Quest for the perfect bran muffin

Lately I’ve been searching for the perfect recipe for bran muffins. We like to make a big batch on Sunday and freeze them for the following week for a healthy mid-morning snack. (I can’t be the only one with a grumbling stomach at 9:30 a.m.!)

Some that we’ve made have been too mushy. Others have been too hard. These muffins are just right. They’re a bit of a mash-up of a couple of recipes, with a twist. We left out raisins because Luis and I each have specific ideas about when and how raisins should appear in food. I won’t go into that here; it’ll just sound neurotic. Anyway, we substituted dried cranberries, and since orange goes so well with cranberry, we threw in some zest and juice from an orange.

Flavorful, great texture, and full of fiber…couldn’t ask for more from a muffin.

Cranberry Orange Bran Muffins

Makes 12 to 15 muffins.

• 3 cups bran
• 2 cups organic flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup cane sugar
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• zest of 1 organic orange
• 1/4 cup fresh-squeezed orange juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and oil the muffin tins. Zest and then juice the orange. In a large bowl or stand mixer, mix together the bran, flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Add the sugar, honey, oil, water, vinegar, zest, orange juice, and cranberries. Stir together (or blend) until just mixed. Spoon into muffin tins, and bake for 35 to 45 minutes, testing with a fork or skewer to see if they’re done. Let cool (the hardest part!).

Cooking freestyle and crimes of fashion

Hello, Kumquats! I’m feeling quite zen at the moment, and while it could be the great yoga session during lunch, I think it has more to do with a satisfying evening in the kitchen. When my head is a mess or when I need to zone out, I like to cook freestyle. It’s not about half a teaspoon of this or a pint of that; it’s just about getting in there and getting dirty. Improvising. Carpe-ing the diem.

Tonight I made Tomato and Zucchini Gratin, guided by MattBites, who not only posts great recipes, but also takes lively, colorful photographs. His directions included no measurements; this was strictly interpretive cooking. Matt encourages cooks to add a little of this and a little of that. “Trust me…it’ll be okay,” he writes.

Boy was it ever. The house is fragranced with baked tomatoes, zucchini, and cheese. (Take that, Glade.)

It’s easy enough to make; the only glitch was a common problem I have with herbs, which has nothing to do with the cooking directions, or with the herbs, for that matter. My daily routine is to come home, workout, shower, get into pjs, and then head into the kitchen. The problem is that as I start to gather ingredients, I realize that I need fresh herbs from the garden. Usually I can convince Luis to go, but today he’s working late. And I’m in my bright yellow pajama pants covered with orange and pink monkeys. What to do?

I rummaged through my closet looking for some protection from the no-seeums that lurk in tall grasses. Now, I realize that I could have put on a respectable pair of jeans and some trainers, but instead I chose the equestrian riding boots.

Yes, I tucked my monkey pants into my knee-high boots, and set out for the herb garden. Thank goodness we live in the country.

Tasty links: Friday’s dinner and my new diet

On Friday, Smitten Kitchen told us how to make crisp rosemary flatbread. That evening, Luis and I rolled out some flatbread, baked it, and smeared pesto goat cheese on top. It’s as easy to make as she describes. I couldn’t help but to wonder, “Flatbread, where have you been all my life?”

We also had several carrots and a sweet potato we needed to eat before I went to the farmer’s market on Saturday. After Googling a recipe that included those ingredients, I came across the Original Moosewood Carrot Soup Recipe, posted last year by Slashfood. I can’t say enough about this recipe. Creamy, hearty, and flexible. Adjust it to your tastes, or to what you have in the fridge (as we did).

Finally, there was an article I came across this weekend called Unhappy Meals, written by Michael Pollan, the author of In Defense of Food and The Omnivore’s Dilemma, both of which are on my reading list. Unhappy Meals, published last year in The New York Times, discusses how the food industry, nutritional science, and journalism have created the widespread confusion surrounding what humans should eat. Our confusion is evident with each new diet fad, touted by the celeb-of-the-minute, claiming to have unlocked some mysterious, magical secret. Eat low fat (avocado gets the ax). Don’t eat carbs (goodbye, fruit and whole wheat). Consume products fortified with omega-3s (and what of omega-6?).

Pollan’s food mantra is simple: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” In practice, you’ll find it more difficult since Twinkies aren’t food, according to Pollan’s definition. But not to worry, the last part of the article gives you nine rules of thumb to point you in the right direction. Pollan also claims something I’ve always suspected (without proof or research of any kind on my own, mind you): It’s more effective to eat foods with vitamins already in them, than to take supplements created by extracting various nutrients and mashing them together into a pill. According to Pollan, recent studies show that the vitamin supplements are worthless. It’s a long article, but well-worth the time.

Kitchen disasters: The marinara edition

I did something so stupid last night that the whole boot of Italy is kicking me in the arse right now. Italian nonnas would scream in terror and cover their grandchildren’s eyes at the sight of it. All I can say in my defense is that hunger clouded my judgement and made me do the unthinkable.

All day yesterday visions of spinach lasagna danced in my head. After my post-workout shower, I preheated the oven and put a pot of water on to boil. The cookbook I was following had two recipes for marinara sauce. One was fairly traditional, the other “quick and easy.” I was skeptical of the latter, but the rumbling in my tummy was louder than the little voice warning me that this was a very bad idea.

The problem with the recipe was that it instructed one to throw all of the ingredients, raw, into a blender. This included 1/2 an onion and two cloves of garlic per cup of sauce. I cut down the amount of onion and garlic to less than half and threw in the tomatoes, oregano, basil, salt, and pepper. After giving it several whirls, I took off the lid and had a taste. Oh. Dear. Lord. It was like eating bright orange onion juice. This was some seriously offensive sauce.

I desperately started to try to bring the sauce back from the great beyond by dumping out over half of it (outside, natch) and adding tomato juice. No dice. I added 28 ounces of San Marzano tomatoes. Still bitter. Salt, sugar, more spices. Forget it. The sauce grew higher and higher as I added everything I could think to add. My sauce had flat-lined, but I was still performing CPR. Had Luis been home, I could imagine him pulling me away. “It’s gone!” he’d scream. ”You’ve done all you could!”

The sauce was wrecked, there was odious orange gunk everywhere, and I was too annoyed to bother starting again. I also was out of tomatoes. The oven, still warming up in anticipation of spinach lasagna, was turned off. Game over.

Spinach lasagna will have to wait for another day, a day on which I’ll make marinara the right way…starting with the happy smell of sautéing onion and garlic. Some things are worth the wait.

Key lime and cupcake: A perfect union

The folks at Buttersweet Bakery in Atlanta are geniuses. In the September issue of Bon Appetit, they share their recipe for Key Lime Cupcakes, which they say match the chartreuse walls of their “retro funk” bakery.

Cupcakes have been somewhat of a craze lately, with cupcake shops popping up all over town. I can’t say for sure what started it all, although the cupcake did make a cameo on Sex and the City which could explain some of its popularity. Personally, I adore the cupcake because it’s a perfect serving size of bliss. A mini-cake just for me. It doesn’t ask for much, either. You don’t need serving ware. You don’t even need a fork. It’s self-contained comfort food, and it can be anything you want it to be. Even key lime pie.

These cupcakes are at once creamy, tart, and sweet, and the buttermilk makes them extra-moist and perfectly rich. Not too rich, though. Just right. After one bite, Luis and I declared this recipe a keeper.

Key Lime Cupcakes

Makes 12.

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup self-rising flour
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 1/2 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1 tbsp finely grated lime peel
• 1/4 tsp neon green food coloring (or mix a few drops of yellow into green)
• 3/4 cup buttermilk

For frosting:

• 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 tbsp finely grated lime peel
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with 12 paper liners. Whisk both flours in a medium-sized bowl. Beat butter in a large bowl until smooth. Add sugar, beat to blend. Beat in eggs one at a time, then next three ingredients (batter may look curdled). Beat in flour mixture in three additions alternately with buttermilk in two additions. Spoon scant 1/3 cup batter into each liner. Bake cupcakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pan; cool.

The frosting is tres easy. Just beat all ingredients in medium bowl until smooth. Spread over cupcakes. Mangia!

A simple dessert

This concoction is a good reason to keep ice cream and coffee on hand. If you find yourself with unexpected guests, a large crowd, or if you just forgot to plan for something sweet, simply brew some coffee, and you’re seconds away from a lovely, elegant dessert.

We used French roast coffee and plain Jane vanilla ice cream. The dessert is topped with bits of caramelized cacao nibs from Cocoa Puro Kakawa Chocolate, a vendor at the farmer’s market. We’ve also made this recipe and placed biscotti or mini cookies on the side. Choose something decadent to give it that certain je ne sais quoi. And yes, I was just looking for an excuse to type je ne sais quoi.

Coffee Ice Cream

Serves 4.

• 8 scoops of vanilla ice cream
• 1 cup coffee or espresso
• 8 small cookies (or you can use a dark chocolate topping, as we did)

First, make the coffee or espresso. Something strong works best, since the ice cream will take the edge off anyway. Put two scoops of ice cream into each bowl. Pour 1/4 cup espresso over it, and add the cookies to the side or sprinkle on your topping of choice. Viola!

Putting your money where your mouth is, so to speak

We’ve heard quite a bit about soaring food prices lately. Prices are rising and container sizes are shrinking. According to an article in USA Today, when food prices increase, shoppers start to leave behind produce in favor of caloric-dense foods, which are higher in fat and sugar. The article also describes the ways shoppers are dealing with higher prices, such as eating out less and cooking more with fresh ingredients.

But I have to wonder, is cooking at home with fresh ingredients such a sacrifice? It seems ideal to me. We used to buy packaged, preshredded lettuce, but then we switched to organic lettuce, and the price is about the same. It takes about 10 minutes of prep work at the beginning of the week to rinse and tear up the lettuce and whirl it in the salad spinner, but then it’s ready for a week’s worth of salads.

We used to buy salad dressings until we started making our own and discovered the difference in taste between something bottled with preservatives and something fresh, with herbs just picked from the garden. It’s hard to go back to Wish-Bone after that.

As for eating out, just watch one episode of Kitchen Nightmares if you want to be inspired to cook at home. (I kid, and I genuinely hope that the restaurants on that show are the exception!)

The part of the USA Today article about buying “fewer frills,” however, has been a bit more difficult. Cutting out extravagances such as my beloved pecorino and Brunello took some time. We save the fancy groceries for special occasions now, but still eat healthy, delicious food. We also have made a concentrated effort to not let our groceries go bad. Can’t even imagine how much we’ve wasted by not keeping tabs on what we had in the refrigerator. We’ve accumulated three bottles of bay leaves, for example. Two are unopened, probably because we bought a bottle, only to discover we had one already. Then we did it again.

The article offers great suggestions even if you aren’t inclined to cook your own beans or grow your own basil. Be sure to note the sidebar with eight ways to save money at the grocery store.

On chile, salt, and lime

In traditional Mexican cuisine, almost any food or dish you can imagine is only made better with chile, salt, and lime. When Luis and I first started dating, I remember being shocked when he added all three to his fruit salad. I’m sure I said something like, “You’re putting what on your pineapple? And why are you doing it?” It’s true that I’m half Mexican-American, but it’s not the half with which I’m most familiar.

Well, after a good two years, I was assimilated. I’m even guilty of stowing Tajín seasoning in my purse to sprinkle onto my fruit during lunch.

Our favorite salad uses the chile, salt, and lime combo on avocado and mango. The salad is topped with a toasted pumpkin seed dressing, salty bits of bacon (soy bacon for me), and fresh Mexican cheese—wonderfully refreshing during the 100-plus degree weather we’ve been having here. This go around, we experimented with cheese, using a fresh jalapeño and cilantro goat cheese from West Wind Dairy, purchased at the Austin Farmer’s Market.

We’re perfectly happy eating this salad on its own, or you can add chicken (or tofu chicken) breasts for something more substantial. This recipe is from Rick Bayless’ Mexican Everyday.

Avocado-Mango Salad with Fresh (or Blue) Cheese, Bacon and Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

Serves four.

• 1/2 cup hulled untoasted pumpkin seeds
• 4 slices bacon
• 1/3 cup fresh lime juice
• 1/3 cup vegetable or olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 fresh, hot green chile to taste (a large serrano or a small jalapeño), stemmed (optional)
• 1 tbsp honey
• salt
• 1 large head Boston/butterhead lettuce), leaves separated
• 2 large ripe avocados
• 2 ripe mangoes
• A generous 3/4 cup coarsely crumbled Mexican queso fresco or mild blue cheese (Gorgonzola is great)

Cook one: Arrange the bacon slices between a double layer of paper towels on a microwaveable plate. Microwave on high (100 percent) for 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 minutes, until crispy.
Cook two: Juice the limes. Wash and separate lettuce leaves.

Cook one: Pour the pumpkin seeds into a small skillet and set over medium heat. Once the first one pops, stir constantly until all have popped from flat to round, about five minutes. Scoop about one-third of the seeds into a blender jar and add the lime juice. Pour the remainder into a small dish. Return the skillet to medium heat and measure in the oil. Add the garlic and optional chile. Cook, stirring regularly, until the garlic is soft and lightly browned, about five minutes. Scrape the oil, garlic and optional chile into the blender. Add the honey and 1/2 teaspoon salt. process until smooth. Taste and season with more salt if you think necessary. It should be highly seasoned.
Cook two: Divide the lettuce among four dinner plates. Pit the avocados, scoop the flesh from the skin and cut it into slices. Peel the mangoes, then cut the flesh from the pits. Slice to match the avocado pieces. Arrange the avocados and mangoes in the center of the lettuce.

Both: Drizzle the dressing over everything, then sprinkle with the cheese and the reserved toasted pumpkin seeds. Crumble the bacon and strew it over the top, and the salad is ready.

Los Dos Cooking School

On April 17, which also happens to be my birthday, we were on our honeymoon, in Mérida, Yucatan, and spending the day with Chef David Sterling at Los Dos Cooking School. The full week’s adventures are chronicled on our travel blog, but I felt that the experience at Los Dos deserved a post on this blog, as well.

Los Dos was 95 percent of the reason we included Mérida in our trip. The cooking school has been featured in Condé Nast Traveler, Travel & Leisure, and Gourmet, but we first heard about it on a television episode of Rick Bayless‘ Mexico: One Plate at a Time.

Chef David Sterling might be a gringo from Oklahoma, but he knows his stuff when it comes to Yucatecan cuisine and history. Our favorite way to “get” the culture of any place we visit is through its food, and Los Dos is the place to go to learn about Yucatecan food.

Our morning started with breakfast at the school. We met a couple from the Netherlands (she was Portuguese, he was German) and two New Yorkers, one who owned a bed and breakfast in Mérida. After introductions, the history lesson began.

The most important thing to know, said Chef Sterling, is that there is a difference between Mexican and Yucatecan food. Yucatecans will say, “Let’s go have some Mexican food.” Yucatecan cuisine is a fusion of native Mayan food with European influences. In traditional Yucatecan cuisine, there are no enchiladas, jalapeños, or many of the other foods with which we’re familiar. You can bet it’s still spicy, though. Yucatecans use the habanero, an extremely hot pepper believed to originally have been taken to the peninsula from Cuba. I tried the habanero salsa (I’m Texan, dammit. I had to represent!), but I don’t feel the need to do so again any time soon.

That morning we learned about everything from Mayan farming to the origins of chocolate to the history of local spices and how Christopher Columbus misnamed spices, such as calling allspice “big pepper.” Chef Sterling recommended three books: Spice, The True History of Chocolate, and America’s First Cuisines.

Mercado
Next we gathered our things and headed out to the mercado to buy the groceries for the recipes we were to cook. Guidebooks describe this market as “Mexico with no holds barred; not some sanitized gringo version of a Mexican artisan’s market, so be prepared.” Chef Sterling gave us fair warning that if we got lost, he would never see us again. Keep up with the group. Check.

Mérida’s municipal market is a vast, noisy affair. You’ll find clothes, shoes, art, hardware, stoves, hammocks, rope, jewelry, vegetables and produce, meat, chicken and even live birds. There’s a section I tried to ignore that Chef Sterling said, “blurs the line between food and pet.” The produce sections were full of unusual varieties of squash, fruits, and spices. My favorite new find was chaya, which is similar to kale or spinach, but with two to three times more nutritional content.

Back to Los Dos
After making it out of the market alive, we had two taxis waiting to take us back to Los Dos. We spent the afternoon making tortillas, Pollo Pibil, Arroz Verde, and my favorite Los Dos recipe, Crema de Cilantro. Crema de Cilantro is essentially a leek and potato soup, a recipe that’s thousands of years old, but a relatively new addition to Yucatecan cuisine. Chef Sterling’s recipe has been “Mexicanized” by adding squash for texture and taste, serrano chiles for heat, and cilantro for fresh, aromatic flavor. We ate it hot, but it is supposed to be just as delicious when served chilled.

While everything finished cooking, Chef Sterling invited us to have a cerveza and put our feet in the pool. Half an hour later we came inside for a big, satisfying Yucatecan meal.

Crema de Cilantro

• 1 lb. calabaza (pattypan squash or zucchini), stems removed and cubed
• 1 large potato, peeled and cubed
• 8 cups chicken stock (I use vegetable stock.)
• 2 large leeks, chopped, including about 1 inch of green (Substitute: 3-4 large spring onions, or a mix of onions and leeks)
• 6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 chiles serranos, roasted, peeled, seeded and chopped
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 cups cilantro, rinsed, finely chopped and firmly packed
• 1/2 cup Mexican crema (Substitute: créme fraîche, plain yogurt, or sour cream)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• One recipe Totopos
• 10 squash blossoms (optional), cleaned
• 4 Tbs. cilantro, rinsed and finely chopped

STEP 1: IN A LARGE SAUCEPAN CONTAINING THE STOCK, cook the cubes of squash and potatoes for approximately 20 minutes, or until vegetables are very tender.

STEP 2: MEANWHILE, IN A LARGE SKILLET, sauté the leeks, garlic and chiles in the butter until the leeks are translucent. Add to the potato/squash mixture; stir and continue cooking, returning to a simmer, approximately five minutes. Using a handheld immersible blender, purée the ingredients until fine. Add the cilantro and purée again as above to incorporate all ingredients. Add crema and purée one last time until thoroughly blended. Check for seasonings.

STEP 3: TO SERVE, ladle hot soup into warmed bowls. In the center of each serving, float a few of the totopos on top of the soup. Then float one squash blossom per bowl on top of the strips. Sprinkle finely chopped cilantro over the entire bowl including the rim.

More Photos at Los Dos

An apple (bran muffin) a day

Last Saturday I dropped Luis off at the airport, and he flew out to Las Vegas for a business conference. Le sigh. Not to sound like one of those shmoopy, smug marrieds, but I can’t sleep when he’s gone. I feel anxious during the day, and I wake up five or six times at night. Even my high-strung cat, who leaps five feet in the air when the AC kicks on, has this “chill out, already” look on her face.

To keep myself busy, I got overzealous in the kitchen. Feeling particularly granola and crunchy, I started by making these vegan Apple Bran Muffins from How it All Vegan. I bought the book when I was writing a magazine feature story about veganism in Austin. As part of the story, I tried out the vegan lifestyle, and this cookbook was a big help when I was wondering what I could eat. I kept the book because the food is delicious and oh-so-healthy.

I enjoyed one of these muffins and chai tea while my Zucchini and Tomato Gratin baked in the oven. It doesn’t get much more granola than that!

Apple Bran Muffins

Makes 6–8 muffins.

• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 3/4 cup bran
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup sweetener (cane sugar is a good option)
• 1 tbsp oil
• 3/4 cup soy milk
• 1 1/2 cups apple sauce (I used organic, unsweetened sauce)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 banana

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, bran, and baking powder.
3. In a separate bowl, blend the sweetener, oil, milk, applesauce, vanilla, and banana.
4. Add liquid ingredients to the flour mixture, and stir until just mixed.
5. Scoop into lightly oiled muffin tins and bake for 20-30 minutes.