Brunch Bites: Savory Muffin Review

Borrowing a friend's favorite cooking magazine, I had to try this muffin recipe. It was one of the Runners-up in the 2008 contest.

I always make some sort of brunch item for Saturdays and was intrigued by the author's assertion: “These muffins make a meal on their own.” And they are very good, although a bit too greasy [must be the sausage, duh!]. They stored well, and I loved the chewy, hearty texture enhanced by the pepper and onion. One could easily add ¼ c shredded carrot, too.

Country Sausage and Cheddar Muffins

original recipe by: Pamela Shank, WV

Makes 12 Muffins

8oz bulk sausage meat

2 c all-purpose flour

3 Tbsp sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

[1 tsp salt]

[6 Tbps butter, cut to 1/2-inch pieces]

8oz cheddar cheese, cut to 1/2-inch pieces

½ red bell pepper, seeded, finely chopped

½ onion, finely chopped

1 lg egg

¾ c buttermilk

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease and flour 12 muffin cups, or tin. Cook sausage over medium heat, breaking up until browned, about 5 minutes. Transfer to paper towel-lined plate and cool.
2. Pulse flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, cheese, pepper, onion, and cooled sausage in food processor until mixture resembles coarse meal; transfer to bowl. Whisk egg and buttermilk in measuring cup; stir into flour mixture until combined.
3. Spoon batter into muffin cups/tin and back until toothpick comes out clean, 20-25 minutes. Cool 5 minutes in cups/tin, then transfer to rack. Cool another 10 minutes, if you can wait.

Notes and Modifications:

The original recipe added 1 tsp salt and 6 Tbsp butter into the flour mixture in step 2. While I made the recipe to spec the first time [always a good idea to know where you're starting], Bryce and I wondered why additional fat was necessary when it's a sausage and cheese muffin. So...

• I would increase the buttermilk another ¼ cup to account for the missing butter. The two main ingredients have enough fat already to moisten the dough. However, if it is too dry, you could incorporate 1 Tbsp olive oil at a time until the consistency is right.
• I would omit the salt also because the sausage and cheese usually have enough on their own. I saw no need to put it in [less sodium in the diet is always better.]

I just picked up some dried apricots at the store today, so another Runner-up recipe is on tomorrow's menu: Choco-Apricot Muffins by Joyce Hart, MN. Yum!

A Tea Treat Review

Usually I follow recipes closely the first time. Call me pedantic, but I like to know where I'm starting before I let my creative streak run wild. Breads can be finicky and I more often hesitate when modifying their recipes than with general cooking. But, I knew these would work. They are small changes, but possibly cut the fat a bit without cutting the soft pound-cake consistency and flavor. And I got rave reviews, [good enough reason to share them here].

Lemon Tea Bread

original recipe by: America's Test Kitchen, Family Baking Book

[my modifications in brackets or notes at the end]

Makes: one 8-inch loaf

1 ¾ c all-purpose flour

½ tsp baking powder

[½ tsp baking soda]

½ tsp sea salt

8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/3 c sugar [red. By 1/3 c]

2 Tbsp fresh grated lemon zest

3 lg eggs [can sub just whites]

¼ c whole milk [½ c buttermilk instead]

2 tsp fresh lemon juice [increase to taste]

[Glaze (from: Better Homes & Gardens cookbook)

2 Tbsp lemon juice

1 Tbsp sugar

Raw sugar for sprinkling]

1. Adjust oven rack to the middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 8 1/2-inch by 4 1/2-inch loaf pan. [I used the standard size, 9-inch by 5-inch; the loaf only rises to half the height.]
2. Whisk the flour, salt, baking powder and soda in a medium bowl. Beat the butter, sugar, and zest together in a large bowl on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 – 6 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until combined, about 30 seconds each. Beat in the flour mixture, milk and lemon juice until just combined, about 20 seconds (do not over mix).
3. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs attached, 65 – 75 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking.
4. Let loaf cool in the pan, 10 minutes. [Brush glaze over the top. Sprinkle raw sugar on for slight crunch.] Turn out onto a wire rack and let cool one hour before serving.

Notes and modifications:

• Use 3 egg whites instead of whole eggs – this is what I had on hand, leftover from another recipe.
• Substitute buttermilk for whole milk. Increase to ½ c to compensate for substituting egg whites for whole.
• Add ½ tsp baking soda to interact with the buttermilk.
• Increase lemon juice to 4- 6 Tbsp, to taste. I only had 1 Tbsp of zest out of 2 lemons, so I increased the juice to compensate.
• Cut sugar by 1/3 c because of sugary glaze and topping.

Like most quick breads, this loaf should freeze well, if it sticks around long enough to sneak into the freezer.

Plum-Yum!

Last night, I followed a new recipe: 'Braised Chicken with Prunes and Cream' by Rachael Ray (in Everyday with Rachael Ray, Feb 2011). [Thanks so much to my dear friend who gave me the magazine.]

Trying to describe the taste, Bryce and I could only make yummy noises;
                                                          words failed completely.
It was delectable, delicious,..................................................worthy of moaning.
It pairs flavors - prunes, vinegar, cream -
that aren't supposed to go together (at least the vinegar part).
                                              But, Oh! The final product is amazing!

Just in case you've been convinced to try it:

1/2 c dried pitted prunes (plums)
1/4 c sherry vinegar (I used red wine, since I didn't have this on hand)
1 tsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp oil
4 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs, trimmed and patted dry
Salt and pepper
1 onion, sliced
1/2 c sliced mushrooms (I thought of this addition while I was eating)
2 c chicken broth
1/3 c heavy cream
splash of sherry (I added this for that great flavor)

I served with:
3 c cooked long-grain (brown Basmati) rice
steamed asparagus spears

*In small bowl, toss the prunes with the vinegar and sugar. Let marinate for at least 10 minutes.

*Meanwhile, season chicken with salt and pepper. In a large skillet or dutch oven, heat oil over med-high heat. Add the chicken and cook, turning once, until browned, about 8 minutes; transfer to plate.

*Discard all but 1 Tbsp of fat and lower heat to medium. Add onion and cook, stirring, until soft and golden, about 5 minutes. [Add mushrooms; saute 1 minute.] Add prune-vinegar mixture, stir, return chicken to pan. Add broth and simmer until the chicken is cooked through and the liquid is reduced by half, about 20 minutes. Stir in cream [and sherry].

*Plate and Enjoy! (Makes only enough for 4 meals unfortunately.)

Food from the Earth

Perhaps this seems a few months late - in fact I did write this piece in the Spring. However it applies today because I'm preparing my garden beds for my Autumn Cover crop...

and God's promises are valid every day.

Ps. 104: 14 "He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for man to cultivate - bringing forth food from the earth."

Looking at the ground, it doesn't look like much - rocks, brown dirt, worms. It lays there, so passive, so still and calm. It receives the sunshine and the rain, knows the touch of frost and wind. Constantly shifting from Brown to Brown.

But Dirt has a secret life. Seeds are covered with Earth and the miracle of Green appears, neck first (revealing how risky Life is), then unbending its head to shake off the, now unnecessary, seed shell.

A vibrant seedling erupts from what looked like a Barren spot. As if that contrasting Green wasn't miracle enough, this sprout holds the promise of sustenance - it is Edible. When it grows large, it will sustain my body, bringing nutrients from the indigestible Earth into a form my body can use and a taste my tongue can enjoy.

Planting seeds and raising crops is often used as a metaphor for Faith, a lesson to Slow Down - return to humanity's Roots - the miracle of life. But even as a budding farmer (Agronomist, perhaps), this verse reminds me to meditate on Creator God, who established these systems that I take for granted. He is All Sustaining; by His will we live; for His pleasure. He gives Good Gifts to His children (Mt. 7:11) - all of us benefit from His Goodness whether we live by Faith or not, for He desires that none should be lost (2 Peter 3:9). He is So Good.

A Hole In Our Gospel: Chapter 8 (1 of many)

I read A Hole In Our Gospel by Richard Stearns earlier this year. I found it insightful, challenging and thought-provoking. Even before I finished, I realized that it wasn't sinking in, and I really wanted it to. So now I'm re-reading it. I will be posting here some of my favorite quotes and other related thoughts as I journey through again. Unfortunately, I'm getting to blogging about it a bit late in the game (at Chapter 8), so that's what you get first.

In Chapter 8, Stearns references a speech made by Jimmy Carter, which serves for us as a late introduction of the problem that is the primary focus of A Hole In Our Gospel. President Jimmy Carter was bestowed the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. His acceptance speech, made just a little more than a year after the events of 9/11, concluded with a striking statement:

At the beginning of this new millennium I was asked to discuss, here in Oslo, the greatest challenge that the world faces. Among all the possible choices, I decided that the most serious and universal problem is the growing chasm between the richest and poorest people on earth. Citizens of the ten wealthiest countries are now seventy-five times richer than those who live in the ten poorest ones, and the separation is increasing every year, not only between nations but also within them. The results of this disparity are root causes of most of the world's unresolved problems, including starvation, illiteracy, environmental degradation, violent conflict, and unnecessary illnesses that range from Guinea worm to HIV/AIDS.

Stearns notes from Jeffrey Sachs' book The End Of Poverty: Economic Possibilities For Our Time that the per-capita income gap between the richest and the poorest regions in the world has grown from a four to one ratio in 1820 to the seventy-five to one ratio quoted by Carter.

Until the latter 1900's ordinary peoples' awareness of global poverty was limited, but Stearns asserts: "Lack of awareness is no longer an issue. And yet only about four percent of all U.S. charitable giving goes to international causes of any kind."

Stearns goes on to quote Bono, from the foreword to the same book:

...fifteen thousand Africans dying each and every day of preventable, treatable diseases - AIDS, malaria, TB - for lack of drugs that we take for granted.

This statistic alone makes a fool of the idea many of us hold on to very tightly: the idea of equality. What is happening in Africa mocks our pieties, doubts our concern, and questions our commitment to that whole concept. Because if we're honest there's no way we could conclude that such mass death day after day would ever be allowed to happen anywhere else. Certainly not in North America, or Europe, or Japan. An entire continent bursting into flames? Deep down, if we really accept that their lives - African lives - are equal to ours, we would all be doing more to put the fire out. It's an uncomfortable truth. 

For Bono, the key question is (emphases are his):

We can be the generation that no longer accepts that an accident of latitude determines whether a child lives or dies - but will we be that generation? Will we in the West realize our potential or will we sleep in the comfort of our affluence with apathy and indifference murmuring softly in our ears? ...

Future generations flipping through these pages will know whether we answered the key question. The evidence will be the world around them. History will be our judge, but what's written is up to us. Who we are, who we've been, what we want to be remembered for. We can't say our generation didn't know how to do it. We can't say our generation couldn't afford to do it. And we can't say our generation didn't have reason to do it. It's up to us.

I don't know about you all, but these challenges cut straight to my heart. If they don't do the same to you, I suggest you go back and digest those two Bono quotes again. Am I doing everything I can to fight poverty, its causes, and its effects? That's what this book is about. That's the journey I'm on. You're welcome to join me.

Misleading Pet Food Labels (WIL 12)

A few weeks ago, I decided to grind up some chicken bones for my dog. I planned to use the bone meal in homemade buscuits. Searching for how to use bone meal correctly, or what it really is, I found Dr. Pitcarin's Complete Guide to Natural Food for Dogs & Cats.

In Chapter 2, Dr. Pitcarin addresses what's really in [commercial] pet food. Cynical disclaimer: this vet is trying to sell books, so it's in his interest to create controversy. Historically, scare tactics are profitable. Yet, frightening information holds a morbid attraction - I just have to know. On the other hand, as a vet, he may put himself out of business by keeping our pets healthier.

Dr. Pitcarin asserts, "the way [pet food] labeling is used does not really help us understand the quality of the food" (p. 10). He discusses how cooking temperatures sterilize many of the ingredients in food, destroying valuable nutrients. I've heard this argument favoring raw milk to pasturized milk, and it doesn't surprise me. Every page expounds the conspiracy. Pet owners spend $41 billion dollars a year in the United States alone. I am also not surprised to hear these accusations leveled at big business.

At this point, I am convinced they are not concerned with my health or vitality. (In fact, if I get sick, they likely have a sibling company that can provide medicine.) Sorry, I'm trying to stay objective. I am outraged by the idea that food not suitable for human consumption goes into pet food (p. 17). Feathers and hair can be added to pet food and labeled as "poultry by-products" or "dried animal digest" (p.12). Disgusting! I admit that my dog is able to digest much more terrible things than I would ever try to consume, however, I do not want her eating waste. Some by-products should just be burned.

I increasingly subscribe to the slow-food movement and pursue knowing exactly what I'm eating. I feel better physically and emotionally eating a balanced diet. Although I shutter to think how much energy Tanner would have if she was on a raw food diet, a seed of doubt about her kibble is planted in my mind. I am not ready to take the leap into cooking for her, but I am no longer comfortable with labels. With the continuing melamine recalls of China's products and insufficient consumer protection, it's difficult to keep my reaction pendulum from swinging in the opposite direction.

Who can I trust with my pet's health? My health? My life?