Rainy Day Baking: Strawberry Greek Yogurt Muffins!

I totally get the need for gloomy days in April; you know, "April showers bring May flowers" and all that jazz, but it's hard to perk up when the skies are gray! Rainy days are ALWAYS good for baking! I just happened to have bought strawberries on sale this week, so muffins it was!  And of course, I found this recipe on Pinterest.....enjoy!

Strawberry Greek Yogurt Muffins (adapted from www.cooksjoy.com) 

2 cups flour (or 1 1/2 cups flour and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup milk
one egg
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup Greek yogurt
1 1/2 cups chopped strawberries, plus a few pieces for sprinkling on top

Combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a bowl with a whisk.  In another bowl, combine milk, egg, oil and Greek yogurt. Mix till smooth.  Add to the dry ingredients and mix gently to combine. Fold in strawberries.  Pour into greased muffin tins (or lined with cupcake papers) and place additional strawberry pieces on top, if needed.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until tops are golden.  I have dark, non-stick muffin tins, so I baked mine at 375 degrees for just 20 minutes. 

They are wonderful when warmed up!

Thinking Spring; lemony Baked Greek Chicken Meatballs

After a long, horrid, blustery winter, I am SOOOOOO ready for anything spring-like! Lemon to the rescue; these light, flavorful meatballs were just the thing to pick me (and my girlfriends) up! The Tzatziki sauce was an awesome accompaniment! Zesty! I served the meatballs with a super simple 5-layer Greek dip (see 5/10/13 post for recipe) with warm Naan bread and some red raspberry brownie bites (brownie mix in mini muffin tins topped with fresh raspberries - oh yeah!). Welcome, spring!

Baked Greek Chicken Meatballs with Tzatziki 

(I found the recipe on Pinterest, of course, but forgot to note the source - sorry!)

1 pound ground chicken

1/2 onion, diced small

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon dried oregano

zest of one lemon

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 egg

1/2 cup breadcrumbs (I used panko). 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place ground chicken in a large bowl and add the onion, garlic, oregano, lemon zest and salt and pepper.  Add the egg and breadcrumbs and mix with hands until just combined.  Lightly oil a baking sheet with olive oil.  Form meatball in large portions and place onto the baking sheet.  Bake for 12 minutes, flip them over, and bake for another 12 minutes, or until they are no longer pink inside. 

Serve with Tzatziki sauce:

1 cup Greek yogurt

1/2 cucumber, peeled and diced very small

2 Tablespoons dried dill 

juice of 1/2 of a lemon

1 small clove of garlic, minced

salt and pepper, to taste

Combine yogurt, cucumber, dill, lemon juice and garlic. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

"Loaded" Blondies

Being stuck in the house for a week and a half, due to illness, really made me want to bake something yummy this weekend. These "loaded" goodies were savory and decadent; just what the doctor ordered! And, easier to make than cookies! And the best part was that I had all the ingredients in my pantry, so I didn't even have to leave the house! They are yummy warm or at room temperature, and are probably awesome with a scoop of vanilla ice cream! 

Loaded Blondies (thanks to www.fakeginger.com for the recipe!)

2 cups flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 sticks butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup semisweet or milk chocolate chips

1 cup butterscotch chips

1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup sweetened flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Butter a 9 X 13-inch baking dish.  Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.  In a large bowl, beat the butter until fluffy.  Add the sugars and beat until well combined.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating the mixture between additions, and then beat in the vanilla.  Add the flour mixture and stir until just combined.  By hand, stir in the chips, nuts and coconut.  Scrape the batter into the buttered baking dish and spread with a spatula to even out the batter.  

Bake for 40 minutes, in the center of the oven, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.  The blondies should pull away from the sides of the baking dish a little and the top should be a nice honey brown.  Transfer baking dish to a wire rack to cool.  When cooled, cut into squares (you should end up with 20-32 squares).  Enjoy!

I love how the blondies look like they are in a French patisserie! Oo la la!

Quintessential Comfort Food: Cheesy Tater Tot Casserole

My daughter and I have both been battling chest colds/bronchial issues the past week and a half, and nothing puts you more in the mood for "comfort food" than feeling under the weather!  I can't believe I've never made tater tot casserole before, it got such rave reviews I'm definitely adding it to the lineup! I "tweaked" several recipes I found online, so feel free to modify to your liking, too! Here's what I did:

Cheesy Tater Tot Casserole  

a pound of ground beef (or ground turkey)

one small onion, chopped

one can cream of mushroom soup

a bag of frozen tater tots

shredded cheese (I used a new "four cheddar" variety I found at the supermarket)

Brown the ground beef , then drain the grease and put back into pan.  Add chopped onion and cook till soft.  Place meat in the bottom of a casserole dish.  Arrange tater tots on top of meat.  Pour mushroom soup on top of tater tots, stir if you want.  Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.  Remove from oven, top with shredded cheese and then bake for 5 additional minutes. Perfection!

There are many variations of this recipe; you could add peas or mushrooms, use sour cream instead of soup, or use hashbrowns instead of tater tots. Just DON'T omit the cheese! That would just be pure craziness....

March Madness Food; aka Crescent Pepperoni Roll-Ups

Every spring, my husband takes two days off work to "sit around and watch college basketball". I'm usually recruited to make a yummy snack, or two (big surprise), and am always looking for something new to make (another big surprise).  This year, he requested a big, baked Stromboli-thing I make (see 2/5/12 post for recipe), but I just didn't have the energy to undertake it this year.  What I did make, though, is practically just as good, and much quicker/easier to make; sort of "mini Strombolis"!

Crescent Pepperoni Roll-Ups (with a nod to www.plainchicken.com)

2 "cans" refrigerated crescent rolls (8 count)

big bag of pepperoni slices

8 pieces of mozzarella string cheese, cut in half

garlic powder

spaghetti/marinara sauce (optional), for dipping

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Unroll crescent rolls and separate into 16 triangles. Place 5 slices of pepperoni on each triangle and top with a piece of the halved string cheese. Roll up, starting from the big end and working to the tip of the triangle.  Place on baking sheet lined with aluminum foil (for easy clean-up) and sprinkle each "roll-up" with garlic powder. 

Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown.  Serve warm with a side of spaghetti/marinara sauce for dipping. This recipe makes 16; I doubled it for the "March Madness" group!

Sooooooo yummy; like tiny, inside-out pepperoni pizzas! 

Today's Brilliant Idea: Freezing Avocados

I've seen this on Pinterest for some time now; freezing avocados for future use! My local supermarket had a great deal: 5 for a dollar! There is NO way I could eat them all before they went bad, so I peeled them, pitted them and "smooshed" them in my standing mixer (with a few tablespoons of lemon juice). 

Now I have "guac starter" in my freezer, ready whenever I want it!  Just thaw and add your choice of spices, and serve!

Thanks to www.sausome.com for the super-cute illustrated "recipe"!

Crock Pot Coconut Chicken Curry

Had enough of this winter's horrid weather? I have! To help pull myself out of "gloominess", I decided to "spice things up" (get it?) with some savory food; and oh, how my house smelled amazing while this was simmering away on the kitchen counter! Whoa! So, thanks once again, Pinterest! 

Crock Pot Coconut Chicken Curry  

adapted from www.tastykitchen.com

2 pounds (or so) boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into large chunks

a whole onion, peeled and quartered

2 cloves garlic, peeled

a whole small green bell pepper, seeded and quartered

a small can (6 ounces or so) tomato paste

a can (13 ounces or so) coconut milk (shaken)

1 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon curry powder

1 Tablespoon Garam Masala (I found it at my supermarket for about $2.50)

2 Tablespoons water

1 1/2 Tablespoons cornstarch

fresh cilantro

Place cubed chicken in crock pot.  Add remaining ingredients (except water, cornstarch and cilantro) to a large food processor or blender and puree until smooth-ish.  Pour sauce on top of the chicken, mix well and put the lid on the crock pot.  

Cook on low for six hours.  An hour before serving, mix the water and cornstarch in a small bowl, until the cornstarch is completely dissolved.  Add to the chicken and curry, and mix well.  At this time, I also added another 1/2 teaspoon of curry powder and Garam Masala, since cooking things in a crock pot for 6 hours kind of dulls the potency of the spices.  Cook another hour on low, and then get your taste buds ready!

I made a huge, double batch of jasmine rice, to serve the curried chicken on.  And topped it off with lots of fresh cilantro, which looked lovely in the late afternoon sun, don't you think? Yum, yum, yummy, yum yum!