Cranberry Upside Down Muffins

I had fresh cranberries in my fridge so for breakfast this morning I made these little beauties. If you're not a fan of the tart flavor of cranberries then you won't like this recipe. I liked that the batter is sweet and cake-like in flavor. My only complaint is the muffin's density; these are hearty (read "heavy") muffins but they taste great.

Serving note: Add butter and a sprinkle of sugar on top of your muffin. Enjoy!

Cranberry Upside Down Muffins

recipe courtesy of joyofbaking.com

Cranberry Sauce:

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries

3/4 cup granulated white sugar

1 tablespoon orange juice or water

1 tablespoon grated orange zest

Muffin Batter:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated white sugar

2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place rack in the middle of the oven. Butter well or spray, with a non stick vegetable spray, 12 muffin tins.

 

Cranberry Sauce: In a medium sized saucepan place the cranberries, sugar, orange juice (or water), and orange zest. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the sugar dissolves and the cranberries start to pop open, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly while you make the batter.

Muffin Batter: In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

In a separate bowl, mix together the milk, egg, vanilla extract, and melted and cooled butter.

Add the milk and egg mixture to the flour mixture. Stir just until combined. Do not over mix the batter or the muffins will be tough when baked.  

Evenly divide the cranberry mixture among the 12 well greased muffins cups and then evenly spoon the batter over the cranberry sauce. Place in the oven and bake for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until very lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Place on a wire rack to cool for about 2 minutes, and then invert them onto a cooling rack so the the cranberry topping is face up..

Makes 12 regular-sized muffins.

*My Notes: I had half a grapefruit in the fridge and used the juices (no zest) in my cranberry sauce. The cranberry flavor was so overpowering that I'm not sure if I tasted the citrus flavor. Also, remember to add a little melted butter and sugar for serving!

Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies

I'm so glad these cookies are finally eaten and no longer a temptation. Unfortunately, they're eaten and gone because I ate the three remaining cookies this morning. This recipe is so GOOD!! Thanks to my bro Steve who sent me word of this fab recipe.

Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies

Recipe courtesy Paula Deen

Ingredients

1 (8-ounce) brick cream cheese, room temperature

1 stick butter, at room temperature

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 (18-ounce) box moist chocolate cake mix

Confectioners sugar, for dusting

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in the egg. Then beat in the vanilla extract. Beat in the cake mix. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours to firm up so that you can roll the batter into balls. Roll the chilled batter into tablespoon sized balls and then roll them in confectioner's sugar. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake 12 minutes. The cookies will remain soft and "gooey." Cool completely and sprinkle with more confectioners' sugar, if desired.

Spinach Soup

"I do not like green eggs and ham. 

I do not like them, Sam I Am"

Most days our tropical Hawaiian weather is a natural deterrent to any desire I might have of enjoying a hot bowl of soup. Yesterday on the other hand the weather was chilly and I realized I really wanted to eat soup for dinner. Unfortunately I didn't know what soup I wanted to eat. I didn't want a tomato-based soup nor did I want chicken noodle. Most of all I didn't want to go to the store at 4PM (rush-hour at any local grocer!) in a heavy downpour of rain (with flash flood warnings to boot!). I also had an abundance of frozen fresh spinach that I've collected over the past month and haven't known what recipe to use it in. That's when I found this lovely soup recipe. My 7 year old had this reaction:

"Mmmmm! Mom, this tastes like broccoli! We should eat this every day."

The best part about this recipe is that it's extremely easy and fast to prepare!

Pioneer Woman's Spinach Soup 
(recipe found here)

• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 10 ounces, weight Spinach
• 2 cloves Garlic, Finely Minced
• 4 Tablespoons Butter
• ½ whole Medium Onion
• ¼ cups Flour
• 5 cups Whole Milk
• 2 teaspoons Kosher Salt
• ½ teaspoons Cayenne Pepper (Optional)
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• cheese and bacon for garnishing

Preparation Instructions
In a large skillet heat olive over over medium heat. Add spinach and garlic and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly until wilted. Add spinach to a blender or food processor. Pour in 1/4 cup hot water and pulse until pureed. Set aside.

In a large soup pot, cook onion in butter over medium heat until onions begin to soften. Sprinkle flour over the top and stir to combine. Cook for about 2 minutes, then pour in milk, stirring occasionally. Add salt, pepper, and cayenne and stir to combine. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour in pureed spinach, then cook another 3 to 5 minutes until thickened.

Check seasonings, adding more salt, pepper, or cayenne as needed. Serve in a bowl. Add a little grated cheese and bacon bits on top if you prefer. 

My Notes: 
*I have so much spinach in my house that I've resorted to freezing the fresh leaves. When I removed it from the freezer I put it in a bowl and microwaved it for 1 minute. This can replace the wilting process on the recipe instructions. If you follow this procedure just skip the olive oil process and add the garlic the last 1 minute of cooking the onions in butter.
*I only had stringy mozzarella on hand for garnishing but it tasted wonderful with the spinach/onion flavor. My husband loved the bacon and liberally garnished his bowl with this porky treat. If you decide to add bacon make sure you lightly salt the soup since the bacon adds a good salty flavor.
*I added the milk way to quickly and didn't whisk it like I think I should have. The result was flour clumps in my soup. (I was rushing to get dinner on the table before my three kids completely lost their composure!)
*I did not add cayenne pepper since I have wee-ones in my household.

Thanksgiving

Christmas is my favorite holiday. I love giving gifts, focusing on the birth of Christ, gathering with family, singing carols, and most especially I love the looks on my children's faces Christmas morning. My SECOND favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. My reason? Simply put, I love good food. This morning I had a call from a friend asking for my turkey brine recipe because she tried it last year and loved it. Well, the recipe is not "mine" per say but I'm always happy to pass along good recipes. In fact, this brine recipe is so good it recently bested Bobby Flay in a...Throwdown! THE Bobby Flay! How exciting is that?!?

For all you food loving fans, here are a couple of my favorite Thanksgiving recipes that will be gracing my menu plan this week:

Pioneer Woman's Turkey Brine

Candied Coconut Sweet Potatoes

Cape Cod Cranberry Relish

Creamy Mashed Potatoes (another Throwdown best from PW)

A Different Cranberry Sauce

Okay. My Thanksgiving confession is I don't like cranberry sauce. My first impression of the sauce was as a young child at my grandmother's house. I still remember seeing the ring marks from a can on the jelly-like red substance that stood firm in the serving bowl. I guess even as a child I felt that if a food looked far from it's natural state it wouldn't taste good (and most likely wasn't healthy for me).

I probably never gave the stuff a fair taste test until a few years ago when my dad made this recipe. As a little introduction to my wonderful dad, he loves stores that give samples (Trader Joes, Costco) and most of the time he gets the recipe, buys the ingredients and makes the dish at home. Yes, that marketing strategy works very well on my dad. I love this version of cranberry sauce or relish to be exact. It's light and fruity and most definitely fresh. I'm excited to make this recipe for our Thanksgiving seeing as we now live in Hawaii and can include fresh pineapple. I LOVE pineapple bought fresh on the islands. Mmmm.. Now if I can only find a market that sells sugarloaf or white pineapples I will be completely pineappley satisfied.

Cape Cod Cranberry Relish

Slightly adapted from recipe featured at a local Albertsons store; source is Decas Cranberry Sales, Inc.

1 lb fresh cranberries, washed and picked through
2 small navel oranges, well washed (or 1 large)
1 c sugar
half a fresh pineapple, cut in 1-in chunks (or canned pineapple tidbits)
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and cut in 1-in chunks
1/2 c chopped dates
1 c chopped walnuts, lightly toasted
Additional sugar, if necessary

Remove the peel of the oranges with a zester.  Place the peel and sugar in a food processor.  Pulse until peel is ground and well mixed with sugar.  Scrape frequently.  Add the cranberries and pulse until chopped well.  Place in a large mixing bowl.  Remove the white pith from the remaining oranges, cut oranges into 2" chunks, and process in the food processor by pulsing quickly.  Add to cranberries and orange.  Repeat the process with the fresh pineapple chunks and apples and add to cranberries and orange.  Add the chopped dates and nuts to the cranberries and fruit, stir well and cover.  If desired, add additional sugar to taste.  Refrigerate 24 hours before serving.  Serves 4-6.

Tomato and Basil Pie

My mom-in-law recently sent me an email with the subject line of: "You've got to try this!" When you get an email from mom with those words in the title you know the recipe must be good.

Last week my husband and I were invited to a work potluck dinner. I wasn't sure what to bring but when I saw my pile of freshly picked tomatoes this recipe came to mind. Feel free to call me crazy for making a dish for guests that I have never tasted! Thankfully the dish turned out great! I loved the lightness of the filling compared to a more dense quiche. Also, don't be afraid of the amount of basil. It works!  For my next pie I might make the addition of green onions and cheddar like the lovely Mrs. Paula Deen does in her variation of this recipe.

*Note: This photo is of the pie before you spread the mayo/cheese mixture on top.

Tomato and Basil Pie 

(Recipe from Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

• 9-inch prepared pie crust, unbaked*
• 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
• 5 plum or 4 medium tomatoes
• 1 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves
• 4 cloves garlic
  
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
• Additional basil for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  
2. Prepare and bake your 9-inch pie crust. Remove from oven and sprinkle with 1/2 cup of the mozzarella cheese. Cool on a wire rack. 
3. Cut tomatoes into wedges and drain on paper towels. Arrange the wedges on top of the melted cheese in the baked shell. In a food processor, combine the basil and garlic, processing until coarsely chopped. Sprinkle over the tomatoes. 
4. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the remaining mozzarella cheese, mayonnaise, Parmesan and pepper. Spoon cheese mixture over basil mixture, spreading to evenly cover the top. 
5. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the top is golden and bubbly. Serve warm garnished with basil leaves. Serves 4 to 8.

*I used the Betty Crocker recipe of flour, salt, shortening and water.