Monkey Muffins

April 3rd, 2010 by Jenny

There were old bananas sitting on the counter when I got home from work last night.  I was in a baking sort of mood, and everyone was asleep upstairs.  I was well on my way before I was inspired!  Fear not with some of the more bizarre ingredients, and trust me just long enough to mix and bake the batter.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/2 cups lightly sweetened cereal (I went with Life and store-brand Honey Bunches of Oats)
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 cup instant potato flakes
  • 2(ish) overripe bananas
  • 8 Tablespoons (1 stick) butter, melted
  • 2 cups milk

Procedures:

  • Preheat oven to 350.  Grease muffin tins.
  • Pour cereal and milk into bowl to soak.  Set aside until mushy.
  • Mash bananas and mix with butter.  Stir in cereal mixture.
  • Add dry ingredients and mix until lumpy.  Do not overmix.
  • Pour batter into muffin tins, and bake for 20(ish) minutes, or until golden brown around the edges.

Cinnamon Chip Scones

April 3rd, 2010 by Jenny

This recipe has been in the works for quite awhile.  I’m finally happy with it, so I’m ready to share.  I’ve found these to be a hit at parties, especially since they’re not “too” sweet, but still satisfy your sweet cravings.  I’ve also found them to be a hit for Nathan’s late night coding parties.  …and of course, nobody at breakfast this morning complained.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 Tablespoon sugar
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 6 Tablespoons butter, cut into 1 cm cubes
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 egg, beaten

Procedures:

Preheat oven to 425.  Mix dry ingredients.  Cut in butter.  Slowly fold in sour cream.  The dough might seem a bit dry, but keep working it.  Kneed on counter.  I like to mold into a circle about an inch thick, then I cut into wedges.  I’ve also used an ice cream scooper to make little round scones.  Brush with the egg, then bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown.

Spinach and Shrimp Crepes

March 24th, 2010 by Valerie

More experimentation with seafood!  Tonight I improvised a recipe for crepes, and I’m pretty happy with how they turned out.  This was yet another adventure answering the question “what can I do with the food I already have?”  The shrimp came from the same former roommate who left us the tilapia.

First I mixed up the crepe batter, which I refrigerated while I prepared the other ingredients.  Here’s the recipe I used:

  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 c milk
  • 1/2 c water
  • 2 T butter, melted
  • 1 c flour
  • 1/4 t salt

Mix the wet ingredients together first: that makes it easier to stir in the flour.  Beat until smooth, then put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour.  You may need to add more milk to get the batter runny enough.  My first couple of crepes were more like pancakes.

Shrimp ready to be peeled

Shrimp ready to be peeled

Next I boiled the shrimp (I boiled 2 pounds, but used less than half a pound) and sautéed the spinach just until it was wilted.  I peeled the shrimp and diced it, and cut the spinach into smaller pieces.  I made a creamy filling out of 3 ounces of softened cream cheese and about half a cup of sour cream, which I mixed with powdered garlic and ground mustard.  Mmm the mustard made the filling slightly spicy.

I prepared the crepes (I don’t want to go into detail about that process).  Next I spread the filling on them and placed various combinations of spinach, shrimp, and feta cheese on top.  I rolled up the completed crepes, and they were ready to eat.  Yummy!

This crepe had fresh spinach, feta, and the creamy filling.

This crepe had fresh spinach, feta, and the creamy filling.

Enter SJ

March 21st, 2010 by Jenny

I haven’t been blogging much, and for one basic reason: SJ is here!  My dear roommates Nathan and Rebecca gave birth to their first beautiful child Samuel John.  I’ve also been out of town for the past three weekends, and in the few spare moments I have, the choice between talking to a non-existant audience (yes, I’m talking about you) and holding just about the cutest baby I’ve ever seen is a surprisingly easy one to make.  See photos for yourself here.

In the meantime, I had the worst St. Patrick’s Day Guinness experience imaginable.  No, I didn’t get drunk.  Rather, I tried this recipe, which was never good, but became terrible with time (and by time, I mean, just a couple hours).

So between work and a new house-mate, I’ve been busy.  Nathan’s been busy too, so getting photos isn’t the easiest thing in the world.  I do intend to introduce you to a fantastic scone recipe soon (be excited!), as well as review some of what I consider to be the best restaurants in Durham.  And then, before you know it, you’ll get tons of photos from my journey to Thailand (look for that in April).

One thing I have noticed with the arrival of Samuel is how thoughtful he makes me.  It’s like nothing in his life is taken for granted.  He feels his need for food, and the rest of us do too.  Whether I’m actually bottle-feeding him (rare, if at all) or just talking to Rebecca about feeding or during feeding or while cleaning up after a feeding, you just can’t miss how a basic like food is an important part of his life.  The way his parents love him is evident and challenging, and his complete dependence on others leaves me in awe.  So in all this thoughtfulness, I have a bit to share…

I find it interesting (and sad) how much of my identity I place in my ability to cook, and without much reason to, either.  I’m not even that particularly good at it.  When I was 15, I was outstanding.  Now, I’m 23 and haven’t progressed much despite learning that greasing a waffle iron is a wise move so long as you’re putting anything beyond waffles inside of it (and even then, it’s not a bad one).  I’ve started a food blog, but for atypical reasons.  I’m not blogging because I think you’re dying to hear my recipes.  I’ve even stopped looking at my web analytics so obsessively as I used to.  I’m not blogging because I think I’m a brilliant writer.  I feel pretty confident that I am nothing more than “okay”.

Rather, I blog because I like talking about food, and if I said everything I have to say about food to my friends, they would never want to be around me.  Writing is a much more listener (reader) friendly mode of communication than conversation.  You can receive my thoughts if and when you want to.  You don’t have to worry about hurting my feelings if you scrunch up your face in displeasure at any point in reading this.  I won’t know.

So… despite the temporary lull, I believe pretty strongly that I will be back (and soon) because I know there is very little that could take away my love for food.

business or pleasure?

March 8th, 2010 by Jenny

I don’t see why it can’t be both.  I spent the weekend in Kitty Hawk, NC for work.  You didn’t read that wrong.  I really did get paid to go to the beach.  We went on various field trips which were a blast, and I feel quite a bit more knowledgeable on the subject of beach erosion.

I couldn't think of a better way to start the morning.

I couldn't think of a better way to start the morning.

I felt a little silly taking pictures of my food during business meetings, so my words will have to suffice.  Dinner Friday night was divine.  I ordered the pork tenderloin, and that’s what I got.  An entire pork tenderloin.  It was overwhelming to say the least.  This was followed up by one of the best key lime pies I’ve ever eaten.  Ok… I don’t have many words either.  Deal.

Saturday, we went to Jockey’s Ridge, which include some of the largest sand dunes I’ve ever seen.  Realize that my grandparents live 20 minutes from White Sands, NM.  I got the bright idea to trek all the way to the top of the largest one.

See the huge dune and the tiny people?

See the huge dune and the tiny people?

Then, the Wright brothers’ memorial, which is nothing more than a glorified sand dune covered in grass with a big piece of rock at the top. My legs hurt like they haven’t hurt in a while.  … and I really started thinking that it must have really sucked to pull a plane all the way up a huge sand dune just to have a failed flight down it.  Props to Orville and Wilbur!

The drive back was miserable.  9pm to 1am, I listened to Adventures in Odyssey while throwing gummy worms and chex mix into my mouth.  …ok, so it wasn’t SO miserable.

Work shmork, the purpose of my trip was accomplished at lunch the day after I got home.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

The fresh rockfish was amazing.  We drizzled with butter, topped with salt and pepper, wrapped in foil, and baked at 450 for about 20 minutes.  Served with risotto and snow peas.  Delicious.