A Moveable Muffin Part 1

Muffin went for a walk this morning! Almost got hit by a car but successfully dogdged the oncoming traffic.


I think it was the sprinkling of pumpkin pie spice that did it.

I also interchanged greek yogurt for the milk and only 1 tablespoon of oil in this . recipe/

And I added cherries too. These have honey and are a bit kiddish in the bran muffin taste department so this is good for them.



-Amanda

Blinchiki

Splash together some whole wheat flour, buttermilk, egg, olive oil, sugar, salt. Fry them up, little by litle--you have yourself nice, firm little blini. Then throw some fresh dark cherries in a saucepan with some water, cinnamon, golden brown sugar, and cornstarch--and simmer til thick and deep red. Drench a stack of a few blini with the syrup, then top with dark chocolate shavings. You've got yourself an Annariginal!



If you lay down some peanut butter first (chunky, always chunky), you get a nice oozing look to the dish.




This is what happens when Amanda's got me craving cherries.

I like that the chocolate shavings melt a bit. It gives it just the right amount of cohesion as a quick and appealing dish.


-Anna

If I Only Had a Food Processor...

So this is the closest I've gotten to the types of good bran muffins you find in coffee shops and bakeries and such. You know..the chewy, honeyed kind that's a deep chestnut color and filled with plump raisins. I got it from here, it's sounds kind of authoritative and revered, no?

Except, the part about food processing the raisins was not possible for me. Our blender is from the 70s and most of the knobs don't work anymore. Hopefully we'll get a replacement soon, but who knows.

I added some cherries and raspberries to some of them to get my fruit quotient up. I think next time I would just use cherries and not raspberries. Otherwise I only tweaked a few things: used 1/2 cup of apple sauce in place of the oil and added only a tablespoon or so of canola oil and for the buttermilk/yogurt part I used 1/2 cup of non-fat greek yogurt.

Instead, I squished the hot water-plumped raisin with a potato masher. It did a decent job, but, I would have hoped for better. Next time, I think it would be fun to soak the whole raisins in some sort of liqueur for five minutes before mixing them in, maybe kirsch?


Good with this?
-Amanda

Cherry Tart Will Get You a Ride

I made this tart for my mom's friend birthday. I also made same friend that whipped cream cake for her birthday. But this tart was for birthday dinner at her house.

I am cherry pitter supreme now. Forget buying a pitter or using that silly paper clip contraption. I timed my speed with songs on Itunes and you don't even want to guess how many cherries I was able to pit over the length of Suga Suga by Baby Bash.

Otherwise this tart didn't take much skills. The dipshit who honked at me and gave me a condescending shake of the head this morning probably could have made if he has a cherry pitter.

I followed this recipe too the tee except I used skim milk instead of the heavy cream since it seemed silly to go out and buy heavy cream just for a quarter cup. I upped the butter by a tablespoon just to keep things even.

Also I had to rush out and get the ride that a slice of this tart afforded me, so my mom took the picture with a flash. It makes it a bit gaudier, no?



I sadly didn't get to taste it. But it looked really yummy-I love cherries and almonds. Next time.

Maybe this song?

-Amanda

These Muffins are to Bran, Like Charade is to Hitchcock

So I made these as my muffins of the week. Success? I think yes. But they have no bran, even though I'm branding them as such. Yeah, I did just say that. They have quinoa instead, which is a fluffier substitute for bran...maybe?

They don't give you the weighted down feeling bran does, which maybe or good or bad depending on what you're going for. The berries really make them though--the cherries specifically. I used this recipe , except I
a) skim milk instead of soy, though I'm not opposed
b) Honey for most of the maple syrup since we only had a little bit left
c) Regular whole wheat flour instead of whole wheat pastry flour, since where are you supposed to find that stuff?
d) I replaced the dried fruit with a heck of a lot of fresh cherries, blueberries, and strawberries.


I realized that I ate the last of these on Saturday morning without taking a picture--that's how good they were I guess. Here's a picture of a hedgehog and tea, which I thinks makes up more than enough for it.


Mornings are best with these and this.

-Amanda

The Pits are for People You Don't Like

Cherry Lemon Pine Nut Muffins



These are prettier than they taste. The pine nuts and the cherries are the best part. I would go for orange next time. Maybe it's because I didn't use meyer lemons. Oh well.

I used this recipe, but I popped cherries in them. That's not meant to sound sexual; I don't really know how to rephrase it...

Also I didn't grind up the pine nuts since I don't have a food processor and I was too lazy to dig out the blender.



And right, warn people you do like that there are pits in these. Otherwise you can laugh at the people you don't warn about the pits while listening to this.

-Amanda

Loving You Is Cherry Pie

Cherry nectarine pie*

So I found this recipe: http://goodeggseattle.blogspot.com/2009/07/summer-starts-with-vacation.html

And I made it for some friends on valentine's day. But I couldn't find apricots, so I used nectarines. Which is a shame, I love apricots with all my heart. Oh how symbolic, valentine's day without the deepest love. Haha. I like nectarines a bunch though, and am very pleased with the result. I used my trusty pie crust recipe (http://www.cooksrecipes.com/diabetic/reduced-fat-pie-pastry-diabetic-recipe.html , but with butter). I'd add a touch of sugar to it next time.

So, I know I made more changes, but honestly I am writing this post in late March, and I have no clue what I did. Look at the pictures, play a little "spot the difference" with yourself. You can also rearrange the photos til you align them in the appropriate order. So many hidden games in this post! Good times abound.















-Anna