Fall
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 –>
Meat-Free Friday: Apple and Blue Cheese Galette
You read it right, meat-free Friday is back!! And this time around I’m going to do my best to really keep it meat-free – including no seafood. Vegetarian recipes will, as always, continue to be tagged as bothvegetarian and as lent.
Have you ever wished that you could eat apple pie for dinner? This galette stuffed with sauteed apples and fennel, caramelized onions, and blue cheese is pretty close! Just like apple pie, this dish is great either warm or at room temperature; just be sure to store any leftovers in the fridge.
I don’t know where the idea came from, but while I was doing my weekly menu-planning, I decided that I wanted to make an apple and blue cheese galette. Thinking about it more I decided that, while it sounded great, it needed more – both to add bulk and make it filling as well as to add some sharpness to the flavor. I decided that caramelized onions would be perfect. Then I saw fennel while I was shopping and decided to grab that too. Apples and fennel pair perfectly, and together, the onions and fennel moved this dish squarely from the dessert column to the dinner column. [....]
Maple-Glazed Root Vegetables
I’ve never been a vegetable person. I have my favorites (ahem… brussels sprouts), but in general they aren’t something that I get excited about. Especially when it comes to vegetable side dishes, where they don’t get to hide behind other flavors. But these maple-glazed root vegetables are another story: they can be enjoyed just as much by the veggie-hater as the veggie-lover. I made these to go along with steak and french fries – at the end of dinner, my plate still had steak and french fries on it, but there were no vegetables left. I was so excited about them that I made them again right away, to bring for lunch the next day. It’s amazing what a little bit of maple syrup can do.
That’s not to say that these vegetables are super sticky sweet – the syrup really only forms a light glaze that imparts a hint of maple flavor while keeping the vegetables from drying out while they roast. You also want to be sure to use real maple syrup on these, rather than “maple flavored syrup” (like Aunt Jemima and the other popular brands) that have corn syrup as their first ingredient. Real maple syrup has a lot less sugar, and a slightly bitter taste that takes some getting used to on your pancakes, but it a perfect foil to the natural sweetness of the root vegetables and to the peppery flavor of the parsnip and turnip.
You can use whatever winter root vegetables are available, and whatever you like. I used sweet potato, carrots, parsnip, and turnip – but you can feel free to leave any one of those out or add another vegetable of your choice. When I make these again I want to try adding fennel, which I think will be fabulous. I also want to play around with adding some beets (probably not with the carrots and sweet potato though). It’s all about figuring out which vegetables you like best and going with it. [....]
Daring Cooks: Mushroom and Roquefort Wellington
Daring cooks make me do it. I know that it was only yesterday that I was complaining about eating to many fried, cheesy, en croute type dishes. But somehow, I totally forgot about this month’s Daring Cooks! They made me do it! I don’t know what happened, but for some reason I had the reveal date marked on my calendar as today, so I’m a day late. But I started making this wellington over the weekend and was planning to have it last night for dinner anyway so, for the most part it, worked out ok.
The 2009 Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Simone of Junglefrog Cooking. Simone chose Salmon en Croute (or alternate recipes for Beef Wellington or Vegetable en Croute) from Good FoodOnline. When I first read what the challenge was going to be, I was really excited. I was all set to make Lamb Wellington – something I’ve been dying to make ever since they kept making it that one season on Hell’s Kitchen. But when the time came, I just wasn’t feeling it. You see… in addition to being sick of fried, greasy foods we’re also sick of meat. I know! Crazy right? We’ve actually eaten very little meat in the past few months and we’re not really missing it. Once a week or so seems like the perfect amount. So I thought of what else I could fill these with, and finally settles on mushrooms and blue cheese. Which was AWESOME. The flavors were simple, but so so so good. [....]
Cauliflower and Chard Gratin
Well, well, what do we have here? That’s right – a meal centered around vegetables! I feel like its been a while, but its just so hard for me to get inspired by veggies this time of year. This dish makes the best of what’s in season with cauliflower and chard. Yes, cauliflower. I know what you’re thinking, but trust me – that cauliflower is getting mixed with cheese and cream sauce. Because cheese and cream sauce can make just about anything taste good.
I’ll admit, I was a littler nervous about how this was going to come out: I figured it would either be totally gross or totally awesome. It was way better than I ever imagined it could be! We both loved it, and I happily gobbled it down while already looking forward to the leftovers. The cauliflower was tender without being mushy, and the chard was slightly bitter in a way that cut through the creamy sauce very nicely (it reminded me of the Brussels sprouts in this dish). If you must, think of this as a grown-up version of macaroni and cheese with cauliflower standing in for the pasta. You wont be disappointed. This is definitely a dish that I’ll be making again and again all winter.[....]
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