Carrot Cake Muffins #MuffinMonday

These carrot cake muffins taste like our favorite carrot cake but are much simpler to make; the batter is whisked together with the muffin method. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry. No electric mixer necessary! 

Our younger daughter is visiting this month so since she won’t still be here when her big day rolls around, we are celebrating her birthday early. 

Her usual celebratory meal always includes a picanha (cap of the rump) roast and chicken hearts, both cooked over charcoal, black beans with smoked sausage, rice and molho which is a sort of pico de gallo.

And for dessert, she always asks for carrot cake! I’ve long wondered if I could convert our favorite carrot cake recipe to use the muffin method instead of the stand mixer. I am pleased to say, it works great.

Carrot Cake Muffins

The original cake recipe called for even more sugar to be beaten with the oil but for muffins, this amount was plenty sweet enough. This makes about 20 muffins.

Ingredients

16 oz or 450g carrots

2 cups or 250g flour

1 1/2 cups or 300g sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3 teaspoons cinnamon 

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

1 cup or 240ml light cooking oil (like canola or sunflower)

2 eggs, at room temperature

Method

Peel and cut the very ends off of your carrots. Cut them in small pieces. Cover them with water in a medium sized pot and cook until very fork tender.  

Drain the water off and mash them with a potato masher until there aren’t any lumps. Transfer the mashed carrots to a bowl and set aside to cool.

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your muffin pans by greasing them or lining them with paper muffin cups.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. 

In another bowl, whisk together the mashed carrots, oil and eggs. 

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredient bowl and whisk again until well combined. 

Divide the batter between the cups in your prepared muffin pans. 

Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean. 

Remove to a wire rack to cool. 

Enjoy! 

It’s the last Monday of the month which means it’s Muffin Monday, time for me and my fellow bakers to share our muffin recipes. Check them out below: 

• Carrot Cake Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Chocolate Ginger Bran Muffins from A Messy Kitchen
• Pecan Pie Muffins from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Ricotta Basil Muffins from Magical Ingredients
• Sourdough Doughnut Muffins from Zesty South Indian Kitchen

#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.

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Chinese Sausage Broccolini Fried Rice

This Chinese sausage broccolini fried rice is seasoned with onion, garlic and ginger, plus fresh chili peppers, for a lovely spicy explosion of flavor. This is one of our favorite meals! 

Have you ever tried Chinese sausage aka lap cheong or xuong? Made with pork and pork fat and sometimes duck liver, it is normally smoked, sweetened, and seasoned with rice wine and soy sauce. 

You do have to peel the skin off before cooking but it's not hard to do. I love the way the flavorful fat renders out so I always start a stir-fry by cooking the sausage. That way I can stir-fry in it without adding extra oil. 

Chinese Sausage Broccolini Fried Rice

If you aren’t into spicy food, the chili peppers can be left out or reduced. They do add a lovely fresh heat though. 

Ingredients

4 Chinese sausage (lap cheong)

2 in or 5cm fresh ginger

1/2 medium onion

2 cloves garlic

2 red chili peppers, plus extra for garnish, if desired

7 oz or 200g broccolini aka tenderstem broccoli

3 cups or 375g day-old cooked rice

2-3 tablespoons lighter sodium soy sauce or more to taste

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

2 eggs, lightly beaten

For garnish: 1-2 green onions, green parts only, sliced 

Method

Remove the skins from the sausage and slice them at an angle. 

Peel the ginger, onion and garlic. Slice the peppers. Mince them all finely. Or, if you prefer, pop them all in a small food processor to mince. 

Trim the ends from the broccolini and cut the floret parts off and set them aside. Cut the stems into bite-sized pieces. 

In a wok or a large pan with plenty of room for all of your ingredients, fry the sliced sausage until browned. Tip the pan to the side to remove the sausage to a bowl, leaving behind the oil that came out of them. 

Add in the minced ginger, onion, garlic and peppers. Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring often. 

Add in the broccolini stems and cook till just tender but still crunchy.

Add in the rice and stir to combine well with the stems and seasonings. Cook for a couple of minutes or until the rice is heated through. 

Push the mixture to one side of your pan and add in the lightly beaten egg. I like to use long cooking chopsticks to stir them as they cook to create small curds. 

Once the eggs are cooked, combine them with the rest of the ingredients. Sprinkle on the soy sauce and sesame oil, tossing lightly to combine.

Add in the broccolini florets. Stir and toss for a couple of minutes then add the sausage back in. Stir and cook until the sausage is hot again and the florets are lightly cooked.

Taste the rice and add a little more soy sauce, if desired.

Serve topped with the green onions and sliced chili peppers, if using.

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing quick stir-fries! Check out the tasty recipe links below: 

• Aloo Methi Bhaji (Fenugreek Microgreens Stir-Fry) from Cook with Renu
• Cashew Chicken from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Cashew Chicken & Snap Peas from Amy’s Cooking Adventures
• Chicken Liver & Gizzard Stir Fry from Sneha's Recipe
• Chinese Sausage Broccolini Fried Rice from Food Lust People Love
• Ham, Shrimp, and Chinese Sausage Fried Rice from Karen's Kitchen Stories

 

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.

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Fresh Mint Sauce

Sharp and bright, this fresh mint sauce is the perfect, classic accompaniment for roasted and grilled lamb. Make it at least one hour ahead of serving to allow the ingredients time to meld together.

I know it’s not eaten as commonly in the US as it is in the UK, but lamb is becoming more readily available, at least in Houston, and that is a good thing. It’s one of our favorite animal proteins.

If you live in the States, I can highly recommend the lamb chops that Costco stocks. They are tender and usually quite thick cut so they are great on a charcoal grill. If you live in the UK, Australia or New Zealand, you are spoiled for choice of lamb cuts and sources!

We recently spent a week in Wales and were in absolute lamb-y heaven. We even managed to source hogget (lamb 1-2 years old) from a well-stocked local butcher and salt march lamb, raised in the Gower on the southern coast from the farm shop. 

If your mint plants are anything like mine, they grow wild in the summer. Now is a fabulous time to make fresh mint sauce.  

Fresh Mint Sauce

My sprigs of mint weighed 125g. Strip the mint leaves from the stalks. Keep the leaves and discard the stalks. This recipe is adapted from one on Fuss Free Flavors.

Ingredients

1 cup, packed, or 54g fresh mint leaves

4 teaspoons sugar

3 tbsp boiling water

3 tbsp white wine vinegar

Good pinch fine sea salt

Method

Place the mint leaves on a chopping board. Spoon the sugar on top

Rock your very sharp knife back and forth through the mint to chop it. Push it into a pile again, and chop some more. 

Keep going until it is chopped very finely.

Transfer the mint and sugar mixture to a small bowl. Add the boiling water, and mix together, using a wooden spatula or spoon so you can pound the mint gently to soften it. 

Add the vinegar and the pinch of salt and mix together. 

Leave to stand for at least an hour to allow the flavors to meld. I tasted this immediately and thought, “Oh, no, this isn’t like the mint sauce I’m used to.” An hour later and it was much nicer than store-bought!

Serve alongside/on top of your favorite lamb roast or grilled lamb steaks or chops.

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 13th addition to the 2024 Alphabet Challenge, brought to you by the letter M. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the M recipes below:

• Chocolate Chunk Cookies with Fresh Mint from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Easy Mini Mango Tarts from Blogghetti
• Fresh Mint Sauce from Food Lust People Love
• Makhana Trail Mix from Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Mango Strawberry Mocktails from Jolene’s Recipe Journal
• Masoor Dal Nayab from Sneha’s Recipe
• Mediterranean Orzo Salad from Palatable Pastime
• Mojito Mint Fruit Salad from A Messy Kitchen
• Moringa Makhana Paratha from Magical Ingredients
• Mushrooms in My Cookies? Yep. Candy Cap Cookies from Culinary Cam
• Overnight Muesli from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Pork Chops in Creamy Mushroom Sauce from A Day in the Life on the Farm

Here are my posts for the alphabet challenge, thus far:
A: Anchovy Deviled Eggs
B: Spicy Braised Ginger Pork Belly
C: Cecilie's Favorite Coleslaw
D: Cajun Chicken Eggplant Dressing
E: Everything Pizza Tartin
F: Baked Chicken and Feta Meatballs
G: Grape Juice Jigglers
H: Crispy Bacon-wrapped Chicken Hearts
I: Raspberry Rhubarb Ice Cream
J: Java Dry Spice Mix Chops 

K. Korean Barbecue-style Meatballs 

L. Easy Lamb and Fresh Tomato Curry 

M. Fresh Mint Sauce - this post!

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Garlic Chili Pepper Flatbread #BreadBakers

Chewy yet fluffy, this garlic chili pepper flatbread is great on its own as a snack or serve it with your favorite dhal or curry. The garlic and chili add so much flavor to this tasty bread! 

Homemade flatbread is so easy and always turns out nicer than almost anything I can buy on store shelves. I know in a lot of homes around the world, it’s a normal part of everyday cooking but unless I’m cooking curry, I just don’t think to make it. 

Note to self: Make homemade flatbread more often! Note to anyone reading this: You should too. 

Garlic Chili Pepper Flatbread

This recipe makes six flatbreads (about 7x4 in or 18x10cm each) and was adapted from one on Taste.com.au. These little guys definitely have a noticeable heat from the peppers. You can remove the seeds before mincing your peppers to make them less spicy.

Ingredients

1 teaspoon dried active yeast

1/4 teaspoon sugar

1 3/4 cups or 218g bread flour

3/4 cup or 180ml warm water (about 100–110°F or 38–43°C)

2 hot red chili peppers

3-4 sprigs fresh parsley, stems removed

2 cloves garlic

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

2-3 tablespoons olive oil 

Method

Warm the water to the required temperature and measure your flour into a small bowl. 

In a large mixing bowl, mix the yeast and sugar together with about 1/4 of the flour and the warm water. Set aside 20 minutes until foamy.

Mince your peppers, parsley leaves and garlic.

Add them along with the salt to the remaining flour. Stir to combine.

Add the flour mixture to the yeast mixture and combine using a Danish whisk or your clean hands. 

Knead on a clean surface until smooth and elastic.

Transfer the dough to a greased bowl.

Cover with a tea towel or cling film, then leave in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Form the dough into a stout log, then cut into 6 equal pieces. The log just makes it easier to eyeball what six equal pieces should look like. 

If you prefer to use a scale, you can skip that step. My dough ball weighed 212g so each piece was about 68g. Roll them them into balls.

Lightly flour your work surface and rolling pin and roll one ball into an oval and brush it with olive oil. 

Roll it up from the short end into a tight tube. 

Use two hands to roll the tube longer and thinner.

Coil the tube into a circle like a snail.

Tuck the end under. Press down gently. 

Repeat until you have six little swirled dough balls. 

Starting with the first one you made, use the rolling pin to form it back into an oval.

Heat a griddle over a medium high heat and cook the flatbread until puffed on top and lightly browned on the bottom. 

Turn and cook the other side. This takes just a couple of minutes on each side. 

Flip it over one last time. 

I like to put the finished flatbreads in a warm oven in a foil pouch to keep them warm. 

Repeat the rolling and cooking process for the remaining five dough balls. Serve warm. (Or eat at room temperature the next day for breakfast - OMG, still so good.)

Enjoy!

It’s the second Tuesday of the month so that means it’s time for my Bread Baker friends to share their recipes. Our theme is Spicy Breads with Peppers. Many thanks to our host, Radha of Magical Ingredients. Check out the links below: 

• Garlic Chili Pepper Flatbread from Food Lust People Love
• Hatch Chili and Gouda Sourdough from A Messy Kitchen
• Jalapeño Popper Pizza from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Radish Stuffed Calzone from Sneha's Recipe
• Roasted Pepper and Onion Spelt Flour Bread from Cook with Renu
• Roasted Red Bell Pepper and Red Chili Sourdough from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Sambal Oelek Milk Bread Buns from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Spicy Cheesy Bread from Passion Kneaded

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

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Easy Lamb and Fresh Tomato Curry

Ripe, juicy tomatoes add a wonderful fresh zing to the fragrant sauce in this easy lamb and fresh tomato curry. Cook it down slowly to intensify the flavors.

Many years ago, my husband and I were living in Abu Dhabi where there is a large Indian and Pakistani population so good curry restaurants abound. We either ate out or ordered in at least once a week. 

He always got the chicken jalfrezi, a relatively dry curry with lots of peppers, tomatoes and tender chicken. I always ordered the chicken maharajah, which came covered in the richest, most succulent sauce. There might well have been ground cashews in there. When I close my eyes, I can still taste it!

Here’s the rub. He always wanted some of my sauce! Nice person that I am, I did share, but not without thinking to myself that he could order his own darn sauce. Am I right?

These days I am way more likely to cook curry at home than to go out, so I always make sure it’s a saucy dish. This particular curry is full of flavor and, thanks to puréed fresh tomatoes, it has plenty of sauce to go round for all the family. 

Easy Lamb and Fresh Tomato Curry

I know that not everyone is fond of lamb. If you aren’t lovers of lamb, by all means substitute beef. For me, curry is all about the sauce and this dish is one of my favorites, whatever protein you choose.

Ingredients

1 lb 13 oz or 840g lamb ribs, chopped into bite­sized pieces 

1 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more to taste when the dish has finished cooking

Freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon vinegar

4 large ripe tomatoes (1 lb 113⁄4 oz or 786g) 

1/4 cup or 60ml olive oil for browning the lamb 

1 onion, sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 red chili peppers, minced

3 tablespoons curry paste

1⁄4 cup or 60g plain yogurt

Good handful cilantro, chopped

Optional for garnish:

dollop of yogurt

chopped cilantro

Method

Chop the lamb into bite-sized pieces and put them in a non-reactive bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Add vinegar and toss to coat. Set aside to marinate.

Core your tomatoes, cut them in quarters and pop them in a blender. Process until completely liquid. You might have to add about 1/4-1/2 cup of water to get them moving.

In a large skillet over a medium high heat, heat the olive oil and brown the lamb in batches, and remove to a plate.

Add the sliced onion to the pan and cook for a few minutes, until softened. Add in the garlic and chili peppers and stir.

Add in the curry paste. Stir and fry for a few more minutes.

Put lamb back in the pan, along with any juices that accumulated on the plate. Stir well to cover the lamb with the curry paste, onions and garlic.

Pour in the puréed fresh tomatoes. 

Stir well. Bring to the boil then reduce the fire to a slow simmer.

Cook covered for 45 minutes or until the lamb is tender, stirring occasionally.

Remove the lid and simmer until the liquid has reduced by half, so the sauce is thick and concentrated. This could take another 10­-15 minutes. Taste for salt and add more if necessary.

Finish by stirring through the plain yogurt and chopped cilantro.

Garnish with a dollop more of the yogurt and cilantro in your serving dish, if desired. Serve with rice or naan.

Enjoy!

Welcome to the 12th addition to the 2024 Alphabet Challenge, brought to you by the letter L. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the L recipes below:

• Sneha’s Recipe: Lemon Rice/Chitranna 
• Food Lust People Love: Easy Lamb and Fresh Tomato Curry
• Culinary Cam: Lingcod Over Legumes 
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Lemon Vinaigrette 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Melody’s Homemade Lemonade 
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Mediterranean Lentil Salad 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Barbecue Pork Lo Mein 
• Blogghetti Lemon Pepper Tilapia Sheet Pan Dinner 
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Fresh Dill Deviled Eggs with a Hint of Lemon 
• Palatable Pastime: Liver and Onions 
• A Messy Kitchen: Lemon Balm Jelly

Here are my posts for the alphabet challenge, thus far:
A: Anchovy Deviled Eggs
B: Spicy Braised Ginger Pork Belly
C: Cecilie's Favorite Coleslaw
D: Cajun Chicken Eggplant Dressing
E: Everything Pizza Tartin
F: Baked Chicken and Feta Meatballs
G: Grape Juice Jigglers
H: Crispy Bacon-wrapped Chicken Hearts
I: Raspberry Rhubarb Ice Cream
J: Java Dry Spice Mix Chops 

K. Korean Barbecue-style Meatballs 

L. Easy Lamb and Fresh Tomato Curry - this post!

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