avocado corn muffins

i love avocado and i love corn muffins so of course if i find a recipe for avocado corn muffins i'm gonna wanna bake some. these corn muffins are a bright green color and they definitely confuse people (are they lime? is it food coloring?). personally, i didn't taste much of an avocado flavor but it is really fun to make bright green corn muffins. also the avocado takes the place of using vegetable oil or butter, so if u have avocado and need corn muffins minus oil or butter, this is a great recipe.

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup yellow cornmeal

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 eggs

1/4 cup milk

1 large avocado

The how-to:

Pre-heat oven to 350°F.

In a large bowl mix flour, cornmeal, sugar baking powder and salt.

Cut and seed avocado. With a fork mash it very well in a separate bowl

Mix eggs into the flour, one at a time. Add milk and avocado. Mix until all the ingredients are well incorporated.

Grease muffin pan and pour mixture into them. It yields about 10-12 muffins.

Bake for 25 minutes or until the tops start to turn golden brown.

jam crumb cake

I wanted to make a crumb cake for dessert. it was either this recipe or a recipe that was basically all crumbs with a tiny layer of cake. that one used 6 sticks of butter for just the crumb part of the cake! i had all the ingredients for the jame crumb cake, so i made that. i used strawberry preserves instead of raspberry.

For cake

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup milk

1 large egg

1/2 cup raspberry jam or preserves

For crumb topping

3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

preparation

Make cake:

Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle. Generously butter a 9-inch square or round cake pan.

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

Whisk together butter, milk, and egg in a large bowl, then whisk in flour mixture until just combined. Pour batter into cake pan. Dollop jam all over surface, then swirl into batter with spoon.

Make crumb topping:

Whisk together butter, sugars, cinnamon, and salt until smooth. Stir in flour, then blend with your fingertips until incorporated. Sprinkle crumbs in large clumps over top of cake.

Bake cake until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean and sides begin to pull away from pan, about 25 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 5 minutes.

dark chocolate tahini pops

i was looking for a recipe so i could finally use my popsicle molds before the summer is over. of course instead of finding a normal popsicle flavor, i found this following recipe. i've been putting tahini on everything lately so why not put it in my popsicle? i also looooove dark chocolate and try to use it as much as possible. and who doesn't love yogurt? mm. the only thing i cut out of the recipe was dates only because it was the only ingredient i didn't have in my house at the time. also i used american and not greek yogurt for the same reason. there will always be next time. altogether, the dark chocolate tahini pops are a thumbs up.

1 1/2 cups full-fat Greek yogurt

1 cup whole milk

8 large pitted dates

2 tablespoons tahini paste

3 tablespoons honey

3 ounces dark chocolate, chopped

1. Place the yogurt, milk, dates, tahini and honey in a blender. Blend until smooth. Sprinkle in the chocolate, cover and pulse briefly to crush the chocolate and incorporate the chunks into the mixture.

2. Divide the mixture evenly among the pop molds, pouring so that you leave about one-half inch of headroom at the top. Once they are filled, tap the molds gently against the counter, allowing the liquid to settle evenly into the molds and dislodging any air bubbles that may have formed. Cover the molds and fit with a popsicle stick, if necessary. Freeze the molds until completely firm, at least 5 hours. For easy unmolding, run the frozen pops under warm water for 10 to 15 seconds before removing them.

congo bars

i haven't done much today. what i did do is spend hours doing research on useless (or useful depending on who u ask) information. then we had people over my house so i baked these congo bars (don't know why they're called that). they're basically blondies. i couldn't tell u if there were a difference between the two.

1 lb. dark brown sugar (2.5 cups)

3/4 c. (1 1/2 stick) butter, melted

3 eggs

2 2/3 c. flour

1/3 c. milk

3 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. vanilla

12 oz. chocolate chips

In bowl mix together brown sugar and melted butter. Add eggs, flour, milk, baking powder, and vanilla. Blend until smooth with electric mixer. Add chocolate chips. Pour batter into well greased 13 x 9 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Cut into squares.

skinny omelette

ryan's supposedly on a diet, or at least he's trying to eat a bit healthier. i found this recipe a while ago but never tried it. it seemed like a healthy but filling breakfast idea. i didn't have most of the ingredients but i figured i'd come up with a new recipe with the same concept. i thought the idea of thin crepe-like omelettes was great and you can pretty much change the filling around. i used mixed greens, swiss cheese and a sofrito mayonnaise i whipped up. ryan put some bacon in his. we'll probably try a blt skinny omelette next time.

2 large (preferably organic) eggs

a tiny pinch of fine grain sea salt

a few tablespoons of chopped chives

a dollop of pesto

a bit of goat cheese or feta

a small handful of mixed salad greens

Use a fork to beat the eggs and salt in a small bowl. Beat well, until the eggs are mostly uniform in color - they seem to run around the pan more evenly when there aren't huge patches of yolk vs. whites.

In your largest non-stick skillet over medium heat (this is one of the few occasions I actually use non-stick) pour the egg mixture and give it a good swirl so that they spread out thinly across the entire pan. Alternately, you can use a crepe pan or crepe maker - this works beautifully as well. Sprinkle the eggs with some of the chives and let them set, this happens quickly depending on the heat of your pan - 15 seconds to one minute. Run a spatula underneath the omelette and slide it out of the pan (flat) onto a countertop, large cutting board or Silpat-line cookie sheet. Do this with confidence (or practice). Spread the pesto across the surface of the omelette (if you have a thick pesto, thin it a bit with water to make it easily spreadable), and then sprinkle with the cheese and salad greens. Starting with one end, roll the omelette away from you. Cut in half on a deep diagonal. Season with a bit more salt if needed and serve garnished with a few chopped chives.

apple crumble pie take 2

gillian had a bunch of apples and a pie crust she wanted to use so we made this http://whatdidicooktoday.blogspot.com/2009/12/apple-crumble-pie.html. it was nice to bake a pie with someone else because we all worked together. it's a pain in the ass rolling out pie crust and peeling, coring and cutting apples but we did it together and it worked out well. except for when i stabbed the palm of my hand, but there wasn't much bleeding. also because we were using just picked apples we found a worm crawling around the table. u gotta roll with the punches. the pie came out better than the first time i made it and it was really good then!

blueberry cornmeal loaf best of show at quay county fair!

the day we were heading to albuquerque with black cobra was the same day as the deadline of the baked goods contest at the quay county fair. i decided it might be fun to submit a recipe and see what happens. i have never entered anything into a county fair so it was all a new experience to me. since my elvis cupcakes didn't seem to make an impact at the quay county winter craft fair, i wanted to see if i could submit a recipe that would win this county over.

i decided to make http://whatdidicooktoday.blogspot.com/2009/12/blueberry-cornmeal-loaf-cake.html because i think this loaf is da shit. so i whipped the recipe together, dropped it off at the county fair, then we climbed halfway up tucumcari mountain, drove to albuquerque for the black cobra show and while we were there gillian called to tell me i had won best of show for baked goods at the quay county fair! i thought that was hilarious because i decided to whip up the loaf and submit it at the last minute. i was saying how funny it would be if i won best of show and it is funny that actually happened! what what!

blueberry oatmeal scones

i'm back! finally! i'm home. i did what i like to call the jackee and ryan US tour 2010. we went back east stopping off in memphis, louisville, pittsburgh, new jersey, new york, texas and various other spots before heading back to new mexico. and yes i ate a lot of good food. that's all that really matters.

now that i'm back i'd like to update my website just for gillian, who is probably the only person that reads this blog anyway. i made a huge bactch of baked ziti and blueberry oatmeal scones for our friends black cobra who were passing through on tour and crashed at our house. these blueberry oatmeal scones worried me at first because the batter seemed to moist for scones especially with the juicy blueberries. i opened the oven to check on them and it looked like all the scones melted into each other. in the end, the more they were in the oven the more some of the juices evaporated and they turned out to be perfect, although mishapen, scones.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup white sugar

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

6 tablespoons butter, cubed

3/4 cup milk

1 cup fresh blueberries or frozen blueberries, thawed

1/2 cup pecans

2 tablespoons milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease a baking sheet.

Stir the oatmeal, flours, sugar, baking soda, and baking powder together in a mixing bowl. Use a pastry cutter or two forks and cut in the butter with the flour mixture until crumbly and well blended. Stir the milk into the flour mixture until just combined. Lightly stir in the pecans and blueberries. Collect the dough into a ball and pat into a large circle about 1 inch high. Cut into 8 wedges, and place on prepared baking sheet. Brush tops with 2 tablespoons milk.

Bake in preheated oven until lightly browned, 20 to 25 minutes.