Mozi Muffins

Now that I'm done with St. Pat for another year, my savory muffin obsession continues with thoughts of color.  Golden yellow has been calling me.

Mainly, yellow has been calling to me from the jar of turmeric my baby sister gave me for Christmas.

Most muffins are named after the main ingredient.  But no, these little guys aren't made from my baby sister. Rather, they're in honor of her, and her love affair with turmeric.

Vegetables and legumes

1/2 organic sweet onion, finely minced, sauteed in a small amount of olive oil

1 cup cooked red lentils (firmly packed, semi-drained)

 

Dry ingredients

90 g. brown rice flour

30 g. garbanzo flour

1 TBSP baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp xanthan gum

1/8 tsp granulated garlic, or to taste

1/4 tsp sea salt

3/8 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp cumin
3/8 tsp dried cilantro

Freshly ground pepper

Wet ingredients

1/2 cup "original" hazelnut milk (or milk substitute of choice)

55 grams salted organic butter, melted

1 egg

1 tsp pepper infused vinegar

 

Topping

Melted butter

Lightly toasted sesame seeds

1. Preheat oven to 375(f) and line mini muffin tins with 24 muffin liners.
2. Saute onion in olive oil until onion is translucent. Set aside.
3. Whisk dry ingredients together in a small bowl.
4. Whisk wet ingredients together in a medium bowl.
5. Add onions and lentils to wet ingredients and mix well.
6. Stir in dry ingredients, and add more hazelnut milk if needed to get a nice batter consistency. The batter will look light and fluffy, and I think I hear a slight crackling sound as I stir it. Don't over mix.
7. Spoon mixture into muffin liners, flatten gently with damp fingers, then brush with butter and top with toasted sesame seeds.
8. Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Since I'm still getting used to mini muffins, I have no idea how long that is.  Maybe about 8-12 minutes?  Be careful not to overcook them.  Mini muffins can get a bit dry.
9. Cool in pan for 2 minutes, then transfer to cooling racks.

Mini muffins are cute, but they're a lot more work than regular sized muffins.

Yummm.

Cookie Dough Thoughts on a Rainy Sunday

We were getting low on cookies, so I had to take a break from my muffin obsession to mix up a batch of cookie dough.  It's been a while since I made quinoa nut butter cookies...

It's a wonder to be able to mix the flour while the stand mixer just stands there, patiently and faithfully creaming butter and nut butter and raw sugar and other sweet things.

Dump in the dry stuff, and the mixer mixes while I tidy up a thing or two.  And, voila! The exquisite, almost painfully beautiful lightness and fluffiness of cookie dough.

It's silly of me to feel proud.  God invented quinoa, and honey, and maple syrup, and pecans, and all the other goodness.  I didn't invent the Kitchen Aid. I didn't even invent the original quinoa cookie recipe. 

All I did was change up the nut butters and the sweet things and add an extra splash of vanilla.  I can't take credit for the skills needed to make the cookies.  God gave me the ability to learn the skills, and He gave me what little creativity was needed to change up the recipe.

Every good and every perfect gift is from above.

Which makes me wonder at intellectual property.  Is our intellectual property really ours? Do we have any right to claim intellectual property rights, when our very intellect isn't ours, but a gift? Maybe even just a loan?

The Eatin' of the Green - Quinoa and Pea Muffins

The leprechauns made breakfast for Spouse 1.0 today.  Green, of course.  And, now that I refuse to let them cook with green food coloring, the leprechauns really have to get creative. Or just plain weird.

They weren't entirely happy with the green-ness of the green lentil muffins, so they started thinking about green pea flour, lait du pois, and quinoa.

And, while I've generally resisted the cliche of "green eggs and ham", the leprechauns asked, "What if we used some lait du pois in some scrambled eggs?"

Those darned leprechauns.  They know that when it comes to cooking, baking, and software testing, I just can't resist the question, "What if...?"

There's a peculiar rush that comes over me after the grains and vegies are cooked and I start gathering the flours, leavenings, seasonings, and wet ingredients... Yeah, those leprechauns.  They really know how to tempt and conscript a girl.

So, here's what the leprechauns came up with today:

Quinoa and Pea Muffins

Vegetables and grains
4.5 to 5 oz frozen chopped spinach, cooked and squeezed very dry
1/4 cup finely minced onion, lightly sauteed in a dry nonstick pan
1 cup cooked quinoa
3 Tbsp chopped fresh Italian parsley

Dry ingredients
90 g. brown and/or white rice flour
30 g. green pea flour
1 TBSP baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/4 tsp granulated garlic, or to taste
1/4 tsp sea salt
Freshly ground pepper
Wet ingredients
3/4 cup lait du pois (pureed peas -- see post from 3/13/12)
42 grams sesame oil
1 egg
2 tsp lemon juice

Topping
Finely chopped pistachios or lightly toasted sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 400 (f) and line a muffin tin with 12 muffin liners.

1. Saute onion in olive oil until onion translucent. Set aside.
2. In same skillet, cook spinach. Cool and squeeze until very dry. Let cool.
3. Whisk dry ingredients together in a small bowl.
4. Whisk wet ingredients together in a medium bowl.
5. Add vegetables and grains to wet ingredients and mix well.
6. Stir in dry ingredients, and add more water or lait du pois if needed to get a nice batter consistency. The batter will look light and fluffy, and I think I hear a slight crackling sound as I stir it.   Don't over mix.
7. Spoon mixture into muffin liners, then top with chopped pistachios.
8. Bake 13-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
9. Cool in pan for 2 minutes, then transfer to cooling racks.

And, as you might guess, this really makes a baker's dozen.

Serve with naturally green scrambled eggs and green tea.

Naturally Green Scrambled Eggs

2 eggs
3-4 Tbsp lait du pois
Pinch freshly chopped parsley
3-4 Tbsp Pecorino Romano
Salt & pepper to taste

Mix everything and gently scramble. Watch to make sure the eggs don't overcook and lose their lovely green-ness.

Result: The muffins are good enough, and will probably taste better after they set a few hours. Most cooked grain muffins do.  The eggs taste just plain weird to me, but Spouse 1.0 is so happy to get any kind of scrambled eggs that he issued his usual verdict: It's good. I like it. (Grunt.)

It's Not Easy Being Green Muffins

St. Pat's day is impending, and that means Green Breakfast for Spouse 1.0.  Having eschewed artificial green coloring, each year I face anew the challenge of creating a naturally green breakfast for him.

This year's inspiration: French green lentils.  They are such a pretty dark green -- until you cook them.  Then they become greenish brownish gray. 

The first installment towards the St. Pat's muffin was the Lenten Lentil Muffins. Even with the spinach and herbs, they weren't green enough. 

So, to green it up a bit, we use Lait du Pois instead of soy milk.  Lait du Pois? Um... that's french for pea milk.  But, odds are, if you're making these for your kids, there's no way you'll get them to eat something made with pea milk.  (Can't you hear your wee ones giggling and going "ewwww" and saying "Pea milk? Pea milk!! Yuck!" over & over until you want to scream?)  So, we use Lait du Pois instead.

And, Lait du Pois is really just... super runny pureed peas.

Lait du Pois

About 1 cup of frozen petite peas
About 1/2 cup water

1. Place peas in water and bring to a boil.  Do not let the peas cook for more than a few seconds.
2. Using a stick blender or a real blender, puree the peas in their cooking water.
3. Check the consistency.  It should be somewhere between whole milk and heavy whipping cream. If it's too thick, add more water.

You will use about 3/4 cup of the Lait du Pois for the St. Paddy's Lentil Muffins.  The rest can be used to round out your green breakfast by adding it to your scrambled eggs, or use it to make some green biscuits.

As we move from Lenten Lentil Muffins to St. Paddy's Lentil Muffins, not much has changed. Just the "milk," the acid, and the topping.

St. Paddy's Lentil Muffins

Vegetable Ingredients

1 cup well-drained cooked green lentils (do not overcook)
1/2 medium sweet onion, chopped fine
4 oz frozen organic chopped spinach

 

Dry Ingredients
30 g. white rice flour
60 g. brown rice flour
30 g. garbanzo flour
1 TBSP baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp each, slightly rounded: Rosemary, thyme, garlic, parsley
Freshly ground salt & pepper to taste

 

Wet Ingredients
A little less than 3/4 cup Lait du Pois

1.5 tsp lemon juice

42 g. olive oil

1 egg

Topping
About 1/4 to 1/3 cup finely chopped pistachios

Preheat oven to 400 (f) and line a muffin tin with 12 muffin liners.

1. Saute onion in olive oil until onion translucent. Set aside.
2. In same skillet, cook spinach. Cool and squeeze until very dry. Let cool.
3. Whisk dry ingredients together in a small bowl.
4. Whisk wet ingredients together in a medium bowl.
5. Add vegetables to wet ingredients and mix well.
6. Stir in dry ingredients, and add more water or lait du pois if needed to get a nice batter consistency. The amount of liquid you need will vary depending on how much water remains in the spinach and how well-drained the lentils are.
7. Spoon mixture into muffin liners, then top with chopped pistachios.
8. Bake 16-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
9. Cool in pan for 2 minutes, then transfer to cooling racks.

 Actually, because I don't like them to be too big, this made a baker's dozen muffins for me.  The 13th muffin is cooked in a glass Pampered Chef prep bowl lined with a muffin liner. That one usually is a little smaller than the others, and sometimes takes an extra few minutes to bake.

Turkey Meatloaf Muffins with Pumpkin Ketchup Glaze

Last summer I bought a couple of small bouquets of fresh sage and parsley at the farmer's market, and those two little bouquets changed my life.  Or at least my meatloaf.

Meatloaf until then had always a failed attempt to replicate Mom's beef-based, tomato-infused, ketchup-topped comfort food. 

And turkey meatloaf?  A failed attempt's poor cousin.

Until fresh sage.

My first sage-infused turkey meatloaf got a cranberry sauce topping.  And, from then on, all turkey meatloaves contained parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme.  Topped with cranberry sauce, they were once a true love of mine.

But, cranberry season ends. The stockpile of frozen cranberries dwindles. And, the container of frozen pumpkin beckons.

Many months ago I came across the term "pumpkin ketchup", mentally went "ewww", and dismissed it entirely.  But, seeing the pretty orange frozen pumpkin, the ketchup concept returned to mind.  Googled up a few recipes, but really wasn't interested in apple or mustard or the whole pantheon of pumpkin pie spices.  No, I wanted a very simple pumpkin ketchup... one that would complement the last of my fresh sage, not go to war with it.

Turkey Meatloaf Muffins with Pumpkin Ketchup Glaze

All measurements are approximate.  This is meatloaf, after all.

Meatloaf

Olive oil spray
Organic blue cornmeal (or cornmeal of choice)
1 organic red onion
3 ribs organic celery
4 oz organic mushrooms
1 2/3 lbs ground turkey with nothing added (Costco's turkey burgers work well)
3 organic eggs
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
3/4 to 1 cup gluten free rolled oats
1 tsp salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste
1 Tbsp chopped fresh sage
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 tsp fresh thyme
Dash of garlic powder
2 Tbsp ground flax meal
Pumpkin ketchup

1. Preheat oven to 400 (f).  Line 24 muffin cups, then spray with olive oil spray and sprinkle a little blue cornmeal in the bottoms.  The cornmeal helps absorb some of the liquid that cooks out.
2. Chop the onion, celery, and mushrooms reasonably fine and parboil covered briefly in a small amount of water. Let cool.
3. Mix everything  except pumpkin ketchup together.
4. Divide meatloaf mixture evenly among the 24 muffin cups, and press down. 
5. Divide the pumpkin evenly among the meatloaves, and smooth it down.
6. Bake about 25 minutes, until meat is done.

Pumpkin Ketchup

1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 organic sweet onion, chopped fine
1/4 cup organic cider vinegar
3-4 Tbsp honey
1/4 - 1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 - 1/2 tsp allspice
dash of garlic powder
salt & freshly ground pepper to taste

1. Cook everything in a small saucepan until the onion starts to get almost translucent.
2. Whir the mixture with a stick blender until almost smooth

Result:  Not as pretty as cranberry topped meatloaves, but tasty enough and a bit lower on the glycemic index.  Definitely a keeper.

Tomato Muffins with Pesto Streusel - Take One

Todays muffins were inspired by a tomato rosemary muffin at myaspergersgirl.blogspot.com, and the pesto recipe I saw in a friend's Williams Sonoma cookbook.  Both needed some changes.  On the base muffin:

• I'm a firm believer in the value of organic eggs over flax goo.
• I needed to use up some BRM all-purpose gf blend a friend had given me.
• I'm not a huge fan of rosemary. 
• Spouse is not a fan of rice milk.
• Spaghetti sauce is more interesting than plain tomato sauce, and less likely to have BPA.

Other than that, I followed the recipe faithfully.

Seriously, if you want a bunch of really yummy GFCF recipes, with gorgeous photos, go to myaspergersgirl.blogspot.com. 

On the pesto, I combined ideas from several pesto recipes, and then tried to make it thicker so it could function sort of as a streusel.

Pesto Streusel

About 1.5 to 2 cups of rinsed, dried, de-stemmed organic basil leaves (not that anyone really measures)
1/4 C raw pine nuts
6-8 Tbsp olive oil
1/8 to 1/4 tsp garlic powder, to taste
a few grinds of sea salt
1/4 C pecorino romano

Pulse everything in the food processor attachment of a stick blender on low until the basil is finely chopped, but not emulsified.  Pesto should be very thick.

Tomato Muffins

Dry Ingredients
2 C Bob's Red Mill GF flour blend (or any GF blend with bean flours)
2 Tbsp organic turbinado sugar
2 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp xanthan gum
3/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
A few grinds of pepper

Wet Ingredients
1 egg
1/8 C Fearn soya powder + 1/2 C water (or 1/2 C unsweetened soy milk)
1/2 C organic pasta sauce, plus a little extra
1/3 C olive oil

1. Line a 12 cup muffin tin and preheat the oven to 350 (f).
2. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
3. Whisk together the wet ingredients in a small to medium mixing bowl.
4. Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
5. If the batter looks too dry, stir in a little extra pasta sauce.
6. Fill muffin tins evenly, then smooth tops down with dampened fingers.
7. Top each muffin with about 3/4 tsp pesto streusel, spreading it evenly over the muffin top with your fingers.
8. Sprinkle a few pine nuts on top of each muffin, then press in so they stay.
9. Bake for about 15 minutes (test after 12).

Thoughts for next time:

• I'll add more pine nut and pecorino to the streusel, and maybe use a little more on each muffin.
• I think the batter needs more salt, and maybe more garlic. Some chives might be nice.