Tag Archives: baking

Autumn Hot Drinks

Don’t these look yummy?

What is your fav autumn “warm up” drink?

Mine is hot chocolate with all the fixins’. 😉

Hope you’re having a great week . Hugs, G

How Do I ♥ Chocolate?

….let me count the ways! 😉

I know there are people who don’t like chocolate but I’m NOT one of them.

I L-O-V-E all things chocolate!!!

How about you? Are you a chocoholic or can you give it a pass?

These days, if at all possible, it’s organic cocoa and chocolate, as my first choice.

You can read more about why choosing organic  chocolate/cocoa is the best way to go here and here.

♥♥

And here are some of my fav chocolate treats, with recipe/review links where applicable:

naked cake haiku

My Fav Zucchini Chocolate Cake aka “Naked” Cake

And a foodie haiku as a bonus!

Quick and Delicious Chocolate Cupcakes

You can make these in no time at all and again, great with or without frosting! 

Easy Chocolate Hazelnut Clusters

SUPER EASY to Make and Oh So Good!

Perfect for Valentine’s or any day of the year. 😉

Green & Black’s Organic Chocolate Bars

For instant chocolate gratification, just unwrap and savor!!!

What’s your fav chocolate treat?

Have a Great Day and Happy Baking (if you are) 😉

Heart photo courtesy of Flickr

Book Review AND Recipes! :-) 750 Best Muffin Recipes by Camilla V. Saulsbury

750Muffincover[1]

ChaiLatte750Muffin[1]

From the Vegan Muffins section:

Chai Latte Muffins

Scented with many of the spices of chai, these muffins are wonderful with hot black tea.

Makes 12 muffins

 12-cup muffin pan, greased

1 cup vanilla-flavored non-dairy milk (soy, almond, rice, hemp)   250 ml

2 tbsp loose black tea  30 mL

2 cups  all-purpose flour  500 mL

2 tsp  baking powder 10 mL

11⁄2 tsp  ground cinnamon  7 mL

11⁄2 tsp  ground cardamom  7 mL

1⁄2 tsp  ground ginger 2 mL

1⁄2 tsp  baking soda   2 mL

1⁄2 tsp   salt 2 mL

1⁄4 tsp  ground cloves 1 mL

2⁄3 cup packed light brown sugar     150 mL

2⁄3 cup plain soy yogurt   150 mL

1⁄3 cup vegetable oil 75 mL

1 tsp vanilla extract    5 mL

  1. In a small saucepan, bring milk and tea to a simmer over medium heat. Remove from heat, cover and let steep for 10 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a medium bowl, discarding tea leaves, and let cool.
  2. Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C).
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, baking soda, salt and cloves.
  4. Whisk brown sugar, yogurt, oil and vanilla into milk mixture until well blended.
  5. Add the yogurt mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just blended.
  6. Divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups.
  7. Bake for 19 to 23 minutes or until tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then transfer to the rack to cool.

 

 RaspOat750Muffin[1]

From the Breakfast Muffins section:

Raspberry Oat Muffins

These tempting, raspberry-filled muffins are a nice (and healthy) way to get started in the morning.

 Makes 15 muffins

Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C)

Two 12-cup muffin pans, 15 cups greased

2 cups  all-purpose flour  500 mL

1 cup large-flake (old-fashioned) rolled oats  250 ml

1 cup  packed light brown sugar   250 mL

2 tsp baking powder 10 mL

1⁄2 tsp   baking soda   2 mL

1⁄2 tsp   salt 2 mL

1⁄2 tsp  ground allspice   2 mL

1 egg  

1 cup milk 250 mL

1⁄4 cup unsalted butter, melted 60 mL

1 tsp vanilla extract  5 mL

11⁄2 cups raspberries  375 mL

1⁄4 cup granulated sugar  60 mL

 

  1. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and allspice.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together egg, milk, butter and vanilla until well blended.
  3. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just blended. Gently fold in raspberries.
  4. Divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle with granulated sugar.
  5. Bake in preheated oven for 16 to 21 minutes or until tops are light golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pans on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then transfer to the rack to cool.

Courtesy of 750 Best Muffin Recipes by Camilla V. Saulsbury

© 2010 www.robertrose.ca Reprinted with publisher permission.

♥♥

As any of my regular readers already know, I’m a BIG fan of muffins! So, when I had the opportunity to test-drive this MASSIVE muffin collection, I was a happy camper! 😉

And 750 Best Muffin Recipes did not disappoint. This is a fantastic baking book and one that every muffin lover needs to have! 

So far, I have made the:

-Toasted Walnut Muffins (Satisfying and not too sweet, perfect for breakfast)

-Oatmeal and Prune Muffins ( I ♥ prunes and these are VERY satisfying, with a nice “toothsome” texture)

Brown Rice and Cheese Muffins (These were AMAZING served with the Cream of Cauliflower and Tarragon Soup from The Groovy Green Kitchen II: Simply, Super, Supper Soups)

And on the menu today:

-Coconut Crumb Muffins (These look so delish, LOADED with coconut in the muffins and topping them too)

I’m planning to try one or two new muffin recipes each week, to work my way through this book. That’s going to take a while but what a yummy journey it will be. 😉

What do I like about this cookbook, well…everything actually!

The recipes are creative, original, easy to make, LOTS of variety (and that includes everything from the top muffin classics, coffeehouse gourmet muffins, gluten free muffins and a good selection of vegan ones too!)

Another plus, from what I’ve noted so far, none of the recipes are heavy on sugar or a lot of other unhealthy ingredients…it really is the ultimate muffin-lovers collection and I’m so glad to have a copy to enjoy, again and again and again!

The only thing that I am tweaking a bit in each recipe is when adding: coconut, fruit, nuts, etc…to the mix. I always add these with the dry ingredients, (not as the last additions)  to dredge them with the flour etc. and to help to keep them from sinking to the bottom of the muffins when mixed. A little baking tip that has worked well over the years. No problem making this slight change and for me, it’s just a long-time personal preference.

And I hope you enjoy the two luscious muffin recipes featured above,that were graciously provided by Robert Rose, the publishers of this cookbook. Stop by their site to see all their bestselling cookbook choices.

And definitely DO plan to order a copy of 750 Best Muffin Recipes soon!

750 Best Muffin Recipes (Amazon.ca) 

750 Best Muffin Recipes (Amazon.com)

Now I’m off to the kitchen to get those muffin cups ready! 😉

Happy Baking!  

 

Are You Drowning in Pumpkin Puree? ;-)

how do you fix a broken pumpkin?

I JUST PUMPKIN, ANYTHING (pies, cookies, soups, muffins)… ! 😉

And this time of year, it seems like there are pumpkins and pumpkin recipes everywhere.

Last week, I was looking for a new recipe for a muffin that would include not only pumpkin, but dried cranberries and pecans too.

I found this oh so yummy one over at the Betty Crocker site for:

 Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins   (click for recipe)

They turned out great. A lovely dense but moist texture, flavorful and  colorful too.

A couple of tweaks:

I did cut back a bit on the sugar, used unbleached flour and added a dash of cloves and nutmeg to the dry mix too.

If you like pumpkin muffins, you’re going to ♥ these

Any fav pumpkin recipes (sweet or savory) to share? Please do. IMO, there’s no such thing as too much pumpkin….and it’s so good for us too!

Happy Cooking and Baking! 🙂

Photo courtesy of Flickr

Brown Betty

This oh-so yummy photo of Apple Brown Betty stopped me in my WP tracks this morning. 😉 I want some right now.

I make a similar dessert but definitely not with that much butter or sugar. 😦 The photo did inspire me to make some soon though. 🙂 Do you have a fav Brown Betty recipe?

Have a fabulous late autumn weekend. It’s still nice and warm, here in BC. 🙂

Artsy Wanderer

Source

Brown Betty is a traditional American dessert made from fruit (usually apple) and sweetened bread crumbs. It is similar to a cobbler or apple crisp, and the fruit is baked.  It is an old dessert, first mentioned in print in 1864.  Apple Brown Betty was one of the favorite desserts of Ronald and Nancy Reagan in the White House.  They served Apple Brown Betty at my elementary school cafeteria and I loved it.  They served real food back in the sixties and seventies!

Recipe for Apple Brown Betty from Pioneer Woman here!

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Have You Ever Made Rye Bread from Scratch?

rye bread

I’m making scratch rye bread this afternoon, after finding this yummy-sounding (and easy) recipe over at:

The Hungry Mouse

(click to see full recipe with how-to photos).

I’ve printed out the recipe and have all the ingredients on hand, so I’m ready to go!

I love making scratch breads. Such fun and a good arm workout too. 😉

Speaking of printing the recipe, if you copy it  from The Hungry Mouse, you’ll just get the text when you paste, which suited me fine. I didn’t want to have to delete all the photos before printing. 😉 The photo above is actually from Flickr. 

For any of you who have tried rye bread making before, you’ll probably already know that a lot of these recipes are complicated and take a lot of time. This one doesn’t. 

I’ll let you know how mine turns out.

It’s a perfect day for baking here in BC, rather chilly and rainy. 

How is your weather?

We are having a cool start to summer here but that’s just fine by me.

Happy Baking. 🙂

Bread photo courtesy of : Flickr

New Cookbook Progress and Reviewers Needed

potato soup

I’ve been working on my third cookbook for several months now and have been making slow but steady progress on this project.

This will be the second book/Ebook in the Groovy Green Kitchen series.

This one is all about yummy soups along with a selection of easy, interchangeable side dishes to go with them.

I ♥ soups so much and all year long, so this is definitely an easy topic/book project for me to take on with a lot of interest and enthusiasm!

I have had some unforeseen delays in getting this book completed (most beyond my control) but now I’m thinking that wasn’t such a bad thing after all. 😉 Summer is NOT the time to release a new soup cookbook, the fall is definitely better.

And by autumn: The Groovy Green Kitchen (Volume 2): Simply, Super, Supper Soups will definitely be a “done deal” 😉

In the meantime, I am also still promoting all my other books, including my newest one:

Laughing AT the Grim Reaper! Gems of Wisdom for Aging Well

 that I just published in April.

I need more Amazon reviews for all my books and here’s where you come in. 😉

If any of you are interested in reading/reviewing one of my books: 

Amazon Author’s Page for Geraldine Helen Hartman (click to see list)

send me an email (subject line: book reviewer) at:

veggiecook @ myway . com (spaces removed)

and I will be happy to send along a review/gift Kindle copy for this purpose.

I have 6 Ebooks now available so this is definitely not just for the cooks who are reading this! 😉

And thanks to everyone who has already written reviews for my books/Ebooks! Most appreciated.

Happy Reading, Cooking and Mid-Week! 

Carrot Cake Revisited ;-)

I MADE THIS CARROT CAKE WITH ICING (AGAIN) YESTERDAY. YUMMY AS USUAL.

THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD TIME TO SHARE IT HERE AGAIN TOO. 😉

I’m not much of a dessert fan but I do love this cake! 

HAPPY BAKING! 🙂

PS: If you click through to read the rest of the post, you will see the updated version with a couple of new things added. The original post is showing up here but not when you click through to read more.

Gotta love WP!!!  

Another quirk I just found out about when posting with WordPress and in this case, reblogging. 

VEGGIES, YARNS & TAILS

DSCN0899

I thought with the fall’s garden harvest in full swing, this might be a good time to share this carrot cake“keeper” again.

Yes, it really does taste as good as it looks.

Let me know if you give this cake (and hopefully my icing too) recipe a try. If you and your family like carrot cake, you are going to be loving this one, I’m sure!

As with most recipes, I did a bit of tweaking and in the case of the cake, made half the recipe (measures can be adjusted right on the Allrecipe site, I used 8 servings instead) and made the following easy but rich and creamy icing to finish the cake…

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On the Menu Tonight! :-)

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I’ve got a  lot of typing to get through today so I needed something relatively fast to make for supper tonight. 

Haven’t had veggie burgers for a while so I’m making some of those (from the freezer) along with homemade:

Bread-Machine Rosemary Flax Buns (click for complete recipe)

to go with them.

That way, most of the work is done for me and not too much time in the kitchen required to complete these yummy buns. 😉

This is a popular recipe that was first featured in my cookbook: Not Just for Vegetarians. My “go to” recipe, for all kinds of buns, not just for burgers. Easily adaptable for vegans too. Hope you enjoy some soon!

What’s on the menu at your place tonight? Do share!

Happy Cooking and Week! 🙂

Photo from Not Just for Vegetarians, taken by Patricia Holdsworth Photography. All rights reserved. 

Spiced Pumpkin Seed and Cashew Crunch

***Doesn’t these look like a yummy snack option?***

Thanks to Chef Julianna for this spiced nut-mix recipe.

I’m planning to make some later this week. Looks like a keeper! 😉

Happy Snacking.

Foodie On Board

Pumpkin Seed and Cashew Crunch Pumpkin Seed and Cashew Crunch

Everyone loves a party, right?  Especially in the bleak winter months of January and February when we all need a lift!  Well, when I heard that Angie over at The Novice Gardener was hosting a Friday night blog party called Fiesta Friday, I thought it would be fun to hang out with a bunch of like-minded bloggers and mix and mingle a bit. So, like I normally do when I’m going to a pot-luck, I hit my back issues of Bon Appétit magazine to search for some inspiration for my contribution.  When I saw this recipe I knew what I was bringing!  It’s perfect for a party and I could make a double batch as afternoon snacks for my husband and I. This is an awesome recipe! Let me tell you, we have been nibbling away at the bowl since yesterday and you guys…

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