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Favorite Blueberry Muffins

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Veronica

These are currently my favorite blueberry muffins.  For me, the best blueberry muffins are stark white (no brown sugar or cinnamon, please) to contrast the pretty purplish blue of the bursting berries, a little dense, and quite sweet.  My perfect blueberry muffin is also leavened with baking powder, as baking soda tends to give the blueberry juice a greenish tinge and the color appeal is very important to me in a blueberry muffin.  In essence, my ideal blueberry muffins are blueberry cupcakes disguised as breakfast by the heaviness of the crumb and a lack of frosting.  Though a nice crumb topping is certainly not out of the question. :)

Thanks to Carolyn of Inner Chef for introducing me to this fabulous recipe!  It’s now my go-to, though I desperately need to make a batch with the crumb topping, as I’m sure I’ll love it even more.  Thanks for helping me using up some of my Grandpa’s blueberries, Carolyn!  (I inherited 16 pints back in March in a very strange way–I really need to share the story!)  Thankfully, between several batches of these muffins, eating the blueberries straight, and this pound cake, not a single pint had to go to waste. :)

Favorite Blueberry Muffins

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

1½ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
⅓ cup vegetable oil
1 egg
⅓ cup milk
1 cup fresh blueberries*

Crumb Topping (optional)
½ cup granulated sugar
⅓ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup butter, cubed
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

*I used 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries, which made each muffin bursting with berries (we loved this). 1 cup will give you a more typical blueberry muffin.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with paper liners.

Combine 1 ½ cups flour, ¾ cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.

To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together ½ cup sugar, ⅓ cup flour, ¼ cup butter, and 1 ½ tsp. cinnamon. Mix with a fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in center (not into a blueberry) comes out clean.

Recipe source: Inner Chef

Note: I photographed my muffins the day after I baked them, so the blueberries had withered up a little as the juices absorbed into the muffins, making them crazy moist. Although we enjoyed them more after storing 8 hours in an airtight container (I baked them the night before), rest assured they will be beautiful and not withered when you take them out of the oven.

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Turkey & Onion Grilled Cheese

Posted on April 21, 2013 by Veronica

So so so excited today!  This is probably my last month with the Secret Recipe Club, and I’m so excited that I was assigned to Desi’s blog, Steak ‘n Potatoes Kinda Gurl!  I actually “met” Desi through being in Group C of the Secret Recipe Club, and have been following her since she joined.  Very happy to be assigned to someone I know and love for my last hurrah!

For those who may have missed or never understood my monthly Secret Recipe Club posts, here’s the premise.  You are assigned to a participating blog each month, but no one knows who’s assigned to who.  It’s a secret!  You secretly stalk browse your assigned blog and pick a recipe, make it, photograph it, and post it on reveal day.  It’s something I’ve always enjoyed, I think because it’s kind of like Christmas each month with a big surprise on reveal day.  If this sounds like something you’d like to participate in, click here to find out how to join.

Now let’s talk gooey cheese.  Since April is National Grilled Cheese Month, and I’ve been meaning to make this recipe since Desi posted it during last year’s Grilled Cheese Month, there really wasn’t any question as to which one I’d choose from her blog.  I had to have this sandwich!

It was well worth the wait.  Totally crazy delicious.  I couldn’t find maple turkey, so I had to add in some maple flavor a different way.  I was a little scared I might have ruined it, but Dennis and I both loved it!  Delicious smoked turkey, sweet grilled onions, and melty Gouda cheese packed between two slices of multigrain buttery, crunchy, toasty bread make for  quite the delicious sandwich.  Thank you, Desi, for creating this masterpiece and thus giving me an opportunity enjoy it and spread the gooey gouda love a little further through my own blog.  Love ya girl!

Also, a huge THANK YOU and shout out to our SRC leader, April Tuell, and our hostesses (especially Debbi Smith, my hostess!), and all the volunteers that keep it running.  And of course, to all my group C bloggers (OK, and group A too, I enjoyed my short time with you guys as well!)!  It has been a beautiful, wonderful ride and I wouldn’t trade my time in the SRC for anything.  Love you guys!  But I won’t miss you because I’ll still be stalking you forever! >:)

Turkey and Onion Grilled Cheese

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

1 small red onion, halved and sliced
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon maple syrup (optional)
4 slices of multigrain bread
3 tbsp or so of softened butter
4 slices (or more) of quality deli turkey (I used Applewood Smoked Turkey)
4 slices of gouda cheese

In a medium skillet, add 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Once melted, add the sliced red onion and saute until softened and golden brown. Remove to a small bowl and stir in the maple syrup if desired.

Spread the bread slices with 3 tablespoons softened butter. In a large skillet on medium-low, add the bread slices. If you have a large enough skillet, you can add two slices of bread at once. If not, you will need to make one sandwich at a time. Top one slice of bread with 2 slices of gouda. Then add 2 slices of turkey, then some sauteed red onions. Top with the other slice of bread, buttering the outside before you place it on top. Cook until golden brown, then flip and cook until golden brown on the other side.  Repeat with second sandwich.

*Yields 2 sandwiches

Recipe source: adapted from SteakNPotatoesKindaGurl.

Check out the other Group C Secret Recipe Club Posts by clicking below!


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Raspberry Zinger Poke Cake

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Veronica

So I’ve turned into a food blogger rebel.  I don’t cook or bake, and when I do its favorites I’ve already posted recipes for.  Also, I’ve been eating a lot of Taco Bell.  Bad food blogger!

Speaking of Taco Bell, I can’t believe I’ve managed to keep it under wraps for so long, but I think I might have ITBES.  I may or may not drink the sauce packets to get me through to my next Taco Bell fix.  I even put the sauce on my hard boiled eggs and I can almost pretend I’m eating real Taco Bell when I’m snacking at work.  I feel a Taco Bell intervention coming my way, so I’m packing my bags, ready to flee to the nearest Taco Bell to set up permanent residence.  Pretty sure the employees will protect me from you crazy non-ITBES people.   YOU CAN’T MAKE ME QUIT TACO BELL!

So while I’m totally out of control when it comes to doing all the things a good food blogger should do, I at least have a few photos saved from the days when I was a good girl and taking photos of things I’d baked and cooked.  Such as this Raspberry Zinger Poke Cake.

I made this for Den’s birthday last December, right about the time the last Raspberry Zingers were disappearing off store shelves.  Sad times for Raspberry Zinger lovers.  Well cry no more, for you can still get your fix with an easy poke cake!  It’s not exactly the same, but it’s good stuff, nonetheless.

I created this with help from Suzie’s recipe and Renee’s recipe, and it couldn’t be easier.  Poke cakes are especially good for warmer weather (if you are fortunate enough to be enjoying some right now) because they are served cold, and are really refreshing on a warm day!  Or, let’s be honest, it’s also quite nice on a cold December day as well.  At least we thought so. :)

Raspberry Zinger Poke Cake

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

1 white or yellow cake mix* (also water, vegetable oil and eggs/eggs whites as instructed on box)
1 box (3 oz.) raspberry-flavored gelatin
1 c. boiling water
1/2 c. cold water
1 container (8 oz.) Cool Whip, thawed
¾ cup shredded sweetened coconut

Bake cake according to package directions and cool completely. Pierce cooled cake all over with a fork. In a small bowl, stir gelatin and boiling water until sugar is dissolved. Stir in cold water. Pour over cake, cover, and refrigerate 2 or more hours (overnight is fine).  Frost with whipped cream and sprinkle coconut over the top. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve. Serve cold and refrigerate any leftovers.

*Pillsbury brand not recommended.

Recipe source: adapted from Two Dogs In The Kitchen,  with inspiration from My Kitchen Adventures.

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Lemon Meringue Pie

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Veronica

I don’t know about you but once spring arrives (even if the weather doesn’t quite agree), I’m in the mood for lemon!  Lemon bars, lemon cake, lemon cookies…just bring on the lemon.

I thought the week of Easter would be a great time to share a recipe for lemon meringue pie, which I just started making a few months ago.  My SIL, Joan, loves lemon meringue pie and I made her one for Christmas (everyone got a home made pie for Christmas last year since we were too po for many store-bought ones).  It was my first ever lemon meringue pie, and as firsts sometimes go, it was bad.  I didn’t read the instructions close enough and the filling never set up.  It was lemon soup pie.  Thankfully, I had enough time to make a second, which turned out well.

My beautiful sister-in-law with her pie.

To my surprise, after licking the spoon which I used to scrape the filling into the crust, I found I really liked lemon meringue pie, or at least the filling.  You’d think a person who enjoys lemon desserts would assume that lemon meringue pie was the bomb-diggity, but no, I never had tasted a single bite because I was somehow sure it wasn’t worth eating.  I know, right?  I suddenly found myself dying to have a slice of lemon meringue pie, to taste it in its full glory, so I made it to bring to a dinner party in January.  That single small slice was so good, I needed more, and made a whole pie just for Dennis and I.  And together, we managed to eat the entire thing in a shamefully small period of time.

Personally, I would prefer this pie with a whipped cream topping.  However, using the egg whites works so perfectly since you have them leftover after using the yolks in the filling.  If you don’t mind using your egg whites for another purpose, feel free to use whipped cream here.  I think that would be the magics.

Lemon Meringue Pie

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

4 egg yolks, room temperature (reserve whites for meringue)
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups water
1 tablespoon lemon zest (1-2 lemons)
½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2-3 lemons)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 prebaked pie shell in a 9″ plate (deep dish if using a frozen crust)

Meringue
4 egg whites, room temperature
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 350F. Stir the egg yolks together in a heatproof bowl and set aside. In a medium saucepan, whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Whisk in the water and turn on the heat to medium. Bring the mixture to a boil while stirring, boiling until it is quite thick, at least one minute. Remove from heat.

Add a spoonful of the hot mixture to the egg yolks at a time, stirring in between additions, until 1/3-1/2 of the hot mixture has been added. Scrape the egg yolk mixture into the pan and whisk it all together. Return to the heat and cook for another minute while stirring. Remove from heat and stir in the butter until melted. Add the lemon zest and lemon juice, stirring until combined. Scrape into the baked pie crust; set aside.

For the meringue, combine the egg whites and cream of tartar in a stainless steel or glass bowl that is completely grease free and beat with completely grease-free beaters on medium speed for about a minute, or until soft peaks form. Increase speed to high and beat in sugar gradually until glossy stiff peaks form and sugar is dissolved. Spread over hot filling all the way to the edge, making sure the meringue touches the pie crust all the way around, to prevent shrinkage.

Bake in preheated oven 12-15 minutes or until meringue is light golden brown. Cool completely before slicing, about 4 hours.

Recipe source: adapted from the recipe on the back of a Pillsbury Pet-Ritz frozen pie crust package.

If you’re in a lemon mood, check the other lemon sweets on my blog:

Blueberry-Lemon Upside Down Cake

Blueberry-Lemon Pound Cake

Blueberry-Lemon Trifle

Easy Lemon Cookies

Lemon-Basil Peach Dumplings

Lemon Blossoms

Lemon Curd

Lemony Orange Cake

Lemon Squares

Strawberry Lemonade Layer Cake

Sunshine Bars

Triple Lemon Cake

Zesty Lemon Pound Cakes

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Blueberry-Lemon Pound Cake

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Veronica

Secret Recipe Club

I’m so happy to return today with my recipe for the Secret Recipe Club! I was assigned to a beautiful blog called NY City Eats and wow, Lacy is so gourmet.  She’s a professionally trained chef who graduated from The Institute of Culinary Education in 2010.  Impressive!  As are her recipes, and I was pretty much in awe of all the fancy ingredients she incorporates into them.  (Check out this pizza video-it is so professional! And even her “simple” pizzas sound and look so fancy.)  Being less of a cook, especially not a gourmet one, and more of a baker, I felt more at home when I looked through her dessert recipes, which happily were plentiful.

I happened to inherit 16 pints of blueberries and a crate full of lemons from my Grandpa (long story, will tell it later), so I searched for something I could use them in from Lacy’s blog.  I first ruined her recipe for Low Calorie Banana Blueberry Muffins by making it sugar-free (was testing out Swerve’s sweetener) and under-baking them.  They were awful and I won’t share my adapted recipe, just visit the link for hers, which looks much better.

Again on the hunt for blueberry-filled recipes, I found her Mixed Berry Bundt Cake and made my own blueberry-lemon version almost as soon as the muffins were trashed.  After clicking back through all the “adapted from” links to find where the recipe originated (a difficult feat in this age of food blogs, and I gave up after five clicks), I discovered this was a lower fat version of the Elvis Presley Pound Cake I’d been wanting to try for years.  It has less sugar than the original recipe I’d saved to my computer back in 2009, but I made it with the smaller amount and found it to be perfectly sweet.  I did, however, use the whipping cream called for in the original recipe, rather than yogurt as I was out of yogurt and didn’t want to go to the store.

The cake was buttery and dense, as a proper pound cake should be, and I loved the taste of the lemon and blueberries in it.  I believe the cake would be best eaten the same day it’s baked, as it was a little dry on day two.  Eating it fresh also helps the appearance, as the blueberries will be more whole (the juices get absorbed as time goes on, making them shrivel up inside the cake as in the pictures.

Please check Lacy’s healthier recipe, which looks very moist and delicious.  Thank you for sharing it, Lacy, I so appreciate you helping me use up some of these blueberries!  And we so enjoyed eating it!

Blueberry-Lemon Pound Cake

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

1/2 cup unsalted butter, plus extra for pan, room temperature
1 cup (7 oz) granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups (6 oz) cake flour
½ cup quality heavy whipping cream
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×5 loaf pan with butter and dust with flour, set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed for five minutes, until light, creamy and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Mix in the vanilla. Sift in half of the flour, beat on low until blended, then add the cream and blend again until mix. Sift in the remaining flour and mix just until blended. Add the lemon zest and mix on low until incorporated and batter is smooth. Fold in the blueberries and spread batter into prepared pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 55-60 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from pan and cool completely on a wire rack.

Once cool, whisk together 1 tablespoon of the fresh lemon juice and the powdered sugar until smooth. Drizzle over the cake and let it set for half an hour before serving. Best served same day.

Recipe source: adapted from NY City Eats

Click Mr. Linky below to view the other SRC Group C recipes!

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Traditional Turkish Delight {gluten-free & vegan}

Posted on February 19, 2013 by Veronica

Turkish Delight is perhaps the recipe I’ve been wanting to make longer than any other, for  over twenty years!  I’ve wanted to try it ever since I was in elementary school and read about the Turkish Delight which the witch seduced Edward with in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.  It just sounded so delicious!  Dennis also told me years ago that he also has wanted to try Turkish Delight ever since reading the book.  So this year I decided to make it for him for Valentine’s Day, and to send it to my matches for The Sweetest Swap as well.

I decided to go with the traditional recipe, which doesn’t include gelatin and takes quite a long time to make.  But the texture is worth the effort!  I took my recipe and method from Titli’s video, and I tell you this woman is mad, but I love her.  You have to watch a few of her videos to start jiving with her craziness.  Anyway, we discovered that we quite liked Turkish Delight, especially the nice soft, chewy texture.  It’s similar to a jelly candy but really so much softer that it’s not really jelly-like at all, it’s just the closest thing I can compare it to. And so smooth!  The flavor is very nice, bright from the lemon juice, and mysterious & romantic from the rose water.  While the rose water is nice, I think I would like this a lot better using lemon extract and would suggest it if you don’t have the rose water, but cutting the amount down to maybe a teaspoon (or to taste) since it’s much stronger than rose water.

The downside is that they tend to weep.  You should store them packed in the extra powdered sugar, but even so, after only a day mine were pretty much a mess.  I wish I’d taken photos right away because right after cutting and dredging in powdered sugar, they were so pretty with such smooth surfaces.  Instead I took my photos two days later when the bowl had turned into  the nastiness above. :( I had to cut off the worst of the edges and then roll them in fresh powdered sugar for my photos, but believe me they are so much prettier the first day!  I asked Titli if this was normal and she said it was likely our damp weather to blame, but even so, hers start weeping after four days.  Her cure for the weeping?  “Eat them quickly!” lol

This is what my poor swappees received (along with a dozen oatmeal candies–thank goodness I sent enough of those to make up for the Turkish Delight mess!)–photo courtesy of Shesten M.

If I haven’t scared you off with my cautionary photos, here’s the recipe!  Just be sure to make this when you’re enjoying a spell of dry weather and perhaps when you have enough company to polish them off within a few days.

Turkish Delight

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

Note: I followed the gram measurements for this recipe, using my kitchen scale.

3 ½ cups water, divided
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
4 cups (800 g) sugar
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 cup (120 g) cornstarch
1 tablespoon rosewater
Few drops of red food coloring (I used icing gel coloring)

For dusting
1 cup (160 g) powdered sugar
¼ cup (30 g) cornstarch

Oil an 8” square pan, then line the bottom and sides with parchment paper. Oil the parchment paper; set aside.

In a medium saucepan, combine 1 ½ cups of the water, the lemon juice, and sugar. Bring to a boil while stirring and continue to cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture reaches 115C (soft ball stage). Remove from heat and set aside.

In a large saucepan, combine the remaining 2 cups water, the cream of tartar, and the cornstarch. Bring to a boil, using an electric mixer to beat it on low speed the entire time. It will get thick quite quickly. It will be very milky and opaque in the beginning, but will get more clearish. Once it is a thick gluey paste and turns more and more clear, add in a little of the sugar syrup and beat with the mixer until blended. Scrape down the sides of the pan, and add a bit more at a time, beating well after each addition until smooth. When all the syrup is added, it will be thick but fluid. Turn on the heat again and bring to a gentle boil. Turn heat to low and simmer very, very gently for about an hour, stirring frequently (I stirred every 1-3 minutes). It will turn a light golden brown color. Add in the rosewater and food coloring if desired, and mix well.

Pour into prepared pan and shake the pan to make sure the mixture reaches all the corners. Allow to sit at room temperature until set, about 3-5 hours, or overnight.

Combine the powdered sugar and cornstarch for dusting and sift them together into a large bowl. Sift some on top of the pan of Turkish Delight. Sift some over a surface, then turn the Turkish Delight upside down onto prepared surface. Carefully remove the paper and sift some sugar over the top. Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut the Turkish Delight into small squares. Put the squares into the bowl of sugar and toss them around every so often. Once all are added, toss them around really well to make sure they are well coated with the sugar/cornstarch mixture.

To store, place Turkish Delight in a container with an airtight lid, and pour the sugar/cornstarch mixture over the top to keep them from weeping or sticking together.

Recipe source: Titli’s Busy Kitchen

Sweetest Swap Recap

The swap went very smoothly and I was lucky enough to get 6 packages in the mail!  They disappeared all too quickly…

Oreo & Biscoff Truffles from Shania, Lemon Muddy Buddies and Pretzel Caramel Bark from Lynn.  Dennis ate all the Oreo Truffles by the time I got home, so I’m glad I got one before I left for work! I enjoyed the Biscoff Truffles all to myself, which was fine by me because I liked them even better.  Lynn wasn’t a match of mine, but she was kind enough to send me two packages! One stuffed with the Lemon Muddy Buddies (YUM!) and another with the Pretzel Caramel Bark (love salty and sweet!).  Thank you ladies!

Snickers Bars from Laurie.  Wow!  Talk about impressive.  These were every bit as good as they look and I had trouble saving any for Haus.  I had to beg him to hurry up and eat some before I ate the whole package. LOL!

Vanilla Sea Salt Caramels from Shesten (that’s Hawaiian Black Lava Sea Salt on them). Oh so incredible.  These I ate one after another until they were all gone, in just a matter of minutes.  Poor Haus.  Poor me! I need a refill, Shesten. ;)

In total, 1,275 candies were exchanged through our swap, and because swapper Marcia L. registered us with Cookies for Kids Cancer, Barmioli Rocco matched $1 for each and we raised another $1,275 for pediatric cancer research just by doing what we love to do.  And I’m also very glad to report that we had zero flakes for this swap!  Every single person sent out their candies.  These swaps just keep getting better.  Thank you to all who participated, I had a ball.

 

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Key Lime Pie

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Veronica

So happy to return today for the Secret Recipe Club‘s Group C reveal day!  Life has been keeping me pretty busy, but I’ll talk about life another day.

Today I need to tell you about this Key Lime Pie.  This amazing key Lime Pie.  I was assigned to Mother Thyme‘s blog this month, which is a new-to-me blog, and I was really excited to peruse it.  Jennifer’s blog is attractive, organized (yay for a recipe index!), and her photos are beautiful, so it was a real treat!  Not to mention that most of the recipes are her own creations!  I truly admire bloggers like Jennifer who mostly post their original creations, since I find that difficult, personally.  My creations are very rarely blog-worthy. LOL!

So when I ran across this key lime pie recipe, I was excited because Dennis loves Key Lime Pie and I’ve been wanting to make him one for a long time, but I was also very skeptical.  The main ingredients are sweetened condensed milk and lime juice.  And it only calls for for 9 minutes of baking.  I thought it was mis-typed, and eggs and extra baking time were missing.  I mean, how can two very liquid hardly-baked ingredients make a thick, creamy filling?

So I searched online recipes and found some similar ones that didn’t even require any baking.  What?  Really?  Wouldn’t this make soup pie?

I decided to give it a go, and I’m so glad I had faith in Mother Thyme!  This is kitchen science, folks, and utterly fascinating.  Apparently when the acidic lime juice is combined with the condensed milk, it thickens it, because as soon as I whisked it in, the two liquids turned into a thick, pudding-like filling.  Amazing!  After just two hours, it was ready to slice, and I didn’t even bake it at all!

The taste?  Just as amazing as the magical thickness.  Perfect balance of sweet and tart!  I’m just so excited by this pie, you guys, you don’t even know.  It’s so easy to make, so magical, and so delicious.  You could even say…it’s magically delicious.  :)

I made it a little festive by adding some food coloring to intensify the green (it’s really more ivory without the food coloring), and added shamrock sprinkles for a St. Patrick’s Day look.  This would make a nice change for a St. Patty’s day dessert since most of them feature booze and/or mint.  But even if you don’t try it for a holiday (would also be cool for Christmas with red sprinkes!), it’s great any time of year–especially spring and summer.  Dig in!

Key Lime Pie

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

Crust
1 1/2 cups crushed graham crackers
5 tablespoons melted butter
4 tablespoons granulated sugar

Filling
3 (14.5 oz) cans sweetened condensed milk
2 drops green food coloring + 1 drop yellow (optional)
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup key lime juice (or regular lime juice)
2 tablespoons freshly grated lime zest (from about 2 large limes)

Garnish
Whipped cream or Cool Whip
Extra lime zest or sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix crumbled graham crackers, butter and sugar in a 9” spring form pan or a deep dish pie plate and firmly press evenly over bottom and sides of pan. Bake for 8 minutes. Let cool before adding filling.

Meanwhile, combine sweetened condensed milk and food coloring if desired, mixing until totally blended. Add the sour cream, lime juice and lime zest and whisk until thickened and completely incorporated. Pour mixture in to cooled crust and refrigerate 2 hours or until ready to serve.

If desired, just before serving, pipe whipped cream around the edge of the pie (I used Wilton tip 1M) and garnish with some extra lime zest or festive sprinkles of your choice.  Or you can just serve with a dollop of whipped cream on top.  Refrigerate leftovers.

Veronica’s note: never mind my shallow pie dish, do not use a regular pie dish or you will have too much crust and filling, as I did (I made a second small dish of pie with my leftovers). Do as I say, not as I do. ;)

Recipe source: Mother Thyme

You can see all the other Group C SRC recipes by clicking the linky man below:



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Healthier Lasagna Soup

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Veronica

If you haven’t seen recipes for lasagna soup all over the web for the last couple years, then you don’t follow as many blogs as I do-lol!  It is everywhere.  It’s taking over the blogging world.  If it wasn’t so delicious, it might scare me a little, but now that I’ve made it I totally get it.

Everyone has their own variation and I just took the one from Suzie’s blog and made it a little healthier.  I have to tell you that Biz is actually the reason I finally made this soup because I think she’s made it (and raved about it) 55.7 times since Suzie posted it and I just couldn’t resist any longer.

So glad I gave in–this soup is completely frabrilis!  I mean hello, lasagna in soup form?  Frabrilosity! 

P.S. A lot of things went wrong with my pictures and I do not care to explain the unattractive, cold plops of cheese and how thick this is because you would scoff at me and I’m not in the mood for your scoffing beyond the scoffing you’re doing at my cheese plops.  :D  Just follow my directions and you will have frabrilis soup that looks as delicious as it tastes.

Healthier Lasagna Soup

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 (19.5 oz) package lean sweet Italian turkey sausage
1 cup chopped onions
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons dried basil
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 (28 oz.) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
2 bay leaves
6 cups chicken stock
8 oz. broken up whole wheat lasagna noodles or other pasta of choice
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

For the cheesy goodness:
1 cup low-fat cottage cheese or ricotta
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Remove sausage from casings and add to skillet along with the onions and cook, breaking up into bite-size pieces, for 5-10 minutes, until meat is cooked through. Add garlic, basil, oregano and red pepper flakes. Cook for 1 minute.

Add tomato paste and stir well to incorporate. Cook for 3-4 minutes or until the tomato paste turns a rusty brown color.

Add diced tomatoes, bay leaves and chicken stock. Stir to combine all ingredients. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Add uncooked pasta and cook until al dente. Don’t over cook or let soup simmer too long, as the pasta will get mushy and absorb all the broth.*

While pasta is cooking, prepare the cheesy goodness by combining the cottage cheese or ricotta and Parmesan together in a small bowl. To serve, place a dollop of the cheesy goodness in each soup bowl, sprinkle some of the mozzarella on top and ladle the hot soup over the cheese.

*Note: If you are anticipating leftovers, it’s best to cook the noodles separately and add them to the bowl along with the soup, then store them separately, drizzled with olive oil so they don’t stick together.  They will become mushy if stored in the broth.

Recipe source: slightly adapted from Two Dogs in the Kitchen.

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Buffalo Chicken Chili

Posted on January 29, 2013 by Veronica

I have Biz to thank for this amazeballs recipe.  I like a lot of different chili’s (this is the eighth chili recipe on my blog!), but this is definitely a contender for my favorite.  I love the heat level–we like spicy and for us this was perfect.  Spicy but not so spicy that you can’t taste the wonderful flavor.  Your lips may burn a bit, but you can still feel your mouth after eating a bowl, which is a plus in my book.

Since the veggies are pureed and totally not visible, there’s less risk of complaints from picky eaters.  I felt super manly while eating it, with all the meat and beans and spiciness, and apparent lack of vegetables.  But then I couldn’t pee standing up, so that was the end of my manliness.

Also, just an FYI, your chili will not be this thick right after cooking it.  This was the day after I made it, and before I heated up the bowl.  Not many things look good cold, but apparently chili is one exception to the rule. I think it’s so purdy.  (I believe I just lost my man card again.)

Buffalo Chicken Chili

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

2 large carrots, peeled & cut into 1-2″ pieces
3 stalks celery, cut into 1-2″ pieces
1 large red pepper, cored & cut into 1-2″ pieces
5 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 pounds ground chicken
5 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon paprika
1/2 cup Frank’s Hot Sauce
2 (15 oz) cans tomato sauce
1 (15 oz) diced tomatoes
1 (15 oz) black beans, drained
1 (15 oz) chili beans in sauce (do not drain)
salt and pepper to taste

Optional garnish: blue cheese crumbles or Spicy Ranch Crackers

Place carrots, celery, red pepper, and garlic in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment.  Process until pureed and set aside.  In a soup pot, heat oil and add ground chicken and cook about 10 minutes on medium heat until no longer pink.  Add vegetable purée to chicken mixture and cook about 5 minutes until veggies start to soften.  Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 1 hour.  Serve with blue cheese crumbles or Spicy Ranch Crackers, if desired.

Nutrition Per Cup (without garnish): 239 calories, 3.4 fat, 29 carbs, 7.5 fiber and 23.5 protein.

Recipe source: My Bizzy Kitchen

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I won’t be posting Wednesday, so I’m going to take this opportunity to remind you to enter my cookies giveaway by Wednesday at midnight. Good luck!

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Spicy Ranch Crackers

Posted on January 28, 2013 by Veronica

 

This is a twist on seasoned crackers for those that enjoy a spicy kick.  I make a triple batch of seasoned crackers every December to include in my goodie bags with assorted sweets, and this year I made a second spicy batch for those that like things on the spicy side.  They are great on their own as a snack, but as with the seasoned crackers, one of my favorite things to do with these crackers is to sprinkle them on soup as a garnish, especially tomato soup or chili.  And let’s not forget the Super Bowl is coming up, right?  These would be perfect for the heat-lovin’, snack-eatin’ guests at your party.

Spicy Ranch Crackers

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

2 (12 oz) bags oyster crackers
1 (13.7 oz) box cheese crackers
1 (1 oz) envelope spicy ranch dressing mix
1 (1 oz) envelope ranch dressing mix
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried dill weed
½ teaspoon onion powder
1 cup vegetable oil

Mix crackers in a large bowl. Sprinkle dressing mix and spices over the crackers, then pour oil over it all. Mix until the oil is absorbed. Cover and store overnight for the flavors to develop.

A Veronica’s Cornucopia Original

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