Strawberry Muffins

I love our local supermarket. Like every other grocery store nowadays, they have a rewards card program, and not only do you receive gas points and coupons, but throughout the store they often have 2 for 1 specials of which you can take advantage if you have the rewards card. Imagine my delight when there was a 2 for 1 special on strawberries last week! I felt like I had hit a gold mine!

Unfortunately in my foolish excitement, I didn't think Hubby and I could eat two cartons of strawberries before they went bad, so I froze the second carton in a plastic bag. This in itself wasn't a poor decision; the error came when I subsequently thawed the strawberries...and they turned into mush. I knew the only solution was to bake them! So I scoured my recipe books, and while this recipe doesn't suggest strawberries, the Joy of Cooking offers a delightful blueberry muffin recipe which works just as well with strawberries!

The strawberry mush made these muffins incredibly moist, so I think my freezing and thawing mishap turned out for the best!

Strawberry Muffins
12 muffins

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups sliced strawberries
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
4 to 8 tablespoons warm melted unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Now I must quote a very wise word of advice from The Joy of Cooking: "If muffins must be made hours before they will be consumed, or even the day before, you are wise to use 6 to 8 tablespoons butter...." I followed this advice by using 6 tablespoons, and my friend Meagan who tasted them a few days later commented on how buttery and moist they tasted. The Joy of Cooking know their stuff!

Instructions
1. Position a rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Grease a standard 12-muffin pan or line with paper cups.

2. Whisk together thoroughly in a large bowl: flour, baking powder, and salt.

3. Whisk together in another bowl: eggs, milk, brown sugar, butter, and vanilla. Add liquid mixture to the flour mixture and mix together with a few light strokes just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Do not overmix; the batter should not be smooth.

4. Fold strawberries into the batter. I dumped the strawberries in a line in the middle of the batter, then spooned batter from the sides on top of the berries until they were all covered.

5. Divide the batter among the muffin cups.

This photo illustrates why I don't consider myself a "baker." I'm too messy!

6. Bake until a toothpick inserted in 1 or 2 of the muffins comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool for 2 to 3 minutes before removing from the pan. If not serving hot, let cool on a rack.

Ginger-Lime Chicken Salad

I held off on trying this recipe from the Better Homes & Gardens Biggest Book of 30 Minute Meals for a while because I wasn't quite sure how ginger and lime would taste in a chicken salad. It took me a few bites to realize that I was very much enjoying the combination of flavors going on in my mouth!

This was one of the first lunches I made for Hubby when he came home from teaching drum corps this summer. Since we keep chicken breasts and chopped onions stocked in our freezer and lime juice in our fridge, this chicken salad is easy to whip together without a trip to the grocery store. The peanuts are a delightfully crunchy addition and I think any nut would do, and probably the inclusion of some chopped bell peppers would work out quite well too!

Ginger-Lime Chicken Salad
2 servings

Ingredients
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon chopped onion
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 teaspoon ginger (freshly grated or dried)
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 1/2 cups roasted chicken breast cut into bite-size strips
1 stalk celery, cut lengthwise into thin ribbons, or a dash of dried celery seeds
1 tablespoon chopped peanuts

Instructions
1. For dressing, in a blender combine mayonnaise, onion, lime juice, ginger, and garlic. Cover and blend until onion is finely shopped and mixture is combined. Place chicken in a medium bowl. Pour dressing over chicken; toss to coat.

2. Serve on top of celery or on bread for a sandwich. Sprinkle with nuts.

The chicken salad is great on a sammich, with or without toasted cheese...nommy!

Chicken Veggie Soup & Cheese Spread

This was one of the soups I made in the middle of the summer like the sillyhead that I am. It's not fun to eat soup in the summer when you don't have air conditioning. It can get pretty toasty up here in Pennsylvania, believe it or not!

This soup is very customizable. Have some extra veggies lying around? Throw them in! It could only make the soup more nommy!

Chicken-Vegetable Soup
From the Better Homes & Gardens Biggest Book of 30 Minute Meals

Ingredients
1 stalk celery, chopped (optional)
12 ounce bag frozen green beans
1 medium carrot, thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
14 ounces chicken broth
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
1 tablespoon snipped fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried basil, crushed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken or turkey (about 8 ounces)
1/4 dry white wine (or chicken broth)
Cracked black pepper

Instructions
1. In a large saucepan cook celery, carrot, and onion in hot butter until tender.

2. In a medium bowl gradually stir the chicken broth into the flour; stir into vegetables in saucepan.

3. Add milk, dried basil (if using), and salt. Cook and stir until slightly thickened and bubbly; cook and stir for 1 minute more.

2. Stir in chicken, wine and fresh herb (if using). Cook about 2 minutes more or until heated through. Sprinkle individual servings with pepper.

I enjoyed this homey soup with one of my go-to recipes taken from the Hellmann's Mayonnaise website. I've made this cheese spread for a couple of parties and also whenever I feel like showing some love to my toast.

I usually have all of the required ingredients, and I sure love when that works out for a recipe! However, since I don't usually have baguettes running around my kitchen, I cut sliced bread into quarters, spread them with the cheese mixture, and pop them in the oven. They're perfect party-size, and the recipe is customizable for any menu whether Italian, Mexican, or Southern; just change up your cheese and substitute the herbs for whatever herbs or dried pepper you fancy!

Cheese Spread

Ingredients
1/3 cup mayonnaise (I highly recommend mayo made with olive oil!)
1 cup shredded cheese, such as asiago or parmesan
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano leaves or 1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves, crushed
1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley or 1 teaspoon dried parsley, crushed
5 slices of bread, cut into quarters for "mini" toasts

Since I was cooking for myself, I didn't bother cutting bread into mini toasts, I just slapped some spread on a bagel!

Spaghetti "Bolognese"

This recipe, from Better Home & Gardens Biggest Book of 30 Minute Meals, is on the top of my favorites list for this blog so far. You may look at the photo and think, "Oh, that's just your ordinary spaghetti with meat sauce," but you'd be delightfully wrong because it's vegetarian! That's no ground beef -- that's Grape Nut cereal!

Before you close your browser tab in disgust, let me reveal that because of this recipe, I may never make spaghetti with meat sauce again. The mild-tasting Grape Nut cereal provides the perfect sauce texture while soaking in all the savory onion, garlic, and oregano flavors. In my opinion, ground beef can overwhelm those flavors. Plus the wheat cereal is so much better for you!

I've been dying for two weeks to catch up with my blogs so I could finally post this recipe! I think my vegetarian friends will appreciate it. I'm already planning to make it again next week!

Spaghetti with Vegetarian Sauce "Bolognese"
4 servings

Ingredients
6 ounces dried spaghetti, cooked and drained
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium carrot, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, thinly sliced (optional)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons bottled minced garlic (3 cloves)
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 - 14 1/2 can stewed tomatoes, undrained and cut up
1 - 8-ounce can tomato sauce
1/4 cup water
3/4 cup Grape Nuts cereal

Instructions
1. In a medium saucepan heat oil over medium-high heat. Add carrot, celery, onion, garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper; cook about 5 minutes or until onion is tender.

2. Drain canned stewed tomato juice into saucepan then cut the stewed tomatoes on a cutting board. Transfer tomatoes to saucepan. Add tomato sauce and the water. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in cereal; return to boiling. Remove from heat.

Prizewinning Sunday Salad

This chicken salad lived up to its name because it immediately won our approval and stamp of "nommy" the first time we made it. Like a typical chicken salad, once you prep the ingredients, all you have to do is throw everything together and you have a filling main dish to pair with fruit, crackers and cheese, or smoothies (which is the option we chose.)

I guess the easy instructions along with prep that can be done ahead of time is why the name indicates that this salad is ideal for Sunday lunches after church. I'm sure that was your first thought upon reading the title, but I must admit my brain processes took a less logical approach and assumed the combination of "prizewinning" and "Sunday" in the name suggested that you would be winning prizes on Sunday with the dish. I don't think that's too far-fetched however because I believe this is one of the best chicken salads I have ever had. Honestly, it's second only to chicken salad that I had on tour with the Spirit of Atlanta Drum & Bugle Corps this summer. Their head chef could make a mean chicken salad; I'll have to get the recipe...and cut it down from 400 servings....

Prizewinning Sunday Salad
from the Better Homes & Gardens Biggest Book of 30 Minute Meals
Makes approximately 6 servings.

Ingredients
1 20-ounce can pineapple chunks, drained
2 cups cubed cooked chicken breast (about 10 ounces)
2 cups cubed cooked ham (about 10 ounces)
4 stalks celery, diced or dash of celery seeds (optional)
1 medium green sweet pepper, chopped
3/4 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Dash salt
Lettuce leaves (optional for presentation)

As always, for any recipe that requires chicken, we cooked up some of our frozen chicken breasts in the skillet. We bought a thickly-sliced ham from the supermarket that was significantly more pricey than sandwich ham, but the big salty bites of ham throughout the salad were totally worth it. Plus it provided more than enough meat for this recipe, so it lasted us a good while afterwards for tasty sammiches.

Instructions
1. In a large bowl combine pineapple chunks, chicken, ham, celery, sweet pepper, and almonds.

2. For dressing, in a small bowl combine mayonnaise, lemon juice, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Pour dressing over salad; toss lightly to coat. Serve on lettuce-lined plates if desired.

As I mentioned before, we enjoyed filling chocolate peanut butter smoothies with this summer meal!