Yay Muffins!

So a while ago, I made this super yummy cake by boiling lemons and oranges and then putting them in the food processor to make a paste. You then add olive oil, toasted almonds all the other stuff you need to make a cake (the recipe is from orangette.blogspot.com if you're interested). Seriously, it was amazing! Anyway, last week I got a new cookbook (it's an obsession, I guess:) called Muffins Galore. I already have the one entitled Cupcakes Galore and I love it, so I assumed it would be just as awesome...and so far it is! I decided to make the Clementine Cranberry Muffins, because clementines and dried cranberries are something I happen to have a lot of at the moment. As it turns out, the recipe told me to do the same thing I did with the citrus cake. I chopped up the clementines and boiled them and got some hugely flavorful muffins! So delicious! Plus, I found out later that each muffin has half your vitamin C for the day! Anyway, here's the recipe:

3 small clementines
3/4 c. water
2 c. AP flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. dried cranberries
1 egg, slightly beaten
7 tbs. butter, melted
For the topping:
1/2 c. rolled oats
1/4 c. brown sugar
2 heaping tbs. AP flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 c. butter, cut into small pieces

Roughly chop the clementines and put in a small saucepan with the water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, half cover the pan with a lid and simmer for 20 min. Remove pan from heat, let cool for 10 min., then puree the mixture in a blender or food processor until smooth. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 375. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan. Make the topping by placing all ingredients in a bowl and rubbing in the butter; set aside. For the muffins, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, salt and cranberries in a large bowl. Mix the clementine mixture with the egg and melted butter and add to dry ingredients. Add a little water or milk if the batter isn't moist enough. Spoon the batter into prepared muffin cups, then sprinkle topping mixture evenly over the tops of the muffins. bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes or until well risen and golden. Enjoy!

Delicious Healthy Eating...

I love food but I want to be skinny. It's a tricky business trying to appease the cute jeans from Macy's as well as my appetite, yet the battle continues...the brownie or the bikini...

This weekend, I was looking through a cookbook that I have on my shelf called Best Place Northwest Cookbook and I realized it's the only cookbook I have that I have not used and I don't know why, because everything in it looks amazing! I picked out a couple(one being the Breakfast Frittata from a B&B in Friday Harbor) and decided I'd try them this week. Well, on Monday I attempted the breakfast frittata and to make a long story short, it didn't really work out. Largely b/c I really didn't have a good pan for it. So, on Tuesday I went to Macy's, got a new pan and tried again today. Seriously this frittata is soooo yummy, and what's amazing about it is that it is only like 246 calories per serving. So instead of eating something lame in the morning like a Slimfast or nonfat-whole-wheat-fun-sucked-out-of-it-muffin, you can actually eat this super filling breakfast with eggs and sausage and veggies and not mess with your diet! Yay!

If you want the recipe:
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 oz. bulk turkey sausage
2 medium red potatoes, cut into 1/2 in. cubes
6 eggs
3 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh dill or 1/4 teaspoon dried dill
1/4 teaspoon lemon pepper or fresh ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (or more if you're not a wuss! I used chinese chili sauce...yum!)
Pinch salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/4 c. diced green onion (about half a bunch)
1/4 c. diced red bell pepper (about half a red pepper)

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a small skillet, add turkey sausage and cook over medium heat, breaking into small pieces, until no pink remains, about 10 minutes. Set aside.
Bring a small pan of water to a boil, add potatoes and cook 5 minutes; drain.
In a medium bowl combine eggs, water dill, pepper, hot pepper sauce and salt.
Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil with butter in a 12 in. nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add potatoes and fry until golden and crisp, about 10 minutes. Add the sausage and veggies and cook 1 minute longer.
Pour egg mixture over all this and cook over medium heat, gently lifting the edges as the eggs set to help distribute the uncooked egg. Cooked until edges are set and bottom is lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and serve.

I'm a Food Blogger Now...

Hello everyone! I have decided to share with you my culinary adventures by starting a food blog. So here it is...