Breakfast Egg Cups

I love eggs, in every way, shape, and form you can cook them.  One recent morning, I threw these breakfast egg cups together with several leftover items I found in the fridge.  They were delicious with a bit of salsa on the side.  Next time I'll mix a little salsa in for flavor.  That would make them seriously delicious.  I added the salsa to the recipe so you don't forget.  (You're welcome.)

I used leftovers, and assembled as I went, so I didn't start with an exact recipe (the more "exact" recipe is below, never fear).  I have been a lifelong follower of recipes, only straying every now and again.  However, as I've grown in cooking abilities, I find myself straying more and more--with mostly yummy results.  So go ahead and give it a try!

My eggs must come from a farm whose owner I know.  We eat as healthy as possible, and farm fresh eggs are something I just can't give up.  I've read enough to know where those old, store-bought white eggs come from (even the organic, or free-range, or whatever in the store), and I don't think I'll buy them again, unless I really need to.  Good food isn't cheap, and cheap food isn't good.

Farm fresh eggs.

Here's some updated pictures from the next time I made these.  I added the salsa into the recipe.  Other than less cheese on the top (I'll have to remedy that, because cheese!!), these had the salsa flavor added in.  That made it very easy to just pick these up and eat them by hand.  You can't really see any chunks of salsa, but the added ingredient really enhanced the flavor!

For this updated batch of egg cups, I used brown rice (the last one was a rice pilaf, recipe still forthcoming).

Here is the recipe.  Please don't be intimidated by the lack of exact amounts.  I used to be in your shoes, trust me.  Most cooking (as opposed to baking) recipes are forgiving, and you'll learn to adjust any recipe to your taste.  You'll start commenting to yourself--hey, I bet mushrooms would be great in these!  And you'll chop up and saute some fresh ones, or open a can of sliced.  See how easy that is?

Breakfast Egg Cups

Leftover corn bread (I used leftover Cracklin' Bread!)
Eggs, about 10 should do
About one cup cooked rice--white, brown, pilaf... (I used Bay Rice Pilaf, recipe coming soon!)
Shredded cheddar cheese--about 1 cup or as much as you like
A little milk
Salsa, about 3/4 cup or to taste
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a 12-cup muffin tin (I use rendered pork lard).  Cut up corn bread into small cubes (or chunk it).  Cover the bottom of each muffin cup with the corn bread cubes.

Evenly distribute the rice among the muffin cups (a generous tablespoon or so).  Evenly distribute the salsa among the cups (about a tablespoon in each).  Evenly distribute the cheddar cheese among the cups (a nice tablespoon or so).

Scramble the eggs with the milk and some salt to taste.  Evenly distribute the egg mixture over each cup, letting the egg soak in and filling each cup.  Grind some fresh pepper over each cup.

Bake in the oven about 15-20 minutes, until the egg is set (use a toothpick or cake tester, or press the center of one cup gently with your finger--it should spring back and not be mushy) and the cheese is golden.  Let cool a few minutes, then remove muffin cups to a cooling rack.  Serve warm with fresh salsa.

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Christine

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Sweet Potato Muffins

I never thought to put the words potato and muffins together.  But some brilliant cook did.  And I have her to thank for it.

I'd really like to give credit where credit is due, but I can't remember where I got this recipe!  I searched online a few different places, to no avail.  I cut the recipe out of a magazine; the backside of the recipe has a story about Groundhog Day, but I couldn't find a catalog or date reference. 

If you've browsed my blog's recipes, you'll know that I do things from scratch as much as possible.  Well, the same goes for this particular recipe.  Please don't tell me if you're using canned sweet potatoes.  I don't think I could handle it.  ;)

I baked my sweet potatoes--I actually used organic garnet yams--in a covered stoneware dish in my oven for a little over an hour at 350 degrees.  Once they were soft, I let them cool, scooped out the pulp, mashed it with a pastry blender (easier to clean than a potato masher), and measured out the amount I needed for the recipe.  I used 5 small-ish yams and had a little bit left over--good enough to eat straight.  (Someone please tell me the difference between sweet potatoes and yams...)

I've made modifications for our own family's tastes and diet, and the recipe I'm sharing with you today has those modifications included.

Also, the original recipe's yield was 20-22 muffins, a rather strange amount.  I simply doubled the recipe and made larger muffins, so my yield is three dozen.  It worked out well, since I have two Pampered Chef nonstick muffin pans, plus one Pampered Chef stoneware muffin pan.  You could always bake two dozen muffins, and put the remaining batter in a bread loaf pan (or a mini loaf pan!).  Or, just bake the muffins in batches.

The batter, topped with cinnamon sugar.

I'm sure these freeze well, but that's something I'll have to try in the future.   You see, I made three dozen of these delicious muffins, one of which we ate for Saturday brunch.  The other two dozen I brought to church for our weekly potluck meal.  My men--especially my husband--argued that I should just bring hotdogs to church and leave the muffins for them.  I was tempted.

Sweet Potato Muffins

two sticks butter, softened
2 1/2 cups cane juice crystals (or sugar; you can also probably get away with using just 2 cups)
4 eggs (I use farm fresh from pasture-raised hens)
2 1/2 cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes (or yams)
1/2 to 2/3 cup milk (I used homemade kefir and measured somewhere in-between)

Dry Ingredients (mix these up in a bowl, which I did the night before)
3 1/2 cups freshly milled soft wheat flour (use less if you're using white or store-bought)
4 teaspoons baking powder (I use Rumford aluminum-free)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon (I use spices from Penzeys)
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (I grate mine from whole nutmeg; use a lot less if you do this!)

Options (I didn't use these)
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  (If you use dark muffin tins, lower the temperature to 350 degrees.  So says Pampered Chef.)  Cream the butter until light and fluffy.  Gradually add the cane juice crystals, beating on medium speed.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Stir in the sweet potatoes and milk (I just kept using my electric mixer).  Add in the dry ingredients, stirring until just moistened.  If you're using the raisins and pecans, fold them in now.  The pecans would be a nice touch on top of the muffins, if that floats your boat.  :)

Spoon the batter into greased muffin pans (I use coconut oil; you can also use muffin papers), filling about 2/3 full.  Sprinkle the tops with sugar and cinnamon.  (I mix two cups of cane juice crystals with two tablespoons of cinnamon and store it in a jar.)  The recipe says to sprinkle liberally.  I ditto that.

Bake for 18-25 minutes.  It's always best to use the shorter time, then add time as needed.  For my muffins, I baked for 18 minutes, then added a total of about six more minutes.  I had my oven at 350 degrees, too, so make sure you check your muffins!  Test for doneness with a cake tester or toothpick; it should come out clean.

Warm from the oven, with butter.  Fork needed.

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Christine

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Merry Merry Muffins!

I've been on a muffin kick lately.  This is my second muffin recipe post in a row!

I actually found and modified this recipe last year, so when this year's Christmas season rolled around, I pulled the recipe back out and made some again, except I made mini muffins--lots of little yummy!

This recipe began as an eggnog bread recipe.  Quick bread recipes are a cinch to turn into muffin recipes--just use muffin pans instead of bread pans, reduce the baking time, et voilà!   I added banana to this recipe, which, in combination with the eggnog and its spices, gives this recipe a wonderful taste that even non-eggnog lovers will love.  I'm proof of that!

Here is my "new and improved" recipe.

Banana Eggnog Muffins
makes twelve muffins

2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup cane juice crystals (or white sugar)2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup eggnog (I used Oberweis eggnog)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups freshly ground whole-wheat flour (or 2 1/4 cups white flour)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
dash freshly ground nutmeg (freshly ground is very strong, so go easy!)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line 12 muffin cups with muffin papers.  Blend together the eggs and butter.  Add cane juice crystals and beat.  Mix in bananas, eggnog, and vanilla.

With whisk, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg.  Add to wet mixture and stir just enough to moisten and until all has been mixed together.  Pour evenly into muffin cups.  Top muffins with turbinado sugar ("sugar in the raw"), or cinnamon/sugar, or leave plain.

Bake about 20 minutes or until golden and they test done with a toothpick.  Let cool on wire rack.  These muffins freeze great.

Banana eggnog muffins

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Christine

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Cream Cheese Muffins

Sometimes I get into this crazy baking mood, where I want to spend several days in the kitchen whipping up stuff.  The week before Christmas was such a week for several reasons:

• I wanted to bless our church family with pre-fellowship treats at Christmas Day service
• I wanted to bake some things for Christmas Day with my family
• I simply felt like it!

I had wanted to make a few recipes which called for cream cheese, so while at Costco I bought a bulk box of (what I thought was) three packages.  After I got home, I realized it was three pounds.  Wow.  What to do with all that cheese?  Well, I was in a baking mood after all!

I love muffin recipes, and have tried to keep them to a minimum handful of basic recipes so they don't overflow out of my recipe binder.  However, I didn't have a recipe with cream cheese in it.  Time to search the internet.  I found several recipes that called for a cheesecake-like filling, but I didn't think my guys would go for that (except my dearie, of course).  I searched for one that would have me mixing the cream cheese up with the eggs and butter, or something similar.  And I found one.  I modified it to accommodate fresh whole wheat flour, and since it was a plain recipe, I decided to add some berries.  I doubled the batch, and made half into blueberry muffins, and half into blackberry muffins.  The blackberry ones were my favorite.  I made some more with raspberries--total yum.  Below is my modified recipe.  Mmm...

Blueberry cream cheese muffins

Cream Cheese Muffins
makes 12 regular muffins

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup milk
1 3/4 cups fresh whole wheat flour (original recipe called for 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup sugar (I used cane juice crystals)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla (optional--I used it)
1/4 teaspoon lemon flavor (optional--I substituted 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice)
1 to 1 1/2 cups berries

Beat cream cheese and butter together; add egg and beat again.  Add milk, vanilla and lemon (if using) and mix well.  Combine the dry ingredients; if using berries, mix them in with the combined dry ingredients (this helps them from clumping together, especially if you're using frozen berries).  Fold the dry ingredients into the wet just until moistened.  Fill greased or lined muffin tins about 3/4 full.  Sprinkle tops with turbinado sugar ("sugar in the raw") or cinnamon sugar.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden on top.

Raspberry cream cheese muffins

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Christine

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FFG -- Cinnamon Pecan Muffins

My sweet friend Lori hosts Friday Farm Girls @ Heart every week;

please click on her button to visit her blog

and to find out how you can participate!

I was so happy to receive my Pampered Chef stoneware muffin pan this past Monday from a young lady who recently hostessed a party.  Now that I have two stoneware muffin pans, I can make two dozen muffins.  No more hungry teenage boys crossing their eyes when I declare, "Three muffins each, now, boys!"  Now I have leftover muffins, to be eaten throughout the day, or even for breakfast the next morning!  It's proof to darling husband that I fed his boys breakfast.  Not that he requires it--the proof or the feeding--but now I can proudly point and say, "Look what I made for breakfast!  Would you like one?"  :)

Cinnamon Pecan Muffins

1 1/4 cup flour (I used fresh-ground whole-wheat and added an extra 1/4 cup)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar (I used cane juice crystals)
3/4 cup milk
4 tablespoons butter, softened
1 egg, beaten

Topping:
1/2 cup brown sugar (I used sucanat)
1/2 cup oats
1 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
1 tablespoon butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Coat muffin cups with butter.  Mix together flour, baking powder, and salt.  In a separate bowl, mix sugar, milk, butter, and egg.  Add liquid mixture to flour mixture and mix just until moistened.  In a small bowl mix topping ingredients.

Fill muffin cups about half full with batter, sprinkle topping, then fill cups with remaining batter and top with remaining topping.  Bake about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool ten minutes before serving.  Makes 12 muffins.

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Christine

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FFG--Yogurt Muffins

My dear friend Lori hosts Friday Farm Girls at Heart every week;

please click on her button above to visit her blog

and find out how you can participate!

I've been hooked on muffins for several weeks now.  Meaning, once I found a new recipe, tried it, and liked it, I started finding muffin recipes everywhere!  I shared in earlier posts about how I'm trying to keep my recipe binder down to just one binder--why do I need 25 muffin recipes?--and I'm sticking to my guns.

Several versatile recipes are all I need to change things up a bit.  For example, I began with maple crumb muffins.  Then when I didn't have the sour cream needed for those, I searched and found a recipe using cottage cheese.  Yep, you guessed it--I was low on both of those ingredients, but I had some yogurt in the fridge!  The search began, and I found the recipe below.

When I say versatile, I like muffin recipes to which you can add fruit, for example.  I also like changing the flavor by adding lemon or orange peel, a different flavor yogurt, or extra cinnamon and a dash of freshly grated nutmeg.  With these yogurt muffins, I didn't have lemon yogurt--the recipe was billed as "lemon yogurt muffins"--but I did have banana mango yogurt, so I used that.  I made these a second time, and added blueberries to the batter.  Serious yummies.  I also doubled the batch, and, since I have only one muffin tray, I made mini bread loaves with the second batch in my four-loaf mini bread pan.  We're saving those for Sunday morning breakfast when the household is bustling with church service preparations.

As I've written before, make "muffins for breakfast" even easier by prepping the evening before.  Mix together the dry ingredients, cover, and leave on the counter.  Set the butter in the bowl, cover, and leave on the counter to soften overnight.  Pull out the mixer, measuring cup(s), and other tools.  Set the muffin tins out and line them with papers.  It's amazing how quickly breakfast comes together when I do this!

Here's the recipe.  I usually use freshly ground whole-wheat pastry flour in my recipes, which means that the amount of flour listed is a little more than what the recipe called for.  But just a little!

Yogurt Muffins

1/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup cane juice crystals (or sugar)
2 eggs
3/4 cup yogurt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
dash freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
2 teaspoons (or more) lemon juice

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Line muffin tray with papers.  In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the yogurt and lemon juice.  Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg; stir into the yogurt mixture until just blended.  Spoon batter into the prepared muffin tin.

Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly touched.  Allow the muffins to cool for 10-15 minutes before removing them from the tin.

Place the confectioner's sugar in a small bowl.  Stir in the lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon at a time, until the mixture is drizzling consistency.  Drizzle over cooled muffins, and allow the icing to set before serving.  (NOTE:  I dipped my muffin tops into the drizzle, then turned them upright and placed them on the serving platter.)

Again, please visit Lori's wonderful blog to find out about

Friday Farm Girls at Heart!

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Christine

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FFG--Maple Crumb Muffins

My friend Lori is a farm girl at heart.  Click her button to the left to visit her blog and join us on Fridays, because farm girls love company!  :)

Well, it was a good week here on my suburban "farm."  We actually turned on the a/c in the "barn" for a few return-of-summer days!  Number one stallion (Joe) stayed in the "barn" for shelter this week.  Number two stallion (Jacob) studied hard at the "training corral."  Number three stallion (Danny) is getting "saddle-trained" both online and with his older brother.  And number four stallion--well, colt, anyway--has romped rambunctiously around both the "barn" and the "pasture."  (That would be Thomas.)

The big "stud" worked hard all week providing for this "mare" and their herd.  Even though his mane has a touch of gray now, he still has what it takes to round up his herd well.

Since I happen to be on a farm theme, I leave you with a Bible verse, and a yummy recipe.

Know well the condition of your flocks,

And pay attention to your herds;

For riches are not forever,

Nor does a crown endure to all generations.

Proverbs 27:23-24 nasb

Maple crumb muffins

Maple Crumb Muffins

2 1/4 cups whole-wheat flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 t cinnamon
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup + 2 T sour cream
1/3 cup maple syrup

Streusel topping (mix together until crumbly)
3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup melted butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Using whisk, mix together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.  Stir in egg, sour cream, and syrup.  Spoon batter into paper-lined muffin cups. Sprinkle with streusel topping mix.  Bake for about 20 minutes until golden brown.  Serve warm or hot.  Makes 12 muffins.


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Christine

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FFG--Cinnamon-Oat Muffins and a Farm Photo :)

To find out about Friday Farm Girls at Heart, click on the link to the left and visit Lori's blog.  Then stay for a visit and chat with us!  We farm girls love company.

A farm wife must love to cook.  That's my impression, anyway.  So I guess this suburbanite can say that she is a farm girl at heart!  I love cooking, baking, and discovering new recipes.

I tend to experience two phases in my kitchen and in my life in general:

1. The search to gather ________
2. The effort to de-clutter ________

I have filled in that blank with many different things:  books, science supplies, hats, shoes, kitchen gadgets...  The word recipes was in that blank for several years, but I have just finished Phase #2 by getting rid of  four or five cookbooks, and combining my recipes--two overflowing binders' worth--into one binder, with space to spare.

I determined that one can have only so many recipes.  I purged several which were similar, and kept only my favorite ones in all categories--breakfasts, main dishes, breads, muffins, cakes, etc.  (Click here to see my post about my recipe binder.)

I recently found some muffin recipes unique enough to try and keep.  I kept only a few, which you'll be seeing in future Farm Girls posts.  Muffins are great--if you find a basic recipe, you can add any sort of fruit to it to change it up a bit.  Or, add some lemon or orange peel for a slightly different flavor.  That's why I'm determined, in the recipe arena, to have just a few.

Cinnamon-oat muffin with a cup of tea

Cinnamon-Oat Muffins

1 cup old fashioned oats (not instant)
1 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)
1/3 cup cane juice crystals (or sugar)
1/3 cup sucanat (or brown sugar)
1 egg
1 t pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cup whole-wheat flour
1 t baking powder
1 t salt
1/2 t baking soda
1 t cinnamon

cinnamon-sugar for topping

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Combine the oats and buttermilk in a bowl and let stand for ten minutes.  In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, cane juice crystals, sucanat, egg, and vanilla.  Add the oat mixture and stir to blend.  Add the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon and mix well.

Spoon the batter into paper-lined muffin cups (dozen).  Sprinkle each muffin with cinnamon-sugar.  Bake for 20 minutes; let cool for about five minutes before removing muffins to a cooling rack to cool.  Makes one dozen muffins.

Since we're sharing Friday Farm Girls, I leave you with this picture, just for fun.  Yes, I have been on a farm!

Not my back yard  :)

For every beast of the forest is Mine,

The cattle on a thousand hills.

I know every bird of the mountains,

And everything that moves in the field is Mine.

Psalm 50:10-11 nasb

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Christine

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captured by Christine Anne

FFG > Cinnamon Cottage Cheese Muffins

To find out about Friday Farm Girls @ Heart, just click on the button to the right to visit Lori's blog and to read what it's all about!

This morning, I wasn't planning on making breakfast.  Due to sewing a quick fix for a blouse, I didn't get downstairs until almost 9am.  Jacob was getting set to leave for college, Thomas was working on an algebra quiz, Joseph was toasting some bread, and Danny was munching out of the fridge.

So when I half-heartedly asked, "Does anyone want me to make breakfast?"  I didn't expect a positive response.  But positive it was, and they agreed on muffins.  I figured if they helped, we could have muffins in the oven in a jiffy.  I grabbed my cookbook to start preparing a recent new favorite--Maple Crumb Muffins--then realized I didn't have enough sour cream.  We had cottage cheese instead.  Hmm.

Let me just say that the internet can be a wonderful thing!  I found a recipe, and altered it a tad for fresh whole wheat flour and for our love of cinnamon.  I licked the bowl scraper, and just knew I had a winner.  I share it with you here!  And of course, you already know I won't have pictures until--Lord willing--TOMORROW!  (Can you tell I'm just a bit excited??)

Cinnamon Cottage Cheese Muffins

1 1/2 C flour (I used whole-wheat, and used slightly more)
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 t cinnamon
1/4 C softened butter
3/4 C sugar (I use cane juice crystals)
1 egg
1 C cottage cheese
1/4 C milk

In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  In a larger bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.  Add egg and mix well.  Add cottage cheese and milk and mix well.  Stir in dry ingredients until moistened.  Pour into paper-lined 12-muffin muffin tin.  I sprinkled a little cinnamon/sugar over the tops.  Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes.  Remove to wire rack to cool.

Since I can't bear to leave without a photo, here's one from my spring garden.

...The grass withers, the flower fades,

But the word of our God stands forever.

Isaiah 40:8 nasb

Back to life,
Christine

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captured by Christine Anne