Foodie?

I found this recent article in the Atlantic interesting. As someone who enjoys food writing (reading it as well as making attempts at writing it) it's a fascinating look at what it means to be a foodie, enjoy the food experience, as well as write about it:

THE MORAL CRUSADE AGAINST FOODIES
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/03/the-moral-crusade-against-foodies/8370/1/

Eating Healthy and Eating Cheap(er)

I love food. So a lot of my money naturally goes to filling up my belly with delicious goodness. In a city like Boston it's so, SO easy to abandon the kitchen and order moderately priced take-out every single day... and when one is tired and over-worked and doesn't have energy for cooking, those menus look better and better. Indian, please. Oh, no, wait, Thai. Oh, or pizza! Thin crust! Wait... wait... there's an Anna's down the street... I want a burrito. *sigh*

But while there's tons of great, easy food that can come right to my door, I love dining out even more. Perhaps if I can do a little more homecookin' I can convince the boyfriend that we deserve more date nights out. 

So in a effort to be a little healthier, and save a little cash (not that Whole Foods is inexpensive by any means, cooking at home can be pricey too), I'm trying to reconnect with my kitchen. The problem I've had this past year is that when I cook it's a big production. It takes hours, I labor over recipes and chop veggies til my fingers hurt. Ok, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but the meals I have been making take time. And time is a precious thing right now...

I decided what I really need are some quickie recipes. But I don't want to sacrifice flavor either. Ramen noodles might have cut it in my younger years, but not anymore.

So I scoured my cookbooks for some relatively easy, moderately priced recipes and planned out some meals for the rest of my week. What's cookin' at casa de Jillian?

Pasta with Shitake Mushrooms & Panchetta in Cream Sauce

Puttanesca Bianca (kalamata olives, anchovy and caper sauce)

Penne with Spinach & Ricotta Cheese

Wild Mushroom and Rice Soup

Black & Blue Beef Quesadillas (with blue cheese)

Veggie stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

Off to Whole Foods I go!

Do you have quick go-to recipes that are somewhat inexpensive and don't take hours to prepare? I would love to hear them! Share away! 

In Which We Brew

I waited years for this day. I dreamed about it while I lived in my little studio apartment. I thought and I planned and I imagined what it would be like. And now that I have a big kitchen, the day finally arrived -- HOMEBREW DAY!

Instead of going into elaborate detail about the brewing process (*snore*) I’ll give you a little pictoral showcase of our handiwork.

Our first brew was called Liquid Desert. We got the recipe from the Homebrew Emporium in Cambridge, where we also picked up all the ingredients and supplies. (You can find the recipe through the Homebrew Emporium’s website here: https://www.beerbrew.com/downloads/recipes/LiquidDessert.pdf) No brewing kit for us on our first time! We picked out the grains, malts, hops, and followed the directions (mostly). We erred a bit in our first batch, but errors are to be expected! We learned from it and have moved on. But even with errors, Batch 1 turned out delicious.

Since that fateful day, we’ve brewed 3 more batches of beer. First we did a second attempt at Liquid Desert (which we recently bottled), then an Imperial Stout (currently in the first fermenter), and then a Nut Brown Ale (in its first fermenter). I’m very excited about the Nut Brown Ale... I want to play around with the recipe in the future, adding some things like Hazelnut, Vanilla, Cocoa, Raspberry, and the like. Mmmmmm Hazelnut Vanilla Nut Brown.

The one thing I've learned so far about brewing is that you have to be patient, there is a LOT of waiting! But, hey, I've been waiting years to start brewing so what's a few more weeks? :)

Without further ado, I bring you BEER:

Mashing up the Cocoa Beans

All crushed up.

We didn't have a big enough pot to handle all the ingredients (we've
since purchased one) so we had to brew two pots at once, thus had to
divide all ingredients in half. 

Steeping the grains.

Grains steeping.

Boiling hops in with the grains.

Of course, kitty wants to sit on the kitchen mat and watch what we're doing.

After the hour boil of the hops cooling the pot down in the sink.

More lessons learned: buy a strainer so you don't have to reuse
the grain sack to try to strain as you pour into the fermenter.

Straining/pouring into the first fermenter.

After two weeks of sitting in the closet it's time to transfer over to the
secondary fermenter!

Utoh, here's where things went wrong. We SHOULD HAVE added this
malt to the original boil. We wonder if we can just toss it now. Hmmm...

It worked. (Sort of.) It was very clumpy. But it didn't ruin our beer
like we thought it might.

Taste test!

Wow, sludge.

Lots more sludge.

Secondary fermenter. A few more weeks
in the closet.

Siphoning so we can bottle.

Getting ready to bottle.

Putting on the caps.

FINAL STEP: Wait (again) then drink & enjoy! Cheers!

Food Porn for Carnivores

Does the idea of a juicy burger or a big old meaty sandwich get you all hot and bothered? If so, this week’s post is right up your alley. I don’t have quite enough time to dedicate one post to each thing I made, so I’m lumping these delicious meals together into what I call “Food Porn for Carnivores”.


I could go on a long speech about the use of food in literature and how in children’s literature it is typically a substitute for sexuality and sex… but let’s save that for a later date. Or just the grad school classroom.


For Christmas I bought my boyfriend nearly 100 dollars of meat. And not just any old meat, but exotic meats -- antelope, kangaroo, elk, alligator, boar… to name a few. I went with simplicity when making each of these dishes because I wanted the flavor of the meat to really come out. Though the idea of eating wild boar burgers was a little strange, each meat so far was very tasty -- I think I’m an exotic meat convert. I can’t help but wonder if I lived in movie-world (and rich, of course) if I would have been one of the first people to snag a ticket to the Endangered Animal dinner in "The Freshman."


Without further delay, I proudly present to you: FOOD PORN FOR CARNIVORES.

FRENCH DIP SANDWICH. DOESN'T FALL UNDER THE "EXOTIC
MEAT" CATEGORY...BUT I MADE IT A FEW WEEKS AGO AND IT
WAS DELICIOUS AND DESERVED REPRESENTATION.

BOAR BURGERS FRYING IN THE PAN. I TOPPED THESE WITH
A LITTLE BIT OF SPICES... DELISH!

BOAR BURGER ALL COOKED UP AND WAITING TO BE EATEN.

ELK STEAKS READY TO COOK.

ELK STEAKS WERE VERY TASTY. SERVED WITH POTATOES
AND SARDINE/TAPENADE TOASTS.

OSTRICH STEAK SERVED RARE/MEDIUM-RARE. VERY
SOFT, TENDER, AND TASTY.

ELK BURGER TOPPED WITH GOODIES. THOUGH THIS COULD
HAVE BEEN THE ANTELOPE BURGERS... I DON'T REMEMBER. EITHER
WAY, VERY GOOD!

Welcome 2011, Year of the Rabbit

Ok, so I know it’s not actually Chinese New Year yet, but for the sake of my blog, can we just pretend? Because 2011 marks the year of the rabbit. Sweet, cuddly, fluffy bunnies. My sister owns one, actually. Its name is Toffee (though it has gone by other names including Robot, Bunnix, and Nixon -- my personal fave.) I volunteer at an animal shelter here in Boston, and I sometimes visit with the bunnies. I LIKE rabbits. They’re cute. They remind me of Easter and candy and cartoons.

** NOTE: Bunny lovers, be warned, this is where you should stop reading this blog post**


So why, you ask, did I decide to cook rabbit stew?


I recently purchased a few Polish cookbooks (part to get in touch with my Polish heritage, and part as research for a novel I’m working on.) And what did I find inside each one of them? A recipe for rabbit. And in some cases, MANY recipes. What I gleaned from this: at one time eating rabbit was cool. And based on these cookbooks, I get the impression that Poland was overrun by rabbits – sort of like my neighborhood here in Boston is overrun by rats (ew). But unlike rats, rabbits made for good eating.

So why are Americans (many of who are descendents of Europe) so horrified by the idea of eating rabbit? I blame Disney. And Warner Brothers. I had the same feeling of shock and horror the first time I ate venison. BAMBI!? NO! This time while I was at the butcher shop and looked at the rabbit meat in the freezer I had images of Thumper and Bugs Bunny flash through my head.


Bunnies are for snuggling and hopping around your apartment and nibbling on power cords and scaring your cat. Not for EATING! Right?


But people DO eat them. Many people.


As I stood at the freezer at the butcher I got to thinking: What makes some animals good eats and others taboo? I’ve decided it is The Snuggly Factor. We have no problem eating chickens (man, are they ugly) or cows or pigs or turkeys (also quite ugly) or fish (certainly no snuggling there.) But cats and dogs, no way, they are so CUTE! And rabbits, CUTE! I recently learned that we are genetically programmed to think baby animals are cute and they trigger nurturing instincts in us. Is that why we have a hard time eating cute animals? Because it goes against our nurturing instincts? I’m no scientist, but I might be on to something.

In any case, I threw caution to the wind (and instincts) and bought rabbit. I cooked it up in a traditional German style -- slow cooking it as a stew. Verdict: Tastes like chicken.


Dear Readers, Do you eat rabbit, or any other “non-traditional” animals? Tell me about it, I’d like to hear. PS: For you meat fanatics, I just bought my boyfriend a whopping of strange meats for Christmas (elk, antelope, kangaroo, alligator) so stay tuned while I serve up some of that in the coming weeks! I’m also going to work on posting more regularly. Happy 2011!

Oh Pumpkin, my pumpkin…

‘Tis the season (and has been for the past month and a half now) for PUMPKINS! Pumpkin things have been really high profile these days. Or maybe just haven’t noticed in previous years because I spent a good 3 years living in the southwest to which pumpkins are not native.

But I’ve noticed over the past 3 years since moving back that in autumn, in the east, there are pumpkin things, LOTS of pumpkin things, everywhere you look! And this does not mean just pumpkin pie… there are loads of other things out there just waiting to make your taste buds tingle.


Over the past month I took a mini-tour of pumpkin land. I gave myself a challenge: if there was a pumpkin thing available I would eat it and if there was a pumpkin drink available I would drink it. So I devoured and I chugged my way though the past month. Some good, some bad.


Here’s a little round-up of what I call PUMPKIN PARADISE:


Mini Pumpkin & Walnut Scones
Where I got it: Wegmans! Oh Wegmans, how I miss thee. I was able to snag these tasty treats while I was visiting Rochester.
Assessment: Ate them for breakfast for a week straight. Delish.

Pumpkin Cupcake

Where I got it: Sweet on Boylston St.

Assessment: MORE PLEASE! I don’t know what the deal is with this new cupcake craze, but I like it. Om nom nom.

Pumpkin Latte
Where I got it: Starbucks
Assessment: Starbucks pumpkin latte you taste so good, why do you have to be $5? Autumn always rekindles my ‘bucks addition… it probably didn’t help that I was lazy and it took me more than 2 weeks to buy coffee filters when I ran out. Hello autumn (and winter!) ‘bucks flavored lattes, goodbye paycheck.


Pumpkin Latte
Where I got it: Dunkin Donuts
Assessment: Not as pricey as ‘bucks, but also not as good. Le sigh. It was still worth drinking though.


Pumpkin Donut
Where I got it: Dunkin Donuts
Assessment: I love donuts, especially the cider ones that become popular in fall (even though I really don't eat them very often). This pumpkin donut didn’t let me down. Yum, you made my drive back to Rochester less boring.


Pumpkin Soup
Where I got it: Sunset (Boston)
Assessment: This was even more delish than I was expecting. Part chicken soup, part stew, this soup was everything – and more! I really enjoyed it, as you can tell.


Pumpkin Ice Cream
Where I got it: Sunset (Boston)
Assessment: I was already two pumpkin beers deep so maybe that’s why I thought this pumpkin ice cream was PHENOMINAL. It was served with pecan pie and whipped cream. So good.

Pumpkin Beer
Where I got it: Varieties!
Assessment: I love pumpkin beers. Each year it seems like there are more and more available at the stores. Pumpkin beers are delicious, spicy (with hints of cinnamon & nutmeg), sweet, flavorful. The best is when you get a pumpkin beer at a bar and they dust the rim with sugar or cinnamon… oh yum. This year I tried to taste as many pumpkin beers as I possibly could. Unfortunately beer goes to my brain and I forgot to write down every single one of the pumpkin beers I tried… sorry. BUT I will give you a peek at breweries whose pumpkin beers I definitely drank: Dogfish Head, Southern Tier, Wild Onion, Shipyard, Cambridge Brewing, Buffalo Bill’s, Saranac, Post Road, Cape Anne Brewing. Some of my favorites: Southern Tier & Shipyard are definitely my favorites – highly recommend! Looking for more info about pumpkin beers? I found this taste-off online HERE

Pumpkin Cocktail
Where I got it: Haru (sushi restaurant in the Back Bay)
Assessment: I was lured by the $5 special on this drink when all other cocktails at this restaurant were $12+. My first mistake was right there. My second was drinking the whole thing. Oh, and my third was accepting a pumpkin cocktail at a sushi restaurant. Ok, it wasn’t THAT bad, but random cocktails are not exactly my thing. I’ll take a pumpkin beer please.


Do you have a favorite pumpkin food or drink you would like to share? Or perhaps a pumpkin recipe? Go ahead, don’t be shy!


PS: While I love pumpkin and all that it stands for (autumn, leaves, cool weather but not COLD weather) a part of me is looking forward to the flavors of winter – Crème Brule and eggnog. I’ll have to set myself a challenge for those too… mmmm.


Cheers!

Glorious Granola

I’m a total breakfast girl -- give me eggs, bacon, toast slathered in butter any time of the day. Bagels with cream cheese and lox… bagel sandwiches… fresh-baked muffins… om nom nonm. But all that stuff takes a lot of work in the morning, so I usually reserve it for weekends or brunch at a restaurant. What I’m always looking for is a quickie breakfast that can accompany my 3 cups of coffee while I open up my laptop and prepare for work or writing. Oh, and I don’t like oatmeal, bleh! So what’s a girl to do?

Here's a "weekend breakfast" : On Sunday made scrambled
eggs with onions and peppers and served
with baked potatoes and onions.

Call me a tree-hugging hippie if you’d like, but I love granola. Crunchy, crunchy, crunchy granola. Though I love granola, I almost never buy it in the stores. Mostly that’s because it’s expensive (or more expensive than I feel like it should be -- it’s just oats and nuts for Pete’s sake!) But it’s also in part because I don’t like raisins -- or any other fruit for that matter -- in my granola, and you wouldn’t believe how few granolas are available sans fruit.


That’s where making homemade granola comes in. I’ve made it once before… the recipe I made was gloriously delicious and I ate it as a snack at work for nearly a whole month. Let me tell you a little about the last version: it was made with peanut butter which created those wonderful big granola clumps which were perfect for snacking! OH YUM! But, while the last version was good I wanted to try something new this time.

The dry stuff: oats, almonds, coconut, and sunflower seeds

I searched around the internet for some recipes, and cobbled one together on my own based on suggestions from various sites and bloggers. (As I’ve mentioned before, I love the DIY sort of recipes where it’s easy to adapt things to your own specifications.)

The wet batter all whipped up and ready to pour on the dry stuff.

What I came up with was a deliciously sweet and spicy, kind of salty, cinnamon-y granola. It had the kind of flavor that actually bursts in your mouth. Perhaps the granola was a bit overdone… I suggest limiting your salt content if your seeds/nuts are already salted -- whoops… but all that flavor works well when the granola is tossed into a bowl with milk, and I bet it will be delish when I stir it up with some yogurt and berries which will probably help to mellow out the saltiness. (Yes, I do like berries WITH my granola.)


30 second granola making lesson:

• Pick your dry stuff -- rolled oats (not the instant kind!), seeds, nuts, spices, sugar, salt, coconut, brown sugar, maple sugar
• Pick your wet stuff -- honey, oil, peanut butter, vanilla extract, maple syrup
• Mix your oats and nuts and seeds in a bowl. In another bowl whisk together your wet stuff, sugar and spices. I found this tip from a fellow blogger and it’s definitely key to making well-mixed granola. When your wet stuff has a nice well-mixed consistency pour it over your dry stuff and stir together so the dry stuff is coated well with the mixture. My wet mixture looked a lot like brownie batter, and it smelled OH SO GOOD.
• Place the wet granola on a greased baking sheet, or a silpat like I used, and bake for an hour at 300 stirring the granola around every 15 minutes. While I mentioned that the wet mixture smelled good, the granola smelled EVEN BETTER while baking in the oven… it made my whole kitchen smell delicious and like autumn!

Ready for the oven!

WARNING: When you have only one silpat you will have to bake the granola in 3 different batches. When you get antsy near the end of batch two and decide it might be a good idea to let the whole thing cook for a few minutes under the broiler to speed up the baking process, be ready with a towel because your granola may start to smoke and you may set off every smoke alarm in your apartment and then you may have to run around like a madwoman opening windows and frantically fanning away at your smoke detectors. And then you may be embarrassed because you know that your neighbors upstairs can totally hear what’s going on and assume you are an awful cook. Not like I know from personal experience or anything…


When all batches are done let the granola cool and then store in containers. Enjoy alone or with milk or yogurt!

While there were some errors with my granola, it’s certainly still edible and generally tasty. Finding the right mix of spices/sugar/nuts/seeds might take some time, but once you perfect it you can say goodbye to the small $7 bags of granola at Whole Foods.

Look! Enough granola to last me through the rest of 2010!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jillian's Glorious Granola:
If you’re looking to replicate my exact granola recipe, here’s what I used. I chose to make a really large batch both because I wanted enough to enjoy the granola for a few weeks but also because then I could use the whole bag/containers of the nuts and coconut I purchased. It’s easy to slim this recipe down to a 1/3 the size of what I made:

• 12 cups oats (I bought mine from the bulk container at Whole Foods – it’s cheaper and you can pick out just how much you want)
• 3 cups sliced raw almonds (one bag from Trader Joe’s)
• 3 cups sunflower seeds (one bag from Trader Joe’s)
• 3 cups coconut shredded coconut flakes (one container from Whole Foods)
• 1 cup olive oil
• 1 cup pure maple syrup (use the good stuff!)
• ½ cup honey
• 2 tablespoons salt (I recommend not using any salt if your nuts/seeds are pre-salted)
• 3 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon Saigon cinnamon (which the package tells me is fancy stuff)

Happy Breakfasting!

Autumn Squash Soup

Have I already told you that the immersion blender is one of the greatest kitchen gadgets invented? Oh, I haven’t? Well, let me tell you… It. Is. AMAZING.


The air is chilly, everything smells like leaves, apples are fresh for the picking -- it’s officially soup season. As you know, I love a good soup. When I received a few butternut squashes in my weekly farm share I knew that there was no better way to cook than up to turn them into soup. Mmmmm.

Chopped up squash and potatoes ready for cookin'

I used to shy away from blended soups. I hated having to spoon hot chunks of squash (or whatever veggie) and broth into my blender for pureeing, all the while crossing my fingers and hoping to not have a disastrous mess. Not to mention when I made more soup than the blender can hold I would have to blend in batches – bleh! Enter immersion blender, which lets me blend everything right in the same pot I just cooked with. THE SAME POT!

The soup before blending

I was eager to put my new gadget to use for this autumn-inspired butternut squash bisque. I used my farm share goodies, as well as some potatoes that were grown by Byron’s mother in her garden.

Final product: creamy and smooth!

Overall, the recipe was pretty good. It was nice and creamy but I could have gone for a bit more flavor. It’s worth making, especially as an accompaniment to something like baked chicken, but next time I might find a way to spice it up a bit more.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Butternut Squash Bisque (recipe adapted from The Soup Bible)
Serves 4
Ingredients --

• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 2 small onions, minced (I also threw in a bit of leeks because, you know, I had them on hand)
• 3 cups peeled, seeded, and cubed butternut squash
• 1 ¼ quarts chicken stock
• 1 ½ cups cubed potatoes
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• ½ cup whipping cream (I used a few dashes of milk instead of cream)
• 1 ½ tablespoons snipped chives, plus a few whole strands for garnish
• salt and pepper

Directions –-

1. Melt butter in a large saucepan. Add onions and cook until soft (5 mins).
2. Add the squash, stock, potatoes, and paprika and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to low, cover and simmer for about 35 minutes until the vegetables are soft.
3. Pour the soup into a blender (or use an immersion blender!) and process until smooth. Season with salt and pepper and add milk/cream.
4. Stir in chopped chives and garnish with slices.
5. Serve with toasty bread! (My own addition, I love toasty bread with soup!)

Tear-Jerker Chili

I have FINALLY located the little contraption that takes the photos on camera’s photo card and imports them into my computer! HORRAY! While means I can finally be back up and posting some of the yummy things I’ve made since moving… and share new things, of course, too! HERE WE GO:

As Natalie Portman’s character says in Garden State: “I look forward to a good cry. It feels pretty good.” Well, if you’re in one of those moods, I have the meal for you. Voila! Tear-jerker chili!

Peppers and tomatoes

WHAT YOU NEED:

• A variety of chili ingredients – most importantly, onions and spicy peppers
• A sappy movie or two – may I recommend, Rudy, My Girl, Scruffy, Titanic, or Up.

HOW TO:
Step 1: Pop in your sad movie to watch in the background as you cook. (Or if it’s Sunday turn on the TV to watch the Bills.)


Step 2: Brown your meat. I used a 2/3 lb of hamburger meat from Whole Foods coupled with 2/3 lb of hamburger meat purchased at the Brookline Farmers Market from River Rock Farm.

Step 3: Slice the rest of your veggies. For me that included tomatoes that came from Byron’s mother’s garden and mixing those with 2 cans of beans: one kidney, one black.


Step 4: Slice your onions. I used 3 onions from my Enterprise farm share. As you slice the onions feel free to let those tears flow, just remember to have a hankie on hand to wipe away any mascara smudges.


Step 5: Slice up your peppers. I used:

• 1 LARGE jalapeno grown in Byron’s mother’s garden
• 1 small jalapeno grown in Byron’s mother’s garden
• 1 red chili pepper purchased for 40 cent at the Brookline Farmer’s Market
• 1 bell pepper from my Enterprise farm share
• 1 sweet red pepper that I bought at the Brookline Farmer’s Market
• 1 habenero pepper purchased at the Brookline Farmer’s Market
• (Note: Farmers markets are CHEAP for peppers! Stock up when you go. A single pepper will cost anywhere from 25 cents to a dollar – a total steal compared to the supermarket.)

Sliced up spicy peppers... mmmm

Step 6: Cry when juices from the hot peppers get into the little cut you have on your finger. If you don’t have a cut on your finger, fake it, then you don’t have to feel like a schmuck when you start to cry when Rudy finally gets called onto the field and everyone chants RUDY RUDY RUDY!


Step 7: Throw everything into the slow cooker. You can use a can of tomato paste, I used a Campbell’s tomato Soup at Hand because I didn’t have any tomato paste in my pantry. It seemed to have done the trick. Add some spices. I used a tablespoon of garlic powder and a few large shakes of chili powder. Plus some salt and pepper. Cook on high for as long as it takes for the veggies to get tender (a couple of hours.)


Step 8: While the chili cooking, watch another sappy movie. Or, if you are a writer like me, write the first draft of a chapter where you kill of a loveable/sympathetic grandmother, or stab an unsuspecting, friendly grandmother in the back.


Step 9: Spoon chili from the slow cooker. Sprinkle cheese on top. Eat your first bite. Yell out in pain when you realize how spicy the chili is, and then start to cry again.

Delicious!

Step 10: Crack open a beer (or five) so you can blame your crying on Beer Tears. As if that’s a better excuse…


If you follow these easy steps, you, too, can have a day full of tears. Cheers!

Watermelon Muffins From Hell

I’ve been getting cocky lately. I’ve had so few kitchen mishaps that I’ve been darn near considering myself an expert cook/baker. Things have been turning out so well: I haven’t set anything on fire, I’ve only set off the smoke detector a few times (and really it’s not my fault, the stupid thing is quite finicky), and all meals have been more than just edible they’ve actually been good. I guess I needed a good dose of reality to bring me back down to earth. Enter in Watermelon Muffins from Hell.

Don't be fooled by that cute little heart shaped muffin on the left, 
he's just as evil tasting as the others.

If I was being graded on my cooking/baking skills, today’s report card would look like this: FAILS TO FOLLOW DIRECTIONS!!! F- Oh I was so excited to make these muffins. I had my farm share watermelon sitting in the fridge eager and waiting. I bough all the necessary ingredients – even if it meant going down to the corner store when at the last minute I realized I didn’t have baking powder. I didn’t even try to fudge it and just go without like I might have in the past! I really tried! I popped them into the oven and I watched as they rose, and then to my horror they sunk in the middle like there was a black hole sucking the tops down towards the bottom of the pan. What’s happening? I wondered. Perhaps it was a side effect of the watermelon? No worries, I thought, I bet they will turn out ok in the end.

Then came the taste test. They smelled good. But boy were they were ugly. It’s inner beauty that counts though, right? And then I got cocky again. I mentally prepared to title this blog post “Inner Beauty” and wax on about how these muffins ‘aint winning any beauty pageants but how wonderfully delicious they are. I had all my metaphors about muffins and life lined up. But let me tell you something, when a muffin is ugly on the outside sometimes it’s ugly on the inside too. These muffins tasted like sin. Well, I guess that’s a big over dramatic. They didn’t taste like muffins, I can tell you that. They tasted disgusting. Bitter, strange, and like chemicals. Like nothing I’ve ever tasted before.


So what went wrong? What I have since pieced together is that it all came down to one simple little letter: a B. I was so excited to make these muffins, and I was in a rush because I needed to get back to work, and I just didn’t pay attention. Listen kids, tbs does not a tsp equal.


I deduced that the disgusting flavor that I tasted was the near doubled amount of both baking soda and baking powder. While the recipe called for a TEA SPOON of baking powder and two TEA SPOONS of baking soda, in my stupidity I used TABLE SPOONS. Gah! Well at least I learned something today, following directions is important. I’ve been considering taking some cooking classes at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education, if this doesn’t confirm my belief that I am in dire need of them than I don’t know what does.


These muffins aren’t even remotely salvageable. To the trash with thee! Muffin fail.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you would like to try your hand at the recipe here it is, compliments of Healthy Home Recipes:


Ingredients -- 

• 1/2 cup Flour
• 2 tsp Baking soda
• 1 tsp Baking powder
• 1 pinch Salt
• 1/8 tsp Cinnamon
• 6 tbsp Butter, room temperature
• 2/3 cup Sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 1/2 cup Milk
• 1/2 cup Watermelon juice
• 1/2 cup Watermelon pulp
• 1/2 cup Raisins

Instructions --

• Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in large bowl.
• Cream butter and sugar; add eggs.
• Whip in milk, juice, pulp and raisins.
• Add wet mixture to dry ingredients; blend just to incorporate.
• Fill greased muffin cups 2/3 full.
• Bake 25 minutes.

Transfer to wire rack; cool.
Note: a few drops of red food color can be added for a watermelon color.