Cheesy Cornbread Muffins

I started with the recipe on the back of the cornmeal bag and started tweaking it. The
original recipe had ¼ cup sugar, no cheese, and oil instead of butter.

1 cup (5 oz) stone-ground cornmeal

1 cup (5 oz) all-purpose flour

1 tb baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 cup milk

1 egg, beaten

4 tb (½ stick) unsalted butter, melted

½ cup (2 oz) grated cheddar cheese

1. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin and preheat the oven to 425°F.
2. Combine the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk until completely blended together.
3. Combine the milk, egg, butter, and cheese in a smaller bowl, and mix until well-combined.
4. Pour the wet mixture into the dry and stir gently until just combined. (A dry streak of flour or two is ok.)
5. Divide the mixture evenly into 12 muffin cups and bake until the tops are starting to brown and a toothpick comes out clean, 15-20 minutes. Turn out immediately onto a wire rack. Serve warm.

Emergency Chocolate Cake

Adapted from: Cooks Illustrated March/April 2009

You may substitute 1 cup (8 oz) of hot coffee for the instant coffee and hot water.

½ cup (2 oz) Dutch-process cocoa powder

2 oz bittersweet baking chocolate, chopped fine

1 heaping tsp instant coffee

1 cup (8 oz) boiling water

1 ½ cups (7 ½ oz) AP flour

1 cup (7 oz) granulated sugar

½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp table salt

⅔ cup (3 ⅝ oz) mayonnaise

2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350℉.
2. Mix the cocoa powder, chocolate, and instant coffee. Add the boiling water and stir until smooth. Set aside to cool.
3. Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to mix evenly.
4. Add the mayonnaise, egg, and vanilla extract to the chocolate mixture. Whisk until smooth.
5. Combine the flour mixture and the chocolate mixture.
6. Pour the batter into a greased 8” square baking dish.
7. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out with only a few crumbs.
8. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 1-2 hours. Serve dusted with confectioner’s sugar or whipped cream.

Multigrain Muffins

1 cup (5 ½ - 6 oz) multigrain hot cereal mix

1 ½ cups (12 oz) water

1 cup (5 oz) AP flour

4 tsp baking powder

¾ tsp salt

1 tsp pie spice

1 egg

¼ cup vegetable oil

¼ cup (1 ¾ oz) brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 tb demerara or turbinado sugar (for topping)

1. Mix the multigrain cereal mix with 1 ½ cups boiling water and let sit for one hour to cool.
2. Preheat oven to 425℉.
3. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and pie spice.
4. Beat the egg and mix with the oil and sugar. Add to cereal.
5. Pour the cereal mixture into the flour mixture and stir until just combined.
6. Spoon batter into greased muffin tins and top with the turbinado sugar.
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Turn out onto rack to cool.

Makes 12 muffins.

OK, let's take a step back

Obviously, my previous idea of providing simple, fast, tasty, and relatively healthy recipes every week didn't work. I'm just not that much of a writer, nor do I work well on a schedule. On the other hand, I still have a bunch of recipes that I like and am happy to share. So I will keep this, as a repository and a place to share new ones. Happy 2019!

CSA Week 1

Bunches of radishes, spinach, kale, and red mustard greens, a head of bok choy, a cucumber, and a few stalks of rhubarb. A little less than I was expecting, but it's early in the season.

Sorry for the lack of posting

When I started a few weeks ago, I'd hoped to post at least twice a week - an opinion on Tuesday, and a recipe on Friday. Opinions are harder to write than I thought. I'll keep the recipes flowing as long as I can, though. Hopefully I'll feel more motivated when I start getting food from the CSA in a few weeks.

Italian Wedding Soup

This soup is nice for when you don't have much time to cook or shop. Everything here is from the pantry or freezer. And it only needs one pot! I use dehydrated onions and garlic to save time, but you can use fresh (or powdered) as appropriate. The spinach goes in at the last minute to avoid overcooking it.

Italian Wedding Soup

• 1 48-oz can chicken broth
• 2 tb dehydrated minced onions (1 medium onion equivalent)
• 1/2 tsp dehydrated minced garlic (2 cloves equivalent)
• 1 14-oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 tb Italian seasoning
• 1/2 box (6-8 oz) of small pasta (ditalini, elbows, small shells, etc)
• 16-20 small frozen meatballs
• 1 16-oz package frozen chopped spinach

1. Bring chicken broth to boil. Add onions, garlic, tomatoes, Italian seasoning, and pasta. Set timer as directed for pasta.
2. Prepare frozen meatballs as directed in microwave (usually ~5 minutes). Drain if necessary and add to soup pot.
3. Prepare spinach as directed in microwave. When pasta is done cooking, add spinach to soup. Serve immediately.

Serves 4-6.

"Sicilian" Tuna Sauce

I don't know how authentic this is, hence the air quotes. It's derived from the recipe for, "Sicilian Tuna Steaks" in the Good Housekeeping Step-by-Step Cookbook. There are some similarities to a puttanesca sauce but it's less salty. I usually serve it with a medium pasta such as gemelli, but it should work with almost any shape.

"Sicilian" Tuna Sauce

• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 14-oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 14-oz can tomato sauce
• 2 5-oz cans tuna, drained
• 1 14-oz cans sliced olives, drained
• 1 tsp dried marjoram

1. Heat the oil until shimmering, then sauté the garlic until golden and fragrant (1-2 minutes).
2. Add the tomatoes, tuna, olives, and marjoram. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes until slightly thickened. Toss with the pasta and serve.

Makes ~4 servings.

Adapations

One of the things I like about cooking is that nothing is ever set in stone until it's on the plate. You can take a recipe and change ingredients or techniques and make it something completely different, or just change it a little bit to make it your own. If it doesn't work... well, there's always next time.

Black Bean and Tomato Soup

This recipe started with one I found in Food & Wine magazine. I ditched the tortillas, but added tomatoes and garlic. I also substituted dried cilantro for fresh. It is good on its own or over rice.

Black Bean and Tomato Soup

• 1 tb oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped coarsely
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (about 1 tsp)
• 2 14-oz cans black beans (undrained)
• 1 14-oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 tsp dried chopped cilantro

Heat the oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion and cook until translucent and soft but not browned, about 5 minutes.

Add the cumin and garlic and cook until fragrant, 1-2 minutes.

Add the beans and tomatoes, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until slightly thickened, 10-15 minutes.

Stir in the cilantro and serve.

Makes 3 servings.

Lost in Translation

It's funny how recipes change over time. They get modified for personal tastes, ingredients get substituted, and steps get simplified. Sometimes mistakes get made, and it works surprisingly well.

The case in point is the garlic black bean and tomato soup I'm having for lunch this week. Originally, it was supposed to have two cloves of garlic. My wife misheard me (as I was telling her the recipe) and wrote down, "two tablespoons of garlic." It's not as overwhelming as you might think, but it's still pretty garlicky.

Pasta é Fagoli

You basic pasta with beans. I adapted the recipe from Eat This... It'll Make You Feel Better (by Dom DeLuise). It's one of my usual make-ahead-for-lunch recipes. When I reheat it, I usually add a little more water because the pasta has absorbed most of it.

Pasta é Fagoli

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 14-oz can vegetable broth
• 1 14-oz can tomato sauce
• 1 14-oz can cannelli beans
• 8 oz small dried pasta (elbow, ditalini, or similar)

In a medium saucepan, heat the oil on low-to-medium until shimmering. Add the garlic and sauté for 1-2 minutes, until it is fragrant and slightly browned.

Add the broth, and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let it simmer for 10 minutes. Add the cannelli beans.

Cook the pasta as directed on the box and drain. Mix with the tomato/bean sauce and enjoy!

Makes 4 servings.

Beginnings

I've been thinking about doing a blog for a while. I don't have a writing bug or anything, but I do have opinions, ideas, and recipes that I want to share. So here they are.

I chose the name for the blog because it fit with the fits with what I want to talk about. I'm a blue-collar guy who likes to cook. However, after I put 10-plus hours on the shop floor, I don't want to spend another two in the kitchen making dinner. I also want healthier and cheaper options than takeout, delivery, or frozen meals.

I realize there will often be a tension between saving time, saving money, and eating healthily. I don't live your life so I'm not going to judge you for using canned chicken broth or frozen chopped onions. (I do it all the time.) I'll try to keep my recipes flexible enough to use ingredients you buy at the store, but I'll also tell you how to make your own if you want.

So, enough of the introduction. Let's get cooking!