Blueberry Muffins

Friday I used part of our 6 pounds of blueberries to make blueberry muffins. Blueberry muffins are an absolute favorite of Matt's, so I knew it was a must.
I tried a recipe from Our Best Bites. I picked it, not only because it sounded good, but because it used up some refrigerator items that needed to be used.
The recipe was fairly simple and turned out very well. The muffins are tasty! Not too sweet, with a touch of lemon zest, and a touch of buttermilk. I upped the blueberries, so they are full of fresh blueberries.
The recipe calls for a streusel topping. I like streusel toppings, but Matt can sometimes like things with less sugar, so I made a batch with and a batch without. I put most in the freezer to pull out as we need breakfast breads. Our freezer is full right now!
I would definitely make this version again and Matt would eat it : ).

Strawberry Freezer Jam

With 3 quarts of strawberries left, we needed recipes. We thought about jam, but I wasn't looking forward to the cooking and the sterilizing of jars. Then I ran across several things about freezer jam. Maybe I'm out of the loop, but did not know this existed.
Freezer jam does not require cooking, but you have to store the jam in the fridge or freezer. You simply use the Sure Jell pectin recipe. It is so simple! And it turned out yummy. This jam will be a softer set than cooked, but has a brighter, fresh picked flavor than the traditional method.
I ate some on toast this morning and Matt tried some tonight. We agreed it is tasty, as Mitchell says. The recipe made 5, 8 oz containers. You can keep one in the fridge for 3 weeks and freeze the others for up to a year.
So if you find a good fruit deal and like jam, make this!

A certain someone trying to steal the jam.

Strawberry Scones

Well, one quart down, 3 to go! I was looking for strawberry recipes and stumbled onto a strawberry scone. Scones were on my "bucket list," so I killed two birds with one stone. These scones were super simple and turned out moist and not too dry like scones can be. My great grandmother's rosebud china seemed fitting. Wish the other pieces (plates) were not so hard to get to.

 

Summer Cookie Trio

 I can tell you that I truly missed decorating cookies. I know because it didn't feel like work at all. I had fun. I am a crafty, artistic person by nature. If I don't do something like this for awhile I get withdrawals.
I knew I wanted a summery theme for this batch of cookies. I had a big flower cutter I had never used and sunflower popped into my head. What's funny is, right after I decided this, several blogs I look at did sunflowers. I guess we were on the same wavelength. I saw some ladybugs that were cute and then leaves seemed like a nice accent. I don't have a ladybug cutter per say. I was just going to use my round and work from there. But as I was digging around, I saw the monkey head cutter I have. I looked at it and realized if I just cut off one ear it would work really well. I love using a cookie cutter for a totally unexpected shape. There's a reindeer cookie Martha Stewart did with a gingerbread boy cutter. Too cute!
Baking the cookies went really well as you know and then Saturday it was time for icing. I use royal icing and probably my least favorite part of decorating cookies is trying to tint my icing just right. And then I have multi hued fingers and icing everywhere.
Decorating went smoothly. I was very relaxed and didn't rush and this always leads to me being much happier with my cookies. Sometimes when I'm making them for an order, I get nervous.
I really like how they turned out and how they look together. I think they would be cute for a girl's summer birthday. So much fun. Looking forward to some 4th of July cookies.

 

Multigrain Bread

Today I baked bread. I haven't baked bread in forever, but have mulled over the idea for awhile. For Christmas, Matt gave me a good loaf pan ( I gave him a cast iron griddle). We are exciting, huh? In the spirit of baking things we actually need, I decided to go for it.
We eat whole grain breads and I found a recipe from Cook's Illustrated that sounded like something we would like and be pretty healthy. The idea of a multi grain bread was daunting at first, thinking I had to buy all the individual grains, but this recipe used a 5 grain hot cereal mix. Making the bread was not hard, but definitely time consuming. I started at 11:30 and my loaves weren't completely ready until 5. But there is a lot of down time in making bread, waiting for it to rise and such.
I learned a lot about bread making today. I learned that you actually want your dough a lot wetter and stickier than you think. It will make a softer, less tough bread. I also learned that most yeast breads are finished cooking when they reach 200 degrees on a kitchen thermometer. This is way easier than trying to guess if bread is done. This does not work the same way with quick breads.
My loaves turned out really nice and so much better than I hoped for. Our apartment smelled wonderful and it tasted so good. So good that I would have loved a big slice with lots of butter. But, alas, the diet, so I just tasted. Mitchell loved it too! This actually is very comparable in the nutritional content to the bread we usually buy, so we will use this for everyday use. Matt is already planning on the next batch. Guess he likes it ; ).

Biscuits: Take 2

So I've posted before about the buttermilk biscuits I make. Ever since the last time I made them to freeze, I've intended to do that again. But apparently life got in the way.
So today me and my little helper stocked the freezer for breakfast. These really aren't that bad for you if you portion them and they cost way less than organic sprouted wheat bagels. We couldn't find buttermilk without any additives. We do not eat anything with MSG, MSG like products, high fructose corn syrup, etc. I'm not going to say that this isn't a pain at times and that going through a drive through wouldn't be easier sometimes, but it has made a big change in our health ( headaches, weight, hunger control, energy). So I had to use a powdered cultured buttermilk. I was somewhat skeptical, but it seemed to work just fine.
Our new oven also posed some issues. It is hot! It cooks much hotter than our last oven. Luckily, I didn't assume that it would be the exact same or we would have had burnt biscuits. I did have to lessen the time in the oven and watch them much more carefully. And my first batch did not rise because I cut them too thin. But all in all the biscuits turned out great again.

Zucchini Bread

Well hello old friend. I've missed you. Baking that is (and any anyone who chooses to read this). After the huge Christmas cookie order, Thanksgiving desserts, Christmas cinnamon rolls, and the cookies for Mitchell's first birthday, I was ready for a little break. But then our move happened and then there was no oven for awhile, so baking couldn't happen even if I wanted it to. But I'm back!
To kick off summer I made zucchini bread. I found a recipe on allrecipes.com and it turned out really well. Moist, but still bread like (not mush) and I packed 3+ cups of zucchini in here and used some whole wheat flour. I'm going to make this again and use applesauce instead of oil. We all give this a thumbs up!
I have a bucket list of baking items so there should definitely be posts in here. Plus, with the other blog going strong, I really enjoy blogging now. And I'm ready to make some decorated cookies again. Yay!