Fruit
Blueberry-Peach Bran Muffins
Every year, without fail, I get an uncontrollable craving for bran muffins as soon as the faintest hint of fall sneaks into the late-August air. Growing up, my mom always made them for me as a back to school treat. They were my favorite breakfast — especially when they were still warm rom the oven. Even now, years later, homemade bran muffins signify the start of fall just as much a pumpkin spice lattes (Yes – I’m one of those people who wait for them all year. I told you I love coffee!)
Mom always made the classic Raisin Bran muffins that use a box of cereal, but have you seen the cost of cereal these days? It’s completely outrageous. Clearly time to find a new, more economical recipe. It took a while. So many versions were too dry, too dense, or too gritty. I felt like I was being beaten over the head with health food. Just as I was about to give up and buy a box of Raisin Bran, I decided to give it one last try. Success! After two years of fiddling around with recipes, I’ve finally developed what I think is the perfect bran muffin: light, springy, and moist with just the right amount of nutty bran flavor. Spread with a little butter and served with a glass of cold milk, this is the perfect back-to-school (or off-to-work) breakfast.
Click to get the recipe for Blueberry-Peach Bran Muffins –>
{Tazo Cookoff} Iced Ginger Tea with Honey-Macerated Fruit
For the third and final week of the Tazo Cookoff, I faced a bit of a dilemma: the pears that I had been presented to use in my recipe weren’t as ripe as I would have liked them to be. They would have been fine in a few days, but I was headed out of town and only had one night to get my recipe done. To make matters worse, the only thing I felt like eating was a sandwich — which put a quick end to my idea of poaching the pears in tea and making them into a chutney to eat with lamb chops and polenta (I mean, I like to cook, but I’m not about to make something like that when I’d be happier with a simple panini!)
As I tried to think of ways to incorporate the tea and pears into my sandwich or a side dish, I remembered the sangria-like iced tea that I had at Radiance Tea and Bookstore this spring. It seemed like the perfect accompaniment to my sandwich as well as a great way to use up some other fruit before I headed out of town.
The resulting tea was a nice change of pace from my standard unsweetened black tea, and I plan to make it again often. I especially loved the way that the ginger flavor infused the fruit — it was unexpected and extremely refreshing. Eating the fruit at the bottom of the glass was just as much of a treat as drinking the tea!
This is your final chance to win a great Tazo gift pack including a one year supply of tea and a selection of tea-brewing essentials! You’ll be entered one time for every comment you leave on one of my Tazo recipes. This is recipe # 3 of 3. Previous recipes included
Vanilla Rooibos Quinoa Pudding with Cherry & Pistachio and
Tea-smoked Salmon with Lavender and Honey Glaze. On September 1, I’ll randomly pick a winner from all of the comments left on those three recipes. (Only commenters with valid US addresses are eligible to win) Every comment you leave will also help me win a $1,000 gift card to Williams Sonoma.
Click to continue reading Iced Ginger Tea with Honey-Macerated Fruit –>
{Tazo Cookoff} Vanilla Rooibos Quinoa Pudding with Cherry & Pistachio
Fate smiled down on me last week when I opened the box containing the mystery ingredient for week two of the Tazo Cookoff. I had been dreaming of a tea enriched breakfast appropriate rice pudding for months. When I was first asked to participate in this challenge I knew I finally had an excuse to actually make it. But I wanted to step things up for this challenge so I decided that instead of using rice I would use quinoa. I crossed my fingers and hoped that one of the mystery ingredients would work in this dish.
Imagine my delight when I opened he week two box only to find a jar of organic red quinoa waiting to take pat in some culinary magic. My quinoa pudding was meant to be.
I used boxed vanilla rooibos latte concentrate for this recipe because cooking with a product clearly meant for drinking (even more than tea in general) seemed fun. Plus it meant that I didn’t need to add any additional sugar or spices (the concentrate is slightly sweetened and contains vanilla and cinnamon). Complete with toppings, this recipe contains a grand total of six ingredients. You can’t get much simpler than that!
The quinoa gives this pudding a nutty flavor and a coarse texture — it lacks the creamy starchiness or rice pudding and reminds me more of steel cut oats. The flavor of the tea is very prominent and combined with the sweetness of the cherries and the crunch of the pistachios, it makes a great breakfast or a filling snack.
Also, vanilla rooibos lattes? Totally my new favorite drink. Warm and creamy, with a slightly floral this drink reminds me of the perfect rainy day. The kind where you have nothing better to do than sit in your yoga pants, drink tea, and curl up with a book while the rain softly pitter patters outside the window.
A few tips for making this pudding:
- Make sure to rinse the quinoa well. Until the water runs clear. This will prevent it from being bitter.
- Ignore the directions on the back of the box of concentrate. If you look at the box, you’ll be tempted to use more concentrate than this recipe calls for. That would be a huge mistake. Even though you start with a cup and a half of milk, it reduces down to form the pudding and you’ll only end up with about a quarter cup of milk in the final dish. If you use too much concentrate the ratios will be way off and your pudding will be far too sweet.
Click to continue reading Vanilla Rooibos Quinoa Pudding with Cherry & Pistachio and for a change to win a great Tazo gift pack –>
Baked Crab and Corn Empanadas with Roasted Poblano Sauce
I’ve been really into fruit salsas this summer and when the hot, steamy weather last week left me craving watermelon, I decided to make a Latin American style meal featuring light and fresh summer flavors. These crab and corn empanadas were a huge hit! The crust was crispy and flakey and, while the flavor of the filling was unexpected, it just worked. The smokey and complex flavor of the poblano sauce paired perfectly with the rest of the meal – I based it off the enchilada sauce that I made for my pork and pineapple stacked enchilada and I was a little worried that it wouldn’t be good without being baked with cheese, but it definitely held its own in this dish. The pool of sauce under the empanada made for a gorgeous plate and I wouldn’t hesitate to serve this to guests. Actually, it would make a perfect dinner party dish, since the prep work is very quick and can be done ahead of time.
The empanadas were also great left over! I think they may have even gotten better after spending the night in the fridge. To reheat them, I just popped the in the toaster oven on “light” for 2 minutes – just enough to crisp up the outside and warm them through.
I served these with sauteed plantains and watermelon salsa (watermelon, red onion, jalapeno, lime juice, and salt). The meal was light and refreshing. If you want a more substantial dinner, they would also be great with a side of black beans.
Click through to get the recipes for Baked Crab and Corn Empanadas with Roasted Poblano Sauce –>
Strawberry-Rhubarb Tart with Brown Sugar Shortcrust
The other day I mentioned on twitter that I have never had rhubarb. The responses were fast and plentiful, and most fell into a rage from disbelief to pity. I never realized it was so popular – I don’t even think I knew it existed until a few years ago! I decided that since everyone seemed to love it so much, I should take the plunge and give it a try. I went with the traditional combination of rhubarb with strawberries, but I didn’t want to commit to a whole pie. So I made a tart. A tart with a brown sugar shortbread crust.
Ok, fine. Maybe I just didn’t feel like dealing with pie crust. But the shortbread crust was perfect. Strawberries and shortbread. Strawberries and brown sugar. How could you go wrong? Especially when you start out with strawberries that look like these:
I mean, strawberries have been awesome this year as it is, but take a look at those beauties! They were every bit as juicy and sweet as they look. Which is good, since I paired them with rhubarb. Which, in case you’re like me and have never had it before, is extremely tart. Especially when it’s raw. I don’t recommend doing what I did and taking a nibble to test it out.
Despite the tartness of that nibble, I could tell that this was going to be a thing of beauty so I forged ahead. Let the berries and rhubarb macerate in sugar to release the juices. Scooped it into the partially bakes cookie crust. Baked it until the filling became luscious and jammy, almost like a grown up version of a linzer tarte. Where has this been all my life?
Click to continue reading Strawberry-Rhubarb Tart with Brown Sugar Shortcrust –>
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