Yummy Buttermilk Muffins

This is a recipe from my new friend Becky. I actually met her years ago, but she and her husband Travis came over for dinner for the first time last night and today she shared this recipe with me so now we're really friends. I don't have a picture, but these would be good any time with any meal. Breakfast, snack, dinner, lunch. Yummy. The recipe in Becky's words:

Yummy Buttermilk Muffins:

I cup sugar

4 tablespoons softened butter

1 egg

(beat first three ingredients together, then add remaining ingredients)

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tsp bk soda

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

Mix all the ingredients, pour into greased muffin tins (fill muffin tins about half-full) and bake at 350 until they look golden.

Probably 20 minutes or so? But I don't actually know how long they cook. Yesterday's muffins were actually a bit overdone.

It makes 1-2 dozen muffins

Steel Cut Oats

We had this for breakfast this morning. So very yummy. I recently read that steel cut oats are only barely more nutritious than rolled oats. They take longer to digest so you get a little bit more of the nutrients and you feel fuller longer. I like the nutty taste and texture of steel cut oats and I love that this recipe uses buttermilk! I usually don't add the extra buttermilk at the end, but I do top it with brown sugar or maple syrup and a little bit more milk to help cool it off.

Here's Alton Brown's recipe...

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 cup steel cut oats
• 3 cups boiling water
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon low-fat buttermilk
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions

In a large saucepot, melt the butter and add the oats. Stir for 2 minutes to toast. Add the boiling water and reduce heat to a simmer. Keep at a low simmer for 25 minutes, without stirring.

Combine the milk and half of the buttermilk with the oatmeal. Stir gently to combine and cook for an additional 10 minutes. Spoon into a serving bowl and top with remaining buttermilk, brown sugar, and cinnamon.

Creamy Parmesan Polenta

I've never gone wrong with a recipe from Ina Garten. I really really like this one. I also really really like polenta. I didn't have creme fraiche, so I used sour cream. To give you an idea of how much this makes, it filled a 9x9 baking dish for me.

This photo is polenta served in a bowl, but I spread mine out in the baking dish, then sliced it like a brownie. After slicing I tried broiling it to get a crispy golden top layer. It worked. It was served this way to me at a dinner party last summer and I loved it.

I think polenta goes well with a hearty meat, so we had ours with steaks :)

Ina Garten's Creamy Parmesan Polenta

4 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
2 tsp minced garlic (2 cloves)
1 cup yellow cornmeal, preferably stone ground
1 TBL kosher salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving
1/4 cup creme fraiche
2 TBL unslated butter

Place the chicken stock in a large saucepan. Add the garlic and cook over medium-high heat until the stock comes to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and very slowly whisk in the cornmeal, whisking constantly, for 10 minutes, until thick. Be sure to scrape the bottom of the pan thoroughly while you're stirring. Off the heat, stir in the Parmesan, creme fraiche, and butter. Taste for seasonings and serve with extra parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top.

Mustard Chicken Salad

Image courtesy of foodnetwork.com It's really so much better looking than this photo! I should have taken a pic of mine...

I just served this at a baby shower. It was a great make ahead recipe that was surprisingly good. I would usually steer clear from a "broccoli" salad for some reason - tarragon too for that matter - but the blanched broccoli, cut into really small florets was pleasant. And the tarragon was nice too.

I couldn't find tarragon vinegar in time, but the store I was at had a tarragon dijon mustard so I just used white wine vinegar and the tarragon mustard instead of just plain dijon.

Also, since I was scared of tarragon I didn't put in the full 2 TBS fresh tarragon. It seemed to be seasoned well enough. And it turns out I guess I do like tarragon.

Oh also, with roasting the chicken and removing the skin and bone for the salad, I can't help but add the drippings from the pan to the dressing. All that delicious flavor, otherwise known as mostly fat, so you have to make your own choice about that. But it was very tasty.

Mustard Chicken Salad from Ina Garten's latest cookbook that I can't think of the name of...

Ingredients

* 2 whole (4 split) chicken breasts, bone-in, skin-on
* Good olive oil
* Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 2 cups broccoli florets
* 1 1/2 cups good mayonnaise
* 2 tablespoons tarragon vinegar
* 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
* 3 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
* 2 tablespoons minced fresh tarragon leaves
* 1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the chicken breasts on a sheet pan and rub the skin with olive oil. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until the chicken is just cooked. Set aside until cool enough to handle. Remove the meat from the bones, discard the skin, and dice the chicken in large bite-size pieces.

Meanwhile, add the broccoli florets to a large pot of salted boiling water. Cook for 1 minute, until crisp tender, drain, and place into a bowl of ice water until cool. This will stop the cooking and set the bright green color.

For the dressing, whisk together the mayonnaise, vinegar, mustards, 1 tablespoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Add enough sauce to the warm chicken to moisten well. Add the tarragon, broccoli, and tomatoes and mix gently to combine. Refrigerate for a few hours to allow the flavors to blend. Serve at room temperature.

Roasted Vegetable Pies

Image via marthastewart.com/recipes

I was inspired by Martha's recipe for Savory Autumn Leaf Pies when I set out to make my individual roasted vegetable pies. I used my own pie crust recipe instead and ended up making up my own filling too because I'm pregnant and I didn't feel like eating cooked swiss chard. They turned out super yummy and even the batch of pie crust that Nigel helped with (translation: got mixed way too much in the food processor) turned out flaky!

I also changed the method of stacking two dough shapes on top of each other to cutting one circle shape out of the crust and folding it to seal a half circle shape. This was a lot faster and easier for me than trying to match up and seal two separate pie dough pieces.

*Note, this recipe is for 24 miniature pies. I was making them for a party, but if you don't need as much just cut it in half.

2 recipes butter pie crust
2 medium sized golden yukon potatoes, diced very small
2 carrots, peeled and diced very small
2 celery stalk diced very small
1 small acorn squash, peeled and diced very small
1/2 onion diced very small
1 head of garlic, root chopped off to expose each clove for roasting
olive oil
salt pepper
dill

Butter Pie Crust

2 1/2 cups flour
1 TBL sugar
1 tsp salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, very cold and diced
1 cup ice water

mix first 4 ingredients in food processor until lumpy but still floury. Add about 1/4 cup of water and pulse four or five more times. Dump the dough into a wide bowl. Using a rubber spatula scrape the dough together, adding cold water as needed to just barely glue it all together. You probably won't need to use the whole cup.

Divide in half and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before using.

Roasted Vegetable Pie Filling

spread potatoes, carrots, onions, celery, and acorn squash on baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Stir to coat. Add garlic head in the corner so it doesn't get its peels mixed in with the other vegetables and make sure it gets its own coating of olive oil, salt and pepper. Sprinkle everything lightly with dill.

Roast at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes, stirring once in the middle. Squeeze garlic cloves from the peels and toss with other vegetables.

Make egg wash using 1 egg and 2 TBLs heavy cream. This helps seal the pies and makes a beautiful brown finish on the crust. It's not necessary though.

Roll out pie crust and use a 4 inch cookie cutter to cut out shape of choice. I started using a pumpkin, then switched to a leaf, and they were just too hard for me to seal and maintain the charm of the shape. I ended up using a scalloped edged circle that worked great for folding in half instead of stacking two shapes on top of each other and pressing to seal.

PLace 1 TBL vegetable filling in center of circle. Use egg wash on half of the perimeter to then fold in half and seal. The pie ends up being a half circle shape and it was cute because it had the little scalloped edges still. Place pies on baking dish and brush lightly with egg wash. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes before cooking.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 25-30 minutes. Crust should be golden brown all over. Serve warm.

Yields 24 YUMMY savory pies.

Mushroom Dinner Crepes

I don't have a picture, but I want to remember how I made tonight's simple and delicious dinner.

1/2 an onion, diced
about a 1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup butter
2 chicken breasts, diced
1 cup fresh green beans
1 cup chicken broth
fresh chives, chopped
crepes
cream cheese

Simmer onions and mushrooms in the butter on low heat for 20 minutes. Turn the heat up to medium high and add green beans for a minute or 2, then the chicken. Cook for about 5 minutes, then turn the heat up to high. Gradually add the chicken broth, scraping the delicious brown bits off the bottom of the pan and letting the sauce reduce. Add chives and remove from heat.

Spread cream cheese on each crepe and add mushroom chicken filling.

This was a last minute dinner inspired by things I had in my fridge. We all really liked it.

BLT Salad with Creamy Vinaigrette

{Image courtesy of Con Paulos via Real Simple Magazine}

This was from Micah's 32nd birthday menu. I found it in the May 2010 Real Simple magazine and didn't change a thing. I love the creamy vinaigrette dressing.

Romaine Salad with Tomatoes and Bacon

• 4 slices bacon
• 1 head romaine lettuce, cut into strips (6 cups)
• 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
• 4 scallions, sliced
• 4 to 6 tablespoons Creamy Parmesan Dressing
• or bottled Caesar dressing

Directions

1. In a skillet, cook the bacon over medium heat until crisp, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate. Break into pieces when cool.
2. In a large bowl, toss the lettuce, tomatoes, scallions, and bacon with the dressing.

Creamy Parmesan Dressing

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• kosher salt and black pepper

Directions

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, Parmesan, sour cream, vinegar, 2 tablespoons water, and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper.