Pizza Muffin Cups Anybody?

I woke up with a cold a few days ago and as I have diabetes and Fibromyalgia I have to work really hard from keeping these things from turning into Bronchitis or a Sinus Infection, so not much cook going on at the Townsend's this week. I was too exhausted to go grocery shopping last night, so there is a decided lack of quick and easy things in the fridge.  I did find some refrigerator biscuits my husband bought-I think they are kind of gross as I like to only use real butter when I make baked goods but they provided me with a shortcut for lunch for my rascals.  I took some hamburger from the freezer and nuked that in the microwave so it wasn't rock hard and browned it well. After draining off all the fat, I added jarred spaghetti sauce, a fed drops of liquid smoke, Italian seasoning, and grated cheddar cheese.

In greased muffin tins, press an uncooked biscuit into each cup, into the bottom and up the sides. Fill cup with meat mixture, top with more  cheese if you have it, and bake at 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes. My kids INHALED them! They would have been equally as good if I had used BBQ sauce, half pork sausage, or gone with diced chicken, broccoli, cream cheese and garlic! It is not gourmet, but it definitely was a crowd pleaser, and some days you can ask for more then that!

Liquid Smoke the Magical Culinary Elixir

I absolutely LOVE the taste of smoked, grilled, and barbecued food, but I do not love slaving over a hot grill and frankly the idea of standing outside in 90+ degree weather overseeing the searing and roasting of slabs of meat(YUM!) when the inside of my house is comfortably cool(all hail the inventor of the A/C!) is less then thrilling. I hate to sweat. Period. And let's face it, it is 90+ degrees in Southern Texas about 8 months out of the year. Yeah, this means I do not spend a lot of time out of doors. My husband Matt has wanted to take me camping since we first got married...and that was 17 years ago(it's not looking too good for you on that front dear!) But I digress! One of the wonderful things I love about Texas is the HUGE selection of Salsas, BBQ sauces, Meat Marinades, and my personal favorite: Liquid Smoke! I started out just adding it to things like the hamburger for tacos or Goulash(for you Yankees this is what you would call American Chop Suey) but I have since expanded that to pretty much any meat dish, Soups, and even dips! I find it can also pleasantly change the taste of foods my children would normally turn their nose up at, like the tomato and beef stock based soup I made for lunch and added some frozen zuchini I needed to use up and some chickpeas. Once it was heated through I used my handy Braun Immersion Blender and pureed it as smooth as I could. Then I added about 2 T of grated Romano and about 10 drops of liquid smoke. The kids never saw me making the soup so they had NO CLUE about all the hidden fiber in there and they LOVED it!

Now I know you are all just leaning forward in your computer chairs saying, "Hello? Get to the recipe will ya? Ok, here is a fantastic Dip I made for a Church Dinner that went over so well people demanded the recipe.

*Please note some of the measurements have some leeway to allow for personal taste. Obviously, if you dislike Thyme, but love Rosemary, that would be a great substitution. Also if you are not a big fan of Roasted Garlic(Is that even possible?) Carmelized Onions would be great in this dip! If you don't care for olives, why not try some chopped sundried tomatoes?

Roasted Garlic and Olive Dip

2 blocks of Cream Cheese-room temp

1 16 oz contanier of full fat Sour Cream

4 cloves roasted Garlic(you can use garlic powder in a pinch but it's not as good)

1/4 tsp or more Coursely ground black pepper

1 tsp kosher salt

1/4 to 1/2 tsp dried Thyme leaves

6-8 drops Liquid Smoke

1 1/2 cups black olives

In a food processor pulse together cream cheese, sour cream, roasted garlic(minus the skins,) kosher salt, black pepper, Thyme and liquid smoke until well blended. Sample to test for seasoning levels, and when ready add the olives and pulse in short bursts until the olives or roughly chopped and distributed evenly in the dip. Refrigerate for 2-4 hours to allow the flavor to develop and serve with raw veggies and sturdy crackers like Melba Toast.

Chocolate, Cranberries and Orange, O My!

Who knew Scones could be so sexy? I have a girlfriend that turned 45 this week. She is a working mom who is so stressed out and over scheduled when someone wished her a Happy Birthday she stared at them blankly insisting it wasn't her Birthday, until she realized it was! First of all, SHAME ON YOU CLAY! For not being the first one to wish your beautiful wife a Happy Birthday! Secondly, WHOA! If you are a woman turning 45, you deserve Chocolate! Seriously, it's an official rule!

So I had been taking a looky-Loo at Scone recipes recently and bought some cream just for that purpose, I decided to make Chocolate Chip Scones with dried cranberries and Orange Zest for a bit of pop.

I made a double batch because I have a meeting tonite at church, and I also used my tiny biscuit cutter so they were small enough for a person to eat in 2-3 bites.

Here's the adapted recipe I used"

2 cups regular white flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 TBSP baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 cup whipping or heavy cream-very cold

8 TBSP very cold butter cut into chunks

Approximmately 1 TBSP grated Orange zest

1 cup chocolate chips

3/4 cup dried cranberries

1/2 of chopped macadameia nuts

In food processor, pulse together flour, salt and baking powder. Add Orange Zest and Pulse a few seconds. Add in chilled butter pieces, and pulse intermitantly until butter pieces are pea sized. Remove from food processor and toss quickly with nuts, chocolate chips and dried cranberries. Gently stir in chilled Cream, adding a bit more cream if dough seems too dry, less it if seems very wet. Today my batter needed less(weather?) Chill dough in freezer for at least 10 minutes(becareful, too long and it will freeze and you will have to wait for it to thaw.)

Roll out dough to about 3/4 inch thickness and cut into triangles or use a biscuit cutter. I got about 40 mini's from my double batch. Sand tops with sugar and place on parchment lined or greased baking sheet and chill in freezer for another 10 minutes. Place baking sheet in 400 degree oven for approximately 10 minutes. They should look light golden brown on top. Best consumed the same day or stored in an airtight container.

Ok, let me just say these were SOOOOOOOOOO good! My kids got to test them and they were so ripped when I said only one sample per person-MEAN MOMMY!

(heh-heh!)

The combination of the Choclate with the Orange, cranberries and nuts was PERFECT. Please let me know if you try these how you liked them.

Hugs and Fresh Baked Goods,

Leslie

My new favorite Food Website is tastespotting.com

They post all the latest and best from foodie blogs with eyewatering pictures that make you want to run to the kitchen and start cooking. Today that fist thing that caught me eye is an article about crumpets, how they differ from english muffins, and a recipe! This is exactly the sort of thing I have always wondered about, and frankly I will be just fine without knowning, but it's just so much more interesting then not knowing, ya know?

Hers's the link to the blog with the Crumpters article:

http://oneperfectbite.blogspot.com/2010/02/crumpets.html

Enjoy!