Blueberry muffins

Lemon-Sugar Topping:

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated zest from 1 lemon

Muffins:

• 2 cups fresh blueberries, divided
• 1 1/8 cups plus 1 teaspoon sugar
• Juice from 1 lemon
• 2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 2 large eggs
• 4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup milk

Directions:

1. For the topping: In a small bowl, stir together sugar and lemon zest; set aside.
2. For the muffins: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line muffin cups with muffin liners or spray with nonstick cooking spray.
3. In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring 1 cup blueberries, juice from one lemon, and 1 teaspoon sugar to simmer. Cook, mashing berries with spoon and stirring frequently, until berries have broken down and mixture is thickened and reduced to ¼ cup, about 6 minutes. Transfer to small bowl and cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
5. In a medium bowl, whisk together remaining 1 1/8 cups sugar and eggs until thick, about 45 seconds. Slowly whisk in butter and oil until combined. Whisk in milk until combined. Using rubber spatula, gently fold egg mixture and remaining 1 cup blueberries into flour mixture until just moistened (do not overmix.)
6. Divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups (batter should completely fill cups and mound slightly). Spoon 1 teaspoon of cooked berry mixture into center of each mound of batter. Using a toothpick, gently swirl berry filling into batter. Sprinkle lemon sugar topping evenly over muffins.
7. Bake until muffin tops are golden and just firm, 17 to 19 minutes. Cool muffins in muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool 5 minutes before serving.

Good summer pasta

Ingredients

Angel Hair or Linguine

2 plum tomatoes
1 colored bell pepper (I used yellow)
1 tbs capers
Garlic, pepper, and Parmesan to taste

Boil pasta, dice veggies, mix in capers and seasonings. Toss over the pasta. Easy and not so heavy for those hot nights.

Breakfast Smoothie (that happens to be vegan)

Ingredients
1 cup soymilk (I use plain)
1 packet (1 to 1.5 oz) instant oatmeal, ground
1 frozen banana, cut in pieces
1 tsp vanilla extract
frozen strawberries and honey to taste

Mix up with your kick-ass immersion blender and enjoy!

Potato Gnocchi

Ingredients
4-5 medium sized baking potatoes (like Russet)
2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 1/2-2 cups flour
Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Wash the potatoes and poke holes in them. Bake them on a cookie sheet for 40 minutes or until soft.
Peel the skins from the potatoes while they are just cool enough to work with (should still be warm). Mash them until fine, then fluff them with a fork so that they are not compact.
Add eggs, flour and salt. Mix by hand just until together, making sure not to compact the dough.
Roll out logs of dough to about 1 inch diameter (again, make sure that you are not squishing the dough, it should be pillowy).
Cut into 1 inch sections. Using a fork, depress each side of the gnocchi.

Bring a pot of salted water (1-2 tsp) to a boil. Add gnocchi. Remove it from the pot with a slotted spoon as soon as they start floating.
Cover with some sort of sauce for deliciousness.

(Next time I will try making a sweet potato base. I'll let you know how that goes.)

Granola

Ingredients


4 cups old fashioned oats
3/4 cups slivered almonds (optional)
3/4 to 1 cup dried cranberries (optional)

3/4 cups honey
1/3 cup oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 ripe banana (optional)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees

Mix oats, almonds and cranberries in a large mixing bowl.

In a separate smaller bowl, mix together honey, oil, vanilla and cinnamon. Stir until mixed. Add and mash banana into the wet mixture.

Pour 1/4 of the wet mixture over the oats mixture, and stir until evenly coated. Add 1/4 more, coat evenly, and repeat until wet mixture has evenly coated the oats.

Spread mixture evenly over a greased cookie sheet. Bake in oven for 35 minutes (for mixture without banana) to 40/45 minutes (for mixture with banana), rotating tray every 10 minutes.

Remove from oven (granola will be soft), and let cool on the pan for 10 minutes. Use a spatula to remove granola from the sheet and store in air tight container in the fridge.

Granola pictured is made with almonds and banana.

Brownies with Peanut Butter Chips

Ingredients

• 4 oz unsweetened chocolate baking squares
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup flour
• Peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8X8 or 9X9 baking pan

Over a double boiler, heat chocolate and butter, stirring constantly until melted
Turn off heat and stir in sugar until mixed
Add vanilla, then eggs one at a time, just until stirred
Mix in flour, just until stirred
Mix in 1 1/2 cups peanut butter chips

Pour in pan and bake for 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted is cleanish. If it seems a little battery still, turn off heat and leave in oven for an additional 10 minutes or whatever. Viola!