where the secret ingredient is love
Week of March 4
Monday: roast chicken
Tuesday: spaghetti & meatballs [made a double batch last week…sooo good, will have to post the recipe soon]
Wednesday: black bean burritos
Thursday: Kung Pao Chicken Burgers… still haven’t made them!
Friday: leftovers
Saturday: breakfast for dinner… frittata or pancakes please!
Sunday: out to eat
Ben and I are huge yogurt fans. Every week, without fail, our grocery cart contains at least 10 cartons of yogurt [one for each lunch of the work week plus a big tub or two for smoothies or eating at home]… some Greek, some regular, some fruity, some plain or vanilla… whatever I’m in the mood for or whatever is on sale. For awhile I was making my own yogurt in the crockpot, but then grad school began consuming my life too much and making yogurt plummeted on my priority list. There are just too many good storebought brands, right? I look forward to the yogurt in my lunch everyday…it’s my dessert of sorts.
Even though yogurt is something I love a ton, one thing that I don’t do enough of with it is baking! Yogurt is a great ingredient to bake with because it makes muffins and even cakes incredibly pillowy, light, and soft for a fraction of the fat and calories of butter or oil. The inclusion of Liberté Blueberry Greek Yogurt is the secret ingredient in these yummy Double Blueberry Walnut Muffins, and the reason [in my humble opinion] why they are so, so, so good… sweet, hardy, and soft. Perfect trifecta for muffins, I think!
If you’ve never tried Liberté Greek and Méditerranée yogurt before, you should definitely check it out. Ben and I had tried it once or twice before I received a BzzKit from BzzAgent, but after eating this yogurt in place of our normal brands for a week, I think I’m going to become a loyal Liberté fan! The Coconut Méditerranée is amazing! Here’s some info about the yogurt… then I’ll get back to the muffins!
Liberté is not just made. It is crafted, by hand, to be the absolute best. In true artisan fashion, Liberté Méditerranée yogurt is made using whole milk and cream to achieve a silky texture in seven different rich, deep flavors. The six flavors of Liberté Greek yogurt are hand nurtured using skim milk to create a smooth, creamy, protein-rich yogurt that’s perfectly balanced and (surprise!) fat free. Each Liberté variety is punctuated with real fruit to up the taste even more in these natural, indulgent treats.
Liberté is new to the US yogurt scene, but has a long history in Canada so I found a recipe for Raspberry Coconut Muffins on their website and modified it based on what I had on hand. I was so pleased with these muffins that they might become my basis for other yogurt muffins in the future! You can definitely modify this recipe based on the fruit, yogurt, and nuts of your choice. I usually don’t add nuts to muffins, but the toasted walnuts in these were excellent. When I baked them last Sunday afternoon, they made my whole kitchen smell absolutely divine, and then they stayed fresh all week long for a lunchbox addition. Yum-o! Can’t wait to make some more. Hope you enjoy! 🙂
Double Blueberry Walnut Muffins [adapted from Liberté]
click to print
Ingredients:
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place walnuts on a cookie sheet and toast in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes, stirring halfway through. Watch carefully to make sure they don’t burn! Set aside to cool, then increase oven temperature to 400 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper liners or grease with cooking spray.
In a small bowl, whisk together oil, eggs, yogurt, milk, and vanilla. In a larger bowl, stir together flours, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Fold wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, stirring until just moistened.
Chop cooled walnuts, then gently fold walnuts and blueberries into batter. Spoon into muffin cups, filling 2/3 of the way. Bake for 14-16 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Time: 40 minutes.
Yield: 16 muffins.
Disclosure: I am a BzzAgent and received free coupons to try out Liberté. All opinons are my own. Thanks to BzzAgent and Liberté for a great experience!
Even though I rarely post any recipes for vegetables on this blog, I hope you don’t believe that I never eat them! That’s certainly not the case. I think this dip is just one indication of how much I love my veggies! But sadly, most of the ways I eat veggies are pretty plain. At dinner, we usually eat big green salads with our main course. Lettuce, carrots, peppers, cherry tomatoes… all good, but sometimes a bit boring. So I’ll mix it up with roasted broccoli, steamed green beans, or a fancy dilled carrot dish every once in awhile, but that’s about it. When a friend asked me to bring some salad over for dinner one night, I jumped at the chance to be creative. Instead of making my go-to green salad, I switched it up and made a fancy cole slaw. Now, don’t get turned off. It’s not creamy or drowning in dressing. It’s light and fresh and flavorful… simply delicious!
This cabbage salad [I much prefer that name to cole slaw, thankyouverymuch] has a few winter veggie staples: cabbage [duh], carrots, and radishes, plus some flavorful additions like green onions and cilantro. If you click over to Jessica’s original post you’ll see that she used watermelon radishes–which look delightful, but aren’t available in Indiana… so check them out if you have a chance. 🙂 But the best part of this salad isn’t the traditional veggies, rather it is the spicy and tangy vinaigrette dressing! This dressing is just awesome. I think it would make an excellent taco salad dressing, actually–it’s just your basic oil and vinegar dressing spiced up [literally] with cumin, paprika, pepper, and garlic. That’s it. Yumalicious! The spice in the dressing compliments the cilantro so well.
The flavors of this salad are awesome on day 1, but they also improve as the salad hangs out in the fridge for a few days. I love it when salad’s shelf life is longer than a day…makes me so happy! Be sure to try this salad when you have a chance–I think it would be great with burgers, tacos, soup, and whatever else you can imagine. Enjoy!
Cumin-Scented Cabbage Salad [from Good Cheap Eats]
click to print
Ingredients:
Directions:
In a large bowl, toss together cabbage, carrots, green onions, radishes, and cilantro. In a small bowl or glass jar, combine olive oil and vinegar, then garlic, cumin, paprika, and pepper. Shake or stir together, then toss with vegetables.
Serve immediately or keep refrigerated for up to 5 days.
Time: 10 minutes.
Yield: 8 servings.
I love one dish meals. They are just so delicious, comforting, and, well, easy. Yes, that’s the main reason I love ’em. Casseroles, pasta, skillet meals… all of the above are great because then I don’t have to think about sides–I just whip up a quick side salad and am good to go. But the problem with many one dish meals is that they are all kinda the same. Taste the same, look the same, are virtually the same. I for one know that I’ve made about a zillion variations of Mexican chicken, beans, corn, cheese, and pasta/rice/quinoa. [But yet I still make them. It’s probably the cheese. I LOVE cheese!] Those dishes are all good but can certainly become a bit of a bore after awhile, so I’m always on the lookout for new recipe ideas that satisfy my easy one dish requirement. When I recently scored some Italian sausage on sale, I immediately started looking for some interesting recipes and landed on this Skillet Italian Sausage and Red Rice.
It may not look like much, but it is SO amazing. It’s made with only seven ingredients and is ready in less than 30 minutes, making this an excellent choice for a weeknight dinner. I don’t know what red rice usually is, but in this case it is a flavorful combination of tomato soup, Tabasco sauce, and Worcestershire sauce. I’m pretty picky about using convenience-type foods in recipes [and in general], but I won’t hesitate to admit that every once in awhile I like to indulge in a Kraft singles grilled cheese dipped in Campbell’s Tomato Soup. There’s nothing like it… gourmet, homemade versions are good but just don’t compare. 🙂 So, for that reason and that reason alone I was okay with using readymade soup to flavor up this rice and make it uber rich and creamy. It has just a bit of heat too, and is the perfect base for slices of hearty Italian sausage.
If you need an easy dinner soon, I highly suggest you whip up this dish. There are tons of ways to fancify it if that’s your thing–adding extra veggies or some beans, making the tomato soup base from scratch, even experimenting with different types of sausage. I was frankly quite surprised with how much I enjoyed this dinner [especially since it was cheeseless. Oh my!]. I thought I’d be ruthlessly plotting to have Ben take all the leftovers in his work lunches, but instead I was sneaking them away for me. Cray cray, I know, but this is just… so… good! Enjoy!
Skillet Italian Sausage and Red Rice [method adapted from Premio Foods]
click to print
Ingredients:
Directions:
In a large skillet set over medium head, add sausage and cook until browned on all sides [and cooked through if not precooked]. Remove sausage from pan and set on place to rest. Meanwhile, add onion and cook until golden.
Next, slice sausage into bite size pieces and return to pan. Pour in hot water to deglaze pan. Add soup, Tabasco sauce, and Worcestershire sauce and stir to combine. Add rice, cover, and cook for 15 minutes, or until hot. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired.
Time: 25 minutes.
Yield: 6 servings.
Linked with: Weekend Potluck.
Sometimes simple recipes, though delicious, get overshadowed by fancy recipes or decadent recipes. Know what I mean? This is a bad habit that I have… talking up the really yummy and impressive stuff… that then pushes the simple recipes to the back burner, where they sit and sit and sit. And then I don’t blog about them, for months and months. Like these Applesauce Muffins that I made…. last summer.
Sure, we ate them up in a matter of days. I don’t even think they saw the freezer. For all the muffins I make, that’s saying something. Usually at least one or two gets frozen for lunches or snacks. But no, these muffins, in all their plain glory, were enjoyed in record time. I just didn’t bother to blog about them for months. Sad day. But they are here now!
No idea why that was, as they are utterly delicious. Each bite is nutty and soft, sweet with hints of applesauce and rich brown sugar. Chewy from the oats and healthy from the whole wheat flour. Satisfying as breakfast with a bit of butter and jam, and savory enough to serve with soup at dinner. Pretty versatile and excellent anytime. One of my favorite parts? They’re made with pantry ingredients, so I can make them anytime. Another favorite part? The topping! Who doesn’t love a muffin with a little streusel topping. Yum! Don’t neglect them as I have! They are great! Enjoy! 🙂
Ingredients:
for topping
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line muffin tin with paper liners or spray with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, stir together oats, flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. In a small bowl, whisk together applesauce, oil, and egg. Fold wet ingredients into dry, then spoon into muffin cups.
Prepare the topping by stirring together oats, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Drizzle in melted butter then divide evenly on top of batter.
Bake for 16-18 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
The Pajama Chef 