Savory Cheese Muffins

Savory Cheese Muffins

These muffins mix up in a snap and make a wonderful accompaniment to soup. (Need some soup ideas?  Try Butternut Squash Lentil Soup or Creamy Cauliflower Soup from 2012 posts or Honey Corn Chowder from a 2011 post.)  The original recipe, Fig's Cheese Muffins, was a finalist in a contest on the Pioneer Woman blog. I played around with some of the ingredients--swapping honey for the sugar, for starters.  These muffins are amazing when eaten hot right out of the oven.  They're respectable cold--but the cheesy goodness shines when they're warm! 

Preheat oven to 375.  Spray a 12-cup muffin tin, being sure to spray the top of the tin, too, as these muffins have a tendency to stick.
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (can substitute 1/2 cup whole wheat for a firmer crumb)

1 tablespoon (yes! tablespoon!) baking powder1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons honey
1 cup milk
1 egg, beaten.

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Toss in the grated cheese and mix to coat. Melt the butter and stir the honey into it to combine well.  Stir in the milk  and beaten egg and combine well.  Pour the milk mixture over the flour mixture and stir quickly to combine--don't over mix.  Spoon the batter in to the prepared muffin tin, filling about 3/4ths full.  Bake for about 20 minutes, or until muffins are nicely browned.  Eat soon!

Soup and Muffins for a Snowy Day

I've been a shamefully neglectful blogger lately--I can barely lay claim to the title! But with this post, I can at least claim to have made a post every month in 2012.  Do I get a prize?  I do!  Some delicious curried butternut squash lentil soup and fluffy peanut butter muffins!  

Curried Butternut Squash & Red Lentil Soup
The inspiration for this recipe comes from a blog called Yummy Mummy Kitchen. I made just a few changes to the recipe--including using butternut squash puree instead of pumpkin.  We're still working our way through a bumper crop of butternut squashes that at this rate may just last until May!

2 tablespoons olive oil (or a neutral oil if you prefer)
1 small onion, chopped
1 small apple, peeled and chopped
2 teaspoons (or more, if you'd like) curry powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 1/2 cups red lentils
48 ounces (6 cups) vegetable broth
2 cups pureed butternut squash (or pumpkin--you could use a 15 ounce can)
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk (if you don't have coconut milk, you could use regular cow's milk or almond milk or  half-and-half or even some yogurt if you'd like)

Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, sprinkle with about 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, and saute until the onion softens.  Add the apple, a few more sprinkles of salt, and saute for about five minutes more until the apple softens as well.  Stir in the curry powder and cumin and cook until they're fragrant.  Stir in the lentils, coating with oil and spices, then add the broth, squash, honey and coconut. Bring to just a boil and then turn heat down to a simmer.  Simmer soup, uncovered, for about 30 minutes or so, until lentils are soft and soup thickens.  You can add fancy toppings if you'd like:  chopped cilantro, a tablespoon or two of some more coconut milk (or yogurt).  But it's pretty good just as it is.  This makes a big pot of soup--would serve 8 easily.

Peanut Butter Muffins
I expected the peanut butter to make these muffins heavy, but they're the lightest muffins I've ever made.  The original recipe comes from another blog, A Pinch of Yum, though I made a few changes to it as well.  The most significant is adding some baking soda to the batter to counteract the acidity of the honey.  I think that's what made them so light and fluffy.  I love that this recipe makes only 6 muffins.  It could easily be doubled, though!

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
3 tablespoons peanut butter
2 tablespoons canola oil
3 tablespoons honey
1 cup milk (could use almond or soy milk; I used skim)

Grease a 6-cup muffin tin and set aside. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, soda and salt.  In a smaller bowl, stir the peanut butter, oil and honey together until well blended.  Slowly add the milk to the peanut butter mixture and stir well until thoroughly combined.  Add the milk/peanut butter mixture to the dry ingredients and stir to combine using as few strokes as you can--you want the batter to be mixed together, but it's okay if there a few lumps.  Spoon the batter into the greased muffin tin and put in the oven, checking after 10 minutes--but will likely take 15 minutes for the tops to be dry and springy (and a toothpick inserted in the middle to come out clean).  Makes 6 muffins.

Got Local Honey? Get a Local Honey Dipper!

Check out these lovely honey dippers made with a variety of woods (like cherry and maple--some from local trees!). They're made by the skilled hands of Leslie Struthers at Struthers Turning Studio. (Click on the link to see more of Leslie's creations, including gorgeous spice grinders, pens and bowls.)  






The dippers are remarkably efficient at gathering a pool of honey for "precision drizzling"--and each one is unique. I bought four to test out.  At $5 each, they make wonderful gifts, especially when paired with a jar of local honey.   The dipper made it easy to add a drizzle of honey to the cold beet and potato soup I made a few days ago. 

 

COLD BEET AND POTATO SOUP

Robert went crazy planting potatoes this spring. He set them up in some old bee boxes, which have made it easy to keep filling with dirt and mulch to provide lots of room for the potatoes to grow.  

Paired with our bumper beet crop, the potatoes make a creamy cold soup that is refreshing on a hot day and brilliantly purple.  The recipe, which Bob Batz Jr. wrote about a few weeks ago in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, comes from Jeff Koehler's new cookbook, Morocco:  A Culinary Journey. It can be served hot or cold.

COLD BEET & POTATO SOUP

1 1/2 pounds medium beets, peeled and quartered
1 1/2 pounds medium white potatoes, peeled and quartered
salt and freshly ground black pepper
scant 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 tablespoons butter (optional)
1-2 tablespoons honey for drizzling (optional)


Place the beets and potatoes in a saucepan with 5 1/2 cups of water and bring to a boil.  Season with salt and pepper, cover the pan and cook until the beets and potatoes are soft but not falling apart--about 30 minutes.  Remove from the heat and let cool for about 10 minutes.  In batches, puree the soup in a blender (the original recipe calls for a food processor, but I think a blender makes for a smoother soup).  Blend until completely smooth.  Stir in the ginger, and if using, the butter.  Stir until the butter melts in and is thoroughly combined. Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed.  If serving cold, then let the soup cool a bit on the counter then place in refrigerator for at least two hours.  If serving hot, then return to the pan and bring to just under a boil.  Serve in small bowls with a drizzle of honey on top.  You can also add a dollop of yogurt (or sour cream) if you want to get extra fancy.  Makes about eight 1/2 cup servings.

Winter Bees

Western PA was hit with our first big snow storm of the winter last night.  The apiary is buried under about six inches of snow.  We often get asked how bees get through the winter, especially since honey bees don't sleep, they don't hibernate and they don't fly around when the temperatures are below 40 degrees.  

So, what do bees do in the winter time?  They cluster. 

As winter’s cold sets in, the worker bees tightly cluster around their queen and vibrate—shiver, really.   Their collective shivering keeps the internal temperature of the hive at a cozy 95 degrees, nearly the same temperature as a normal human body.  The bees move in and out of the cluster so no individual freezes.  They all share the burden.  As the winter progresses, the cluster moves through the hive, munching on the stores of honey they worked so hard to save through the spring, summer and fall. 

A typical colony needs about 60 pounds of honey at minimum to survive the winter.  An experienced beekeeper can lift up a hive from the back to judge the weight and tell if the bees will have enough to eat.  Anything over about 80 pounds is surplus honey that the beekeeper can safely take for herself.  

The job of the winter worker bee is to feed the queen and get the colony through these next frigid months. In the spring and summer, a worker bee will live no more than six weeks.  She literally works herself to death tending to the colony and foraging for nectar and pollen to feed their young and store for the winter.  The winter worker bee, though, can live as long as four to six months—the kind of time a colony needs to survive the vagaries of a Pittsburgh winter.  On a rare winter day when the temperature inches over 40, the bees will break their cluster and take what are called “cleansing flights”; they leave the hive to relieve themselves.  Mostly, though, they shiver and eat their way through winter.  Kind of like the rest of us.

Here's a recipe for Creamy Curry Cauliflower Soup, perfect for a winter's day.  Adapted from a Vegetarian Times recipe (a great source for soup recipes!). All the creaminess comes from the vegetables--it doesn't have even a splash of milk.  The honey is mostly a spice or flavoring here. Serve with bread or corn muffins. And don't forget to cluster!


2 tablespoons olive oil 1 small onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 medium tart apple, peeled, cored and chopped (about 1 cup)
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 clove of garlic
1 large head cauliflower, chopped (about 6 cups)
4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth (or, if you're not vegetarian, chicken broth)
1 - 2 tablespoons honey, plus more for a drizzling.
1 teaspoon vinegar (cider, rice wine, white wine)
salt and pepper to taste

Saute onion in olive oil until soft and golden in a stock pan. Add apples, curry powder and garlic and cook until curry powder is fragrant and apples soften a bit.  Add cauliflower and broth, bring just to a boil.  Lower heat, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the cauliflower and apple are very soft.  Let the soup sit for about 20 minutes for the flavors to meld.  Blend until smooth. Stir in the honey and vinegar.  Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.

Honey Corn Chowder

A delicious, slightly sweet soup that makes good use of late summer corn.

6 ears of corn (or about 3 cups of frozen corn)

4-6 Yukon gold potatoes, 1/2 inch dice

1 green pepper, diced

1/2 hot red pepper (like cayenne) or 1/2 teaspoon dried cayenne flakes (optional)

1 small onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 cups vegetable or chicken broth

2 cups water from cooking the corn

Water from cooking potatoes, if needed

1/2 cup half-and-half

3 tablespoons summer honey

salt and pepper to taste

If using corn on the cob, cut kernels from the cob over a 2 quart sauce pan and scrape to be sure you get all of the lovely corn milk.  Cover with water and bring to a boil,, then simmer for 5 minutes. Drain, reserving water.

Place potatoes in a large pot (this will be the soup pot) and cover with water.  Add about 1 teaspoon of salt.  Bring to a boil and simmer until potatoes are just done, about 10 minutes.  Drain, reserving potato water.

While potatoes are cooking, sauté pepper(s), onions and garlic until softened.  Add HALF of the corn and continue cooking until onions and corn begin to brown.  Puree this mixture in a food processor.

Add corn puree to the potatoes along with the vegetable broth and reserved corn.  Add reserved corn water and, if needed, potato water for a thinner soup.  You want it to be substantial, but still "soupy" (not like a stew).  Heat to just under a boil.  Stir in 1/2 cup half and half and the honey.  Slowly heat (but do not boil).  Check seasoning, adding salt and pepper to taste.  This makes about 8 cups of soup.

Cooling Chilled Soups (and Robert's Blueberry Blast)

A cold soup on a hot day can revive even the most wilted diner. When it's too hot to cook, pair the carrot, mango or cucumber soups with fresh tomato/feta/basil salad and some crusty bread or crackers.  The berry soup or blueberry blast make great hot-weather desserts!

Cold Carrot Honey Soup 

I served this as a first course for my niece Alison's wedding shower a few years ago.  It now makes a regular appearance at our table at least a few times during the summer. 

1 lb carrots scraped & chopped in a 1/2 inch dice

1 med. onion, chopped in a 1/2 inch dice

1/4 tsp. each: ground cumin, coriander & paprika

1/8 tsp. cayenne

1 cup vegetable broth

3 cups water

1 TBSP lemon juice

2 TBSP summer honey

Place ingredients in saucepan & simmer until carrots are soft.  Cool.  Blend until smooth & chill for a few hours before serving.  Nice garnish options (and or all):  a dollop of Greek yogurt, a drizzle of honey, a pinch of lemon zest.  Makes 4 cups.  

Cold Curried Mango Soup

This makes a gorgeous, bright yellow soup with just the slightest hint of spicy heat.  You can ramp up the spiciness a bit by adding more curry (or a dash of cayenne pepper). 

1 large mango, peeled and chopped

1/2 cup Greek yogurt (or regular yogurt--low fat is fine)

1 1/2 cups skim milk 

2 tablespoons summer honey

1 teaspoon curry powder (or to taste)

Pinch of salt to taste.

Place the ingredients in a blender (or use an immersion blender) and blend until smooth.  Chill for at least two hours.  Makes about 3 cups. 

Chilled Cucumber-Yogurt Soup

This recipe is adapted from Mollie Katzen's classic Moosewood Cookbook (rev. edition).  It's one of the few vegetarian cookbooks I own that I still use frequently.  Her recipes are simple and nearly all of them result in great tasting dishes. This is one of the most refreshing cold soups you can make!

4 cups peeled, seeded and grated cucumber

2 cups water

2 cups yogurt

salt to taste

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon freshly minced dill

2 tablespoons honey

Garnish with chopped mint and chives

Combine all of the ingredients and stir until well-blended.  Chill until very cold--at least a few hours.  Makes 6 cups.

Chilled Berry Soup

Another great chilled soup recipe from the Moosewood Cookbook. It's like dessert in a soup bowl!

3 cups orange juice

1-2 tablespoons fresh lemon or lime juice

3 cups buttermilk (can use yogurt instead)

2 tablespoons summer honey

2-3 cups of berries:  strawberries (should be sliced), raspberries, blackberries and/or blueberries

Dash of cinnamon

Place juices, buttermilk (or yogurt) and honey in a blender and blend well.  Add 1/2 cup of berries to blender and blend until smooth.  Cover and chill until very cold.  Place remaining berries in bowls (about 1/2 cup in each bowl) and pour soup on top.  Dust with cinnamon.  Makes about 6 cups.

Robert's Blueberry Blast 

We must have about 40 cups of blueberries stashed in our freezer right now. They won't be there long, though, because we're making these blasts almost every day.  I'm an ice cream junkie and these taste just like milkshakes to me!

1/2 cup nonfat milk

1/2 cup nonfat yogurt

1 cup frozen blueberries (you could use frozen strawberries, peaches, or raspberries)

1-2 tablespoons honey

Blend all in a blender and pour in a glass.  Makes about 1 1/2 cups.