Blueberry Muffins and Beyond

Who doesn’t like a fresh muffin on a cool morning, hot out of the oven, maybe with butter or cream cheese stuffed inside to melt? Here is a recipe that makes fruity muffins simple and satisfying. I stole it from my daughter after trying her muffins!

Blueberry Muffins (basic recipe)
2 c flour
2 tbsp baking powder
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c butter, melted
1 lg egg
3/4 c milk
1 1/2 c blueberries

Preheat oven to 350*F.
Combine dry ingredients.
In separate bowl combine wet ingredients.
Fold dry into wet until thouroughly mixed.
Fold in blueberries.
Spoon into greased or lined muffin tins.
Bake approx 10 minutes or until golden.

Blueberry Lemon Cherry Variation

Blueberry Lemon Cherry Variation

For a lemon variation add 2 teaspoons lemon zest and 2 teaspoons lemon juice (or more to taste) to wet ingredients.

The pictured variation is blueberry, lemon, and chopped maraschino cherries with a half tablespoon of the cherry juice.

Crushed pineapple may also be added for a different taste sensation. A variety of berries may be substituted for the blueberries, or added to them. Strawberries, dewberries, and blackberries are all tasty variations.

For folks with certain dietary restrictions, these substitutions are also handy:
Milk = Almond Milk, or other non-dairy alternative
Butter = olive or vegetable oil
Sugar = Truvia or other sugar substitutes suitable for baking
Egg = Egg white or egg substitute

With so many possibilities, how can you go wrong?

Food Porn 2

Welcome to the second installment of Food Porn on our blog.

Writing about food can work up a great appetite, but looking at food can make your stomach complain that you are not paying it any attention.

Being a photographer as well as I writer, I am often confronted with photos that I have taken that don’t quite make the grade as stock photography, but are too good to be wasted. They get lonely when they are simply  archived.

Just like the first time, rather than let these photos sit, allow me to share these tasty items with everyone. Enjoy!

Homemade Pickles

Homemade Pickles

 Muffin Assortment

Muffin Assortment

Commercial Snack Tray

Commercial Snack Tray

Condiments

Condiments

Roasted Garlic Loaf

Roasted Garlic Loaf

Ham and Turkey

Ham and Turkey

–Ann Cathey

Lees and Trub – Waste Not!

Homebrew! Have I grabbed your attention?

Homebrew lime mead (metheglyn).

Homebrew lime mead (metheglyn).

Mead in the process of freeze distillation.

Mead in the process of freeze distillation.

Having a home-brewer sharing my kitchen, I’m finding out all kinds of nifty things. I have come to understand the basics for brewing beer and mead, and there’s an experiment in freezing the water out of mead to make it stronger going on in my fridge.

Bottled lime mead (metheglyn) showing lees settled at the bottom.

Bottled lime mead (metheglyn) showing lees settled at the bottom.

Then there’s learning what to do with the leftovers. A lot of lees and trub (the yeast goop leftover after the bottling process) get washed down the drain by people who don’t understand what they could be good for. It’s all a waste product, right?

Hardly.

When brewing beer with actual grains, the grains are removed and set aside. What could they possibly be used for after they have been leeched of everything the beer requires of them? Plenty of things come to mind.

Spent grains from beer brewing resting in the deep freeze until needed for a baking project.

Spent grains from beer brewing resting in the deep freeze until needed for a baking project.

Remember that these “spent grains” are sometimes treated with hops, which is toxic to dogs. Don’t even think about making doggie biscuits with them. Spent grains are sometimes used as cattle feed supplements, without apparent harm to the cattle. They also make up some tasty recipes. A few samples of spent grain recipes may be found here.

Mead lees and beer trub in the freezer until it's bread-making time.

Mead lees and beer trub in the freezer until it’s bread-making time.

Trub from beer brewing is also great for making breads and muffins, though the products do tend toward the bitter spectrum. The breads I have tried have been well paired with hearty beef dishes, and sliced thin and piled high with corned beef or pastrami and Swiss. The breads made from trub support strong flavors quite well. If you are into the SCA, Civil War, or other historical reenactment groups, trub breads are both historically accurate and make great trenchers.

Lees are another great way to be creative in the kitchen.

I have not yet had a chance to try it, but lees are apparently quite good in a pork based stew. The sweetness of the honey accentuates the pork in a way only honey can. The yeast acts as a thickener from what I have been told.

Bread made from orange mead lees.

Bread made from orange mead lees.

Lees breads are also a great way to use up all that yeast and flavor. I’ve been lucky enough to have a daughter who cooks. She has made lees bread from mead lees, as well as cinnamon, lemon, orange, and whatever other flavors my other half brews up. Both the mead lees and the lees from metheglyns (mead with spices) and melomels (mead with fruit) have consistently turned up delightfully tasty breads and muffins. We haven’t tried a capsicumel, but it promises to be sweet and spicy!

I have not been able to try out any recipes that include the lees from wine, but I would imagine they would also make for some tasty cooking.

If you are home brewing, or know someone who is, try some of these cooking combinations with the cast offs of the brewing process. you will be able to experience a culinary treat that has been in mankind’s collective kitchen for over a thousand years.

Don’t forget – try the brew, too! It was the starting point for this creation process in the first place!

Homebrew mead on ice.

Homebrew mead on ice.

— Ann Cathey
Photos via Christopher’s cell-phone