100th Post: Sweet and Salty Manchego Corn Muffins

Ladies and gentlemen, it's my 100th post!

I started this blog over a year ago as a summer project. It's become a way for me to keep track of all my culinary creations while sharing them with my friends and family. It's really helped me expand my cooking arsenal. I've made lots of things from scratch and tried lots of new ingredients. Thanks for sharing it all with me.

Notes: This recipe is an altered version of Smitten Kitchen's corn muffins. Scott is not crazy about kernels of corn in his muffins so I left those out. I also didn't have any buttermilk, but I did have yogurt. I had some leftover manchego cheese that needed using up, so hey, why not? They turned out great. 

Ingredients:
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
6 teaspoons raw sugar
1/3 cup shredded manchego cheese
1 cup vanilla yogurt
2 eggs
3 tablespoons melted butter
3 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:

Heat your oven to 400. Line your muffin tin with paper cups.

Pour melted butter and olive oil into a large bowl. Beat the eggs slightly and add those in with the yogurt and the cheese. Mix the wet ingredients together.

Add flour, cornmeal, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar into the bowl. Once all the dry ingredients are in the bowl, then mix everything together. Don't worry about getting it perfectly smooth, just combine everything.

Scoop out the batter into the muffin tin and bake for 15-18 minutes until a tester comes out clean and the muffins are very lightly golden brown on top.

Store in an airtight container and enjoy!

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

Do you love yourself? Because if you do, you should do something very nice for yourself. You should make these cinnamon rolls.

I followed Smitten Kitchen's recipe exactly, so I won't retype it here. I put everything together the night before and just baked them up the next morning. They're made from scratch, so it's a bit of work, but the results are so worth it. These would be a great Thanksgiving breakfast or dessert.

Just make them. You won't regret it, I promise.

Slow Cooker Apple Cider BBQ Chicken

This semester has been pretty busy, so I'm experimenting with more slow cooker recipes. We have some long days during the week and it's nice to come home to a meal that's already made. Some of my recipes have turned out well, some not so well. This one is not great for a week night, but it is great for a weekend. It has a short ingredient list and the results are delicious.

Notes: Scott and I prefer dark meat, but if you want white meat, by all means use chicken breasts.

If you don't have fresh apple cider, you could easily substitute apple juice.

Ingredients:
1 lb of boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 1/2 cups of your favorite BBQ sauce
1 cup fresh apple cider (or apple juice)
Salt
Pepper

Directions:

Add the chicken thighs to the slow cooker and season them with salt and pepper. In a large bowl whisk together the BBQ sauce and apple cider. Pour over the chicken, making sure all the meat is covered (if you need some more liquid, just add a little water). Set the slow cooker for 4 hours on high.

30 minutes before the cooking time is up, take the chicken out an shred it with two forks. Put the shredded chicken back in the slow cooker to finish up. Serve and enjoy!

Pictured here with French roasted potatoes

Homemade Pizza, Take Two

Hoo boy. Am I ever behind on posting recipes!

Remember when I made homemade pizza for the first time? Boy was it good. What could be better than a recipe for homemade pizza crust? Well, an updated version of said pizza crust would be good (camera battery ran out, so none of my terrible photos for you).

Ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour (unbleached preferred)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons raw sugar
1/4 cup olive oil
2 heaping tablespoons herbs de provence
1 cup lukewarm water
1 packet dry active yeast.
1 cup of your favorite pizza sauce
1 ball fresh mozzarella
8 slices of sandwich style pepperoni

Directions:

Start with the dough. Add flour, salt, sugar, olive oil, herbs de provence, water, and yeast to a bowl. Mix it together with your hands, stirring at first and then switching to kneading. Dump the dough out onto a floured surface and knead into ball. Wipe your bowl out with a paper towel and oil your bowl. Roll your dough ball around so that it's coated, then cover it with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel. Let it rise for 2 hours.

When the 2 hours is up, heat your oven to 450. Dump your dough out onto a floured surface and press the air out. Shape it back into a ball and let it sit under the bowl for 20 minutes. Then roll it out (start from the middle pushing outward, do a quarter turn, roll out from the middle again, repeat) to a 12-inch circle.

Lay it out on your pizza pan (dust a little cornmeal on there if you want). Spread the sauce out over the dough, add your pepperoni. Thinly slice your mozzarella ball and lay the slices on top.

Arrange your oven racks in bottom third and top third of the oven. Start on the bottom and bake for 10 minutes. Move it to the top and bake for 10 more minutes. Slice and enjoy!

Manchego Orzo with Spinach and Corn

The cooking gods were telling me I needed to make orzo, so I did it.

Two of my regular cooking blog reads had recipes for orzo. Both of them looked delicious, so I decided to create my own.

Notes: Cheeses like manchego are Scott-approved. Perhaps you cook for someone who is suspicious of cheese? Trust me, if Scott likes it, your picky cheese eater will like it too.

Ingredients:
1 box orzo pasta
Approx. 4 cups baby spinach
2 tablespoons prepared pesto sauce
1.5-2 cups shredded manchego or similarly-flavored cheese
2 ears of corn
Salt
Pepper
Butter for sauteing

Directions: Fill a stock pot with water and bring it to a boil. Add a small handful of salt to the water. Cook pasta according to directions (mine was 10 minutes).

Strip the kernels off the corn and collect them in a bowl. Heat a large skilled on medium and melt the butter in the skillet. Add the corn and saute. Season with salt and pepper.

Roughly chop the spinach and add it to the skillet with the corn. Saute until just wilted. If the pasta isn't done, go ahead and turn the heat off.

Once the pasta is done, drain it and add it to the skillet. Stir in manchego and pesto sauce until everything is well-combined.

Enjoy!

Roasted Portabello Sandwich

This started out as 80/20's faux BLT. But, I had less time and different ingredients. It didn't taste like bacon, but it sure did taste good.

Notes: I would have marinated my 'shrooms for the full time, if I had had it. It would have made them even more flavorful.

You could probably also put these under the broiler, though you'd want to watch them to make sure they don't burn.

Ingredients:
2-4 portabello mushroom caps, cleaned and stems removed
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 large tablespoon whole grain mustard
3-5 drops of liquid smoke
1/4 cup olive oil

For topping:
Baby spinach
1 avocado
1 teaspoon prepared pesto
1/4 teaspoon of salt
Goat cheese
Tomato slices

Directions: Heat the oven to 425.

Slice the mushrooms into 1/4 inch pieces and lay them in a shallow dish (I used a pie pan). Whisk together soy sauce, liquid smoke, mustard, and oil. Pour over the mushrooms and marinate for 30 minutes.

When 30 minutes is up, lay the mushrooms on a foil-lined baking sheet. Roast for 20 minutes, flipping once halfway through.

Serve topped with baby spinach, tomato, goat cheese, and avocado pesto spread. To make the spread, halve one avocado and scoop the flesh out into a bowl. Mix together the avocado flesh, pesto sauce, and salt.

Serve and enjoy!

Royal Tacos

In ancient Rome, the color purple was associated with royalty. Purple dye was made from crushed sea shells that were only found on the shores of Phoenicia. Because the shells were rare, the dye was very expensive, so only royals or high-ranking aristocrats could afford it.

Lucky for you, you don't have to be royalty to enjoy these tacos. But they are purple nonetheless!

Notes: Scott said these were the best tacos he's ever had. That's a ringing endorsement! I loved them as well.

I'm a huge fan of the blue taco shells. To me, they have more flavor and they're just more fun.

Here's a fun trick: make these tacos for people and don't tell them what's in the mixture. I bet you they'll never guess that pumpkin is one of the ingredients. The pumpkin adds a creamy texture like refried beans, but you up the vitamin content and lower the fat content of the dish. But it doesn't taste like pumpkin.

Cooking the rice is the thing that takes the longest, so if you used minute rice, this could easily be Q.E.D..

I decided to make a little dressing for the cabbage, but you could leave it plain if you're not into mayo.

Ingredients:
2 ears fresh corn
1/2 small red cabbage
1 15 oz. can black beans
1 cup pumpkin puree
4-6 oz. Spanish cheese or white cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon mayo
1 tablespoon milk
1 tablespoon dried dill
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon brown or raw sugar
1 tablespoon chipotle power
1 teaspoon oregano
1 cup brown rice
2 cups water
2 tablespoons butter, divided
Salt
1 box blue taco shells

Directions: Start with the rice. Add the rice, 1 tablespoon butter, and 2 cups water to sauce pan and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to medium and let it cook for 35-40 minutes.

Heat the oven to 350. Rinse and drain the beans. In a large bowl, strip the kernels off the corn cobs and set aside. In another bowl, add mayo, milk, and dill and whisk together. Thinly slice the cabbage and add it to the bowl in with the dressing and toss to combine. Season with salt and put the bowl in the fridge to chill.

When the rice has about 15 minutes of cook time left, heat a skillet on medium. Add the rest of the butter to the pan. When it melts, add the cumin, sugar, oregano, and chipotle and stir. Add in the beans, corn, and pumpkin. Stir everything together and turn the heat to low. If the mixture starts to look too dry or stick to the pan, add a little water.

When the rice is done, add it to the beans and pumpkin. Heat the taco shells according to the box directions (mine said bake for 5 minutes). While the shells are in the oven, grate the cheese.

When the shells are done, assemble the tacos and enjoy (royally)!