Thursday, January 10, 2013

Food Blog Love Fest 2013

Photo credit
Sometime back in December, my fellow food blogger and friend, +Jennifer Field, aka PastryChefOnline suggested to a bloggers group we both belong to that we should each post about some of the bloggers that inspire us and the blogs we really love to read.   So I started making a list of my favorites.  I’d like to share some of them with you today.

Eggton – I discovered this blog in late 2011 as I started to become really involved with other food blogs for the first time.  It’s written by the very funny Katherine who left her job as an attorney in the big city of New York to move to Alabama and entertain us by writing hilarious posts about her experiences, accompanied by delicious recipes and adorable photos of her pups.   Here’s her backstory which is also the first post on her blog.  I started reading her back here and spent the next few hours reading all of her posts from the archives.  And then every post since. You should too.  Try not to snort coffe out of your nose.  After all, who hasn't done this with the hotel minibar? 

Movita Beaucoup – This one’s another blog full of humor and good recipes.  Movita Beaucoup aka Rachael Dyer is a ballet teacher recently turned baking school student whose seasonal competitions (Pumpkin carving,  gingerbread house making and birthday cake baking) have become legend.  Because of the rigors of school, her posts don’t come as often as they used to, but I always do a small happy dance when there is a new one in my inbox.  And she has the best one pot, yes: pot, brownie recipe.

Pastrychefonline  - Jenni Field is a former special ed teacher who became a pastry chef, who loves to teach.  And we are her willing pupils!  Because she is awesome like that.  Her Facebook page  is filled with happy postings of home life and kitchen shenanigans that draw friends into her world and the joy of baking and cooking.  One of her specialties is Van Halen pound cake and she often bakes these for fans!  Her website has wonderful recipes as well as explanatory videos that teach solid techniques.  On my to-do list this year:  homemade puff pastry from this video right here. 

Dear Lauren, Love Mom - Each post is written as a letter from mother to daughter and it’s the stories of their lives in food. Many of them are touching and have great family history stories but each post is like a love letter with a good recipe (The best kind of love letter, don’t you think?) and this is the blog I most wish I had thought to write. Who doesn't want to leave her daughters with a legacy of recipes?

The Skint Foodie - A good fun read from a guy who was down and out and managed to pull his socks up.  (N.B. Skint means broke.) I find his story inspiring in so many ways, not the least of which is his ability to create beautiful meals on a very frugal budget.  Some of my favorite posts are the cheese board challenges, where he commits to choosing a cheeseboard, with three cheeses, for under £7.50 (US$12) which include notes from the cheese shop girl.  I always learn so much and have added many To-Try cheeses to my list.  As a single man living alone, he cooks for one and most of his posts are for delicious recipes for one or two.  Perfect for me most of the year but easily doubled if you have a larger family.  If you like the British sense of humor, you are gonna love this guy.  And you cannot help but admire him.

One Man’s Meat - Conor Bofin is a funny, dry Irishman, with a great sense of humor, who is also a great cook. He has a way with words and cooks good wholesome food with a personal flair.   His long-suffering family eats very well.  He’s one of those bloggers that raises the game for commenters.  When the writer is so witty, the commenters feel they need to be too.  Or is that just me?  And if you are a food blogger, you’ll like this one.

The Curvy Carrot - I found this blog while looking for vegetarian dishes for when my daughters were visiting.  Shanon Lacy is a doctor, in fact, a board-certified pathologist to be exact, but except for on her About Me page it doesn’t come up and her recipes are all about being healthy and indulgent.  Sometimes I just sit and browse because her gorgeous photos are so, well, gorgeous. And she made cheese soufflés! 

And one final blog for today.  I have many more on my list so I hope to do the occasional post like this till I get through them!

Back Road Journal - These beautiful recipes and photos come to us from Karen, who lives in a 1730s house in New England with 300 apple trees and a husband who, like her, loves to travel.  The house is a feature in most posts lately, all decorated for Christmas, and, I can’t get enough of it!  It’s not that I want to live in the country, but I would sure love that dream house.  And to travel with her while she takes the back roads and enjoys the often missed good things that the freeway passes by

I hope you pay these lovely people a visit and enjoy their blogs as much as I do.  Tell them Stacy sent you.  Some of them won't have a clue, but that's okay. :)

Enjoy!

Follow the links below to see the blogs my fellow bloggers love.  And spread the LOVE!



Monday, January 7, 2013

Lemon Blueberry Muffins #MuffinMonday



Happy Monday, lovely people!  After weeks of excess and over the top muffins, it feels good to get back to simple, yet still delicious.  My daughters left Dubai to return to the US and university over the weekend, so you know I need some cheering up.  And there is hardly anything more cheerful than the smell of freshly zested lemons, am I right?

That’s why they put it in cleaning materials too, by the way.  It is part of the brainwashing program designed by marketing types to convince us that cleaning is fun and uplifting and we should buy more lemon-scented soaps and sprays.  But I tell you no lies:  These muffins are the real thing.  Get some in the oven and you will feel better in no time.


Lemon Blueberry Muffins

Adapted from this BBC recipe.


Ingredients
For the muffins:
2 cups or 250g flour
1/2 cup or 115g sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 large lemon (for zest and 1/4 cup juice)
2 eggs
3/4 cup or 180ml milk
1/3 cup or 75ml vegetable oil
1 small punnet blueberries (about 125g or 4.4 oz) Reserve 12 for popping on the top of the muffins before baking, if desired.

For the topping:
Powdered or icing sugar to sprinkle, optional

Method
Preheat your oven to 375°F or 190°C.  Butter your 12-cup muffin tin or line it with paper liners.

Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large mixing bowl.


Grate in the lemon zest and mix.   Juice your lemon.


In another smaller bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, milk, juice and oil.


Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and stir until just mixed through.



Fold in all the blueberries, except 12, if saving.


Divide the mixture between the muffin cups in pan.


If you saved berries for the top, now is the time to pop one on the top of each cup.  (They might still sink, but I figured it was worth a shot.)


Bake in your preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden.


Allow them to cool for a few minutes then remove the muffins to a wire rack to cool completely.


Sprinkle with a little powdered or icing sugar, if desired, and serve.


Enjoy!





Sunday, January 6, 2013

Hot Lemon Curd Soufflés

Fluffy and light, these hot lemon curd soufflés are simple to make and bake, for a fresh dessert the whole family will love!

Food Lust People Love: Fluffy and light, these hot lemon curd soufflés are simple to make and bake, for a fresh dessert the whole family will love!

Time again for a few confessions.  The first one is that I own and use an old lady pullcart.  I got it for Christmas and I couldn’t have been happier.  (See below for evidence!)  And bless my daughters for giving it to me, despite their mortification when I use it!  You know what I’m talking about, right?

It's the kind with wheels that old ladies use to do their shopping in the city when they are on foot. Trundling around ahead of you, in their scratchy cardigans, even in the summer, and impeding your passage when they stop to talk to other old ladies about the weather? That’s me, except I just have the cart, and mine is flowered, not plaid, and I tend to walk at a reasonable clip.

Happy camper on Christmas Day!

After all, and this is the second confession, I use mine to scoot between charity shops, looking for used cookbooks while I am visiting the Channel Island of Jersey.  (Which happens as often as I can get there!)  And if I get to the shops before you, I am going to buy ALL the good cookbooks. Which are very heavy. Which is where the cart comes in. It's a necessity, folks, as well as a fashion accessory. Among the treasures I found on a trip a number of years ago, was the whole How To Cook series, books One – Three, by Delia Smith for only £1 each.  Score!

Which brings me to confession number three: I have a lot of cookbooks. When I get a new one, I go through it, carefully bookmarking all the recipes I want to try first.  The problem is that I often get several new ones at a time, and I don’t get around to making all the things I want to make before yet another new cookbook arrives and the old bookmarks get sadly curly and mashed as the cookbook is put into the shelf and, while not exactly forgotten, it’s no longer on the front burner, so to speak. Can anybody relate?


This week I am delighted to join Sunday Supper, a fabulous group of bloggers dedicated to getting everyone around the family table once more.  The current theme is all about trying something new, something that’s been on your bucket list but that you have yet to tackle.  These Hot Lemon Curd Soufflés were bookmarked at least five years ago so they totally qualify!  And now I am kicking myself for waiting so long.  Because they were delicious. And so easy.

Ingredients
3 large eggs
1 medium lemon
1/4 cup or 50g golden caster sugar
Plus 2 1/2 teaspoons golden caster sugar (White sugar can be substituted for both.)
2/3 cup or 155ml room temperature lemon curd (Store-bought or half of this recipe here http://www.foodlustpeoplelove.com/2013/01/quick-lemon-curd.html – eat the other half with a spoon!)
Butter for greasing your four ramekins

Optional for serving: a sprinkle of powdered or icing sugar

Method
Lightly butter your four ramekins and preheat your oven to 325°F or 170°C.
Separate your eggs and put the whites in a large clean, dry, grease-free bowl.  Put your yolks in a medium-size bowl.

Grate your lemon zest and juice your lemon.  Set aside.  You will need two tablespoons of the juice.  I used a zester for my lemon and the pieces were too big.  You definitely want to use a small grater or Microplane, if you have one.

Using either an electric mixer or a balloon whisk, beat the whites until stiff peaks form.  You’ll get much stiffer peaks with an electric mixer but mine is out of commission right now.  I was surprised by how quickly I was able to get stiff peaks with just a balloon whisk so if that’s all you have, don’t be discouraged.



Now add the 2 1/2 teaspoons of sugar to the whites and beat again.



To the yolk bowl, add the grated lemon zest and two tablespoons of juice, along with the remaining sugar and mix them together thoroughly.

See that zest?  Way too big. Another reminder to use a grater. 


Fold a good spoonful of the fluffy whites into the yolk mixture to loosen it.



Add the yolk mixture to the whites and gently, very gently, fold it in so that as much air and fluffiness as possible remains.




Divide your lemon curd between the buttered ramekins.


Place the ramekins on a cookie sheet or baking pan.  Spoon the mixture on top of the lemon curd and run your finger around the inside edge of each to clean it a little, if necessary.


Bake in your preheated oven for 15 – 20 minutes or until the tops are golden.  Allow the hot curd to cool for a few minutes, then sprinkle with a little powdered sugar, if desired.  Place the whole hot ramekin on a small saucer to serve.

Food Lust People Love: Fluffy and light, these hot lemon curd soufflés are simple to make and bake, for a fresh dessert the whole family will love!

These will sink a little bit as time goes on but will still taste delicious and light, if not served immediately.

Food Lust People Love: Fluffy and light, these hot lemon curd soufflés are simple to make and bake, for a fresh dessert the whole family will love!

Enjoy!


Sunday Supper Specialty Breads:
Sunday Supper Main Dishes:
Sunday Supper Desserts and Snacks: