Jumbo Pear Muffins

My Mom is an EXCELLENT cook (and baker). I grew up on nothing but amazing homemade and homegrown food. This recipe is from Mom and is easy and always delicious. The original recipe calls for jumbo muffins but you can make it into a coffee cake or regular muffins, whatever suits your needs.

Ingredients

1 16 ounce can pears OR 3 or 4 fresh ripe pears (diced) *I always use the fresh pears and you really can't put too many in!*

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

½ cup packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon ground cardamom

½ cup shortening or butter flavor shortening (oil)

1 8 ounce container light sour cream ( or non-fat plain yogurt)

2 large eggs

1/3 cup slices almonds

Streusel Topping

You can use any recipe for this you like, here's the one I usually use:

3 tbsp flour

3 tbsp brown sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp nuts

Combine flours, brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Cut in butter to make course meal. Mix in nuts. Sprinkle over muffins.

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease 6 10 ounce custard cups or 9 in round cake pan. Place cups in jelly-roll pan for easy handling
2. Prepare Streusel topping; set aside
3. Drain pears and pat dry with paper towels; coarsely chop. In large bowl, stir flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, baking soda and cardamom until well mixed. With a pastry blender cut in shortening until mixture resembles course crumbs.
4. In a medium bowl, with wire whish or fork, mix sour cream and eggs until well blended; stir in chopped pears. Fold egg mixture into flour mixture just until moistened. (do not over-mix!)
5. Spoon batter into custard cups; sprinkle with Streusel Topping; top with slices almonds. Bake about 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in cert of muffin comes out clean. Cool muffins in cups on wire rack 10 minutes; remove from cups; cool completely on rack. Makes ~6 jumbo muffins.
   

ENJOY!

Tomatoes

Tomato sandwiches, tomato soup, stewed tomatoes, sliced tomatoes with salt and pepper, grilled tomatoes, tomato sauce . . . I feel like Bubba in Forrest Gump (except I love tomatoes as much as he loved shrimp). As we are in the heart of tomato season and I have gotten a few tomatoes off of my pitiful little plants I couldn't resist this post. Since we've been gone so much this summer my tomato plants have not recieved much tender love and care, but I planted one grape tomato and one yellow pear tomato plant which was a childhood favorite. What things do you like to make with tomatoes?

National Ice Cream Day

Today is National Ice Cream Day, and July is National Ice Cream Month. If you know me, you know that I love ice cream! It is the one food that I can make room for no matter how full I am, and can eat at any time of the day! Favorite flavors are hard to pick but Mint Chocolate Chip is typically the "old stand by".

As I was doing some research about National Ice Cream Day I couldn't resist posting this info I encountered while searching Icecream.com. They have a section called "Ice Cream Flavorology" where they list 8 flavors and then describe what the flavor you pick explains about you. So, I asked Mark to pick a flavor, he chose Butter Pecan, and this is what it said:

Funny in many ways: the uniform is the same colors Mark wears to work, personality description is pretty accurate, and the compatibility is Mint Chocolate Chip! Then I looked at my choice, and although the description is not completely accurate the only way the picture could be more perfect is if the girl had a little curl in her hair.

Bailey even likes ice cream. Publix sells Frosty Paws Ice Cream for dogs and her favorite flavor is definitely peanut butter! I found this recipe online to make doggie ice cream; haven't tried it yet but thought I'd share. It's on my list and I'll be sure to post Bailey's comments once I make it.

Frosty Paws Dog Ice Cream Recipe

32 oz. plain yogurt
1 mashed banana
2 T p'nut butter
2 T honey

It’s true dairy products aren’t good for dogs, but yogurt contains much less lactase than regular milk and the live cultures are great for your dog’s digestive system. This dog ice cream recipe is delicious and good for your pet!

1. Mix all these ingredients in your blender, then dump into ice cube trays, paper cups, or even a kong toy to freeze and serve.

2. If you want to go all out for your mutt you can freeze these homemade frosty paws just like you would homemade ice cream. A salt-less automatic ice cream maker makes this as easy as using any other appliance in your home and the frosty paws will be ready to serve in 10 minutes.

For the ultimate treat, appropriate for desert at a doggy birthday party, follow steps one and two, then take the mostly frozen dog ice cream product of number two and spread it 1” to 1½” thick on wax paper. Freeze for five minutes and thenremove dog ice cream from freezer. Next, use a paw shaped cookie cutter to cut a paw shaped “frosty paws”, remove ice cream around edges, and return paw shapes to the freezer to freeze solid.

Leftover Tortillas

Since we had tacos on Tuesday, tonight we had the left overs, but there are still a few tortillas left . . . when I was a kid we did one of two things with the leftover tortillas:

1. Spread one with butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, roll it up, and microwave for a few seconds to heat up. Yummy!

2. Sprinkle some of the left over shredded cheese on one, roll it up and microwave it to melt the cheese.

Those both still sound good to me, any other suggestions?

Homemade Tortillas

You might be thinking, why make the effort . . . but that's why I'm posting. My Mom's recipe for homemade tortillas is one of our favorites, so much that we never buy them at the store anymore! They are easy to make and much better than the store bought ones. Here's the recipe for taco night at our house:

Tortillas

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup oil

1/2 cup warm water

Mix the flour and salt in a medium bowl. Add the oil (I use olive oil), mixing with your fingers or a fork. Then slowly add the warm water until mixture forms a round ball of dough. Let sit for 20 minutes.

Split dough into small balls, we usually make 12 small tortillas with this recipe. Place a dry frying pan on the stove over medium to medium/high heat. Flour a cutting board and roll out the tortillas until very thin. Cooking them one a time in the frying pan. Tortillas only cook a few minutes on each side so watch them closely. They will bubble up in the pan and as soon as they the bottom side starts to brown flip them. Once cooked place in a tortilla warmer, or between two plates to keep them warm. Cook all tortillas and enjoy with your preferred taco fillings.

We use:

ground beef (for Mark)

black beans(for Hannah)

cheese

lettuce

tomato

corn

sour cream

Once you make them you'll never buy tortilla shells at the grocery store again!

Scandinavian Food

Since we're off to Scandinavia I thought it only appropriate to talk about what we might expect to eat there. This was the first recipe I encountered when searching for Iceland, yum! Other than that it looks like Iceland is known for it's wide variety of fish (caught in the unpolluted North Atlantic waters), and fresh vegetables.

Icelandic Pancakes (or Crepes) with Whipped Cream.
Batter: 3 cups flour, 4 eggs, 3 tbs. butter (melted), 1/2 tsp. baking soda, 1/2 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. vanilla essence, 2 ½ -3 cups milk.

Directions: Separate egg whites and beat until stiff. Mix together all other ingredients and add the egg whites last. Bake paper-thin on a hot cast-iron griddle (about 9 inches in diameter). Spread with preserves, jam or jelly, one tablespoon whipped cream. Fold into triangles. Serve with afternoon coffee or as dessert. (Traditional)

In Norway, fish will be in abundance as well but I also found this link to traditional Norwegian foods to try while we're there.

And finally, in Sweden there are many internationally renown chefs and restaurants so I don't think we'll have any difficulty finding something delicious to try. This Ice Bar/Restaurant has been recommended and is on our list of possibilities.

We'll try to take plenty of pictures to share when we return.

Beef Bordelaise

Here's an easy weeknight dinner that's one of our favorites. Served with a side salad or some steamed vegetables we can divide it into at least 2 nights of dinner. I used to make this for the Ayares (a family I babysit for in high school and college) which makes me enjoy making it even more now because it reminds me of them! :-)

BEEF BORDELAISE

1 1/2 lbs stew beef

1 tablespoon margarine

1 clove garlic

1 medium onion chopped (~1/2 cup)

Salt & pepper

1 can tomato soup

3/4 cup red wine

1/2 cup water

1/4 teaspoon basil

1/4 teaspoon thyme

1/2 cup ketchup

Cut meat into bite size pieces and brown in pan. In a sauce pan combine all other ingredients and bring to a boil. Add meat to sauce and cook for about 15 minutes. Serve over egg noodles.