Strawberry Muffins

These are more like a cake than a muffin.  Light, not at all dense and the perfect balance of sweet and savory ( I added a touch of balsamic).  These would be a delicious addition to any brunch menu or they could really just stand on their own.

I like making muffins for breakfast.  The ingredients can be measured out the night before, they take 5 minutes to mix up and only about 25 minutes to bake.  Muffins are best eaten the day they are made.  I usually send the uneaten muffins to their teachers and the school's office staff. If I didn't, I would eat them, all of them,  and that just wouldn't be such a good thing!

Strawberry Muffins
yield: 16 muffins

ingredients:
2 cups organic unbleached flour
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 cup sucanat
1/2 cup butter, cold, cut into cubes
1 egg
1 cup organic heavy cream
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 cup strawberries, diced
1 1/2 Tbls. balsamic vinegar
powdered sugar

instructions:
• preheat oven to 350*.  line 16 muffin cups with paper liners
• in a small bowl combine the strawberries and the balsamic. set aside
• in the bowl of a food processor, pulse the flour, baking powder, and sugar.  add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
• combine the egg, cream and vanilla, whisk and add to the flour mixture.  pulse a few times until the mixture JUST comes together.  don't over mix.
• drain the berries of most of it's liquid and add to the batter.  mix by hand until the strawberries are embedded into the dough.
• scoop into the prepared muffin tins ( I use a 1/2 cup ice cream scooper ).
• bake for 25-30 minutes.  they are ready when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean with a little bit of crumbs on them.
• let cool completely and then dust with powdered sugar.

ENJOY!

Father's Day Feast + Beach

Yesterday was father's day. My dad was a great guy.  He loved his family, tennis, his nephew Hal and food.  I think I got my love for food from my dad.  He would drive miles for his favorite fare and always loved trying new restaurants, new bakeries and would drive for days to get his favorite pecan sticky bun.

Our day today started out with a visit to the cemetery.  The boys and I picked up sticky buns and ate them with my dad and each boy shared their favorite stories about "Poppy".  We sat around, ate our sticky buns, drank our hot chocolates and had a really, really good laugh.  This was the first time we visited him without crying.

We came home and packed up the car for a day at the beach.  I made a feast; three different kind of sandwiches, string bean salad, couscous with asparagus, peas, feta and pine nuts, cookies and a delicious strawberry lemonade.  I must admit, I have never made homemade lemonade.  Shame on me.  This lemonade was so easy and so good.  Homemade lemonade will be a fixture in our fridge from now on!  The only thing missing from the drink today was some Grey Goose Vodka!  Isaac and I went for a long walk and collected rocks, Eli spent the day in the water, and Levi dug with the shovel, jumped in the water, and ate all the cookies.  What else is new??

Miguel's had few requests today.  No gifts.  Spend the day together, as a family (his family joined us) and to not have to do any dishes.  I think we did a good job with carrying out his wishes.  It was a great day!

Strawberry Lemonade
original recipe from The Sweet Melissa Baking Book
yield: 7-8 cups

fresh strawberry sauce
1 pint of strawberries, rinsed and hulled
2 Tbls. sugar
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
2 Tbls. water

lemonade
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 cup fresh lemon juice
4 1/2 cups cold sparkling water ( I used Pelligrino )

instructions:
strawberry sauce: in the food processor, puree all the ingredients until smooth. strain the berry mixture into a clean bowl and discard the seeds.  cover and refrigerate.

lemonade: put the water and the sugar in a small sauce pan and bring to a slight boil.  make sure all the sugar has dissolved.  turn heat down and let cook for 3 minutes.  In a pitcher combine the lemon juice and the cooled simple syrup (sugar and water mixture).  place in the fridge.

when ready to serve, combine the strawberry sauce and the lemonade and mix thoroughly in a pitcher.  add the sparkling water and some ice cubes ( i made mint ice cubes by putting mint leaves in my ice cube trays - it was pretty ).

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

Strawberries are plentiful and the farmers market is filled with them.  They are so delicious right now.  They are sweet + juicy and they are just perfect.  I have never really worked with rhubarb, but it jumped out at me.  And then I thought, rhubarb + strawberries, after all, it is almost summer.



Summer...so looking forward to summer.  Not looking forward to it in the same way that my kids are.  I am looking forward to the lack of structure; no homework, grilling and eat outside, swimming, and long days filled with picnics at the beach, bike rides to the ice cream store and lazy mornings.


This past weekend was the official kick-off to summer.  We packed a lot into the 4 day weekend; the beach, bike riding, bbq's with family and friends and plenty of eating.  Summer is going to be a lot more of this plus lots more!




Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
adapted from many different places

iingredients:

filling:
5 cups strawberries, stemmed + quartered
3 stalks rhubarb, cut into 1/2" pieces
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tbls. cornstarch
zest of one orange
2 Tbls. juice from the orange
splash of balsamic

topping:
1 cup butter, cold
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup chopped almonds, toasted
1 Tbls. cinnamon
pinch of salt

directions:
• preheat oven to 350*
• for the filling: combine all the ingredients in a bowl.  toss well.  put in a wide, shallow baking dish
• for the topping: in the bowl of an electric mixer with the whisk attachment mix the sugar + cold butter.  Add the flour, oats, cinnamon, salt and mix well.  Add almonds and whisk 1-2 times.
• pour topping all over strawberry mixture.  put on baking sheet and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until the the filling is hot and bubbly and topping is crisp and light brown.

Ice Cream, Ice Cream & More Ice Cream

Eli has been bugging me to get an ice cream maker for EVER! I researched a little and came to the the conclusion that the simple Cuisinart machine was the best one for our culinary purpose.

I brought it home, cleaned it and immediately started experimenting. I started with a strawberry recipe from the August issue of Gourmet Magazine. I had tons of strawberry's. Usually, when I have too many strawberry's I freeze them for morning smoothies. Using pantry items for our first attempt at ice cream was super satisfying.

Ice cream has always seemed intimidating. Ice cream is my new found crush. I can't get enough of it and it is all I think about. And to be honest with you, I don't particularly love ice cream. It is not my go to dessert when I need something sweet. Yet, a little taste, straight from the ice cream maker is pretty darn goooood!

After the successful attempt at the strawberry ice cream, I decided to make the Vanilla Bean from the Cuisinart booklet. This was a good test for me as I really didn't get the full usage of the ice cream maker with the first go around. I really wanted to watch the machine do its magic. This recipe allowed me to full fill my fantasy. At first, this ice cream tasted a little too "eggy". However, once frozen it was good, not great. Need way more vanilla beans! I have researched a few other vanilla bean recipes. I am dying to make the vanilla bean from Sherry Yard, however the recipe calls for SEVEN, yes SEVEN vanilla beans. If I were to make this particular recipe, which I won't, I will have to invest approximately $77.00 in vanilla beans! I'd rather have a new pair of yoga pants for 77.00 bucks!

Next stop was Sherry Yard's coffee ice cream. Pure perfection. This was so amazingly good. It may have to become a staple in our freezer! Everyone in my house voted on what was their favorite. Coffee won by a landslide. Eli and Isaac are requesting Mint Chip. With all the cream and milk I have in the fridge their wish could come true. Be on the lookout for our next ice cream adventure!

Using the snickerdoodles that I had made the day before, the kids and their friends enjoyed homemade ice cream sandwiches!