Muffins from scratch

After going to Costco and smelling all the wonderful bakery temptations, I came home to count my bananas. I put any bananas that haven't been gobbled up into the freezer - peel and all. Then when they add up to at least 2 c. worth, I make banana muffins. This time, I thought I'd try a new recipe -
Apple strudel muffins.
Preheat oven to 375 F and grease a 12 cup muffin pan.
Mix 2 c. all purpose flour, 1 tsp baking pwd, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 c brown sugar. In small bowl, whisk 2 eggs, 1/2 melted butter (or olive oil), 1 1/4 tsp vanilla. Add wet to dry and mix thoroughly. Add 1 1/2 c. chopped apples (or put 1 1/2 c. sliced dried apples in hot water and drain them to use as a substitute). In another bowl, mix topping: 1/3 c. packed brown sugar, 1 T flour, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1 T butter (no substitutes).
Spoon mixture into muffin pan. Sprinkle strudel topping onto each muffin. Bake 20 min. Allow 5 min to sit before removing from pan and then let cool on a wire rack.
(See www.allrecipes.com - Apple Strudel Muffins submitted by NMARIEA).
I doubled this recipe with no problem. And they were gobbled up quickly.

These banana muffins have been a favorite for many years and can be done as bread or muffins. As you can see there are many variations as I have tinkered with it. Choose what you want with the ingredients that you have. I usually stick with regular flour, brown sugar and a combination of butter and olive oil. Here is the recipe:
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Yield: Muffins - 1 1/2 batch = 24; Bread - one batch per loaf
Mix 1 3/4 c flour (substitution: 1/2 of this can be oat flour or whole wheat flour - not all), 2 1/4 tsp baking pwd, 1/2 tsp salt 2/3 c sugar (brown or white), 2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp cloves. In another bowl beat 1/3 c shortening (substitutions: applesauce, olive oil, or butter- chose two of the three with fairly close ratios but not just one completely), 3/4 tsp grated lemon rind (or 2 T Real lemon), 1-2 eggs, and 1-1 1/4 c. banana poi (4-5 bananas smashed). Add wet to dry and blend well. Optional - 1/2 c. broken nuts. Place in greased pan and bake for 1 hour (check with knife and continue cooking 8-12 more min. if needed). Cool before slicing. Or muffins go in tins and are baked for 20 min.

Two more sauces: White/Cheese and Salsa

White Sauce/Cheese Sauce 1 T butter, 1 T flour, 1/2 salt - place in blender. Warm 3/4 c. milk in microwave. Take out center of blender lid. Turn on blender and immediately add warm milk through small hole in lid. Add more flour if not thick enough. Cheese Sauce - omit salt and add as 3/4 - 1 c. cheese (chunks or shredded). Add cheese or flour until you have the consistency you want. If done quick enough, no need to heat any more. Store in fridge or add immediately to hot noodles. 

Salsa 1 1/2 c. fresh chopped tomatoes (peeled), 4 oz can diced, drained green chilis (opt.), 1/4 c. sliced green onions, 1/4 c. finely chopped green pepper, 1-2 T snipped cilantro or parsley, 2 T lemon juice, 1 clove garlic (grated or minced), several dashes of hot pepper sauce (opt.). Mix all ingredients in bowl. Blend 1/2 at a time in a blender, or keep chunky. Stores in fridge up to 1 week. Be sure to refrigerate at least 4 hours before serving (from Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook, 1989). Note: Three tomatoes should be enough for the 1 1/2 c. needed above. Using a clean pair of scissors, snip the green onions into small pieces instead of slicing. This same pair of scissors can be used for the herb you choose. www.pantryliving.blogspot.com has some more wonderful recipes! One more sauce to come - Pesto!

Recipes from Cooking Class

I'm teaching a small cooking class and have started by doing a few sauces. Here are the recipes for them.
First two: Sweet & Sour Sauce, then Teriyaki Sauce.

Two tips to start - dry flour can be used as thickening only in sauces when started when everything is cold. To add flour to a sauce at a warm point, add the flour to cold water, stir and pour into the sauce through a sieve. Usually 2T flour + 4 T water is enough for about 1 c. of sauce. Cornstarch works for cold or hot stages.
Sweet & Sour Sauce
1/3 c. vinegar, 4T pineapple juice, 2 tsp soy sauce, 1 T cornstarch, 1/2 c. sugar
Mix all ingredients. Bring to a boil and simmer 1 1/2 min. Pour over fried shrimp or tempura vegetables. (from Mary Sia's Chinese Cookbook, 1984, Univ. of HI Press).
Teriyaki Sauce
Hint: Freeze fresh ginger and garlic in ziplocks and pull out right before using. Run under warm water briefly then scrape off skin or peel back outside layer. Grate as much as you need; freeze remainder.
1 c. soy sauce, 1 c. water, 1 T grated ginger, 2 cloves grated garlic, 1 T honey, 1/4 c. brown sugar
Mix these ingredients and use as a marinade for meat, or continue with instructions for sauce.
In small container, add 2T cornstarch and 4T water. Add this to mixture above. Start on medium heat - once simmering, be sure you're mixing the sauce constantly. Once it reaches the right consistency, take off the stove.

Great Peach Jam Recipe

We have a peach tree. Some years, we have so much fruit we could bottle 200 qts. At 7 peaches per Qt. - it's amazing how much it produces. Other years, we do well to have a few to eat. This year was somewhere in between. Not all the fruit rippened at once and I wasn't always able to drop everything and bottle peaches.
One thing I used a lot is my mother-in-law's peach jam recipe. By just taking time to prepare the peaches (wash, parboil, skin, slice) on one day and making the jam on another, it seemed a lot more manageable. Now we have wonderful, inexpensive Christmas gifts to give out.
#1 If you do this quick method, you MUST add the full amount of sugar with the peaches. Missing this step will mean you have to start over. You may keep the sugary peaches in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
Here's the recipe (be sure to have your jars ready first):
4 c. ground peaches (I just use the blender to do this, since it acts as a measuring cup too)
5 c. sugar
juice from one orange (if your peaches are really juicy, skip this)
1 ground orange peel (again, I use the blender with about 1/2 of the peaches from above)
Boil these four ingredients for 15 minutes.
**** Cover bottom of a small pan with 1" water. Put on high and add the # of lids you'll need (face down so seal is in water) once water is boiling. This needs to be boiling for at least 7 min, so time yourself. ****
Optional- add 1/2 c. chopped maraschino cherries or dried cranberries.
Boil another 5 minutes (whether or not you added above).
Add 3 oz pkg of orange jello.
Stir in and let jam come to a boil again.
Pour jam into bottles. Makes about 6 cups jam. Will fill (6) 8 oz jelly jars or (3) 1/2 pints.
Clean off upper lip of jar with a paper towel - using a different part of it for each jar. Then put boiled sealing lids on, screw the ring on tight and flip it upside down.
The jam will seal this way - with no further processing!
Just let it cool completely before moving or flipping back over.
Yes!! Gotta love it!!

The Six Must-Haves for Toddlers

Check out a great article at
http://financiallyfit.yahoo.com/finance/article-113101-10286-3-toddler-gear-the-only-6-items-you-need
Hint: The six items she can't live without for her toddler are:
1- Car Seat
2- Crib (or once they're climbing out, a toddler bed)
3- Stroller
4- Sippy Cups
5- Potty
6- Crayons
Of course you'll need other basics like clothing and diapers. Make your own coloring books and flashcards. It doesn't look like she has any toys, but this article's author's child goes to daycare all day and has a lot of toys there.
As you can see, there's a lot she does without at home when they are home. She has her child use a salad fork and spoon while sitting on a regular chair at the table. She places a towel on her bed to change diapers. And they visit the library instead of collecting books at home.
If I had to list must have toddler toys, they would include a plastic doctor's kit in a bag, the ball you drop shapes into, some stacked measuring-type cups, and large mega blocks (we got ours in a handy truck). Make your own playdough and use pudding for finger painting.
Any other ideas?

The Grocery Gardening book review

I guess I grabbed the wrong book at the library. So, here's my review of Grocery Gardening: Planting, Preparing and Preserving Fresh Food.

This is a good overall book for those who have done little growing. There are some fun recipes that will help you use your produce and herbs if you're not use to doing that. One recipe caught my eye: Blueberries & Barley. Sounds like a side dish I need to try this summer.

Enjoy!

Written by Amanda Thomsen, Robin Ripley, and Teresa O'Connor

Another great frugal blog

I was researching how to reuse milk jugs and came across this great blog. Check out how to have "a fabulous life on a frugal budget" at www.thriftyjinxy.com and see the great ideas. There's recipes, freebies, tips, coupons, rebates and giveaways. Gotta love that!