Whole Grain Blueberry Orange Muffins

I know what you're thinking. Whole grain? Really? While I was growing up, the closest thing we had to whole grain in the house was sticky buns. We ate white bread with every meal. I didn't even know that whole wheat flour existed. So, when I say that these muffins are delicious, this is coming from a girl who appreciates a serious baked good, not that healthy stuff masquerading as the real thing.

I started making these a few years ago when I wanted something homemade and healthy for breakfast. I wasn't expecting much, since I usually don't like things made from whole wheat flour, but I was pleasantly surprised. These quickly became my favorite muffins. Something about a beautiful sunny day, a craving for citrus and fresh blueberries made me want these vibrant muffins. These are the perfect thing to brighten a day in the depths of winter. And they are perfect with a cup of tea.

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (not instant)
1/4 cup flax seed (you can find flax seed in the bulk foods aisle)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup plain low-fat yogurt (I use Nancy's Organic)
1/2 cup light brown sugar
3 Tbsp melted butter
Zest from large naval orange
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups fresh blueberries

 

Grind the oats and flax seed. I use a coffee grinder and put in 1/4 cup at a time.

In a large bowl, combine flour, ground oats, flax seed meal, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a separate bowl, whisk together yogurt, sugar, melted butter, zest of the orange and juice, egg and vanilla. I zest the orange and then juice it. You can use regular orange juice if there is not enough fresh. Try this batter. It is so good that I could just drink it all up!

Add flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until just incorporated, don't over mix. Wash blueberries.

Fold in blueberries.

Scoop batter into greased muffin pan. I like to fill them high to get larger muffins, you can make them smaller too to get a higher yield. Bake at 375F for 22-25 minutes until slightly brown on top.

Baked Sauerkraut & Pork Chops

Eating pork and sauerkraut for New Years is considered good luck. For me as a child it meant long agonizing nights at the dinner table. Refusing to eat at my house meant you stay at the table until your plate is clean. Sauerkraut night was torture and my stubborn self would be seated at the table well into the evening. I would try to sneak it into my napkin and throw it away but my dad was much too clever for this.

My husband actually likes the stuff. He keeps a jar of it in the fridge and heats it up from time to time to top his brats like a good German American. I usually steer well clear of it, but for the sake of tradition, I gave it another try. This recipe is what his mom made for him and I must admit it was not terrible.

Ingredients:
4 Pork loin chops on the bone
1 large jar sauerkraut (1 quart)
3-4 carrots
3 Tbsp caraway seeds (optional)
1 cup Krusteaz pancake mix (or Bisquick)
1/2 cup water (or milk if using Bisquick)
salt & pepper

Chop up carrots into large chunks.

On the stovetop salt and pepper the chops and brown them for about 6 minutes per side on medium high.

Meanwhile, put about half of the sauerkraut on the bottom of an oven safe dish with a lid. Add water so there is about 1/2 inch of liquid on the bottom. Add half of the caraway seed.

 

Once the chops are browned, 

Add them to the sauerkraut and top with carrots. Add the remaining sauerkraut and caraway on top.

In a bowl, mix the pancake mix and water, the batter should be like a thick pancake mix. Add more mix if it is too runny.

Drop the batter into the dish making four biscuits.

Cover the dish leaving a small opening for steam to escape. Bake at 350F for about an hour until the biscuits are slightly golden.

Look dad, I cleaned my plate!

Applesauce Cake

When I was growing up my family always got together at my Aunt Nanny's house at Christmas time. All of my aunts and uncles and cousins would come and bring something to eat. It was always a great time with lots of story telling and laughter. Like most families, we gathered around the table and reminisced about Christmases past while eating delicious food. Those tastes and smells etched into us forever.

This Christmas is a tough one for all of us since my Aunt Nanny passed away a couple months ago. Being far from my family at Christmas is always hard, this year especially, but I find baking to be a comfort. When my Aunt passed away I took her recipe box and promised to share the recipes. I wanted to make one of these recipes for our Christmas Eve dinner. It is not something that I remember her making and she probably did not make it often, but I thought that it would be a perfect homage to her. Something simple yet elegant, sweet and filling, just like her.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cup flour
2 cup sugar (or 1 3/4 cup if using sweetened applesauce)
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cup applesauce (we used Seneca brand unsweetened)
2 eggs
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)
1 cup seedless raisins

The recipe did not include it, but I added a glaze.

For the glaze:
4 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 cup powdered sugar

Sift the four. I use a sieve and knocked it against the applesauce jar.

Add the dry ingredients and mix.

Add the shortening, water and applesauce. Mix with mixer on medium speed for two minutes.

Add the eggs and mix.

 

Fold in the raisins and nuts with spoon.

Pour batter into a tube pan, I used a bundt pan, but any round pan will work if you put something in the middle like a can. Even the batter out so it is flat.

Bake at 350F for 1 hour. Let cool completely.

For the glaze, melt butter in saucepan, add brown sugar and milk and bring to a boil. Boil for one minute while stirring and remove from heat. Let cool a bit and add powdered sugar to desired consistency. Let cake cool completely before glazing.

Molasses Christmas Cookies

My husband's absolute favorite Christmas tradition is making his grandma's molasses cut-out cookies. I first discovered this love affair when I spent Christmas in Vermont with him and his family for the first time. As we arrived at the house his mom informed him of the cookie dough waiting for him in the fridge. His eyes lit up like a small boy on Christmas Eve. "What cookie dough?" I asked. The next morning I found out. As he unrolled the dark dough from the wax paper, I said "Oh! Gingerbread, I've never had real gingerbread before!" "Um, no" he replied matter of factly, "this is molasses cookie dough." Clearly this was a superior cookie not to be confused with anything else.

Every year since we make the molasses cookies no matter what. If we are traveling to to see my family for the holidays we have the molasses cookies as a 'pre-Christmas time snack'. Even the year he had to work over Christmas he still had to have the cookies. I went to spend that Christmas with him in northern Alaska and brought two large containers of them. They survived a harrowing drive in a rare Seattle snow storm, multiple plane rides and sub zero temperatures. The night I arrived we had dinner with his lovely Alaskan host family. For dessert we introduced them to the molasses cookie and left a container with them. The next day they were gone.

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup shortening
1/2 cup water
3 cups flour
1/3 cup molasses
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup cinnamon
1/8 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp nutmeg

For frosting:
powdered sugar
milk
vanilla

Mix all ingredients with mixer until consistency is uniform.

Form dough into ball, wrap in wax paper, put in Ziploc bag and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, remove the dough from the fridge about an hour before making them. Add a bit of water if the dough is dry and roll out to about 1/4 inch. 

Cut out shapes.

Place on baking sheet and bake at 375F for 12 min.

Let cool completely. Make frosting with powdered sugar, vanilla and milk to taste. Add sugar to thicken and milk to thin.

Frost the cookies with a spoon.

Add sprinkles and decorations. Cookies will be crunchy at first, but if you wait until the next day after they are frosted, they will get soft and chewy.

Christmas Macaroons

My gram was the baker of the family. Her father was a baker at a local bread bakery and she carried on the baking tradition. Her popcorn balls were famous around Christmas time, she would make and sell hundreds of them. She also made an array of Christmas cookies. My dad tells us stories of how she would start making cookies in the fall when the hickory nuts were ready for harvesting, and freeze them until Christmas time. I picture her stealthily moving around a tiny kitchen, cookies cooling on every available surface with flour and laughter in the air. She made sugar cutouts, date balls, peanut butter kiss cookies, but her favorites were coconut macaroons.

This recipe is from the back of the Baker's coconut bag except that I substituted vanilla instead of almond extract. I don't know what recipe my gram used for sure, but it was probably very similar to this. My dad said she put a cherry on top of them for Christmas. I love that!

Ingredients:
1 pkg Bakers Angel Flake Coconut (or 5 1/3 cups)
2/3 cup sugar
6 Tbsp flour
1/4 tsp salt
4 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla
1 large jar maraschino cherries

Separate the yokes from four eggs. I use a spoon to carefully remove the yokes.

Mix coconut, sugar, flour and salt.  Add egg whites and vanilla.

 Drop by tablespoons onto sheet. Add cherry on top. Be sure to push it down to secure it.

Bake at 325F for 20min.

Chicken Corn Soup

The aroma of chicken corn soup takes me straight back to church potlucks in late summer. There would be a myriad of delicious dishes including any child's favorites like deviled eggs and texas sheet cake. But the chicken corn soup was a hearty favorite of mine and a staple dish for any large gathering in central Pennsylvania.

The Pennsylvania dutch are famous for their soups with small egg noodle lumps called 'rivels'. It is a thick chowder-like soup with an almost gelatinous broth. This recipe comes from my Aunt Nanny. I can't say that this recipe is traditional, but as I took the first sip of the broth it was exactly how I remembered it and so incredibly good.

 

Ingredients:

1lb chicken parts on bone

1 quart water

4 chicken bouillon cubes

1 cup onion

1 cup celery

1/2 tsp celery seed

1 16oz can whole corn

2 16oz can creamed corn

1 10oz cream of celery soup

For the rivels:

1 cup flour

1 egg

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

We made the soup broth with a leftover chicken carcass which worked great. You could use whole chicken parts, boil for about an hour, remove and bone. Dice the meat and return to the pot.

Add other ingredients and simmer for 15 min.

Mix the rivel ingredients until they form small balls. 

Sift the balls into the simmering soup and continue to stir. Simmer for 15min and stir occasionally.