Snickerdoodle Muffins

I am highly suggestible.  After seeing this recipe featured on the Foodbuzz Top 9 yesterday, I really wanted to make snickerdoodle muffins.  Then today, I saw that this blogger made them, and I was convinced that I needed to make these muffins tonight.

Snickerdoodles are one of my favorite cookies, and I love muffins in general, so the concept of a snickerdoodle muffin was highly appealing, and this recipe did not disappoint!  Chris and I both LOVED these muffins. 

Snickerdoodle Muffins

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes (each batch)

Ingredients (20 muffins)

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon

Instructions

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper liners.
• In a stand mixer bowl, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating until each is incorporated. Then add vanilla.
• In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Add half of the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl and stir to combine. Next, add the sour cream and buttermilk, mixing to combine. Add the rest of the dry ingredients, mixing just until combined.
• In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon for the topping. Then, using a large Oxo scoop (or ice cream scoop), add a scoop of batter to the bowl. Gently roll the batter until it is evenly coated in cinnamon and sugar, and then place the ball of batter into a muffin liner.
• After all of the muffins have been rolled, sprinkle the leftover cinnamon sugar onto the tops of all the muffins.
• Bake for 15-18 minutes, until they are just baked through.

Recipe adapted from: Susi's Kochen und Backen Adventures.

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Farro Soup

When I picked up farro for the first time a couple weeks ago at Outpost Natural Foods, I searched online for ideas on what to make.  I came across a recommendation for farro soup in a forum, unfortunately I can't remember exactly where, might have been chowhound.com.  Anyway, here was the recommendation...

1. Saute onion, carrot, celery in a bit of olive oil until beginning to soften.
2. Add 2 cups chopped canned tomatoes, 4 cups chicken stock, 1 cup farro.
3. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until farro is tender, about 1/2 hr.
4. Then stir in 4 cups roughly chopped fresh spinach and cook only until spinach is tender.
5. Serve with fresh parmesan.

Click here for a printer-friendly version of the recipe I made tonight.  Chris and I both loved this soup!!  I followed the recommendation for the most part, but added 4oz of small shell pasta and a lot more spinach.  Also, neither of liked the fresh parmesan with this soup.

By the way, if you've never heard of farro, this blog post offers some great general information.

Green Bean Pesto Risotto

You know a recipe is successful when Chris rubs his stomach and says "risotto is so sastisfying!"  The farmers' market at work is still offering excellent green beans, so when I came across this New York Times recipe, I was happy find a new way to prepare them...especially because it involved pesto!!

For the pesto, I used three frozen "ice cubes" of pesto and for the risotto, I followed the recipe exactly except that I used a 1/4 lb more green beans.  We grocery shopped just before making dinner tonight, and Chris took full advantage of the fact that this recipe called for wine.  I was trying to find a fairly cheap bottle when he pointed out that economically we should probably buy a box of wine instead...of course that means there's like 2.75 bottles left for him to drink :)

3/4 pound green beans, trimmed and broken in half
7 cups vegetable stock
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 medium onion, minced
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
1/2 cup pinot grigio 

Mint Chocolate Milkshake

Earlier this week, Chris asked me to make him a milkshake, which is something I had never made and I was surprised at how tasty his strawberry shake ended up being.  With that in mind, I decided I wanted a mint shake after dinner tonight and it was so good!

I hear people talk about shamrock shakes at McDonalds and never having tried one didn't really understand the appeal, but now I think I do.

1 1/2 cups vanilla ice cream
1/2 cup milk
7 mint patties
5 drops of green food coloring

The above quantities just barely fit in the container that came with my immersion blender, so if you're using the same amount just be cautious and make sure the entire blender is immersed before turning it on...or you could go traditional and just use a normal blender :)

Colcannon

After seeing this recipe on Simply Recipes (one of my very favorite recipe sites!), it seemed like a great side dish for St. Patrick's Day.  Not really a holiday that we celebrate, but when a "St. Patrick's favorite" involves potatoes and kale, I'm in! :) 

Here's the slightly modified version I made tonight:
2 sweet potatoes (1.5 pounds), peeled and cut into large chunks
3 Tbsp unsalted butter (with more butter for serving)
4 cups of chopped kale, packed
1/4 cup green onions, chopped
1/2 cup skim milk

This recipe was really, really good!  Next time I plan to add bit more kale though, maybe 1-2 cups more.

Two Bean Sloppy Joes

Daylight can really play tricks on your mind.  Tonight it tricked me into a cardio workout.  I got home from work at my usual time around 6:30pm tonight, but because the sun was still shining brightly, it felt like I still had a whole evening ahead of me....so I went to the gym.  This is noteworthy because I hate doing cardio, and have only been going to the gym twice a week for yoga for more weeks than I'd like to admit to.

So anyway, after getting back home at 8pm I was happy that I had scheduled an easy dinner on our weekly menu plan.  This recipe goes way back to our first apartment together in 2005.  It's a quick and easy favorite (and vegetarian!).  Tonight I substituted one fresh green bell pepper for the frozen beans and pepper.

Hasselback Potatoes

I had an enjoyable Saturday, doing nothing really of note, just getting caught up on things around the house.  Now I'm listening to great music on Pandora after eating a wonderful dinner. 

After seeing hasselback potatoes mentioned on lots of food blogs, I decided I needed to try them too.  Here's the recipe I used.  For the pesto, I used pesto that I had frozen from the batch I made the other day (I moved it to the refrigerator yesterday).

Cutting 3/4 of the way through a potato seems easy enough, but I managed to cut right through middle of one.  Practice makes perfect though, because the second potato worked perfectly.

Next I stuffed the garlic in, which again sounds easier than it really easy because I hadn't yet read this tip "You might actually need to shove them in…the potato might be pretty tight."  I had to use a paring knife to create enough space to shove the garlic in.

Chris was too anxious to wait the 10 minute specified cooling time, so he got a taste before me.  As he devoured his potato, I asked what he thought...

Chris: "I love the pesto."

Me: "How's the potato?"

Chris: "Anything would taste good with this pesto!"

10 minutes later I could confirm that these potatoes are outstanding.  It makes me want to combine pesto and sweet potatoes more often.  Maybe pesto in mashed sweet potatoes?

Honey Wheat Banana Muffins

With three bananas to use up, I started looking online for recipes.  I have a favorite banana bread recipe but I was looking for something healthier.  My adaptation from a recipe on Food.com contains no refined flour nor sweeteners.  I've always been told you can't use all whole wheat flour in a recipe, but I promise this recipe works!

An Oxo large scoop is the ideal size for muffins.

Mental Note: stop flipping muffins directly onto the cooling rack to avoid those indentations on the top of my muffins.

I really liked this recipe, but I think it might be even better with a little cinnamon and nutmeg, which I plan to try next time.