Meyer Lemon Muffins

With those Meyer lemons ticking away in my fridge, I knew it was time to finally make these. I found this recipe last week, but have been too tired/lazy to do any cooking (though I did make more peanut butter filled Darth Vader’s last night!). I found this recipe on the Los Angeles Times website.  After a quick nap on the sofa after work, I got started on these. It’s a pretty easy and standard muffin recipe. The only different thing is that you pulverize the lemons and put them in the batter pulp and all. I’m guessing the skin will be sweet kind of like an orange, so pulverizing will make them taste nice and lemony. Maybe finally I’ll be able to get that intense in your face lemon flavor I’ve been craving all this time.

Breakfast Cookies

I bookmarked this recipe way back in January. I can’t quite remember how I found it, but I think it was googling that Deer Valley turkey chilli recipe since the blog is from High Altitude Cooking who is based in Park City. I’m always looking for good filling breakfasty things. I get paranoid about not being able to eat at work, so I try to eat what protein I can to last me through. These I can grab on the way to work or munch one quickly when I need a pick me up.

Chocolate R2-D2s and Darth Vaders

So I guess when I said Thursday I meant next Thursday. I did make these last week, but I also made an accordion album and rosettes for a bridal shower that night which left me too tired to write a coherent post. And I’ve been working/tired since. But I finally posted!

Sneak Preview

Sneak preview time! I, uh, meant to post this earlier, but I’ve been busy catching Pokemon. Up to 83 on my own volition!  I’ve got something really fun planned for Thursday. I did a small test run tonight to see if I could add food coloring gel to white chocolate. It was a success! I normally would never touch white chocolate, but what I’m making is white and blue which makes white chocolate a must. And I don’t trust those Wilton candy melts. I want as good a quality ‘chocolate’ as I can get. I went with Lindtt. They actually have cocoa butter in the ingredients. I’m even going to make a milk chocolate peanut butter nemesis to go with it. I used to be pretty good at making chocolate molds. A run of making a ton of them made me quit. It’s been so long I didn’t even get to use the new spatula I bought for the process. I have to say it’s the perfect size. It scrapes the chocolate out so much better than a spoon. I’m excited. I think things are going to go well on Thursday. As long as I can get the cooling time on white chocolate right. Stay tuned!

Spritz Cookies

I know, I know. Christmas cookies in March? But I promised myself I’d make this. It took me this long to get around to it. The backstory for this is that I brought Mom’s cookie press back with me after Thanksgiving with the intention of making assorted Christmas cookies to give out to everybody. My mom never makes spritz cookies because she hates using the press, so this was no loss to her. She gets together with her friend every year to make Christmas cookies and lets her friend make the spritz. Usually wreaths and Christmas trees. They’re my second favorite after pecan puffs. So I made some for a Christmas party using the recipe provided by Williams Sonoma. I didn’t like it very much, so I asked Mom for Aunt Donna’s. But because the recipe made so many cookies and I’d gotten frustrated with the press, I decided to just make pecan puffs. Those are amazing, and I can make them in my sleep. So the spritz never got made. Until today! It’s my mom’s birthday, so I figured it’d be an appropriate thing to make.

Eggs… Again

Yes, eggs again. I know. But it’s one of my specialties. I do it so well. Can’t go out without having a well balanced breakfast. The sausage is Trader Joe’s Chardonnay and apple chicken sausage. I’m not a big fan of this one. It seems a bit heavier/greasier than the others I’ve had from there. Good old Foxpoint seasoning in the eggs. Mmm so good. Harney and Sons Earl Grey Tea.

Going to make cookies tomorrow! That’s a promise. We’re getting a smidge of snow tomorrow, so it’s safer to stay inside (Not because of the snow, but the bad drivers.)

Cooking Movie: Galaxy Quest (“Those poor people.”)

Spruce Beer

I did a Nando’s run tonight, so I didn’t cook anything today. Still living off of those scones. I thought I’d post about spruce beer. My Jane Austen and Food book went on about Mr. Knightley and his spruce beer. Spruce beer being appropriate for gentlemen to drink. And make themselves as Mr. Knightley gives his recipe to Mr. Elton. As I don’t have any spruce branches lying around nor a pot big enough to boil the essence out of it in, I thought I’d try a different alternative. I googled and I found some interesting options. There are alcoholic ones out there and non-alcoholicy ginger ale-esque ones out there. The soda ones don’t seem to be available in my area, so I went with the alcoholic kind. Total Wine carried Yards Poor Richard’s Tavern Spruce. (First time I’d ever been in one. It’s very impressive. It made me wish I had an appreciation for beer and wine. I never knew there were so many different kinds.) Poor Richard’s claims to be based on Benjamin Franklin’s original recipe. It uses malt because hops weren’t available at the time. Made with molasses, spruce tips and sprigs. You can actually taste the spruce. It’s rather interesting. But the beer as a whole was just disgusting. I took a few sips and couldn’t even stomach it to drink more. I do admit that I don’t like beer and prefer my drinks to be sweet, so please don’t take my reaction as an end all be all. Give it a try.  You might like it. It definitely tastes like spruce. I’m just glad I got two bottles instead of a whole six pack. Maybe I can find a brave friend to finish off that second bottle for me.

Now I’m not sure how different Mr. Knightley and Benjamin Franklin’s spruce beers were. I wonder what Mr. Knightley would think of Benjamin Franklin. It amuses me that they liked the same beer though. The recipe referenced in Jane Austen and Food comes from Food in England by Dorothy Hartley. “One pint good spruce extract, 12lb treacle, 3 gallons of water. Boil all and let stand 1 hour. Add 3 or 4 gallons of water, 1 pint of yeast (the water should be hand warm). Pour into a 10-gallon cask. Filler her up, let her work. Bung her up. Bottle her off.” So now you can see why I wasn’t brave enough to try it myself. Apparently spruce branches are unforgiving when you boil them too long. If I were to make it, I’d try to make it taste less beer-y (if that’s possible?) and sweeter. They also used to believe that spruce beer would help prevent scurvy. There’s a lot of stuff out there if you google spruce beer. A lot of braver people than me have successfully made it. Maybe someday I’ll try making my own. Until then I’ll keep an eye out for spruce beer. Maybe I can learn to like it like Mr. Elton.

ETA: I’ve been clicking around looking at different spruce beer recipes. This one from The Splendid Table actually sounds doable. It’s more like a soda than beer. When I feel like tracking down oil of spruce, I’ll give this a try. Maybe for the family for Christmas?

Trader Joe’s Chocolate Chip Scones

Fear not, dear reader. I have not abandoned you or my quest. I’ve just been living off of spaghetti and meatballs and TJ’s five layer dip (plus a trip home and other things), so there hasn’t been anything meaningful to post. I was at Trader Joe’s yesterday standing in front of their new products shelf, and this box mix called out to me. I figured it would be a good way to ease myself back into things. I wish all baking was as easy as mixing it with water and putting it on a cookie sheet.

Hummus Crusted Chicken

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I finally did it! The ever promised hummus crusted chicken. So delicious. The zucchini and squash hadn’t gone bad yet, so I sauteed that too. They go so well together. I’ve made this a few times. When I made it before, I made it with the zucchini and squash on the bottom with the chicken on top in the baking dish. My new cooking dish is small, so it wouldn’t have fit. The new dish barely fit the chicken breast. I’ve made it with a few different hummuses. I tried Sun Dried Tomato, but it melted off. I’d had a lot of success with the Trader Joe’s Kalamata Olive hummus, but tonight it melted off. I must not have layered it thick enough. It needs to be thick like 1/4 of an inch thick. Still tasted amazing though. I put salt and pepper on there and then was suddenly inspired to try out my new seasoning Mural of Flavor (from Penzey’s, of course). I’m not sure if I tasted it, but the chicken was delicious. I baked it for 25 minutes at 450. I got a peanut butter chocolate cupcake to eat after dinner tonight to celebrate the Oscars, but I felt like I’d earned it when I finally got home and already ate it. For some reason I like peanut butter mousse more than peanut butter.

Cooking Movie: Oscars Red Carpet Pre-Show (Flipping between broadcasts. Leonard Maltin geeking out over Gravity on the CW feed is hilarious.)

Belated Birthday Treat

No fridge chronicles today. I promise that tomorrow they will be finished with the ever teased hummus crusted chicken. I bought a new baking dish, so I am ready to go. I just had to post about my belated birthday present. After Christmas, I got to take a ski trip to Deer Valley in Park City with my family. Every day for lunch I had a bowl of their amazing turkey chili. It was almost as good as the skiing. For days after I dreamed about how good it was. I only found out there was a mix after leaving! If only I’d known! I mentioned this to my friend, Lauren. She remembered and got me a packet for my birthday! I’m so excited. So expect amazing turkey chili in the future! Hopefully I can do it justice.

(I’ve also been too scared to try my lemon curd. I might have to tomorrow since I left my jelly out in my hurry to get out the door this morning. Thankfully there was only a little bit left, so no great loss.)