Flax Muffins

I managed to do almost all of the things on my to do list today. That included making some flax muffins. The muffins are easy to make (despite the long list of ingredients) and make a good "healthy" snack. I suppose they are healthy if you don't top them with a bunch of butter or cream cheese like I do. This isn't my recipe, I got it off the back of the flax bag. You could add raisins or chocolate chips I suppose. I never peel the apples or carrots, there's no reason to really. I don't measure out the spices, and sometimes add allspice or ground cloves. Today I used buttermilk and they turned out fine.....well, the mixture was a little dry, so I added some more milk. Then when putting the first few spoonfulls into the muffin tins I decided to double check the recipe. I was afraid I'd missed some wet ingredient. No, I'd missed the sugar. Its amazing how much better the batter looked and tasted with the sugar. Good thing I realized my mistake before baking the whole batch.

Flax Muffins--yields 22

1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
3/4 c. flaxseed meal

3/4 c. bran cereal or oat bran

1 c. brown sugar

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 1/2 c. shredded carrots

2 shredded apples

3/4 c. milk

2 beaten eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Butter muffin tins (don't use paper liners.)

3. Mix together dry ingredients.

4. Stir in shredded carrots and apples.

5. Combine milk, eggs and vanilla.

6. Pour liquid ingredients into dry ingredients.

7. Stir until moistened.

8. DO NOT overmix.

9. Fill muffin cups 3/4 cups full.

10. Bake for 15-18 minutes.

11. Allow to cool, then remove from tins.

12. Store in airtight container in the refrigerator.

Home Made Pizza

This losing weight thing isn't going so well. Yesterday I made pizza for dinner and had to fight the urge to eat more than my two allotted slices. The crust turned out really well this time. I left it a little sticky, so it was more fluffy than usual.

Pizza Crust
2 packages active dry yeast (16 g)
2 c. warm water
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbl. olive oil
2 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
2 1/2 c. all purpose flour

1. Proof yeast with water and sugar 10 minutes.
2. Stir in salt and oil.
3. Add flour, mixing after addition of each cup. Add up to 1 c. extra flour if dough is too sticky.
4. Kneed dough for 2-3 minutes.
5. Cover and let rise 1 hour.
6. Punch down dough and divide into thirds.
7. Roll dough out into round for pizza.

I make this pretty easy by doing it in the kitchen aid mixer with a dough hook. The extra dough can be frozen for future use ... defrost at room temp. The dough doesn't keep in the fridge....it will continue to rise.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Add whatever pizza sauce and toppings you'd like. Last night we used garlic/onion pasta sauce, oregano, turkey pepperoni, and lots of mozzerella cheese. Cook the pizza about 15 minutes, until cheese is melted and starts to brown. Yum.

Slipping Away

Yesterday I couldn't remember the meaning of epistaxis. Nosebleed. I did always get criticized for not using the big words. Now that I never use them, I'm losing them. I suppose I'm forgetting things I don't need, things I learned for no reason really. Oh well.

Pimm's Cup

If I wasn't tea totalling until NYC, I'd be loopy on Pimm's Cups and Gin and Tonics. These are my two preferred drinks, and super for hot summer days.

Pimm's Cup

Ice

Ginger ale

Pimm's Cup

English cucumber wedges

Orange slice

Lime slices

Pour the ginger ale and Pimm's over ice into a glass at a ratio of 3:1 (unless you like it 1:1 like I do). Add a wedge of cucumber, an orange slice an 1 or 2 lime slices. Stir gently. Enjoy.

I bought a book about gin a few weeks ago, but haven't opened it. I'll take a look at it, and maybe read it on the plane and let you know if it's any good.

America's Test Kitchen In My Kitchen

Last weekend while laying on the couch I caught the tail end of America's Test Kitchen on PBS. They were handing out slices of chocolate cake. I love cake. I want cake. So I decided to find the recipe and try it out myself. So, yesterday I made old fashioned chocolate cake. It wasn't too difficult. The chocolate for the cake didn't exactly melt into creaminess. Since it was just unsweetened chocolate, cocoa powder and a little water it formed a kind of paste. I cooked the cake layers for 25 minutes (the recipe says 25-30 mins), but it was still liquid. After another 7 minutes, it was fudgy. So I left it in another 7 minutes. I think that was a little too long. The cake is slightly dry and didn't want to come out of the pans. There were chocolate cake crumbs all over the kitchen. The icing was a little more tricky. Man, there's a whole pound of chocolate and a stick of butter in the frosting! I thought the icing had a funny aftertaste, but it got better after regfrigeration. As you can see half of the cake is already gone. I lost the photos of the whole cake....something might be wrong with my memory card. Anyways, I don't think the cake turned out in my kitchen the way it did in America's Test Kitchen, but it's definitely edible.

I was trying to bake because I haven't baked in a long time. I'm not sure I like cooking and baking. I get mad when things don't turn out perfectly. I just made do when the cake disintegrated (I glued it with icing), and things turned to seem out all right. I'm not sure what I'll bake up next, but I think I might like the chocolate frosting on a yellow cake. That's saying a lot, because I'm not a frosting fan. If I try something next week maybe I'll make it something a little less sinful ... I'm trying to lose weight before my trip to NYC.

Old Fashioned Chocolate Layer Cake

Shredded Chicken Salad

This is good to eat cold or room temp on these hot summer days.
2 chicken breasts
1.5 lbs green beans--fresh or frozen
olive oil
2 limes
secret sauce
shredded parmesan cheese

1. Boil 2 chicken breasts until fully cooked.
2. Shred chicken. (I use two forks when the chicken is hot)
3. If using fresh green beans, clean and cut them.
4. Steam green beans until just tender, but still crunchy.
5. Rinse green beans in cold water to arrest cooking.
6. In a large bowl mix green beans with shredded chicken.
7. Add juice from 2 limes and a couple of tablespoons of olive oil.
8. Add secret sauce and shredded parmesan cheese to taste.
9. Mix all together really well.
10. Enjoy.

Time

Well, time flies. There isn't much food related on this food blog. The last two weeks have been filled with crises, drama, laziness, excuses, break-downs, and blow-ups. I'm going to try to put some more recipes up this week. This weekend I downloaded a bunch of funny songs, so I'll post one of them up.

Something Accomplished

This week I did manage to finish sewing a tunic shirt. The collar isn't exactly right, and the hole for my head is a little small, but it is wearable. This morning I also got up early and cleaned up the back room. Whoohoo. With the leftovers from the shirt I plan to make a little dress. I'll post that up when I'm done.

Dreary

I'm in a mood. Cranky. I should be cleaning house. I've got a headache. I finally got a ticket to NYC, now trying to find a hotel . . . Dreading the next week. Flipping channels between my soap, Maury, and a campy period-piece episode of Magnum P.I. Wishing i could just blink or wiggle my nose and this place would be sparkling clean. Calgon, take me away.

One Year

Wow. A lot can happen in one year. Or just about nothing. One year ago I left Maryland to come back to Texas. I don't feel like I've gotten much of anything accomplished. Last August I spent the entire month deep cleaning the house. I spent this June remodelling the back bathroom. I don't feel as though I've done much of anything else. I've had nightmares lately where strangers yell at me and tell me that I'm lazy and didn't try hard enough, that I should be a doctor and there are no excuses. I feel like a very expensive medical dictionary, and over the past year I'm sure i would have learned a ton, but instead i have forgotten a bunch. Twice i couldn't remember the word lipoma. Yesterday I couldn't remember that the HIV test is the ELISA test (i did remember that Western Blot is the confirmation test). Somehow though, I did remember that Chapter 25 is the HIV chapter in my micro book. Odd. I feel extremely guilty for not working and not doing more at home. In short, I guess I do feel lazy. Some of my classmates will be full fledged doctors in less than a year....and where will I be? What will I have done? I can't imagine it will be anything as impressive as that.