I was searching through old photos today and found these whole wheat blueberry muffins I made a while back.  Since I remember them tasting just as delicious as they look, I decided that they shouldn’t be kept hidden on my hard drive any longer.

The muffin recipe came from Elise at Simply Recipes and the only change I made was to use King Arthur’s White Whole Wheat Flour instead of all-purpose flour.  If you haven’t started baking with white whole wheat flour yet, now is the time to start! Continue reading →

I know that not many people make popcorn the old-fashioned way anymore, even Kettle Corn can be made in the microwave these days.  But please, please give this stove top kettle corn a try.  It’s easy, and it seriously blows the microwave stuff out of the water.  Trust me.  Make this popcorn.

I made a discovery a couple years ago that I really have been meaning to tell you about.  Honestly, I can’t believe I didn’t write about this before now.  But here it is:  instead of popping your corn in oil, use clarified butter or ghee.  While regular butter would burn if you tried to use it for popping corn, ghee has a much higher smoke point and works perfectly as long as you pop the corn over medium heat and watch it closely.

I love making Indian food, so I almost always have a container of ghee stashed in the pantry.  But for those of you who are new to using it, ghee is easy to find at ethnic markets or on the shelves of well-stocked supermarkets.  It’s also easy to make at home. If made properly, ghee can be stored at room temperature just like cooking oils.  But if storing at room temperature, be sure to keep moisture out of the container and never dip into it with a wet spoon, as moisture will cause the ghee to spoil.

The ghee in this recipe adds a richness to the sweet and salty kettle corn that just can’t be replicated using oil.  You can substitute oil for the ghee in this recipe and still end up with some tasty kettle corn, but I hope you’ll give my version a try at least once.

Kettle Corn

1/4 cup ghee*
1/2 cup popcorn kernels
1/4 cup sugar
fine grain sea salt

Heat ghee over medium heat until melted.  Add three popcorn kernels, cover with a lid and wait and listen until all three kernels have popped.  Add the rest of the popcorn kernels, shake to distribute then sprinkle sugar evenly over the kernels.  Cover with lid and listen for popping.  As soon as the kernels start to pop, shake pot gently back and forth over the burner, lifting it up and shaking from time to time, until the popping slows to every 2 to 3 seconds.  As soon as the popping slows, remove pan from heat and immediately dump kernels into a large bowl.  Sprinkle lightly with salt and toss with a wooden spoon.  Taste, and add more salt if desired.  Serve immediately.

*you may substitute vegetable oil for ghee, if desired.

Yield: approximately 4 servings

While some muffins are little more than cupcakes without the frosting, these hearty, flavorful, and nutritious whole grain apple muffins will help you power through your morning.

Don’t get me wrong, I am definitely a fan of cake-like muffins, but I think they generally make a better dessert than breakfast.  Made with whole wheat flour and heart-healthy oat bran, these muffins offer a bit more staying power than something you might pick up at a cafe on your way to work. Continue reading →

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Oatmeal.  It’s not the most glamorous subject, is it?

I grew up eating oatmeal for breakfast on a fairly regular basis.  My Dad would often make it for us on cold, winter mornings before school.  Sometimes it would be plain and I would eat it with butter and a bit of brown sugar.  That wasn’t so bad.  Some mornings, he would add chopped dried apricots, my favorite way to eat oatmeal.  But more often than not, he would cook it with raisins.  Plump, rehydrated raisins.  Yuck!  While I now look back on those mornings with a certain fondness, I certainly wasn’t in love with oatmeal at the time! Continue reading →

I love brown rice, but I have to tell you that more times than not, I am unhappy with the texture when I cook it at home.  I have no problem turning out batches of perfectly steamed white rice, whether it’s on the stovetop, in the oven, or in the rice cooker.  But up until yesterday, every method of cooking brown rice seemed to come up short. Continue reading →

This is what we ate for dinner tonight and it’s so good, I just had to share a photo and point you over to Elise’s wonderful Beef Stroganoff recipe at Simply Recipes. I’ve also been meaning to tell you how much my husband and I have been enjoying whole wheat egg noodles, and this is the perfect excuse to do so! Continue reading →

Is it really November already?  That means it’s almost been an entire year since we left Sicily!  And it has been an entire year since I participated in NaBloPoMo, or, National Blog Posting Month for those of you not in the know. Continue reading →