Banana Blueberry Lemon Muffins

My favorite thing to make with really ripe bananas is banana bread, but this time I wanted to make something different. I was going to make plain banana muffins, but then came across this recipe on Dragon’s Kitchen and knew what had to be done. Fortunately, I had all the ingredients for these muffins, because who wants to go to the grocery store in a snow storm?

Ingredients & Directions:

• 2 1/4 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 large ripe bananas, mashed
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 cup blueberries
• 2 tablespoons grated lemon rind
• 3 tablespoons sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line muffin pan with muffin liners. Grate your lemon now if you don’t already have some in your kitchen and set aside. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and 1 tablespoon of the lemon rind. Stir in dry ingredients until blended.

Beat together bananas, eggs, brown sugar, butter, lemon juice and vanilla until blended.

Fold in blueberries just until combined.

For the topping, combine sugar and remaining lemon rind in small dish.

Fill muffin liners almost to the top. Sprinkle Lemon Sugar mixture evenly over the muffins. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden.

These muffins were delicious. I warmed one up the next morning on a griddle with a tiny bit of butter for breakfast. Seriously, these are some of the best muffins I have ever made.

This is from my other blog Two Cost Table.

Crab Cakes Benedict

I happen to be searching the internet for recipes the other day and came across one for crab cakes benedict. I knew instantly that I would be eating this for dinner that night. I generally like to keep my dinners simple & easy, not too many steps, and something I can cook while doing other stuff. Crab cakes benedict at least fit most of those requirements (I had to stay focused on this meal so my bacon wouldn't burn and my poached eggs wouldn't get too hard). IN the vain of keeping things simple, I stopped at the store, Harvest CO-OP, and bought pre-made crab cakes. I have been eying those for sometime and today was just the day. It cost $2.00 for two crab cakes. How can you go wrong for that price? I had everything else at home that I needed, so in my mind my dinner cost $2.00 and there is nothing better than that feeling.

Ingredients & Directions:

Crab Cakes (Pre-made saves time, but you can make your own)
Eggs (One for each crab cake)
Vinegar
Bacon
Blender Hollandaise Sauce
Fresh Parsley, chopped
Cooking spray or Olive Oil

You should start by cooking the bacon. While the bacon is cooking, put the crab cakes in a pan to heat thoroughly and brown a little (they come pre-cooked, but you will need to warm them through). Keep the crab cakes on a low heat so they can come off the pan and on the plate once everything is ready to be plated. Also, make sure you flip them over every so often, you don't want to burn them and waste that $2.00. Continue to check the bacon, cooking until your desired readiness. Follow the instructions for a blender hollandaise I made before (you could always make this first and then warm it up if you want). See directions below for poaching eggs, but you should start this process now too. Once the bacon is done cooking, set on some paper towels to soak up the grease.

Directions for poached eggs:

First bring water in a saucepan to almost boiling. If the water is already boiling, lower the heat until it is no longer boiling. At this point, you can add one or two teaspoons of vinegar to the water, if you want. The vinegar will help the egg whites to congeal more easily. I used rice vinegar. Working with the eggs one by one, crack an egg into a small cup, then place the cup near the surface of the hot water and gently drop the egg into the water. With a spoon, nudge the egg whites closer to their yolks. This will help the egg whites hold together.Turn off the heat. Cover. Let sit for 4 minutes, until the egg whites are cooked. Lift eggs out of pan with a slotted spoon.



Place the crab cakes on the plate, bacon will rest on top of the crab cakes, place the eggs gently on top of the bacon, and then drizzle the hollandaise sauce over the entire thing. Sprinkle with a little fresh parsley.

Apple Pancakes

Seriously, who doesn't aspire to be like the Smitten Kitchen? Consistently beautiful photographs, delicious recipes, and story-like blog posts all make this one of my favorite food blogs. I went to Smitten Kitchen determined to make something for make breakfast on Sunday morning. I also had one requirement, it had to contain apples; I hate to waste my freshly picked apples. The apple pancakes stood out to me simply because they were easy and I had all the ingredients. Pancakes, beside my all time favorite eggs benedict, are my favorite breakfast food. Blueberry and chocolate chip pancakes are two of my favorite versions, separately of course (although together I bet it would be delicious!).

Ingredients & Directions:
(from Smitten Kitchen)

2 Eggs
1 1/2 C Milk
2 C Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 C Sugar
3 Apples, peeled and coarsely grated (I used a grater, but may use a food processor next time for speed)
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
Vegetable oil, for frying
Confectioner’s Sugar, for dusting

Mix the eggs with the milk in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar together. Combine the wet and the dry ingredients and stir in the apples and cinnamon. Heat a thin layer of oil in a skillet over low to medium heat. Drop large spoonful of batter into the pan and flatten it out a little (otherwise, you might have trouble getting them to cook in the center) and cook until golden brown underneath. Flip the pancakes and cook them for an additional two or three minutes.


The original recipe uses a cast iron pan and that is one kitchen item I am putting on my Christmas list. I am dying to make corn bread in a cast iron pan, just one of those things that I have always wanted to do. I should really compile my mental list of things I want to try cooking on paper. Do other people do that?

I dusted the pancakes with confectioner's sugar and a little more cinnamon, before a drizzled a little maple syrup over them.

Glazed Raspberry Scone

Ingredients & Directions:
(adapted from here)

2 C Flour
1/3 C sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
5 T chilled butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 C plus 3 tablespoons whipping cream
1/3 C (about) raspberry jam (do not use seedless)
1/2 C powdered sugar
About 4-5 Fresh Raspberries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in large bowl. Add butter rub in with fingertips until mixture resembles fine meal. Gradually add 1 cup cream, mixing until dough comes together. Make small balls of dough and flatten each one with your hand, or rolling pin if you prefer. Make sure you make a top and bottom for each scone; fill with 1 generous teaspoon jam (jam will show at edges). Transfer to baking sheet. Bake scones until brown, about 18 minutes. Transfer to rack; cool scones until slightly warm.

Meanwhile, mix powdered sugar, and remaining 3 tablespoons cream, and raspberries in bowl to blend. Spread glaze over scones. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

I felt a bit like Paula Deen, y'all, with all that butter running through my fingers.


I used a piece of aluminum foil on the counter, lightly floured to flatten the balls of dough.



While the scones are cooking you should make the raspberry glaze. I thought of adding the fresh raspberries to the glaze after I made the glaze base. It just looked so plain. I really liked how it turned out and will definitely try it again with other fruit.


I glazed the scones on a wire rack, while resting the wire rack over the baking sheet, that way I kept the mess contained to one place.

I hate to toot my own horn, no I don't, but these were delicious. I seriously ate four scones right after I finished taking all the pictures.

Bacon & Cheese Frittata

I suppose once you look at the pictures this may not be what classically looks like a frittata. I did however cook this dish like any real frittata would be cooked. Shocking as it may seem, I do not have a pie pan. I dropped it and broke it and have yet to replace it, so I tend to make pie shaped things in either a cake pan or in square baking dishes. It works for me, it can work for you. One of the main things I focus on in my cramped kitchen is improvisation. I tend to play music while I'm cooking and just go with what I am feeling. I always have a recipe, but if I'm not feeling something I don't go with it, sometimes it works out great, sometimes it's a major fail, but I learn and move on. I will tell you about my apple brown betty's one day, yikes!

Ingredients & Directions:

6 eggs
1 c. milk
1 green onion, chopped
2 tbsp. butter, melted
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
Dill (optional but highly recommended)
4 oz. shredded Cheddar cheese
Crumbled cooked bacon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 10 1/2 inch round au gratin pan or 9 x 9 inch baking dish (or whatever kind of pan you want!). In medium bowl with wire whisk, beat eggs, milk, onion, butter, salt, and pepper until well blended. Pour mixture into baking dish. Sprinkle cheese, bacon bits, and dill over top. Bake 20 minutes or until set.

Again, I usually grate my own cheese which I really enjoy doing.


I poured the egg mixture into the bottom of my baking dish and the bacon and cheese is placed on top.


I made this frittata for a small brunch. I love cooking food for brunch, one of my favorites (I need to cook it soon) is a french toast bake my Aunt Lauri introduced to our family; it is so good. I served it with some juice and a few pieces of toast, the addition of a fresh piece of fruit would have topped this off nicely, but I didn't have anything at home that day.

Strawberry Coffee Cake

I went to a local farm on Father's Day, Brooksby Farm, to go strawberry picking since it was in season. I picked up a little flyer about strawberries at the Farm and in it included this recipe, as well as a few others that I will keep in reserves for later. I was also inspired by We Are Not Martha's Strawberry Shortcake Cookies and had a need to cook something with strawberries. There is nothing better than cooking or eating fresh fruit and vegetables. Get your strawberries now, because the picking season ends soon! Check out your local farm for strawberry picking dates.

Ingredients:

8oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 C butter
3/4 C sugar
1/4 C milk
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3 C fresh strawberries, sliced
1/4 C brown sugar


Combine cream cheese, butter, and sugar. Beat until light and fluffy. Stir in milk, eggs, and vanilla.

Remember to rinse strawberries well that you pick fresh from the farm, they are generally covered in pollen.




Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add to cheese mixture; mix until smooth.

Spread half batter in greased and floured 13" x 9" baking pan (cooking spray also works).


Place strawberries evenly over batter. Spread remaining batter over strawberries.

Sprinkle brown sugar over cake. The original recipe also called for nuts (whatever you like), but I don't like nuts in my food (well, maybe a salad). If you do like nuts you should mix the nuts and brown sugar together and then sprinkle that mixture over the top.

Bake for about 35 minutes or until golden. Serve warm (also delicious the next day for breakfast). This strawberry coffee cake is a surprisingly light dish and I am looking forward to trying it again with other fresh fruit.