Day 167: Double Blueberry Muffins

Day 167.

I went and picked blueberries yesterday with my good friends Jamie and Mandy. After we picked, we came back to my house and I showed them how to make these amazing muffins. Here's the recipe, girls!

Here's what you'll need.

1 stuck unsalted butter, at room temperatur
1 cup sugar plus 2 tablespoons
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups blueberries
2 cups flour
1/2 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375*


Begin by placing the butter into a mixing bowl.


Cream until smooth.


Add in 1 cup of sugar and mix well.


Add the eggs and mix.


Add the vanilla, baking powder and salt. Mix.


In the blender, place 1/2 cup milk.


Add 3/4 cup blueberries.


Puree' until smooth.


Into the mixing bowl, add 1/2 the flour.


And 1/2 the blueberry puree'.


Mix well, then repeat with the remaining flour and puree'.


Mix well.


Add the remaining blueberries.


Fold these in by hand.


Prepare 2 muffin tins by spraying with non stick spray, or adding liners.


Add batter to pans.


In a small bowl, combine the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar with the 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon.


Mix well.


Sprinkle cinnamon-sugar over the muffins.


Bake at 375* for 25-30 minutes, or until risen and golden.


Serve warm.

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Couple of tips.

1. If you want to freeze the batter, use muffin tin liners and freeze batter in muffin pans. Once frozen, pop them out of the tins and store in ziptop bags. Simply add 10 minutes to bake time to bake them from frozen.

2. In doing this, if you wish to only bake a couple of muffins, fill the empty holes of your muffin tin with water. This will help to prevent your pan from burning or warping.

Day 148: Corn and Blueberry Salad

Day 148.

This recipe was in the same magazine as the watermelon chicken. I figured while we are diving in with something new, we should try this as well.

Here's what you'll need.

2 bags frozen corn-cooked according to package directions and room temperature
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 small cucumber
1/2 red onion
1/4 cup (or so) fresh cilantro
1 jalapeno
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon cumin


Slice the cucumber in half, then in half again, and then into slices.


Slice jalapeno.


Combine sliced onion, jalapeno, cucumber and blueberries in a large bowl.


Add a nice handful of chopped cilantro.


Combine lime juice, oil, honey and cumin in a lidded container.


Shake well.


Add dressing to bowl.


Stir in corn.


Toss well, serve chilled.

Day 147: Grilled Watermelon Glazed Chicken

Day 147.

I came across this recipe in a magazine, and having just bought a watermelon, figured I'd give it a try. It was pretty darn good!

Here's what ya do.

Process 4 cups of watermelon in a blender. Run processed watermelon through a strainer to get 1 cup of juice.


Pour a 12 oz. jar of apple jelly into a small saucepan. Continually stir, over low heat, until jelly is melted.


Add jelly to watermelon juice.


Sprinkle in some crushed red pepper to give it a little bit of heat.


Pour it over chicken as it grills.


Cook until chicken is done.

Day 127: Caramel Apple Pork Chops

Day 127.

Now, you may be saying "Caramel Apple? Pork chops? Wha?"
Trust me. These are good.

Here's what you'll need.

3-4 3/4 inch thick pork chops
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter
2 apples, peeled, cored and sliced
salt and pepper to taste


Begin by brushing the chops with the oil. Place them, oil side down, into a hot skillet.


Cook thoroughly and remove from pan.


In that same pan, melt the butter.


Stir in the brown sugar.


I didn't think that looked like enough butter, so I added 2 more tablespoons.


Stir in the apples.


Add the pork chops back to the pan.


Now, here's my secret for tender chops. Add about 2 tablespoons of water to the pan, then slap a lid on it. Let it cook until the liquid is absorbed. This kind of steams them, and helps to keep them tender.


See?

Day 120: Dutch Apple Pie

Day 120.

I had never made a dutch apple pie, but I love the crumbly topping on it. I found this recipe, and it sounded good, so I thought I'd give it a try.

Here's what you'll need.

2 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/2 cup quick cooking oats
2/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/4 cups water
3 cups apples, peeled and sliced
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350*


Combine flour, brown sugar, butter or margarine and oats.


Mix well. Set aside 1 to 1 1/2 cups of the mixture for the topping.


Press remaining mixture into a 9 inch pie pan.


For the filling, combine sugar, water and cornstarch in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute.


Remove from the heat and stir into the apples. Stir in vanilla as well.


Spoon filling into pie pan.


Now, it didn't call for this in the original recipe, but I sprinkled some cinnamon and sugar on top of the apples. :)


Press the remaining crumb mixture onto the top of the pie.


Bake pie at 350* for 45 minutes, or until golden brown.