Monday, December 27, 2021

Pecan Pie Muffins #MuffinMonday

These pecan pie muffins are crunchy outside and chewy inside, the absolute best of both worlds if you love pecan pie and muffins!

Food Lust People Love: These pecan pie muffins are crunchy outside and chewy inside, the absolute best of both worlds if you love pecan pie and muffins!

Waaaay back in January of 2015, I saved a pecan pie muffin recipe from the blog The Girl Who Ate Everything with great intentions of making it immediately. I mean, really, what kind of pecan pie lover would I be if I wouldn’t also want a muffin that tastes like pecan pie?

And yet, somehow, it’s taken me almost seven years to finally make these muffins. Seven long years when I could have been enjoying their sticky pie-filling-like insides and crunchy outsides. Which makes me really sad now that I’ve tasted them. They are pure delight. 

Pecan Pie Muffins

The original recipe made eight muffins in a regular muffin pan filled only 2/3 of the way full so that a knife could be run around the outside to get them out of the pan. If that seems like a palaver, use a silicone muffin pan instead. 

Ingredients
1 cup, packed, or 200g light brown sugar
1/2 cup or 63g all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 cups or 230g chopped pecans
2/3 cup or 75g butter, softened, plus extra for the pan
2 eggs, at room temperature

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare a 8 or 9 holes of a 12-cup muffin pan by greasing them generously with butter. Do not skimp on this step because these pecan pie muffins are super sticky. As I mentioned above, if you have silicone muffin cups or a silicone muffin pan, this would be a good time to employ them instead. 

As you can see from my photo below, I used a Wilton silicone heart muffin pan and I STILL buttered it, just in case! If you want one too, here’s an Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3myKzQx 

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, flour and salt.  Stir in the chopped pecans. 

Adding the chopped pecans to the flour/sugar mixture

In a separate larger bowl, whisk the softened butter and room temperature eggs together.  It’s going to look a little curdy, but don’t let that bother you.

Pour the butter/egg mixture into the dry ingredients and fold until just combined.

Pouring the butter/eggs into the dry ingredient bowl

Divide the batter between the muffin cups. Again, if you are using a regular pan, I recommend you make 8 or even 9 muffins with this batter so that the muffins don’t bake up and over the sides of the pan. That way you can run a knife around the muffins to remove them. 

If you are using a silicone pan, put another metal pan beneath it for support. 

Filling the muffin pan

Bake full 6-cup muffins for 25 minutes or until the tops are crunchy and the edges are browned. If you’ve opted for smaller muffins, check them around 15-18 minutes.

Pecan pie muffins just baked!

Leave the muffins to cool in the pan for about 5-7 minutes, then either push them gently out of a silicone pan or, as previously mentioned, run a knife around the muffins in a metal pan and transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Check out those pecan pie-like insides! I wish I could describe to you how good these are. Soooooo Good.

Food Lust People Love: These pecan pie muffins are crunchy outside and chewy inside, the absolute best of both worlds if you love pecan pie and muffins!

Enjoy!

Food Lust People Love: These pecan pie muffins are crunchy outside and chewy inside, the absolute best of both worlds if you love pecan pie and muffins!

It’s the last Muffin Monday of 2021 and we’ve got some lovely recipes for you today. Check them out below.

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page. 


Pin these Pecan Pie Muffins!

Food Lust People Love: These pecan pie muffins are crunchy outside and chewy inside, the absolute best of both worlds if you love pecan pie and muffins!

 .

Sunday, December 26, 2021

Pepperoni Pizza Meatballs

These Pepperoni Pizza Meatballs are seasoned with Italian herbs, onion, garlic, anchovies and sun-dried tomatoes then they are stuffed with pepperoni and mozzarella. Delicious!

Food Lust People Love: These Pepperoni Pizza Meatballs are seasoned with Italian herbs, onion, garlic, anchovies and sun-dried tomatoes then they are stuffed with pepperoni and mozzarella. Delicious!

Way back in June of this year, my fellow Sunday FunDay bloggers and I were sharing burger recipes and I was particularly intrigued by the pepperoni pizza burger my friend Wendy made. She stuffed the actual burger patty with pepperoni and mozzarella then added pizza sauce as a condiment. She topped it with cooked onions, green peppers and mushrooms. Doesn’t that sound delicious? You can find her original recipe here: Wendy’s Stuffed Pizza Burgers.

For my meatball version, I seasoned the ground beef with Italian seasonings and added anchovies and sun-dried tomatoes to the mix, then stuffed them with pepperoni and little fresh mozzarella balls called ciliegine. So good, guys! Perfect as an appetizer for your New Year’s Eve party.

Pepperoni Pizza Meatballs

My package of ground beef happened to weigh 1.66 lbs, which I know is a random weight. If yours is a little bigger or just a bit smaller, it won’t matter. Honestly. 

Ingredients
1.66 lbs or 753.96 80/20 ground beef
2 cloves garlic
1/4 medium onion
6 anchovies in oil, drained
1 egg
freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon Italian herb mix 
fine sea salt, if necessary
1 1/2 oz or 42g sun-dried tomatoes (not in oil)
Pepperoni
12-13 ciliegine mozzarella balls

Optional for garnish: small and/or sliced basil leaves

Method
Blend the garlic, onion, anchovies and egg until smooth. (I use a hand blender.) 

Put the beef in a large mixing bowl and give it a few generous grinds of the black pepper and sprinkle on the Italian herb mix.  

Adding in the Italian seasonings

Use a wooden spoon or your clean hands to mix the blended ingredients thoroughly into the beef along with the seasonings.

Fry a heaped teaspoon of the meat mixture in a small pan and taste for salt. Add a little, if needed. We’ve been trying to watch our salt intake so if I’ve added something salty like anchovies, this is a good way to see if the meat really needs more salt. 

Finely chop the sun-dried tomatoes with a sharp knife or a small food processor and mix them in with beef. 

Adding in the sun-dried tomatoes

Use a 1/4-cup ice cream scoop to divide the meat into portions. Use your clean hands to divide the portions into two and make a well in each. 

Scooping the meat mixture into balls

Tuck a slice of pepperoni and one ciliegine mozzarella ball between the halves.

Stuffing the balls with the pepperoni and mozzarella

Roll them into a meatball. Place on a baking tray and continue the process until all the meatballs are formed. Chill until ready to bake. 

The stuffed meatballs!

To bake the meatballs, preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C. 

Bake the meatballs for 22-28 minutes or until they are well-browned and cooked through. 

The cooked stuffed meatballs!

Leave to rest for 5 minutes before serving. 

Garnish with basil, if desired. 

These can be served immediately as an appetizer or simmered in your favorite spaghetti sauce to serve with pasta. See mine here with my eggplant Parmigiana recipe

Food Lust People Love: These Pepperoni Pizza Meatballs are seasoned with Italian herbs, onion, garlic, anchovies and sun-dried tomatoes then they are stuffed with pepperoni and mozzarella. Delicious!

Enjoy! 

The stuffed meatballs again!

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing recipes for New Year’s Eve. People have different traditions so I was interested to see what my fellow bloggers came up with. In my family, we usually just do appetizers, no big meal. Check out all the lovely dishes below! Happy New Year, everyone! 


We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

Pin these Pepperoni Pizza Meatballs!

Food Lust People Love: These Pepperoni Pizza Meatballs are seasoned with Italian herbs, onion, garlic, anchovies and sun-dried tomatoes then they are stuffed with pepperoni and mozzarella. Delicious!

 . 

Sunday, December 19, 2021

Creamy White Bean Mushroom Pasta

This Creamy White Bean Mushroom Pasta is full of flavor from brown butter, baby bella mushrooms and a healthy helping of salty feta. Comfort food for sure!

Food Lust People Love: This Creamy White Bean Mushroom Pasta is full of flavor from brown butter, baby bella mushrooms and a healthy helping of salty feta. Comfort food for sure!

Let me just say right now that this is not the prettiest dish I’ve ever made. Those dark mushrooms are super flavorful, cooked in brown butter, but they aren’t very attractive. Would I prefer some golden chanterelles for this? Of course. But who can afford that many chanterelles? If only they weren’t so expensive.

No worries though because I can assure you that when you taste this pasta, its looks won’t matter! 

I’m often on the lookout for meat-free meals that are made with plant proteins like beans and legumes and are, of course, super tasty. That way no one misses the meat. This dish feels indulgently creamy because of the blended beans but when divided between six people, the calorie count per portion is quite reasonable. If you've been eating too many holiday treats, this dish will help balance that out.

Creamy White Bean Mushroom Pasta

This recipe is adapted from a vegan one on BiancaZapatka.com. I had good intentions on keeping it vegan but I didn’t have any non-dairy cream. And if I was going to use cow cream anyway, I might as well brown some butter, right? In for a penny, in for a pound, the feta at the end boosted the creaminess, salt and flavor. Its addition was also a good decision.

Ingredients to serve six
1 lb or 450g pasta of your choice (I like linguine.)

For the sauce:
1/4 cup or 60g butter
2 lbs or 900g baby bella mushrooms 
1/2 large onion (about 5.1 oz or 145g)
4 cloves garlic
1 can (15oz or 425g) white beans, drained and rinsed (I used navy beans.)
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
2/3 cup or 155ml cream
1/2 cup or 120ml vegetable broth
7 oz or 200g feta cheese, crumbled
Freshly ground black pepper

For garnish:
fresh parsley, optional

To serve:
Freshly grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese, optional

Method
Clean the mushrooms and cut off any hard stem ends. Slice a third of them, cut the second third in bite-sized pieces and chop the last third. (Or cut them all one way. I just like the mix of textures when they are cooked.)

Cutting the clean mushrooms

Peel and dice the onion finely. Peel and roughly chop the garlic cloves.

Dicing the onion and chopping the garlic

Rinse and drain the white beans and blend them with the cream, nutritional yeast and chopped garlic cloves in a food processor or with a hand blender until smooth. If the mixture is too thick to blend smooth, you can thin it with some of the vegetable stock. It’s all going into the pan together eventually.

Heat the butter in a pan and cook until the milk solids separate and the butter browns. 

The brown butter!

If you need better instructions on browning butter, check out this link: https://www.cookingactress.com/2013/04/browned-butter-how-to.html My friend, Kayle, will show you how to do it. 

Add the mushrooms to the brown butter and pop the lid on your pan. 

Adding the mushrooms to the butter pan.

Cook covered until the mushrooms release their liquid, stirring occasionally. This takes just a few minutes over a high heat.

The mushrooms released their liquid

Take the lid off the pan and keep cooking them until the liquid evaporates and the mushrooms are relatively dry and golden.

The mushroom liquid has evaporated

Add in the diced onions and sauté for about 2-3 minutes or until they are softened and translucent.

Adding in the onions

In the meantime, cook the pasta in salted water according to the package instructions.

Once the onions have softened, add the vegetable broth and the bean puree to the pan. 

Adding the bean puree and stock to the pan

Stir well. Bring the sauce to a boil then turn it down to simmer for a few minutes.

Already a creamy and wonderful sauce

Add in the crumbled feta and a few grinds of black pepper. 

Adding the feta

Stir to combine and warm the feta through.

Once the pasta is al dente, drain off the cooking water. Toss the pasta with the sauce to serve.

Garnish with chopped parsley if desired and put freshly grated Parmesan on the table so folks can help themselves.

Food Lust People Love: This Creamy White Bean Mushroom Pasta is full of flavor from brown butter, baby bella mushrooms and a healthy helping of salty feta. Comfort food for sure!

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are all sharing pasta for the holidays. Check out all the links below. Many thanks to our host, Sue of Palatable Pastime



We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

Pin this Creamy White Bean Mushroom Pasta!

Food Lust People Love: This Creamy White Bean Mushroom Pasta is full of flavor from brown butter, baby bella mushrooms and a healthy helping of salty feta. Comfort food for sure!

 .

Thursday, December 16, 2021

Chocolate Peppermint Bundt #BundtBakers

This Chocolate Peppermint Bundt starts with a mint chocolate batter, baked up tender, finished with peppermint glaze and crushed peppermint candy canes, perfect flavors for the holiday season!

Food Lust People Love: This Chocolate Peppermint Bundt starts with a mint chocolate batter, baked up tender, finished with peppermint glaze and crushed peppermint candy canes, perfect flavors for the holiday season!

This month’s Bundt Bakers event is special! Rather than choosing an ingredient or theme, our host Patricia of PatyCo Candybar asked us to choose a cake made by one of our fellow bakers to recreate. Gosh, was it hard to choose just one! 

Some of us have been baking Bundts together each month for almost 10 years so that’s a lot of lovely cakes to choose from. I scrolled down the list on our Bundt Bakers’ page and, honestly, it was a struggle. I love so many of them! I finally decided on the chocolate peppermint Bundt from Rebekah of Making Miracles because the flavors sounded perfect for the holiday season. 

If you haven’t been over to Rebekah’s blog yet, you might not know that her blog name, Making Miracles, is a reference to the beautiful babies she gave birth to as a surrogate. Several families are more complete because she was willing to help them fulfill their dream of having children. She is an amazing mom herself and a special, generous, caring person! 

Chocolate Peppermint Bundt

The original instructions say to use a 12-cup Bundt pan so, of course, I did, but I think this batter would fit quite comfortably in a 10-cup pan as well. 

Ingredients
For the cake:
1 cup or 240ml boiling water
6 tablespoons or 30g unsweetened cocoa powder, plus extra for the pan
2 1/2 cups or 312g flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup or 57g butter, at room temperature, plus extra for the pan
3/4 cup or 150g sugar
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
3 large eggs, at room temperature
2/3 cup or 162g full fat plain yogurt
1/4 cup or 45g semisweet chocolate chips

For the glaze:
3/4 cup or 94g powdered sugar, sifted
1 to 2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon butter, melted and cooled
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 peppermint candy cane (.44 oz or 12.5g), crushed

To decorate:
1 peppermint candy cane (.44 oz or 12.5g), crushed

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare a 12-cup Bundt pan by generously buttering and lightly coating it with sifted cocoa powder. 

Pour the boiling water into a heatproof measuring vessel then add the cocoa and whisk till it has completely dissolved. Set the mixture aside to cool. 

Whisking the cocoa into the boiling water.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

Use electric beaters or your stand mixer on medium speed to cream together the butter, sugar and peppermint extract.  Add the first egg and beat again.

Adding the first egg to the creamed butter and sugar

Add the following two eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition. 

Adding the third egg to the mixture

Blend the yogurt into the mixture, followed by the cooled cocoa mixture. 

After the yogurt is added, adding the cocoa mixture

Fold in the flour mixture in batches until just until combined (do not over mix).  

Folding in the flour in three batches

Fold in the chocolate chips.

Folding in the chocolate chips

Spoon the batter into the prepared Bundt pan and smooth; tap pan once or twice sharply to remove any air bubbles. 

Spooning the batter into the prepared pan

Bake 40-45 minutes, until cake begins to pull away from edges of pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

Just out of the oven!

Carefully invert the cake onto the rack and allow to cool completely (or invert directly onto a cake plate if preferred).

The inverted cake cooling on the wire rack

For the glaze, combine the powdered sugar, milk, butter, and peppermint extract in a small bowl, starting with just 1 tablespoon of the milk. Add more milk a little at a time until you reach pouring consistency. You may not need it all. 

Mixing the glaze ingredients

Crush the candy canes in a plastic baggie using a rolling pin or a the flat side of a meat tenderizer. Stir half of the crushed candy canes into the glaze. 

Adding half the crushed peppermint candy cane to the glaze

Drizzle or pour the glaze over the cake then sprinkle the top with the remaining crushed candy cane. 

Food Lust People Love: This Chocolate Peppermint Bundt starts with a mint chocolate batter, baked up tender, finished with peppermint glaze and crushed peppermint candy canes, perfect flavors for the holiday season!

Allow the glaze to set before slicing to serve. 

Food Lust People Love: This Chocolate Peppermint Bundt starts with a mint chocolate batter, baked up tender, finished with peppermint glaze and crushed peppermint candy canes, perfect flavors for the holiday season!

Enjoy! 

As I mentioned above, it’s time for December’s edition of Bundt Bakers! Check out all the tributes to our Bundt Baker friends below. Many thanks to Patricia of Patyco Candybar for hosting! 

#BundtBakers badge

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers, can be found on our home page.

Pin this Chocolate Peppermint Bundt!

Food Lust People Love: This Chocolate Peppermint Bundt starts with a mint chocolate batter, baked up tender, finished with peppermint glaze and crushed peppermint candy canes, perfect flavors for the holiday season!

 .

Wednesday, December 1, 2021

Melon Prosciutto Chèvre Salad with Mint Dressing

This Melon Prosciutto Chèvre Salad is light, tasty and refreshing. The salty prosciutto goes perfectly with the sweet melon and creamy goat cheese, topped with the bright taste of the mint dressing. 

Food Lust People Love: This Melon Prosciutto Chèvre Salad is light, tasty and refreshing. The salty prosciutto goes perfectly with the sweet melon and creamy goat cheese, topped with the bright taste of the ginger mint dressing.

I don’t remember the first time I ate melon wrapped with prosciutto but I’m guessing it was when we were living in France in the early 1990s. Such a revelation! Salty ham with sweet, ripe summer melon is divine and, as far as we are concerned, also the perfect starter just on its own. 

This salad takes that simple starter and makes it into a whole meal (or a bigger starter) by adding salad greens, goat cheese and a delicious mint dressing. It’s the sort of dish that would go over big at an outdoor barbecue, potluck picnic or baby shower. Which is why I am sharing it today. 

Since way back in 2014, I’ve been sharing recipes on the first Wednesday of every month with a group its founder named Foodie Extravaganza party. Lauren was a food blogger (and cattle rancher) when she started the group but has since become a photographer (and still a rancher.) After many years of wanting a little one, she and her husband were recently blessed with a baby girl they’ve named Lucy so this month our theme is A Virtual Baby Shower! Make sure you scroll down to see what everyone is bringing to the party to welcome Lucy!

Melon Prosciutto Chèvre Salad with Mint Dressing
With the ingredient amounts below, you can serve 2-3 as a main course, 4-6 as a starter or 14 as part of a party buffet where each person gets one slice of the melon along with some of the accompanying greens, ham and cheese. This recipe is adapted from one on Food.com.

Ingredients
For the salad:
1 small Charolais melon (or your favorite sweet summer melon) 
6 thin slices (2 1/2 oz or 70g) Italian Prosciutto 
7oz or 200g log chèvre aka goat cheese, well chilled (15 minutes in the freezer makes it easier to slice neatly)
6 oz or 170g frisée or your favorite strongly flavored salad greens

For the dressing – makes about 3/4 cup or 180ml:
1/2 cup, gently packed, or 15g fresh mint leaves, divided
1/4 cup or 60ml white wine or apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup or 120ml olive oil 
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
1 generous pinch fine sea salt
A couple of good grinds of fresh black pepper

Method
To make the dressing, blend the rest of the ingredients along with half of the mint leaves until smooth. Put the dressing in the refrigerator to chill. 

Dressing ingredients ready to blend

Cut the goat cheese into circles and then cut the circles in half again. 

Slicing the goat cheese into circles

Cut the melon in half and scoop out the seeds. Cut the melon into 14 slices and then cut the flesh off of the peel with a sharp knife. 

Slicing then peeling the melon

Arrange your greens on a large platter and top them with the melon slices. 

Arranging the melon slices on top of the greens on a large platter

Rip the prosciutto in pieces and tuck them, along with the goat cheese semi circles, on top and amongst the melon slices. 

Arranging the ham and cheese on the salad

Add the reserved mint leaves to the top of the salad. 

Adding the reserved mint leaves to the salad

Drizzle with mint dressing to serve.

Food Lust People Love: This Melon Prosciutto Chèvre Salad is light, tasty and refreshing. The salty prosciutto goes perfectly with the sweet melon and creamy goat cheese, topped with the bright taste of the ginger mint dressing.

Enjoy! 

Food Lust People Love: This Melon Prosciutto Chèvre Salad is light, tasty and refreshing. The salty prosciutto goes perfectly with the sweet melon and creamy goat cheese, topped with the bright taste of the ginger mint dressing.

As I mentioned above, today my Foodie Extravaganza group is celebrating the birth of sweet Lucy, the much-loved, long-awaited daughter of the group's founder, Lauren. We wish Lucy and her parents a long and happy life together! Check out all the tasty dishes we are sharing for this virtual baby shower!


Foodie Extravaganza is where we celebrate obscure food holidays by cooking and baking together with the same ingredient or theme each month. Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board.

Pin this Melon Prosciutto Chèvre Salad with Mint Dressing!

Food Lust People Love: This Melon Prosciutto Chèvre Salad is light, tasty and refreshing. The salty prosciutto goes perfectly with the sweet melon and creamy goat cheese, topped with the bright taste of the ginger mint dressing.

 .