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!

Honey for What Ails You

If you're feeling a little peaked at the start of 2013, then you can do worse than turn to honey for some relief.
 
The National Honey Board retweeted a link a recipe for "Grandma's Homemade Cough Syrup" from the Mrs. Happy Homemaker blog.  It has just three ingredients:  honey, olive oil and lemon juice.

A 2007 study by researchers at the Penn State College of Medicine found that "a small dose of buckwheat honey before bedtime provided better relief of [night time coughs]...than no treatment or dextromethorphan (DM), a common cough suppressant."  So you don't actually have to make any cough syrup--just take a teaspoon of honey!

The Honey Board's website also includes many skin care recipes for soothing chapped skin and lips. My favorite is the simplest:  Just smooth about a teaspoon of honey on your dry face and let it sit for a minute or two and then wash off.  Your face will feel smooth (and will be sweet enough to kiss!).

Another simple and soothing recipe, especially if you're nursing a cold, is fresh ginger tea.  Take about a 2-inch knob of fresh ginger and scrub it well.  There's no need to peel the skin, since you'll be straining it out.  Slice the knob into about 1/4 inch slices and put in a tea pot.  Pour about 2 cups boiling water over the ginger and let it steep for five minutes.  Strain out the ginger, pour into a cup and add honey to taste, and breathe deeply while you sip!

 

Beekeeping Classes in Pittsburgh 2013

Caught the beekeeping bug yet?  If so, those amazing Burgh Bees are at it again with the best beekeeping courses in the area taught by Master Beekeepers Steve Repasky and Joe Zgurzynski.  Details for the classes are available at the Burgh Bee's website:

Hurry and sign up, the classes fill up quickly!

Beekeeping in the Classroom 101:  January 15, 17 & 22

Beekeeping 102, What to Expect in the Second Year, for new beekeepers with a year under their veils.

2013 Western PA Beekeeping Seminar February 15 and 16.
For novice, experienced and wannabee beekeepers, the annual Western PA Beekeeping Seminar is a great place to meet beekeepers and learn about the most up-to-date techniques and latest ideas.  Click on the link for more information and details about how to register.

Healthy Honey Dishes for a Happy 2013!

Robert and I celebrated New Year's Day with a delightful dinner of Honeyed Lemon Salmon en papilotte ("in paper"--which, in our case was actually a piece of aluminum foil).  When you cook fish in a little packet of parchment paper (or aluminum foil) it steams the fish, keeping it nice and moist. The packet also helps to guard against over-cooking.

I'm also including a recipe here for a delicious and brightly-colored chopped salad, which was the hit of the Cookie Day 2012 (an annual gathering of nieces, nephews and friends to over-decorate sugar and gingerbread cookies and celebrate being together).  I wish I had a picture of the salad, folks, but it got eaten before a camera could be found.  Scroll down for some great Cookie Day 2012 photos, though! :)

Honeyed Lemon Salmon en papilotte
The original recipe comes from the Seattle Bon Vivant blog, but I made a number of changes to the recipe.

MARINADE (for 1 ~8-ounce salmon fillet)
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon fresh thyme (or rosemary or tarragon)
1 clove garlic, minced

Combine all of the ingredients and pour over the salmon fillet. Cover and marinate in the fridge for about an hour.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Take the salmon out of the marinade and place on a large piece of parchment paper or aluminum foil, skin side down.  It's fine to include some of the garlic and herbs. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Fold the paper over the salmon like you're wrapping a sandwich and securely fold down to enclose completely.  Place on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes.  Carefully unfold wrapping and check that fish is done--it should flake but still be a little translucent.  It may need another five minutes.  In general, 1/2 lb of salmon serves one person--though Robert and I usually just split a small fillet.

Colorful, Delicious & Healthy Chopped Salad
The inspiration for this salad came from two recipes from Mark Bittman, the wonderful food columnist for the New York Times.  Bittman and Sam Sifton (another Times writer) took on the task of making a "feast in a day" just before the holidays and that included a chopped salad.  Bittman's book, The Best Recipes in the World also includes a chopped salad of cabbage.  This is what I made with the ingredients I had and it was fantastic!  The honey, of course, is "SteffesWood Apiary" original addition.  This salad feeds a crowd--we had 14 people here for Cookie Day (though no leftovers to take a photo of, alas.)

1 small head purple cabbage, chopped in 1/2 dice
kosher salt
1 sweet red pepper, seeded and chopped in 1/2 dice
1 sweet yellow pepper, seeded and chopped in 1/2 dice
1/2 English (seedless) cucumber, chopped in 1/2 dice
3 medium carrots, peeled and chopped in 1/2 dice
3 celery stalks, chopped in 1/2 dice
1 can large ripe olives, cut in half or thirds
1/2 cup fresh parsley, minced
3 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Chop the cabbage, place in a colander or sieve over a bowl and sprinkle liberally with kosher salt, tossing to incorporate the salt well.  Let the cabbage sit in the colander for about an hour.  The salt will pull out some of the water from the cabbage and wilt it a bit.  Once the cabbage has wilted, rinse it thoroughly with water and drain then dry the cabbage as best you can using a kitchen towel (not terry cloth) or paper towels.  You don't want the cabbage to be wet so that the dressing will adhere to it.  Place the dry cabbage in a bowl along with all of the other vegetables, olives and parsley.  Toss to create a colorful mixture.  Drizzle the honey over the salad and toss well to incorporate the honey with the salad.  Put the lemon juice and oil in a jar with a tight fitting lid, secure the lid firmly and shake to emulsify the oil and lemon juice.  Pour over the salad and toss.  Taste and add salt and pepper.  The salad can be served immediately or covered and refrigerated for up to four hours to feed hungry cookie baker a little something nutritious. :)

Celebrity Guests at Cookie Day 2012

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.

Butternut Squash Rolls for Thanksgiving

We had a bumper crop of butternut squash this year, which we didn't even plan.  A few volunteer plants popped up and then quickly had their way with a corner of our garden.  Luckily they keep well and are a great substitute for any dish that calls for pumpkin (with exception, perhaps, of pumpkin pie).  Mashed butternut squash is a lovely (literally!) addition to these rolls, turning them into sunny little saffron-hued pillows.  You won't taste the butternut squash in them, though I think it does add a bit of depth to the flavor.  You can, of course, substitute pumpkin or any winter squash for the butternut here.

They are adapted from a recipe that appeared in Bon Appetit Nov. 1996.


These rolls can be made ahead, cooled completely, wrapped in foil and frozen until the day you need them.  Take them out of the freezer and thaw for several hours, then heat them, covered, in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes.

Butternut Squash Rolls
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 cup cooked, mashed butternut squash*

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 packet quick-rising yeast
1 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

2 more tablespoons of butter, melted

Place the milk, butter and honey in a sauce pan and heat, stirring until the butter melts.  Whisk in the mashed butternut squash, stirring well.  Remove the liquid from the heat and let it cool for about 5 minutes (it should register between 125 and 135 degrees).

While milk is cooling, pulse the flour, yeast and salt in a food processor, combining well.  Put the milk mixture into a measuring cup (or pitcher) and, with the processor on, pour it into the flour mixture.  The dough will form a ball.  Process for about 45 seconds after that to give it a good kneading.

Butter a large bowl and put the dough in it.  Cover it and place it in a warm draft-free spot to rise for about 1 hour until the dough has doubled.  Butter two 9-inch cake pans.  When the dough has risen, turn it on to a lightly floured board and divide into 24 pieces.  Roll each piece into a ball and place them in the cake pans, not touching. Brush with 1/3 of the melted butter.  Cover and let rise again for about 20 minutes until doubled.  (The rolls won't be touching each other at the end of this second rising--but they will plump up in the oven!)

While the rolls are rising, preheat the oven to 375.  When they're ready, brush again with another 1/3 of the melted butter and place in the center of oven, baking for about 25 minutes.  You'll want to turn the pans halfway through to be sure they brown evenly.  Remove from the oven when they are nicely browned and brush again with the final 1/3 of the melted butter.  Makes 24 rolls.

*Bonus Recipe!  Whole Roasted Butternut Squash.  This is as simple as it can be.  Instead of cutting the squash in half and roasting, or slicing off the tough skin and steaming or boiling the squash to make a mash, you can just put the whole squash in the oven and roast it until it's done.  Here's how:  wash the squash if it has dirt clinging to it from the garden, dry it off and place on a lightly greased pan, cookie sheet or even a sheet of aluminum foil.  (You want something to catch any sugary drips that might sneak out while it's roasting.)   A large (3-4 pound) squash will take about 90 minutes to roast.  Smaller squash will take less time.  It's ready when a knife pierces easily all the way through the flesh. When it's cool enough to handle, you can easily peel off the skin and mash the squash for whatever you want to use it for.  When I roast a whole squash, I usually just compost the bulbous seeded end rather than try to scoop out the seeds, since the flesh is so soft, and that gets a bit tedious.

Honey Pickled Carrots

Both of my grandmothers were big proponents of relish trays on holiday tables.  When I was little, I would make a meal out of the sweet gherkin pickles and black olives that my Grandma Davis always had out.  I continue the tradition at our holiday table and this year I'm adding these lovely carrot pickles.  They are adapted from a recipe in the November 14, 2012 New York Times by David Tanis with a few changes.  I swapped the sugar in the recipe for honey, of course. Since honey is sweeter than sugar, I substituted 1/3 cup honey for the 1/2 cup of sugar.  And instead of making carrot slices, I just used a bag of baby carrots.  I also skipped the 6 dried red peppers Tanis's recipe calls for since my family isn't big on spicy foods.  These pickles are great without the heat, though next time I make them, I think I'll include that touch of zing.  My amazing great nephews, Samson (3) and Bohdan (not-yet-1) will be joining us for Thanksgiving this year and I'm hoping that they, too, will come to carry on the holiday relish plate tradition!

Honey Pickled Carrots
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1/3 cup honey
1 tablespoon kosher salt
4 cloves
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon caraway seed
1/2 teaspoon coriander seed
3 large garlic cloves, each cut in half
1 pound "baby" carrots

In a non-reactive (stainless steel) pot, combine the vinegar, honey, salt, cloves, bay leaf, caraway, coriander and garlic cloves.  Add 2 cups of water and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to a steady simmer and add the carrots.  Cook for about 5 to 7 minutes--you want the carrots to still be firm and slightly crunchy, but not raw.  Remove the carrots and spread out on a cookie sheet to cool.  Let the brine come to room temperature.  Put the carrots in a glass container and pour the brine over them.  There may be a bit left over. If so, be sure to scoop out any spices that might be at the bottom and add them to the jar.  Let the carrots marinate for at least 8 hours, refrigerated.  They can be made well in advance--up to four days.

Stay tuned for another make-ahead Thanksgiving dish:  delightful butternut squash rolls!