This weekend, I found my new favorite muffin recipe from Heidi Swanson (of course). My last batch made 20 muffins, and only used 2 tablespoons of butter!

Oat Bran Muffins
(basically Heidi Swanson’s Baby Bran Muffins)

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups oat bran
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 tablespoons white sugar OR brown sugar
• 2 cups yogurt
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons melted butter

Preheat oven to 425F degrees, racks in the middle.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, oat bran, salt, baking soda and sugar.

Beat together the yogurt, egg, honey, and butter in a second larger bowl. Add the dry ingredients and fold in until everything comes together. Fold in any optional add-ins, raisins, nuts, and the like. Resist overmixing.

Either grease a muffin tin with butter. Fill each 3/4 full. Bake 15 minutes, until muffins are golden on top and cooked through. 

Proud of myself for coming home and making lentil soup despite wanting to just eat cereal for dinner and watch Hulu. My intention was to make H.Swan’s coconut red lentil soup, but we didn’t have scallions, tomato paste, coconut milk, or cilantro, so it’s basically just the lentil/split pea soup with curry that I always make.

Disregard those Christmas stockings in the background. I just got a head start on decorating for next year.

Since silicone-smoked carrots and kale taste susprisingly bad and I ended up throwing this lunch away and buying Cosi, I wanted to at least give its short life some value with a photo.

This meal is my jam this week:

• quinoa or millet cooked in the rice cooker with a scoop of homemade vegetable bouillon
• steamed carrots and kale
• herb feta cheese crumbled on top

Heidi Swanson’s Millet Muffins have been sweetening up my entire weekend. The uncooked millet gives it a surprisingly nice little crunch.

Millet Muffins

• 2 1/2 cups flour (I used a combination of whole wheat and rye)
• 1/3 cup raw millet
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 tbsp lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, with a rack in the top third of the oven. Butter a standard 12-cup muffin pan or line with paper liners.

 Whisk together the flour, millet, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, eggs, butter, honey, and lemon zest and juice until smooth. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir just until the flour is incorporated.

Divide the batter among the muffin cups, spooning a heaping ¼ cup (60 milliliters) batter into each one, filling it a bit below the rim.

Bake for about 15 minutes, until the muffin tops are browned and just barely beginning to crack. Let cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then turn the muffins out of the pan to cool completely on a wire rack.

(from Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Every Day)

Success with my version of Heidi’s Homemade Vegetable bouillon!
It doesn’t harden in the freezer, so it’s easy to scoop out each time I want to use it. 

• 5 ounces / 150 g leeks, sliced and well-washed
• 7 ounces / 200g carrot, well scrubbed and chopped
• 3.5 ounces / 100 g celery
• 1 ounce / 30g sun-dried tomatoes
• 3.5 ounces / 100g shallots, peeled
• 3 medium garlic cloves
• 9 ounces / 250g salt
• 1.5 ounces / 40 g flat-leaf parsley, loosely chopped
• 2 ounces / 60g cilantro (coriander), loosely chopped

Place the first four ingredients in your food processor and pulse about twenty times. Add the next four ingredients, and pulse again. Add the salt, pulse some more. Then add the parsley and cilantro. You may need to scoop some of the chopped vegetables on top of the herbs, so they get chopped. Mine tended to want to stay on top of everything else, initially escaping the blades.

You should end up with a moist, loose paste of sorts. Keep 1/4th of it in a jar in the refrigerator for easy access in the coming days, and freeze the remaining 3/4 for use in the next month. Because of all the salt it barely solidifies making it easy to spoon directly from the freezer into the pot before boiling.

Start by using 1 teaspoon of bouillon per 1 cup (250 ml), and adjust from there based on your personal preference.

Makes roughly 3 1/2 cups.

This phone photo does not do it justice, but the other night we made some delicious simple lasagna from scratch, coached by Ms. Swanson.

Ingredients:

2 eggs, 2 cups semolina flour for the noodles (<$1)
2 cloves garlic (<$0.20)
1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes ($1.79)
lots of mozzarella (~$4.50, we opted out of fresh since it’s all just melting anyway)
handful basil ($1, but ~free if it’s summertime and we can get it from the yard)
parmesan (<$1)

I love having a pasta machine. For under $10, this was a great meal for 5 people.

Heidi Swanson’s Thousand Layer Lasagna Recipe

likethereligion:

The difference between Adrienne’s cooking (right) and mine (left)

Tonight’s my one free night at home for the rest of the week, so I’m making some soup, even though CR is making some delicious Cook’s Illustrated macaroni and cheese for us tonight. I love having a big stove now.

I’m in love with Heidi Swanson’s quinoa patties to eat with my soup for lunch every day.

Quinoa Patties, Adapted from Super Natural Every Day

2 1/2 cupscooked quinoa (I used the rice cooker for this)
4 large eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
1 yellow or white onion, finely chopped
1/3 cupfreshly grated Parmesan cheese
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 cup/whole grain bread crumbs
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil 

Combine the quinoa, eggs, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir in the onion, cheese, and garlic. Add the bread crumbs, stir, and let sit for a few minutes so the crumbs can absorb some of the moisture. At this point, you should have a mixture you can easily form into twelve 1-inch/2.5cm thick patties. I err on the very moist side because it makes for a not-overly-dry patty, but you can add more bread crumbs, a bit at a time, to firm up the mixture, if need be. Conversely, a bit more beaten egg or water can be used to moisten the mixture. Heat the oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-low heat, add 6 patties, if they’ll fit with some room between each, cover, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, until the bottoms are deeply browned. Turn up the heat if there is no browning after 10 minutes and continue to cook until the patties are browned. Carefully flip the patties with a spatula and cook the second sides for 7 minutes, or until golden. Remove from the skillet and cool on a wire rack while you cook the remaining patties. Alternatively, the quinoa mixture keeps nicely in the refrigerator for a few days; you can cook patties to order, if you prefer.

Kale and Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes Recipe (101 cookbooks)

If I were making mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving this year, this is what I’d make.

I am signed up for stuffing, though, and will be using Ms. Swanson’s recipe. Yum!

I’m on week three of smooth Heidi Swanson soups everyday for lunch.

This week: Buttermilk Summer Squash Soup  (with butternut squash)

Heidi Swanson took over our kitchen again tonight. I love using Sunday nights to make delicious things to eat all week from our CSA vegetables that tend to pile up. Our immersion blender has proven to be a useful tool on such occasions.

Recipes:

Feisty Green Beans (we made it minus the tofu)

Green Soup with Ginger