Beets

These are some beets I got the other week in our food box. How absolutely gorgeous!! I was so sad to eat the last of them. We ate them raw on salad, in a carrot and beet salad and roasted.

Double Chocolate Muffins

This recipe is amazing if you love chocolate! They have a true muffin texture and are not cupcakey. These are seriously some of the best muffins I have made in a loooong time.

I slightly modified this recipe from the one I found here Diana's Desserts

Double Chocolate Muffins

3 ounces 70-80% dark chocolate (for melting)
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream (9 or 18% creme fraiche)
1/2 cup milk
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 100g (standard size) bar of 70-80% dark chocolate broken into small pieces to add to muffin mixture

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 C). Line muffin cups with muffin or cupcake liners. You can either use the jumbo or the standard size muffin pans. I prefer the standard size.

In a microwave-safe bowl, melt chocolate in the microwave on medium-high heat for 25 second intervals, stirring in between, until smooth. Set aside.

In a large bowl of an electric mixer, cream sugar and butter. Beat in eggs, then add sour cream and milk. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Pour flour mixture into butter mixture and stir together by hand. Stir in melted chocolate, then chocolate pieces.

Fill each muffin cup just to the edge of the baking cup. This will give you that nice muffin top look. Bake for about 20 minutes for standard-sized muffins or 25 minutes for giant muffins, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer muffins to wire rack to cool completely. Muffins are best eaten fresh.

Makes 6 giant or 12 standard muffins.

Speaking of Hot Sauce

We can not live without this in our house.

If you don't know it and you love hot sauce then RUN to your nearest Asian market and ask for sriracha. This is the brand we prefer, but there are many others out there to choose from. Mark loves it so much I think he would eat it on pasta for his dinner every night.

Black Eyed Peas and Cornbread

Finally the dish that this blog is named after! Yum yum YUM!

Beans: I used half a bag of dried black eyed peas. I either let them soak in water over night or I boil a pot of water and let them soak for about 6-8 hours. When you are ready to cook them, add 1 large cube (I use Knorr) of pork bullion. When I have them, I will use some large pork bones with a bit of meat on them. Either way, the beans need some porky pig love. Bring to a boil and cook over med low for 45 min-1 hour.

We prefer to eat the beans over brown rice with some diced raw onion. I put a small pat of butter on, Mark likes Sriracha pepper sauce, and Twig likes his with ketchup. A dash of Tabasco or Texas Pete is also pretty common.

Now for the corn bread...I use a slightly modified recipe from Better Homes and Garden New Cookbook. The original recipe is great as is which I why I include it with my modifications.

As a side note: If I was only able to bring one cookbook with me no matter where I lived, I believe it would be this one!

BHG Cornbread *(my modifications)

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup cornmeal
• 2 to 3 tablespoons sugar *(I only use 1 tbs sugar)
  
• 2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt*(I use 1/4 tsp salt)
  
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup milk* (I use 1 cup Buttermilk)
  
• 1/4 cup cooking oil or melted butter
• Honey (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400F. In a medium bowl stir together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

2. Add the 1 tablespoon butter to a 10-inch cast-iron skillet, a 9x1 1/2-inch round baking pan, or an 8x8x2-inch square baking pan. Place in the preheated oven about 3 minutes or until butter melts. Remove pan from oven; swirl butter in pan to coat bottom and sides of pan.

3. Meanwhile, in a small bowl combine eggs, milk, and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened. Pour batter into hot skillet or pan. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cut into wedges or squares. Serve warm. If desired, drizzle with honey. Makes 8 to 10 pieces.

Corn Muffins: Prepare as above, except omit the 1 tablespoon butter. Spoon the batter into 12 greased 2-1/2-inch muffin cups, filling cups two-thirds full. Bake in the preheated oven about 15 minutes or until light brown and a wooden toothpick inserted near centers comes out clean. Makes 12 muffins.

Blomkåls gratin (Cauliflower Soufflé)

This is a traditional Danish recipe I modified to use as the September Cooking Challenge with my Surfing Sisters ladies. I love it and it is one of my favorite Danish inspired dishes! Keep in mind it isn't a true "French style" Souffle. So you don't need a special souffle dish to make it. Any casserole dish with at least 2 inch sides will do. I only use cauliflower and leave out the ham. I plan to try the version with broccoli sometime in the next couple of weeks. I added that substitution for our challenge so I know there are a whole lot of cauliflower haters out there and I didn't want to leave them out.




Blomkåls gratin (Cauliflower Soufflé)

75 g(1/2 cup) flour
4 dl ( 1 ¾ cups) milk
25 g (1oz. Or 1 ¾ Tbsp.) butter
4 egg yolks
4 egg whites
½ tsp. Salt
¼ tsp. Pepper
400g (2 cups) fresh cauliflower (or broccoli) florets
150 g (5.5 oz.) cut strips of ham (can leave this out for vegetarian option)
unseasoned breadcrumbs


Place milk in a thick-bottomed saucepan and add flour. Stir briskly with a whisk until the flour is dissolved. Over low-medium heat continue stirring until the mixture thickens, then add the butter. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Add one egg yolk at a time and stir well between each. Cut cauliflower into small florets. Add the cauliflower, salt, and pepper to the milk and flour mixture.

Whip the egg whites until you get very stiff peaks (you can turn the bowl upside down and they don't move). Gently fold them into the mixture. Do not stir or mix. This can deflate the egg whites. Butter the sides of a 2 liter (2 quart) baking dish. And coat with breadcrumbs. The pan can be round or square-ish and preferably glass or ceramic. Pour in the batter.

Place in a preheated oven 175 C ( 350 F) and bake for 1 hour. Try and resist opening the oven door to avoid deflating the souffle!

Serves 4.

Angel's Work in Progress Grain and Veggie Burger

One day about a month ago I decided to dive in and try and create my own veggie burger recipe. I scoured other recipes online for inspiration and finally came up with a list of ingredients I wanted to include.

This recipe turned out very tasty though I have some improvements I want to try when I make future batches, I think next time I might add some soy or curry powder. Or try using some cooked brown rice. I tried my best to keep track of my measurements but I suggest tasting a bit before you add the egg. The recipe made 20 medium sized patties. I froze the leftovers and I can attest to the fact that they reheat really well. At least heating them on a pan. I also read you can take them straight from the freezer and put them on a hot grill. Haven't tried that one yet though! If anyone tries this recipe please let me know how they turn out or if there were improvements you made.


Angel's Work in Progress Grain and Veggie Burger

1/4 cup green lentils
3/4 cup red lentils
3/4 cup Bulgar
2 carrots, shredded
1 red onion, diced
1 sweet red pepper, diced
1 celery rib, diced
1 can crushed or chopped tomatoes, drained
1 can chickpeas, drained and mashed
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs
2 eggs
1 Tbs. olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
3 1/2 cups water

Cook the lentils in 3 cups water plus the salt for 30 min or until nice and mushy. Remove from heat and add Bulgar and the other 1/2 cup water to the lentil mixture. Allow to sit for 30 min. The mixture should be very stuff. Add the carrot, celery, tomatoes, and onion. Mash the chickpeas with a fork and then add. Add the bread crumbs and olive oil. Add remainder of the seasoning and taste test to make sure the seasoning is where you want it. Once you are satisfied, add the eggs. The mixture should be firm and easily make patties that will hold together. But not too dry. Use water or breadcrumbs to adjust. Let the mix cool in the fridge for about 20 min. You can either choose to cook them in olive in a pan or line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Bake at 390F for 20-25 min.

Blue Ribbon Apple Pie

I have started a monthly cooking and baking challenge with my girls at http://surfingsisters.com/ For the first baking challenge, I picked an apple pie recipe from Cooking Light magazine. We all follow the same recipe (allowing for a few substitutions of course) and share pictures and talk about how our pies turned out on our forum.

I really liked this recipe especially the filling. It was basic and no frills and the flavor of the apples really came through. I also thought the pie crust was good for a "lightened up" version. This was my first attempt at making any type of fruit pie so my crust shaping skills need a little work. My substitution was various apples from my garden. I used a mix of green, red and pink ones. 6 cups of apples may seem like a lot but it really worked well.

My tip for crust making...freeze the shortening and the butter then use a cheese grater to grate them into the flour. It makes it so much easier to work by hand. I don't have or use a pastry cutter and with this method I don't see that I need one.




Blue Ribbon Apple Pie

Yield 10 servings (serving size: 1 wedge)


Ingredients

• Crust:
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup chilled butter or stick margarine, cut into small pieces
• 1/4 cup vegetable shortening
• 1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar
• 5 to 7 tablespoons ice water
• 
  Filling:
• 2 cups thinly sliced peeled Granny Smith or other tart apple such as Newtown, Pippin, or Crispin (about 1 pound)
• 2 cups thinly sliced peeled Braeburn or other all-purpose apple such as Empire (about 1 pound)
• 1 cup thinly sliced peeled Rome or other firm baking apple such as Baldwin or Winesap (about 1/2 pound)
• 1 cup thinly sliced peeled McIntosh or other tender apple such as Gravenstein or Jonathan (about 1/2 pound)
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Cooking spray
• 2 teaspoons fat-free milk
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Preparation
To prepare crust, lightly spoon 2 cups flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine with 1/2 teaspoon salt in a bowl; cut in butter and shortening with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add vinegar and enough ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with a fork until dough is moist. Divide dough in half. Gently press each dough half into a 4-inch circle on heavy-duty plastic wrap, and cover with additional plastic wrap. Roll one half of dough, still covered, into a 12-inch circle; chill. Roll other half of dough, still covered, into an 11-inch circle; chill.

Preheat oven to 450°.

To prepare filling, combine apples and lemon juice in a large bowl. Combine 1/2 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar, 3 tablespoons flour, cinnamon, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Sprinkle over apple mixture, tossing well to combine.

Remove 1 sheet of plastic wrap from the 12-inch circle; fit dough, plastic-wrap side up, into a 9-inch pie plate coated with cooking spray, allowing dough to extend over edge of plate. Remove top sheet of plastic wrap. Spoon apple mixture into crust. Remove 1 sheet of plastic wrap from the 11-inch circle, and place dough, plastic-wrap side up, on top of apple mixture. Remove top sheet of plastic wrap. Press edges of dough together; fold edges under, and flute. Cut 6 (1-inch) slits into top of pastry using a sharp knife. Brush top and edges of pie with milk; sprinkle with 1 tablespoon granulated sugar. Place pie on a baking sheet; bake at 450° for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375° (do not remove pie from oven). Bake an additional 45 minutes or until golden (shield crust with aluminum foil if it gets too brown). Cool on a wire rack.