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Blueberry Bran Muffins

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It’s spring cleaning time and, lo and behold, your freezer is in demand for some serious de-icing. I was scrounging through mine when I came across a bag of of frozen blueberries from last season: perfect for an afternoon snack… Or some afternoon baking. This modified recipe from Simply Recipes is quick and delicious. It was a definite hit in my household!

Ingredients (makes 18 regular sized muffins)

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup of butter, soft
3 tablespoons bran (optional)
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup yogurt (for added flavour, I used vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon peel, grated
1 1/2 cup blueberries

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit.

2. In a medium bowl, mix all the dry ingredients except for the sugar together and set aside.

3. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar.

4. Add eggs and lemon peel and mix thoroughly.

5. Add half of the dry ingredients, then half of the
yogurt, then the rest of the dry ingredients and
the rest of the yogurt to the wet ingredients.

6. Add blueberries.

7. Spoon into greased muffin pan (or muffin cups, as I’ve done).

8. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. 

 

These muffins turn out light, moist and super flavourful. I could definitely taste the vanilla and lemon, adding a nice change up to traditional blueberry muffins. Enjoy your afternoon snack!

 

Udon Stir Fry

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I make this udon noodle dish every chance I get. What I love about this dish is that it’s fast, fuss-free and inexpensive and all the while being healthy. It usually takes me 15-20 minutes from start to finish, depending on how much I want to make (I always make extra for leftovers) and in total, my grocery bill came to less than $10 (I already had the bottles of sauce at home). You can get really creative and have fun with this meal by adding eggs, tofu or shrimp and all your favourite veggies. It’s like having your own U-Grill at home!

Ingredients

1 1/2 lb ground beef
4 packets of ready-made udon noodles
3 carrots
2 broccoli crowns
1 can of sliced water chestnuts
1/2 onion, chopped
4-5 tablespoons oyster sauce
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Makes 4-5 servings

Instructions

1. Your ingredients, washed, chopped and ready to go.

2. In a large wok, turn on high heat and add vegetable oil.

3. Add carrots, broccoli and water chestnuts.

4. Add in water and let simmer.

5. In a medium frying pan, cook the onion and beef until it is brown.

6. In a medium pot, bring water to a boil.

7. Add udon noodles and let simmer for 5 minutes.

8. Drain.

5. Add onion and beef to the wok and stir fry. Add in soy sauce and oyster sauce and mix well.

6. Add udon noodles and mix well.

7.  Serve hot.

 

You can add more or less sauce to taste (I usually add more oyster sauce to mine). The more you make this dish, the more you will be comfortable with the amounts you use. Have fun with this one!

Salmon Dinner

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Warning: This is no ordinary recipe blog post. This time I went all out and make a complete meal, and boy was it tasty!

I’m more of a baker overall. Most of the time I’m just making dinner for myself, so it seems a little pointless to go all out on a big dinner for one (one of my roommates is a vegetarian and the other isn’t home much). So, to solve this eating alone problem, I invited my friend/eating/cooking assistant over. We made a Salmon Dinner, complete with delicious new potatoes and a salad. I’ve only cooked salmon once before and the results were less than desirable (there was salmon all over that darn BBQ!), so I was a little apprehensive to try it again. But the end result was delicious and we both had fun doing it!

Please note that we stopped making the salmon before we put it in the oven so we could prepare the rest of the stuff 🙂

Salmon Steaks with Savory Blueberry Sauce

I found the original recipe for this on Allrecipes.com. It had high reviews and sounded like an interesting twist to salmon. Some of the reviewers had mentioned an overly vinegary taste to the sauce, and suggested reducing it (I had to look up exactly what “reducing vinegar” was…).

Reducing the Vinegar

Measure out double the amount of vinegar you need for the recipe (in this case, 1/2 cup)
In a small pot, bring the vinegar to a boil on a high heat and let it simmer for about five minutes, lowering heat if necessary. The vinegar should now be reduced, measure out required amount.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup chicken stock
  • 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1/4 cup orange juice
  • 1 teaspoon honey (buy here)
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1/4 cup chicken stock
  • 1 cup fresh blueberries (buy here)
  • 2 teaspoons chopped fresh chives
  • 4 (6 ounce) salmon steaks ** I only used three, due to number of people (buy here)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste
Recipe: Check! (By the end of the night it didn't look nearly as pretty, orange juice and chicken stock all over it!)
Combine Orange Juice, (newly reduced) vinegar,
honey,
and 1/2 cup of chicken stock
in a saucepan. Bring to boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium.
In a small bowl, dissolve cornstarch in 1/4 cup of chicken stock.
Stir into the simmering sauce. Cook and stir until sauce thickens. Only about one minute or so.
Cut up chives into small pieces.
Add chives and blueberries to sauce and keep warm over a low heat. **This is where we stopped to prepare the rest of our meal**
Preheat broiler and coat salmon with olive oil, and salt and pepper for taste.
Put in oven and cook for 5 minutes each side, or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.
Done! Serve and enjoy!

Potatoes

We made super simple potatoes, only boiling them and then adding chives, butter and salt and pepper for taste. They we’re really good and complemented the rest of the mean well.

Ingredients 

  • 2 lb bag of potatoes (buy here)
  • butter
  • salt and pepper
  • chives
After washing your potatoes, cut the bigger ones in half.
Boil for about 20 minutes, until soft.
Once boiled, drain water and mix in butter. Then add chives (we just cut up three of four and threw them in) and add the salt and pepper for extra flavor! And you're done!

Spinach Salad

At the market on Thursday, I still wasn’t quite sure what I was going to make to go with my salmon. So, when I was buying the potatoes, I bought a bunch of my favorite vegetables and ended up making this salad with them. It’s a little random, but we liked it!

Ingredients (all can be bought from here or here)

  • Spinach
  • Cucumber
  • Carrots
  • Broccoli
Wash, dry and rip up one head of spinach.
Cut up cucumber.
Cut up broccoli.
Grate carrots.
Mix everything together and enjoy! Yum!

Meal Completed!

It took us about an hour overall to make this (it might have taken a little longer then usual because we are chatty ladies). But it was so worth it, everything turned out great!
Nomnomnom!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nasturtiums and Raspberry Vinaigrette Salad

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This recipe for a Nasturtiums and Raspberry Vinaigrette Salad from Canada’s Food Network.

Ingredients:

  • 2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • 1/2 cup peanut or grapeseed oil
  • Salt and pepper
  • 6 large handfuls of mixed greens
  • 6 nasturtium blossoms

Method:

1)      Whisk together the vinegar, mustard, and honey with a fork. Gradually whisk in the oil. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Add a handful of raspberries.

2)      Put all the ingredients except the salt and pepper in the blender. Purée into a smooth red dressing. Taste, and season with salt and pepper. Makes about 1/2 cup/125 ml.

3)      Mix the vinaigrette. Put the greens in a salad bowl and toss with the vinaigrette. Strew the blossoms over and serve immediately.

(My) Mum’s Chilli

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I’m not the biggest chilli fan in the world. Most because I don’t like beans, I tend to just pick them all out and eat the delicious sauce around them. My mum has been making this chilli recipe for as long as I can remember and, although it is pretty darn tasty, the bean thing still gets me. But, everyone else who has tried this loves it, so I decided to give it a whirl; see if my chilli could complete with her’s. My bean-loving roommates and friends think it’s delicious, and say it must be better than mum’s… even though they’ve never tried hers. Anyways, here it is, from mum’s kitchen, to mine, to yours: Enjoy!

Ingredients:

  • 2 lbs Ground Beef (buy here or here)
  • 1 Onion
  • 1 or 2 Garlic Cloves
  • 1 Red or Green Pepper
  • 1/2 cup Chopped Celery
  • 1 796 ml can Diced Tomatoes
  • 1 or 2 cans Tomato Paste
  • 2 cans Kidney beans (or 1 can Kidney, 1 can Baked Beans)
  • 1 or 2 tbsp. Chili Powder
  • 1 tbsp. Brown Sugar
  • 1 or 2 Bay Leaves
  • ½ tsp. Oregano
  • ½ tsp. Basil
  • ¼ tsp. Tabasco Sauce
Recipe: Check!
Put meat in a large sauce pan and break up.
Chop up pepper,
onion,
celery,
and garlic.
Add to meat.
When beef is brown and the vegetables are soft, add tomatoes,
tomato paste, spices, brown sugar, and Tabasco sauce. ** This is where I made a mistake and added the beans TOO SOON!**
Let simmer for an hour AND THEN add the beans! Let simmer for another fifteen minutes.
And you're done! Enjoy! Nom nom nom!

 

 

 

 

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Land Acknowledgement

Our market is grateful to operate on the unceded land of the Qayqayt, Kwikwetlem, and other Halkomelem speaking Peoples. We acknowledge that colonialism has made invisible their histories and connections to the land. We acknowledge the incredible gift this land is to our market and BC Agriculture. We commit to the ongoing work of decolonization and allyship.