Monday, November 21, 2011

"You're making old person muffins?"

In case you couldn't tell, I'm making a bit of an effort to start updating sort of regularly again. I'm not going to promise any sort of schedule, because this blog is supposed to be for fun, and schedules stress me out. I'll be sharing a lot of older stuff for a while- stuff I made and didn't share because I was too lazy to type.

These may be the first muffins I've made that I didn't like.

I made these thinking that I wouldn't really like them. Hoping, but thinking 'wow, these certainly sound... interesting, I hope they're good...' Mama Bird looked at the recipe and assured me that if I didn't like them, she'd eat them. So I decided to be brave and to try it. I like new food, right?



They don't even really look good.

I tried to like them, and I did eat two before I gave up and declared that they were all for Mama Bird. She did eat them all, to her credit, but I don't know how she did it. I'll be sticking to sweeter muffins from now on.

Recipe from Teaspot NYC.
  • 2 cups applesauce
  • 2 ounces dates
  • 1 cup wheat bran
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 3/4 teaspoon ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 5/8 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
  • 1.25 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon allspice
  • 1/4 cup old-fashioned oats
    1. Preheat oven to 375.
    2. Heat applesauce and dates over medium heat, stirring frequently, until mixture is reduced to about 1.25 cups, or 15-20 minutes.
    3. Remove from heat and let cool completely.
    4. Transfer applesauce to bowl, and mix in bran, buttermilk, egg, honey, ginger, and vanilla.
    5. In separate bowl, mix flour, flaxseed, baking soda, salt, allspice, and 1/4 cup oats.
    6. After letting stand for 10 minutes, mix ingredients together.
    7. Transfer batter into muffin tins.
    8. Bake 20-23 minutes.

    Makes 12 muffins, with 90 calories and $0.43 per serving.
  • Tuesday, November 15, 2011

    Smoky hummus!



    This is a ridiculously easy hummus recipe. Although honestly, all hummus is easy once you've made it. I posted about it a while ago, but didn't have any sort of recipe to share, so I decided it was time to experiment again until I could come up with this.

    Sister Bird loved this hummus. As in she would go out and buy me the ingredients for it so I would make it for her. Now that she's back at school, I guess I won't be making it as often, but that's only because I know I'll be the only one who ends up eating it, since Papa Bird hates anything that has curry powder in it, and Mama Bird claims it's too spicy.

    They're both wrong, it's delicious.

    Smokey Hummus
    (Makes 5 servings, with 178 calories and $0.60 per serving)

  • 5 cloves garlic
  • 15.5 oz chickpeas, half drained
  • 3 tablespoons tahini
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 1 teaspoon Frank's red hot
  • 1 teaspoon sriracha
    1. Mince garlic.
    2. Combine everything in food processor.
    3. Blend until smooth, adding additional liquid from chickpeas if hummus is not smooth enough.
  • Wednesday, November 9, 2011

    Butternut Squash Soup

    Mama Bird has been pretty amazing recently.  Not only did she magically produce a brand new immersion blender from our basement when I mentioned I was thinking of buying one, she signed us up for a Community Supported Agriculture.  If you don't know what that is, it means that every Wednesday for the next two months we get a box of locally grown vegetables.  I was quite excited about it when she brought the idea up to me, because I knew that it meant I'd be getting vegetables to play with that I had never cooked.  Sure enough, last week we had a butternut squash and some leeks.  I haven't messed with the leeks, although Mama Bird stole the potatoes that were meant to become the chips for the fish and chips I'll be making sometime this week.  Hopefully Thursday or Friday, if Skyrim doesn't steal my entire life.

    I wasn't sure I'd like this soup, because I've never been a huge squash fan, and I don't tend to enjoy sweetness.  But I liked this.  I dipped some bread in it at first, but I don't think it needs that.  It tastes thick, like it has cream, but it's all healthy.  I'm hoping to eat it for lunch this week to make up for the amount of naughtiness I've been eating- remember that coconut ice?  It's all gone now.  I throw out the remaining third after I gained enough strength to resist it.  Sadly, I didn't ever take a picture of it...   nor do I have a picture of this soup.  It just doesn't look great, sadly.

    But it tastes good.  If you want a light healthy soup, give it a shot.

    Recipe from A Year of Slow Cooking.
  • 1 butternut squash
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 onions
  • 4 cups vegetable broth
  • 2 apples
  • 1.5 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon cloves
  • 1/4 teaspoon coriander
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
    1. Cut squash in half longways, microwaving if the skin is too tough.
    2. Scoop out seeds.
    3. Coat in olive oil and roast at 400 for 15 minutes.
    4. In slow cooker, combine cubed and peeled apples, onion, broth, and spices.
    5. Cover and cook on high while waiting for squash.
    6. Peel squash, and cut into cubes.
    7. Cook on low for 8 hours.
    8. Blend.