Mix and Match Muffins

This is a recipe I have been wanting to try for a very long time.  I found it in a book called Frozen Assets: How to Cook for a Day and Eat for a Month, by Deborah Taylor-Hough.  I bought this book several years ago, before the big freezer died and I had room to put a months worth of dinners.  This past weekend I decided I wanted to try the Mix and Match Muffins.  We needed something for breakfast and since it was the end of the month I had no money (my husband and I are both teachers and get paid only once a month) to buy anything extra.  I had to use what I had on the shelves. These muffins are like the Burger King of muffins, you can have them "your way."  I will give a list of ideas you can use for mixing and matching at the end of this post.    Now for the ingredients I used.  First you start with the basics.

3 cups of flour
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda

Sift these ingredients together in a bowl.  I used a metal drainer as a sifter since the only sifter I have is an antique one I keep in my kitchen for decoration.

The next ingredients need to be placed in a separate bowl.

2 eggs

1 cup oil

2 cups sugar

Using a mixer, mix the egg, oil, and sugar until completely mixed.

Time to make these muffins the way you want them.  I used some things I had in the pantry; applesauce I canned this summer, currants leftover after making granola, and pumpkin I have started hoarding ( because it is a seasonal item and not available all year in my area).   Mix and Match add-ins should add up to 2 cups total.  Also add 3 teaspoons of vanilla at this time.

Add the mix and match ingredients to the eggs, oil, and sugar mixture and mix thoroughly

Add the dry ingredients and stir by hand.  Be careful not to over mix or you will get peaks and tunnels in you muffins.  Mix just until flour in incorporated in the liquid ingredients.

At this point if you like nuts or seeds you can stir them in now.  I had some sunflower seeds leftover from some granola I made, so I added those.

Time to put the mix in the muffin pans.  I use a small scoop to place batter in muffin cups.  This assures that your muffins will be uniform in size and that they will all cook evenly.

I lined my pans with cupcake liners.  This will saves clean up and it helps the muffins hold together if you decide to freeze them.  It also keeps them from sticking to each other in the freezer bag.  But if you don't have cup cake liners, you can certainly use cooking spray in the pans to keep the muffins from sticking.

This recipe made 18 regular sized muffins and 24 mini muffins.  The recipe says to bake them for 15 minutes at 375 degrees.  I left mine more like 20 minutes.  I will be making a tropical version this weekend.  I want to use crushed pineapple, mandarin oranges, and coconut.

Here is a list of possible mix-ins:
Apples, grated or chopped
Applesauce
Apricots, chopped
Bananas, mashed or chopped
Berries
Carrots, cooked and mashed, or grated
Cherries, pitted and chopped
Coconut, grated
Cranberries, dry or raw, chopped
Dates or figs, pitted and finely chopped
Lemon, 1/2 cup juice
Marmalade (omit 1 cup sugar)
Mincemeat
Oranges, chopped
Orange juice, 1/2 cup juice
Peaches, fresh or canned, chopped
Pears, fresh or canned, chopped
Pineapple, crushed and well drained
Prunes, chopped
Pumpkin, canned
Raisins
Rhubarb, finely chopped (add an additional cup of sugar)
Strawberries, well drained
Sweet potato or yams, cooked and mashed or grated
Zucchini, grated and well-drained
As you can see, anything goes.  Would love to hear from you if you try this.  Let me know what mix-ins you used and what combinations you find work the best.  You can make it in a loaf pan instead of muffin pans.  You would adjust the temperature to 325 degrees and bake for 1 hour.

Delicious Chicken Enchilada

OK, when your teenage son tells you something you make is the best he has ever had, well you just have to crow about it a little.  Last week I wanted to make chicken enchiladas, but didn't have exactly the ingredients my normal recipe calls for, so.... I improvised and it turned out wonderfully. I am going to give you a step by step tutorial of how I did this.  Sorry for not having pictures in the tutorial. I had no idea I would be posting this one until the last minute.  Next time I make it I will be sure to take pictures to add to the step by step.
Ingredients:  4 boneless, skinless chicken breast, 1 medium onion, 8 oz cream cheese, Ro-tel tomatoes, cooking oil, 8-10 tortillas, 1 jar salsa,  1 cup sour cream, 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese.
1.  Boil 4 boneless skinless chicken breast until cooked through (you can cheat and skip this step by using canned chicken).
2.  Saute one medium onion that has been diced in 2 tablespoons of oil until translucent.
3.  When chicken is cooked, chop it up and add it to your onions.
4.  Add a can of Ro-tel tomatoes and heat through.
5.  Add a 8oz block of cream cheese (yes you can use reduced fat or fat free to reduce the fat and calories).
6.  Once the cheese is melted and all ingredients are combined, fill tortilla shells (I use whole wheat to increase the nutritional value) with mixture and place seam side down in a 9x13 dish.  It should make 8-10 enchiladas.
7.  In same pan you just used for filling, pour one jar of your favorite salsa and add 1cup of sour cream (can be reduced fat or fat free) and stir until completely combined. 
8.  Pour salsa mixture over enchiladas.
9.  Sprinkle with cheddar cheese
10. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.
11.  Enjoy!

This is a picture of the final meal.  It would be great if I still had preshoolers in the house I could teach the color yellow.  After teaching preschoolers for 13 years it is hard not to put a lesson into everything.    Also, don't you love the plate, it is from the Dollar Tree, $1. Love it!

Homemade Coffee Creamer

I don't know about you, but I am a coffee lover.  I have been drinking coffee all of my life.  I can remember being just a small child and sneaking and drinking Little Nanny's (my grandmother) coffee.  Funny thing is, she drank Nescafe instant, black and as strong as motor oil.  She could set her cup down and when she came back, it would be over half gone.  I knew better than drinking it all, she would have skinned my hide.  Why during the late 70's did people opt for instant coffee?  I can't stand it now.  Another story for another day I guess.

I still like my coffee black.  But for a special treat I like it sweetened and with cream.  My husband has never been a coffee drinker.  He will say "if it only taste as good as it smelled."  I think it does taste as good as it smells, I love it.  I am not sure when or why, but I got him to try coffee with one of those sweetened creamers like International Delight.  He loved it as long as the portions were 1/3 sweetened cream and 2/3 coffee.  I like having him drink it in the mornings with me, so I would pay the high price for those dairy creamers.  I also worried about what was in those store bought creamers.  One day as I was cruising through Pinterest, I came across a recipe for homemade coffee creamer.  I read through it and decided it would be a cheaper and healthier alternative to the store bought version we had been using. 

So....today I am going to show you just how easy it is to make.  You will need the following ingredients:  sweetened condensed milk (you can use the fat free version), milk (I use skim), and flavoring of your choice.  You will also need a jar/container.  I used an old pickle jar because a pint jar is not big enough and I though a quart jar would be too big.  Whatever jar/container you use, make sure it has a tight fitting lid.  You will need a spoon to get all the sweet sticky goodness out of the sweetened condensed milk can, and a measuring spoon.

What you will need.



Empty the sweetened condensed milk in the container of your choice.

Use the empty can to measure the milk.  Fill the can as full as possible with milk.

Then pour milk in container with sweetened condensed milk.

Add flavoring of your choice.  Today I chose almond hoping to get the amaretto flavor.  I have also used vanilla.  I am sure there are many other flavors that would be great as well.  Someone I was talking to even mentioned using one of those coffee syrups.

Add 1tsp or less to milk mixture.

Place the lid on the container and shake....

shake......

and shake some more.  It take a while to combine all everything.

Pour the mixture in a pretty cup. (I always pour the milk first. You don't have to stir)

Add the coffee.  (Isn't that a pretty cup?  I love these.  I got them and some bowls and plates to match at the Dollar Tree. :)

Enjoy!
It even has a little foam on top.



Black Raspberry Jelly, One of Life's Sweetest Pleasures!

All of my life there has been black raspberry jelly in the cupboards of any home I have lived.  When I was small my grandmother and mother would make many many jars of the beautiful purple spread.  It and apple butter where constants for biscuits, cornbread, toast, or peanut butter sandwiches.  We never bought jams or jelly, that is what city folk did because they were not as blessed with the bounty of fruit we country folks were blessed with.  Occasionally my grandmother and mother might mix it up and make some strawberry jam or peach jam if we had more than the freezer could hold.  There was always black raspberry jelly.  It is as much a part of me as going to church on Sunday morning.  If you have never had that sweet goodness in your mouth, you have truly missed out on one of the best of God's creations.  Just ask my middle youngan, he loves it.  He would eat it three times a day if I would let him.  He has been known to put in on ham sandwiches and if a little escapes from his biscuit he will take his sausage and sop it up, no joke.  After Little Nanny (that is what I called my grandmother) went home to be with the Lord, and my mom became too sick to make jelly any longer, I had to become the family jelly maker.  This tradition could not die.  God blessed me with a property that had wild black raspberry briers all along the edges and an aunt who used to run a berry farm.  So with my Aunt Betty's recipe and my God given berries I embarked on making jelly. 

This year my crop was very small.  So with a tip my aunt gave me, "freeze them until you have enough to make a run of jelly."  I squirrelled away all my berries in the freezer and left them until this week.  They freeze beautifully.  I didn't even wash them.  They are about as organic as you can get, no pesticides, no fertilizers.  I simply picked them and placed them in a gallon freezer bag.

Black Raspberries frozen in summer of 2011.

So after removing the berries from the freezer

I placed the berries in a large pot and poured 1 cup of water on them and let them thaw and warm so that I would be able to rob them of their delicious juice.

 After the berries were thawed and even a little on the warm side I put mashed them through a colander.



Other ingredients you will need:  6 cups of sugar and one box of fruit pectin.  You will also need about 6-8 small jelly jars.



I placed a measuring bowl under the berries to catch the juice.  This helps because you need 4 cups of juice to make the jelly.

If you are a little short of 4 cups of juice, you can make up the difference by adding water.  Does not effect the taste or out come of the jelly at all.  Next I strained the juice through another colander that was lined with paper toweling (I couldn't find my cheesecloth) to take out any stray seeds.

Next you will let the juice come to a full rolling boil and let it boil for 2 minutes.



While you are waiting for the juice to boil, you need to sterilize you jars and lids.  I always wash my jars in the dishwasher so they are really clean and then put them in the oven at 200 degrees to get them warm so they won't crack when you put the hot jelly in them and to kill any germs that could possibly still be on them. 

Clean Jars

Jars Warming in a 200 degree oven

You will need to place seals for you jars in a warm water bath.  DO NOT BOIL THEM!

You can also take this time to start your hot water bath that you will process your jelly in once it is in the jars.

You need to make sure you have something between the bottom of your jelly jars and the bottom of the pot, I have heard of them breaking from getting too hot.  I have just used a dish rag in the bottom before I bought this rack, works just as good.

You can also be getting your sugar measure out and ready to go in.

When the juice has come to a full rolling boil and boiled for 2 minutes, it is time to add the fruit pectin (Sure-Jel).

After add pectin, the juice needs to come back to a full rolling boil and boil for 2 minutes.

Then it is time to add  6 cups of sugar.

Stir the sugar in to the juice until it is completely dissolved.  Then you let it return to a full rolling boil for you guessed it, 2 minutes.

Now it is finally time to put this beautiful molten sugary goodness into jars.  I have pictured a couple of tools that really help in this process.  The one is a special funnel than helps you fill the jars without getting jelly all over the outside of the jar.  The blue one is a magnet on a stick pretty much.  This allows you to retrieve the jar seals out of the hot water without burning your fingers.

    Time to fill the jars.

Ad the seals.

Now the rings and tighten them down as tight as you can.

Into the hot water bath.

Cover and process for 5-10 minutes.

Let the jars cool in a draft free area.  You will hear this crazy ping, ping.  That is your jars sealing.  After 24 hours and they have completely cooled, press on each lid.  If it moves in and out, the jar did not seal.  This jar will need to go in the fridge to be used over the next couple of weeks.  Those that did seal are shelf stable for a year to eighteen months.

Now for the best part!!!! Bake you up a big old pan of biscuits (by the way, I already shown you how to do that), and ENJOY!!!