Mary-Helen’s Kitchen

This morning Ellis raced the half marathon and got his personal best time ever! To celebrate, I cooked a huge breakfast that included these Italian Cream Cake Muffins. I created the recipe because he loves Italian Cream Cake so much.

Ingredients:

For the Muffins

• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 cup white wheat flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup flaked coconut
• 1/3 cup pecan pieces

For the Icing:

• 2 oz cream cheese (at room temperature)
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• 1 - 2 tbsp milk

Makes 12 muffins.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease muffin tins and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients (flours, baking powder and salt).

In a separate bowl, mix together eggs, sugar, oil, coconut milk and vanilla. Mix wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, stirring until just moist.

Add the flaked coconut and pecans.

Put the batter in the greased muffin tins. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick stuck into one of the muffins comes out clean.

Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transfering the muffins to a wire rack placed over foil, saran wrap or paper (to catch drips).

While the muffins are cooling in the pan, stir the cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla together in a small bowl. Add just enough milk to get the icing to the right consistency to drizzle.

Transfer muffins to the cooling rack and drizzle them with the icing.

Serve warm.

In my quest to use up leftovers this morning, I created this quiche using the extra pie crust, Italian cheese blend and leftover ham from Thanksgiving. It turned out to be pretty delicious, so I thought I would share the recipe.

• 1 pie crust
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1 tbsp flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 1 cup broccoli florets, chopped fine
• 1/2 cup ham, diced
• 1/2 cup green onions
• 1 cup grated cheese (I used a mixture of Italian cheese blend and extra parmesan/romano cheese.)
• dash of tabasco sauce

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line pie pan with the pastry crust and line the inside of the pie with a piece of parchment paper or aluminum foil. Fill with pie weights and bake for 5 minutes.

Remove weights and foil or parchment from the pie crust. Lower oven temperature to 350 degree.

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients well.

Pour egg mixture into the partially baked pie crust. Place in the 350 degree oven and bake for 35-40 minutes or until set.

Can be served warm or cold.

We had leftover pecans from our pie on Thanksgiving, so I decided to make a coffee cake this morning for breakfast. This turned out to be one of the best coffee cakes I have ever made. Everyone liked it so much it was gone within 20 minutes…

• 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup lowfat sour cream
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8 x 8 inch square pan.

In a large bowl, mix flours and brown sugar. Cut in butter until it resembles small pea sized chunks. Take out 1/4 cup of the mixture and set it aside.

In the large bowl, add everything else except pecans to the flour/butter mixture. Stir until just combined and put batter in the prepared 8×8 inch pan. Mix the nuts with the remaining 1/4 cup of crumble mixture. Sprinkle on top of the batter in the pan.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Serve warm.

This is a holiday tradition in the New Orleans area. Thanksgiving wouldn’t be the same without it in most of our homes! Elsewhere in the country, people call mirlitons “Chayote Squash.” I usually buy mine at the closest grocery store with a large hispanic foods section. They are very common in Mexican cooking. 

• 10 mirlitons
• 1 small onion
• 3 stalks celery
• 3 tbsp butter
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1/2 lb cooked ham, diced
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions
• 1/2 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs (I used some from the Whole Foods bakery today, but often I just make my own with whole wheat toast and Italian herbs in the food processor.)
• 1/2 cup (or more) Italian blended cheese or parmesan, shredded
• Tony Chachere’s to taste

Peel the mirlitons and remove the seeds. Chop them into large chunks (about 2″ in size). Boil them in a large dutch oven until tender. This may take 20 to 30 minutes or longer. Once the mirlitons are tender (stick a fork in them to check), drain them in a colander. Get as much water out as possible.

Transfer the mirlitons to a large bowl and smash them with a potato smasher, leaving large pieces. Let them rest until water comes up to the surface of the bowl. Scoop off any water with a large spoon so that you can get out as much as possible.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Return your dutch oven or large pot to the stove and place on medium low heat. Melt the butter in the pot and saute the onions, celery, ham and garlic until the onions are cooked and look slightly clear. Season heavily with Tony Chachere’s. Add extra cayenne pepper if you like them spicy. Add the parsley and green onions to the pan and cook for another minute. Add cooked mirlitons, shrimp and half of the bread crumbs to the pot. Stir well until everything is mixed.

Transfer the mixture to a 9 1/2 x 13″ baking dish. Top with the remaining breadcrumbs and cheese. Bake in 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes or until the cheese is starting to brown.

Enjoy!

VARIATION (Not for Thanksgiving, but great any other time you are lucky enough to find mirlitons on sale at the grocery store): Add roasted, diced poblano peppers and use Mexican white cheese instead of the Italian cheese. You can also substitute cilantro for the parsley when you are adding poblanos.

I was having a craving for some Moroccan spices and a sweet/savory combo, so I created this slow cooker recipe. It was delicious and super easy. Alden loved it and couldn’t get enough of the sweet potatoes! 

• 1 small pork roast (I used pork shoulder)
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 -2 large sweet potatoes, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 14 oz can of low sodium chicken broth
• 2 tbsp paprika
• 1 tbsp corriander
• 1 tsp cumin
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp white pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley

Put everything except the parsley into the crock pot and cook on high for 6 hours, or low for 8+ hours. Before serving, stir in parsley.

This morning the chilly weather was just right for some pumpkin muffins! We love the fall and everyone in our house loves any kind of baked good containing pumpkin. We were out in the country, so I only had one cookbook in the cabinet. I took a recipe for banana bread and modified it to make it healthier (and pumpkin). The result was absolutely delicious!

• 1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup cooked, pureed pumpkin (fresh or canned)
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper liners.

In small bowl, mix together flours, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir with a whisk.

In another bowl, mix together remaining ingredients. Add the dry ingredients you mixed together in the small bowl and stir until just combined. Put batter in the twelve muffin tins. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Enjoy!

In honor of the Royal Wedding, we had delicious scones this morning. (Yes, for breakfast and not afternoon tea.) As a nod to our founding fathers and a confirmation that we are proud not to be subjects of the crown, I made mine with a decidedly American twist by adding maple syrup and pecans. I also served them in the American wedge shape rather than the round British version. Enjoy!

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 4 tbsp butter
• 6 tbsp milk
• 1/3 cup maple syrup (divided)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.
3. Put the oatmeal in the blender until mostly smooth.
4. In a large bowl, mix the blended oats, flour, baking  powder and salt. Cut in the butter until the butter is the size of large peas. Leave it chunky or the scones will be too tough. Mix in the nuts.
5. In a separate bowl, beat the egg. Add milk and 2 tbsp of the maple syrup.
6. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the liquid mixture. Stir just until blended. Batter will be very wet and sticky.
7. Put the batter onto the baking sheet and shape it into a 12″ circle, patting it down flat.
8. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden.
9. Put the remaining maple syrup in a microwave safe container and heat for about 20 seconds. Drizzle it on top of the scones. Cut into wedges and serve warm.

Everyone who knows me well knows that I have a weakness for those huge, moist chocolate muffins that you get in coffee shops with your latte. The chocolatey the better! Well, in an effort to stay healthy and control my waistline, I have been on a mission to create an equally delicious, decadent chocolate muffin that doesn’t derail my health while I enjoy it.

I think that I may have finally accomplished the task! The results from this morning’s experiment were a huge success. Try them warm and I think you will agree.

Chocolate Apple Muffins

• 1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 3/4 cup lowfat or nonfat buttermilk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 very large apple, peeled and chopped into fine pieces
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips (the mini ones are better, but the regular size would work, too)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray one 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine flours, cocoa powder, baking power, baking soda and salt. Stir with a whisk until well combined.

In a medium sized bowl, beat together the eggs and sugar until combined. Add canola oil, buttermilk and vanilla and stir well.

Add wet mixture to the dry mixture in the large bowl and stir until just moistened. Be careful not to overmix the batter.

Stir in apple pieces and chocolate chips until just combined.

Put batter in muffin cups.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. (Until toothpick inserted in center of one of the muffins comes out clean.)

Serve warm if possible.

This morning I awoke to a bucket full of very ripe figs on the kitchen counter. Ellis, Linda and Alden had picked them yesterday afternoon after the grapes thinking that we would eat all of them fresh. After eating our fill, we still had quite a bit left!!! I decided to try my hand at making fig preserves the way I remembered my mom doing it. They are delicious!!!

Here is what I did:

1. Put enough figs (minus the stem end) in a large dutch oven to fill it half way. Added 1/2 cup of water, 2 cups of sugar and one thinly sliced and seeded lemon.
2. Cook over simmer for about 2 hours until they looked to be the consistency of jam.
3. Ladeled the preserves into hot jars and processed them in the water bath canner for 10 minutes.

This made 7 1/2 small jars of fig preserves. The jars were 1/2 pint size.

Yesterday was a wonderful day! We spent the day picking cynthiana grapes in the vineyard and making grape jelly. Ellis, Alden, Meredith and I had a great time sitting on the porch at his parents’ house picking the grapes off of the stems with them. Alden is a pro at spotting the rotten ones! (And the spiders… Alden & Grandpa were having much more fun with the tiny spiders than with the grapes!)

After all of the hard work outside, we followed the directions for grape jelly on the package of sure gel. This morning we had to have homemade biscuits to devour all of our hard work!! Here’s my recipe (adjusted over the years down from my old 1 stick of butter version).

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 4 tbsp butter (I use unsalted)
• 3/4 cup lowfat buttermilk
• Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

1. Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
2. Cut in butter with a pastry cutter or 2 knives until it is the size of large peas.
3. Add buttermilk and mix with your hands until it forms a small ball of dough.
4. Place dough on floured countertop and press down with your hands until it is about 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick.
5. Cut out biscuits. (Today we used the alphabet cutters instead of the traditional round biscuit cutter. )
6. Place on cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes until the tops are golden brown.