Lemon-Almond Poppyseed Muffins to start off our vacation

I am very thankful that my job, at a high school, is an eleven-month job. Our school calendar begins in mid-August, with a one week Fall Break, two-week Winter Break, and one week Spring Break! During the month of July, I am on (unpaid) vacation- and I am spoiled rotten!

On the flip-side, work has been really hectic so I've fallen far behind in reading all my Google Reader feeds for some of my favorite blogs. I also try to explore new blogs. This morning, I stumbled across an unfamiliar blog to me "Megan's Cooking".

I have a few "flavor triggers"-- that is, certain ingredients that totally grabs my attention. To name a few, caramel, pumpkin, strawberries and honey. On the very top of my favorite list of these triggers is almond. To be specific, I adore anything with almond extract. Marzipan sends me over the edge with flavor bliss.
So when I saw Megan's Cookin  Almond Poppyseed Muffins had almond extract as an ingredient, I knew that I was going to make them immediately as a breakfast treat.

Fortunately, every ingredient is a pantry/refrigerator staple in our home. I only had low-fat vanilla yogurt and I was relieved to find a bag of  Trader Joe's Dry Toasted Sliced Almonds. If you can find these almonds, they are inexpensive and so good. Otherwise- you can toast your own in a dry skillet for just a couple of minutes.  My baking powder container is where I store some of my (many) measuring spoons-- a tip I read in a magazine that says to "unhook" them so you can wash one at a time. Ya know-- it's so much easier! The recipe (as always) is on the bottom of this posting for all of the ingredients-- lemon zest, almond extract, eggs, yogurt, butter, flour, sugar and poppy seeds.

The poppyseeds and baking powder are whisked into the flour...

The butter and sugar is mixed until fluffy... then the eggs (I opted not to use the just egg whites, but you can), the lemon zest and the almond extract. Last the dry ingredients are mixed in (on low) alternately with the yogurt.

I am not afraid to taste any kind of batter to make sure that it's seasoned right- this batter is a winner!

I decided to use a king-sized muffin pan-- I don't mess around when it comes to making or eating muffin! I'm a big fan of using an ice cream scoop. I think it's so much easier. I filed them paper cups about halfway.

I put these into a 350F oven and set the timer for 20 minutes.  Five minutes later-- I realized I forgot to put the almond slices on top! D'oh!

These tested "clean" and I cooled them for a few minutes.  I had enough batter for four more muffins, so this time I added the almonds to the batter.

Right about now, Craig was waiting in the wings for one of these.

Amateur "food stylist" that I am, I balanced some almonds on top... pretty, huh?

These are moist with just the right ratio of almond flavor. I love the crunch of poppyseeds and a nice hint of lemon. Megan, I'm so glad that I found your recipe. This one is a winner!  I did rename the recipe to include "lemon" because I love the flavor of that, too. This is for you:

Not only do I have so much fun and enjoyment when I share a recipe with my blogger/foodie friends-- I love it when I discover a recipe from a newly discovered blog.  Please try these-- they are excellent!

Enjoying my Fall vacation,

Ina Garten's Hearty Cheddar Corn Chowder & Quick Corn Bread

I was so relieved to see that Jill, from My Next Life did not choose another cake recipe for this week's recipe choice for the Barefoot Bloggers!  I'm a Soupaholic, but only when the California temperatures dip low enough. As it turned out, I made this on a Sunday when the weather made it's first appearance as overcast skies and possible rain showers.  I own The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, where this recipe can be found.

When I glanced at the photo my immediate thought was that the soup in the photo was too thin to be a chowder.  I removed some frozen homemade chicken stock-- which I never salt, by the way. I prefer to season my soups, not the stock! I defrosted 2 quarts in the microwave.

Soups, to me, are the easiest recipes to make. Honestly, I have not purchased a can of ready-made soup in several years!  I believe that the secret to good soup is to brown the vegetables, season it with herbs, add the vegetables and either homemade stock or commercial stock.  The only ingredient I had to buy for this recipe was fresh corn.  I decided that I really didn't need to measure for this recipe, but I decided to cut back on the quantities of ingredients by about half.

Here's a little trick that I use to cut fresh corn-- I grab one of my small nest bowls, flip it upside down inside a larger bowl and cut the kernels with a sharp knife. The kernels don't fly all over the place and the corn is ready to be blanched in boiling water.  (Some people use a bundt pan in a similar way). I used six ears of corn for this recipe.

I dipped a strainer into the pot and blanch these for about three minutes and set the corn aside to drain.

Now, for the bacon. I have started storing my bacon in the freezer. Using a sturdy and sharp knife, I cut the bacon into thin slices/julienne style-- or "lardons" as the French call it.

My lardons came to a little over four ounces. Frozen bacon not only slices easily, but it cooks up great, by the way.

In a Dutch Oven, I used a little bit of olive oil and browned the bacon until crispy. Now, it's time to use the bacon fat to cook the vegetables.

I did add a small pat of unsalted butter to the fat and cooked two chopped onions-- and I decided to add one chopped red pepper for color. I sauteed them with the tumeric. If you don't use tumeric, try it sometime! I don't think it adds flavor, but it gives food a pretty yellow color. I add a bit of tumeric to my white rice, sometimes, and it looks so pretty. All those brown bits in the pan-- flavor!  I added the chicken stock and I added chopped Yukon Gold potatoes, because they are always in my pantry. Once the veggies were cooked (about 15 minutes) I added the corn and sharp cheddar (I didn't use white cheddar because I had lots of yellow cheddar in my fridge). I added about 1/4 cup of half & half.

I gave the soup a taste and I thought it was bland! It was missing something. So, I added a little bit of dried thyme.  I tasted it... better, but still boring. I decided to add a little cayenne, but then I spotted my "flavor bomb". I love this stuff!

Old Bay Seasoning! Please tell me you use this wonderful blend of spices! On the can it says:
CELERY SALT (SALT, CELERY SEED), SPICES (INCLUDING MUSTARD, RED PEPPER, BLACK PEPPER, BAY [LAUREL] LEAVES, CLOVES, ALLSPICE [PIMENTO], GINGER, MACE, CARDAMOM, CINNAMON) AND PAPRIKA.. I use Old Bay Seasoning in my egg salad, too.

I added about 1 teaspoon, stirred it and this was it!  This was my secret ingredient to Ina's recipe, and I loved it.

Still, I though the soup was to thin for a chowder, so I grabbed my other secret ingredient. To thicken soup, I prefer potato starch flour over regular flour.  The best way to use this is to temper it-- in a bowl I started with 2 Tablespoons and added some hot soup and whisked it together.

I realized that I really wanted a bread with this soup-- at the last minute. I quickly made a batch of my skillet corn bread and some honey butter to go with it. Hey, I'm a Yankee, so I like sweet cornbread! I also made a side salad to complete the meal.

Now, for a garnish of bacon...

Ah, a hearty and thick chowder, with...

Hot cornbread and honeybutter...

Heaven! The sweet corn is still a reminder that summer wasn't that long ago... and I'll tell you that this soup tasted even better than the day before.  I think that the Old Bay Seasoning took the flavor of this soup up another notch. Do you hear me, Ina?

Thanks, Jill, for picking a great recipe. I will definitely make this soup again. I bet this soup would freeze beautifully. Ours is all gone, though. Every single bite was so good.

 
If you are a fan of Ina Garten, come check out the Barefoot Bloggers. We post recipes twice a month, so we have one more recipe to go for October.

If you are receiving my postings via feed burner, please JUMP to my blog if you'd like to print the recipes below:

Bavarian Style Plum Galette with fig jam

The only plums that I really enjoy are Italian Prunes (really, they're a plum). I've also read that they are called Stanley Plums.  Maybe that's an East Coast thing, but here in California, they are sold as Italian Prunes.

These plums are perfect for baking-- the meat is a greenish color, firm and not full of juice. There is a very traditional Bavarian Tart that my mother taught me how to make, called Zwetschgen Datschi (Da-CHI) that my family looks for to my making for my annual Oktoberfest party.  I will be making that, along with my arsenal of Bavarian recipes in just a couple of weeks.

This particular galette (basically a free-form pie) is a super fast version of the traditional Bavarian Tart, that captures the same wonderful flavors of sugar and cinnamon.  I make an excellent pie crust, if I do say so myself. But, when it's a week night, I have no shame in thawing out a pie crust from my local Trader Joe's. The ingredients are good enough for me-- no trans fats and it's pretty darn flakey.  I don't really have a recipe to write down, because you want to sweeten the plums, according to how tart they are.

I "eyeballed" how many plums I would need to fill one pie crust. Cut the plums in half and remove the pit; then I slice the plums into bite-sized pieces. In a bowl, I added about 1/4 cup sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon. Let the plums sit a bit and taste them. Add a little more sugar, if they still taste a little tart for your taste buds.

I'm a big fan of King Arthur Flour's website. I bought a few of their products this summer, and the Pie Filling Enhancer was one of them. I like to use tapioca to thicken my fruit pies, but I thought I'd give this product a try-- so I added a couple of Tablespoons to the fruit.

I used my homemade fig jam, but you can also use apricot jam.

On a baking sheet with parchment paper (King Arthur sells perfectly sized half sheets for a reasonable price), spread a nice even layer, leaving a wide border where you'll be folding the crust over the plums.

Add the plums in an even layer...

Now, fold the pie dough and don't worry about it having to look perfect.-- this is a rustic tart. That gives you permission to not be so perfect!  Dot the fruit with butter-- a few pieces.

I like to make an egg wash (well beaten egg, little bit of water) and brush it on the crust-- this gives the curst a pretty golden color and some sheen. The egg wash also acts like a glue for sprinkling regular sugar or turbinado sugar-- but I have to praise another one of my favorite King Arthur Flour products-- Sparking White Sugar!  I just love this stuff!  It made my sugar cookies look pretty, and it doesn't melt. I love the crunch, too.  What do you think?  I love cinnamon, so I decided to shake some extra, for good measure. Sorry, I didn't measure-- I just eyeballed the whole thing.

Make sure that your oven is pre-heated to 350F.  Bake for about 25 minutes, until golden brown. Your kitchen will smell so good!

How fast and easy is that?!

Oh, look at that melted butter!  The Pie Filling enhancer worked great, by the way.

These plums are the best! I hope that you can find these in your area!  I also stew these in cinnamon sugar and can them for other recipes. I also freeze the plums, so that I can enjoy them long than their version short season of September-October.

 This is a family favorite, all the way back to my childhood. My brother's are going to drool when I send them a picture of this! From start to finish, you can have this dessert on a cooling rack in about 45 minutes. It's that easy!

Mutti ("mom"), this is in memory of you! Thanks for teaching me how to cook like the true Bavarian that you were!  This is outstanding! I just love this tart!

With love,

Fall Pasta with Pumpkin, Sausage and Sage

I have finally surrendered to Fall, after enjoying two fun-filled days at the Harvest Festival. I still have hundreds of photos (mostly of Tyler Florence) to sort through, organize and compile into recipes. After watching Tyler Florence make his beautiful dish of pan roasted rabbit with roasted pumpkin, harvest grapes, chestnut polenta and garnished with sage infused olive oil-- and garnished with fried sage leaves... I had pumpkin on the brain!

 I'm going to give my blubbering about  meeting Tyler Florence a rest for a few days-- instead, this is a recipe that I watched Rachael Ray make about 4 years ago. I've made it several times, and it's a nice way to work with pumpkin puree as a savory pasta.

This is super quick, folks-- though, it does take me 45 minutes to make in my small kitchen with minimal counter space.  I invite you to try this recipe, even if you aren't a Rachael Ray fan-- for whatever reason that is. Trust me, the first time I heard "Pumpkin Pasta" I thought "bleccccccccccch". I'm a new believer in this recipe. It's simple, with just a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg, a little kick (I use HOT Italian turkey sausage) and just the right amount of sage to compliment the pumpkin puree.

Many of the ingredients for this dish are probably in your pantry. I didn't photograph the ingredients, but the shopping list isnothing hard to find, at all. You need penne pasta (I used farfalle, this time), Italian sausage (I use HOT Italian sausage), pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling), garlic, onion, olive oil, fresh sage, cinnamon and nutmeg. One of these days, I'm going to roast and puree fresh pumpkin. Still, I buy my canned pumpkin at Trader Joe's and I think it's just as good-- and a lot less work.

I always have fresh garlic and I'm fortunate to have a hearty sage plant in my backyard. I love sage, and I think it's perfect with pumpkin. Don't you?

Here's how easy it is, to make this delicious pasta dinner:

Heat a large, deep nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and brown the sausage in it. Transfer sausage to paper towel lined plate.

Drain fat from skillet and return pan to the stove. Add the remaining tablespoon oil, and then the garlic and onion. Saute 3 to 5 minutes until the onions are tender.Add bay leaf, sage, and wine to the pan. Reduce wine by half, about 2 minutes.Add stock and pumpkin and stir to combine, stirring sauce until it comes to a bubble.

Return sausage to pan, reduce heat, and stir in cream.

Season the sauce with the cinnamon and nutmeg, and salt and pepper, to taste. Simmer mixture 5 to 10 minutes to thicken sauce.

Return drained pasta to the pot you cooked it in. Remove the bay leaf from sauce and pour the sausage pumpkin sauce over pasta. Combine sauce and pasta and toss over low heat for 1 minute.  This makes a lot-- 4-6 generous servings.
NOTE: Borrowing an idea from watching Tyler Florence, I infused a little olive oil with sage leaves. The oil, I drizzled over the pasta, and I garnished the pasta with the fried sage leaves.  Extra Yummy Units!

Garnish the pasta with lots of shaved cheese and sage leaves.  Do I dare say it?  "Yumm-o".  If you click on the picture, you can really see the sauce and the sausage-- it sure was good!

I haven't made a Rachael Ray recipe in a very long, for no particular reason.  I still like her, no matter what her harsh critics say. At least Rachael doesn't use canned cream of "whatever" soups, and she does use a lot of fresh herbs.  This is one of our favorite quick meals, that's a little different. This pasta dish screams "Autumn"! 

Coming up next-- I will finally post a delicious Autumn Plum dessert that is easy and seriously delicious. I have several recipes I need to organize and post (including two of Tyler Florence's dishes he demo'd at the Harvest Festival-- I'm falling behind!