorry, pictures are from my phone... :(

Cousin Patti's Orgasmic Cream Cheese Dip

Since I'm too lazy to go back and look, I'm not sure if I've posted this before but it's worth posting again. My cousin Patti brought this dip to a family picnic at my parent's house a few summers ago. No one would leave the food table. No one wanted to share.

She says the guys in her office call it orgasmic dip. We'll go with that.

Ingredients

2 packages cream cheese, softened

2 tbsp apricot jam

2 garlic cloves

(I added a little dill weed as well, for color)

With a hand mixer beat all ingredients in a small bowl. Transfer to a serving dish and serve with crackers. That's it. It's that easy!

Wait until you try it. :D

Have a Happy Resees Peanut Butter Birthday!

While visiting other people's blogs, you get hungry.  I mean, you get some really great ideas!  In my search for all things peanut butter for Michel's birthday, I visited Lindsey's blog. Since My husband really likes peanut butter, I decided to make these for his Birthday today. Now, I'm not a fan of peanut butter and cannot eat them because of my diet so,I figured these would be safe.

Apparently, I cannot resize the picture, which, is from my phone and blurry. Sorry.

Ingredients
2 c creamy peanut butter
2 c sugar
2 eggs
36 mini Reeses peanut butter cups, unwrapped
mini marshmallows

4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream (I used fat free Half and Half)
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. water
mini Resees Pieces or M&Ms

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Combine peanut butter, sugar and eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat until well mixed. Divide the dough evenly between 24 wells of a mini-muffin pan, making dough balls. Make an indentation in the center of each dough ball. Bake for 13-15 minutes, until almost done. Remove from the oven and press a peanut butter cup into the center of each cookie until it is flush with the top of the dough. Top each cookie with 3-4 mini marshmallows. Return the pan to the oven and bake 2-3 minutes more, or until the marshmallows have puffed up. Transfer the pans to a wire cooling rack and allow the cookies to cool completely in the pan before removing them. 

Once the cookies are completely cooled, transfer them to a wire rack over a sheet of wax paper. Place the chopped chocolate in a small, heat-proof bowl. In a small sauce pan, bring the cream, sugar and water to a boil, then pour the liquid over the chocolate and let sit for 30 seconds. Gently whisk the mixture together until smooth. Leave the glaze to sit until it thickens to your desired consistency. Drizzle over top of the cookies. Sprinkle with Resees Pieces before the glaze hardens.

Crock pot too big? Try this!

I've been having trouble with things burning in my crock pot because I really don't want to cook for more than just 2, if there's just 2 of us.  So, things have been burning because the ingredients don't fill the entire pot.  WELL. Over at Cara's Cravings food blog, she mentioned the perfect solution! Inside of the regular crock pot pot, place a smaller, oven-proof pot, like pyrex or calphalon ceramic.  It makes perfect sense: less hot, dry surface=less burning. DUH. 

So, the next time you want to use your crock pot for smaller meals, try that.  Let me know how it works for you!