Cinnamon Honey Butter

Over the weekend, we had a blast in Saugatuck, Michigan (sorry Jagers, we missed you!).  One of the mornings, Ryan and I had breakfast detail and made apple pancakes (using apples Oliver and I picked the weekend before) with cinnamon honey butter and bacon egg cups.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the butter, so I'm sharing that recipe here.  Sorry, no pictures of it.

Cinnamon Honey Butter
from http://www.mrbreakfast.com/superdisplay.asp?recipeid=321

(16 servings)

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp cinnamon

In a medium bowl, combine butter, confectioners' sugar, honey and cinnamon. Beat until light and fluffy. 

Store in fridge and it stays spreadable.  Good on pancakes, toast, zucchini bread, waffles, etc.  Quite frankly I think you could eat it by the spoonful, but I don't know any doctor that would agree.

What We Did with Our Strawberries

Last Monday Lisa, Ryan and I took the kids to a strawberry farm for some good 'ol pickin' fun.  While many berries went directly from farm to stomach, Ryan and I got what amounts to about 16 cups of strawberries and I thought I'd share with you the wonderful things we've made with them. 

So, what have I been doing with 16 cups of strawberries?  Hulling, hulling and hulling!

And that's only 4 cups worth

                                          
Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam
From Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving
Makes about six 8-oz jars

I make this every year (I've been strawberry picking 4 years now) and it never seems to last us the whole year.  It's so good that we are upset when we run out and have to buy stuff from the store.  This year I made a triple batch (18 jars!) and we are hoping that after we give away a few to our families, we'll still have enough left to get us through until next strawberry season comes around.

2 cups crushed hulled strawberries
2 cups chopped rhubarb
4 T lemon juice (about 1/4 cup)
1 package regular powdered fruit pectin
5 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1.  Prepare canner, jars and lids.  (I'm not going into how to can these here, but you can find more information about canning from this website or send me a message.)
2.  In a large, deep stainless steel saucepan, combine berries, rhubarb and lemon juice.  Whisk in pectin until dissolved.  Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently.  Add sugar all at once and return to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly.  Boil hard, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.  Remove from heat and skim off foam.
3.  Ladle hot jam into hot jars, leaving 1/4" headspace.  Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot jam.  Wipe rim.  Center lid on jar.  Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to finger-tip tight.
4.  Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water.  Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes.  Remove canner lid.  Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.

Yum!

                                         

Other things we've made from my two favorite food blogs:
Strawberry Clafouti - This was a delicious dessert for us two nights.  Very simple to make, but takes a little bit of time in the oven.  We recommend that you eat warm - it wasn't as good the next day when we had it cold.  And I learned how to say clafouti (clah - foo - tee).

Strawberries & Dumplings - I made this for breakfast yesterday morning.  Although I didn't exactly follow the directions (I left out lemon juice because I didn't have any and cooked it over too high of heat on accident), we decided we will still try this again.

Strawberry-Infused Vodka - While I'm a much bigger fan of gin and bourbon than vodka, once I thought of this with some fresh lemonade, I couldn't pass it up.  The strawberries are infusing right now and I can't wait to try this.  The blogger recommends not eating the strawberries after they are infused, but I think I might freeze them to add as ice cubes in the drinks (as suggested in the comments).  Sorry preggos - I can make this again next year when prohibition is over.

Granola

I've been making this granola for years.  We obviously love it.  It's one that can be easily changed or adjusted to meet your taste requirements at the moment.  Ryan takes this granola and some yogurt to work every morning.  I'd also suggest trying it with a little orange juice - I know it sounds weird, but give it a try.

Granola

adapted from Alton Brown

3 c old-fashioned rolled oats

1 - 2 c nuts

3/4 c shredded sweetened coconut

1/4 c plus 2T dark brown sugar

1/4 c plus 2T maple syrup

1/4 c vegetable oil
3/4t salt
1 c dried fruit

1.  Preheat oven to 250.

2.  In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except dried fruit.  Pour onto a cookie sheet.

3.  Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes to achieve even coloring.  You may not need the entire cooking time which is why it's important to stir the granola.  My oven gets this cooked to the coloring we like in 45 minutes.

4.  Remove from oven and immediately pour back into bowl.   Add dried fruit and mix.

Our notes:  Use whatever dried fruits and nuts (or combination of these things) that you like.  Our favorites are cranberries, cherries, strawberries, apricots, walnuts, almonds, cashews and pecans.  The original recipe calls for 2 cups of nuts, but we found that to be too many so dialed it back to 1 cup.  Do not use quick oats - the granola does not turn out as good.  Use only good maple syrup for this - it's a bit more expensive than the syrup that comes in a bottle shaped like a woman, but worth it for better tasting granola.

Healthy Bran Muffins

I guess I like to post in twos so here is another...

The kids and I really like these muffins. They aren't really Joe's thing, but he isn't really into breakfast or bran. I like breakfasts/snacks that aren't too sweet and are filling and are easy to put in front of the kids without them whining at me too much. This fits the bill

Adapted from Farm Girl

1 cups (5¾oz / 164g) wheat bran
1 cup (5oz / 141g) white flour
1 cup (6oz / 170g) whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons (12g) baking soda
1 teaspoon (6g) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon (4g) salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup (5oz by weight / 156g) milk
2/3 cup (5½ oz / 156g) yogurt
1/3 cup (2¼ oz / 65g) canola oil
1/3 cup (3¾ oz / 108g) sweet molasses or cane syrup
1/3 cup (3¾ oz / 108g) honey
1 teaspoon (6g) vanilla extract
For fruit variations see below

Place an oven rack in the middle of the oven and heat the oven to 375°. Grease a standard size muffin pan or line the cups with baking cups

Combine the wheat bran, white flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl and set aside. Combine the eggs, milk, yogurt, canola oil, molasses, and honey in a small bowl and mix well. (Note: you can use all honey or all molasses instead if desired.)

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix with a rubber spatula just until combined.

Generously fill the muffin cups with batter. I use stainless steel scoops, which are also great for portioning out cookie dough.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes. Cool the muffins in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes, then carefully remove them and serve warm, or let them cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy your muffins plain, drizzled with a little honey, or spread with peanut butter and a slather of your favorite jam or butter (but then they aren't so healthy I guess) Store muffins in an airtight container for up to 3 days or freeze. (I think they taste even better the second day.) Defrost muffins at room temperature, or in the microwave if you're in a hurry.

We added frozen rasberries to our muffins this week because they were already in the freezer, but have done banana or blueberry also. I usually just add whatever is on sale at the store or go to the frozen section.

Blueberry Bran Muffins
Makes about 10 large muffins. Follow Basic Bran Muffin recipe, but gently fold 1½ cups (7½ oz/214g) fresh or frozen blueberries into the batter. There is no need to defrost frozen berries, but do quickly rinse off any ice with cold water. Note to blueberry lovers: I made a batch of these yesterday and, using my MoreMoreMore philosophy, crammed 2 cups of big fat blueberries into the batter—yum.

Blueberry Banana Bran Muffins
Makes 12-14 large and very moist muffins. Follow Basic Bran Muffin recipe, but stir mashed very ripe banana (2 small bananas, about about 9 oz/255g including peel) into wet ingredients. Then gently fold 1½ cups (7½ oz/214g) fresh or frozen blueberries into the finished batter. Baking time may need to be increased to 25 to 28 minutes.

Cranberry Orange Bran Muffins
Makes about 10 large muffins. Follow Basic Bran Muffin recipe, but replace the 2/3 cup milk with 2/3 cup orange juice and omit the vanilla extract. Stir 1 cup (4½ oz/127g) orange flavored dried cranberries (I recently discovered these at Trader Joe's and think they're wonderful) or regular dried cranberries to finished batter. For muffins with more orange flavor, stir 1 teaspoon finely chopped or grated orange zest into the wet ingredients.