Peach-Raspberry Muffins. I had a quandary recently.  We bought a mess of peaches, but they ended up banged and bruised.  It wasn’t enough to make a pie, but it was too many to make just a peach sauce.  So I needed to do something with these peaches.  Recently, I’d made these blueberry muffins and they were perfect.  Like eating a cloud studded with blueberries.  Oh my goodness.  I had a vision of peach flavored cloud with raspberries instead of blueberries.  So I got to work adjusting this recipe and accidentally made a quadruple batch.  No matter, they’re yummy enough to share with you and eat an ungodly number of muffins. Makes 9 to 10 standard muffins 3/8 cup pureed peaches 3/8 cup sour cream or plain yogurt 5 tablespoons (2 1/2 ounces or 71 grams) unsalted butter , softened 3/8 cup (3 ounces or 85 grams) sugar 1 large egg 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest 1 1/2 cups (6 3/4 ounces or 191 grams) all-purpose flour 1 1/2 teaspoon (7 grams or 1/4 ounce) baking powder 1/4 teaspoon (1 gram) baking soda 1/4 teaspoon (2 grams) salt 3/4 cup (3 3/4 ounces or 105 grams) blueberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen, don’t bother defrosting) Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a muffin tin with 10 paper liners or spray each cup with a nonstick spray. Whisk together peaches and sour cream.  Set aside. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well, then yogurt mixture and zest. Put flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a sifter and sift half of dry ingredients over batter. Mix until combined. Sift remaining dry ingredients into batter and mix just until the flour disappears. Gently fold in your blueberries. The dough will be quite thick (and even thicker, if you used a full-fat Greek-style yogurt), closer to a cookie dough, which is why an ice cream scoop is a great tool to fill your muffin cups. You’re looking for them to be about 3/4 full, nothing more, so you might only need 9 instead of 10 cups. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until tops are golden and a tester inserted into the center of muffins comes out clean. Let cool on rack.

Peach-Raspberry Muffins.

I had a quandary recently.  We bought a mess of peaches, but they ended up banged and bruised.  It wasn’t enough to make a pie, but it was too many to make just a peach sauce.  So I needed to do something with these peaches.  Recently, I’d made these blueberry muffins and they were perfect.  Like eating a cloud studded with blueberries.  Oh my goodness.  I had a vision of peach flavored cloud with raspberries instead of blueberries.  So I got to work adjusting this recipe and accidentally made a quadruple batch.  No matter, they’re yummy enough to share with you and eat an ungodly number of muffins.

Makes 9 to 10 standard muffins

  • 3/8 cup pureed peaches
  • 3/8 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
  • 5 tablespoons (2 1/2 ounces or 71 grams) unsalted butter , softened
  • 3/8 cup (3 ounces or 85 grams) sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
  • 1 1/2 cups (6 3/4 ounces or 191 grams) all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon (7 grams or 1/4 ounce) baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon (1 gram) baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon (2 grams) salt
  • 3/4 cup (3 3/4 ounces or 105 grams) blueberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen, don’t bother defrosting)
  1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a muffin tin with 10 paper liners or spray each cup with a nonstick spray.
  2. Whisk together peaches and sour cream.  Set aside.
  3. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well, then yogurt mixture and zest.
  4. Put flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a sifter and sift half of dry ingredients over batter. Mix until combined. Sift remaining dry ingredients into batter and mix just until the flour disappears. Gently fold in your blueberries. The dough will be quite thick (and even thicker, if you used a full-fat Greek-style yogurt), closer to a cookie dough, which is why an ice cream scoop is a great tool to fill your muffin cups. You’re looking for them to be about 3/4 full, nothing more, so you might only need 9 instead of 10 cups.
  5. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until tops are golden and a tester inserted into the center of muffins comes out clean. Let cool on rack.
Purple Potato Hash browns You know those days when you’re cooking and you’re just too impatient for each thing to be finished so you eat as you go?  Breakfast was like that for me today.  I ate my french toast hot out of the pan, then decided I wanted something savory, too.  So when I saw my roommate’s hash browns in the fridge, it was like there was a freakin’ halo around them.  Sadly, I can’t eat my roommate’s food.  Luckily my boyfriend reminded me we had potatoes that needed to be dealt with.  So ahoy!  Dreamy hash browns could still be had! Ingredients 3 small to medium purple potatoes 1/2 a yellow onion, finely diced 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced 1 egg, beaten Salt and pepper to taste Instructions Grate your potatoes and squeeze out the potato juice (yes, that is totally the technical name for it) with cheese cloth or a nap-free kitchen towel.  Do not use a paper towel like I did unless you want your sous chef [boyfriend] to make fun of you when you end up picking paper towel chunks out of the potatoes. Throw everything together in a bowl and mix it all up with your hands.  Do not be light with the salt and pepper.  Seriously.  Just go nuts.  I think I put in half a teaspoon and it was not nearly enough.  Go freakin crazy. Fry the whole mess in a pan over medium-high heat.  You’re welcome to oil the pan first (my pan had oil from the french toast in it), but the potatoes will suck that stuff up like a sponge.  With that in mind, do watch your hash browns fairly closely so that they don’t burn to the pan. Serves 2-3 (side dishes)

Purple Potato Hash browns

You know those days when you’re cooking and you’re just too impatient for each thing to be finished so you eat as you go?  Breakfast was like that for me today.  I ate my french toast hot out of the pan, then decided I wanted something savory, too.  So when I saw my roommate’s hash browns in the fridge, it was like there was a freakin’ halo around them.  Sadly, I can’t eat my roommate’s food.  Luckily my boyfriend reminded me we had potatoes that needed to be dealt with.  So ahoy!  Dreamy hash browns could still be had!

Ingredients

  • 3 small to medium purple potatoes
  • 1/2 a yellow onion, finely diced
  • 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Grate your potatoes and squeeze out the potato juice (yes, that is totally the technical name for it) with cheese cloth or a nap-free kitchen towel.  Do not use a paper towel like I did unless you want your sous chef [boyfriend] to make fun of you when you end up picking paper towel chunks out of the potatoes.
  2. Throw everything together in a bowl and mix it all up with your hands.  Do not be light with the salt and pepper.  Seriously.  Just go nuts.  I think I put in half a teaspoon and it was not nearly enough.  Go freakin crazy.
  3. Fry the whole mess in a pan over medium-high heat.  You’re welcome to oil the pan first (my pan had oil from the french toast in it), but the potatoes will suck that stuff up like a sponge.  With that in mind, do watch your hash browns fairly closely so that they don’t burn to the pan.

Serves 2-3 (side dishes)

Carrots, Orange and Garlic

(This photo is totally stolen, from Jamie Oliver, no less)

So I thought I was being super creative when, months ago, I took stock of my fridge, found carrots and an orange that needed to be used up and thought “They’re the same color, why not cook them together?”  Half an hour and some additional flavorings (garlic, salt and ginger) later I had a magnificently delicious side dish.  I revisited the dish a couple nights ago, minus the ginger (simply for lack of it, not because I didn’t like the flavor) and wanted to post it up here.  I didn’t take pictures (let’s face it, I’m not great with presentation) so I Googled carrots+orange+garlic to see if maybe there was a photo I could use out there on the netz.  Turns out that not only is there a mass of photos, this is a super common combination!  *pout*  Here I thought I was being all gourmet and shit.  Oh well, it’s still super delicious and if you don’t already have a recipe, go ahead and give mine a try:

Ingredients

  • 1 bunch carrots
  • 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 orange
  • 1 tsp ginger

Instructions

  1. Chop the carrots into thirds or quarters, depending on how you like them
  2. Peel the orange and squeeze the juice into a medium-sized sauce pan.  Toss in the meat, as well.  Add all the ingredients and bring to a boil.  Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 20 minutes or until carrots are soft.  Drain any excess juice.

See?  Super simple, super delicious.  Jamie Oliver also suggests trying the combination roasted or mashed.