Oh yes, To Die For is Right!

To Die For Blueberry Muffins?

When the roommate left town, she also left 2 pints of blueberries, which I have sadly neglected.  So tonight I decided to comb through the berries and identify the best of the rest for these muffins.

**DISCLAIMER: At 383 calories per muffin, these might not count as "healthy", but I'm including them in the blog anyway.  I'm sure you'll forgive me once you eat one.  Yum!**

Ingredients:


Muffins
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
3/4 c sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/3 c vegetable oil
1 egg
1 c fresh blueberries (Okay, so my berries were of questionable freshness... that's why I put the question mark in the title people!)


Topping
1/2 c sugar
1/3 c flour
1/4 c butter, cubed
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Line muffin tin with muffin liners.
2. Combine flour, sugar, salt and baking powder for the muffins together.  Place vegetable oil into a 1 c measuring cup.  Add the egg and enough milk to fill the measuring cup.  Mix this in with the flour mixture.  Fold in blueberries.  Fill muffin cups to the top with muffin mixture and sprinkle with topping before baking.
3. To make crumb topping: mix together sugar, flour, butter and cinnamon for the topping with a fork.  I used a couple of knives to roughly cut the butter into the mixture.  I think it worked better than the fork.  Also, this made WAY TOO MUCH topping.  I think you could easily cut these amounts in half and have enough topping.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in preheated oven or until done.  

The recipe claims this makes 8 muffins; if I made it again, I would follow the reviews that suggested making 12 muffins by only filling the muffin cups up 2/3 of the way and baking for 18 minutes.

Costs:

I already had everything in my kitchen, so I don't know!  I'm going with free because I was able to use stuff that we already had.

They smell delicious!  Happy belated birthday to me ;)

Lemon Chicken Stir Fry

I just made this FANTASTIC stir-fry using these great instructions (and I only set off our smoke detector 4 times...).  

We got 2 lemons, 3 huge carrots, 2 heads of brocoli and a ginormous onion in our shipment of veggies this week, so I bought a pound of chicken and some mushrooms at the grocery store.  Mmmm... the Lemon Stir-Fry sauce is delicious!  Plus, we've got enough veggies leftover (I only cooked half of them) to do this again another night.  Maybe we'll try the Soy-Sesame Stir-Fry sauce later this week :)

Quinoa

Super Healthy Supper

Quinoa with Mushrooms, Kale and Sweet Potatoes

The roomie and I have been on the hunt for super-healthy meals, and this one seems to meet that criteria!  Protein-filled quinoa, anti-oxidant rich kale and vitamin-packed sweet potatoes fit the bill nicely.

Ingredients:
1 c quinoa
2 tbsp olive oil
2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4 in pieces
10 oz button mushrooms, quartered
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 bunch kale, stems discarded and leaves torn into 2-inch pieces
3/4 cup dry white wine
kosher salt and black pepper
1/4 c grated Parmesan (1 oz) (We were out of Parmesan, so I used Romano we had in the fridge and it was fine!)

Directions:

1. Place the quinoa and 2 c water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until water is absorbed, 12-15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a lare pot over medium heat.
3. Add the sweet potatoes and mushrooms and cook, tossing occasionally, until golden and beginning to soften, 5-6 minutes.
4. Stir in garlic and cook for 1 minute.
5. Add the kale, wine, 3/4 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper.  Cook, tossing often, until the vegetables are tender, 10-12 minutes.
6. Serve the vegetables over the quinoa ans sprinkle with the Parmesan.

Cost:

I used a white wine we had in the fridge that I didn't particularly enjoy, so that was nice!  Quinoa was the most expensive item at ~$5.  Kale was $2.39, mushrooms were $2.49 and sweet potatoes were $2.19.  We got 4 servings for about $3 each!

Pizza in progress...

Pizza!!

I absolutely <3 LOVE <3 this pizza dough recipe.  Easy to make and it tastes delicious ;)

Ingredients:

• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast (I buy a jar of dry yeast and use it to make pizza dough all the time!)
• 1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2 cups bread flour (I use regular All-Purpose Flour and it seems to work fine)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons white sugar
• 1 vine-ripened tomato, sliced
• mozzarella cheese, sliced or shredded
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• olive oil or spray
• a handful of basil, torn
• salt and pepper to taste
• 
  
• Directions:

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water.  Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. In a large bowl combine flour, 2 tablespoons olive oil, salt, sugar and yeast mixture.  Stir well to combine.  Beat until a stiff dough has formed.  Cover and rise until double in volume, about 30 minutes.  Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees.  (If dough is not rising, your kitchen might be too cool.  Try putting the bowl with the dough on top of your stove; the heat from the warming oven will help the yeast do it's job!)
3. Turn dough out onto a well floured surface.  Form dough into a round and then roll out into a pizza crust shape.  (No rolling pin?  I used a plastic cup to roll out dough until my mom got me a rolling pin for Christmas!)
4. Transfer to a cookie sheet (or one of those fancy pizza stones for those who are lucky) and bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.
5. Cover crust with olive oil (brush or spray on).  Sprinkle minced garlic over the pizza, place sliced tomatoes and mozzarella around the crust, then sprinkle with basil, salt and pepper to taste.
6. Bake for another 10 minutes in the oven.  Allow to cool 5 minutes before cutting!   

• Cost:
• I already had many of the ingredients; I picked up a tomato at Eastern Market for $1.25 and fancy mozzarella cheese for $4.99, but you could make due with some shredded mozzarella for $1.99.  I also bought an entire jar of yeast for $6.49, which can be used to make pizza all summer long!  Assuming you have some basic supplies on hand, you can make this pizza for about $5.