My Girl Paula: Apple Raisin Muffins

This week's My Girl Paula was Spring Time - make something with fresh fruit or vegetable. I spotted the Apple Raisin Muffins in the The Lady & Sons II cookbook and have been thinking about making them. I am so glad I did....they are awesomely delicious! Moist, flavorful. The recipe calls to make miniature muffins, but I made regular size muffins. It makes 2 dozen. I really recommend them. If you like raisins, you get one in every bite!

Ingredients:

2 cups water

2 cups sugar

2 cups grated apples (about 3 apples)

2 cups raisins

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg (I used 1 1/2 tsp ground)

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1 cup chopped walnuts

2 tsp baking soda

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the water, sugar, apples, raisins, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves in a large saucepan; bring to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat and cool completely.

In a large bowl, stir the nuts and baking soda into the flour. Add the cooled mixture to the bowl, and stir until blended. Fill greased miniature muffin tins (I used regular size with the cupcake liners) with batter to the top. Bake for 15 minutes.

Yields: about 5 dozen mini muffins or 2 dozen regular muffins

Cookie Carnival: Walnut Mint Bars and My 200th Post!

Yay! It's my 200th post to this blog!!!!

The recipe for this month's Cookie Carnival was Hershey's Walnut Mint Bars. I was really excited. My two favorite dessert flavors together is chocolate and mint. These were really good. Not my favorite, but I enjoyed them. My mom LOVED them! I took them to myy parents' house last night for dessert. She told me today again how much she loved them.

I was too lazy to make the drizzle; I had all the dishes done and didn't feel like washing any more! So...I used Hershey's chocolate syrup. Worked great!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick), plus 2 T margarine, divided

1 1/2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs (about 45 wafers, crushed)

1 cup chopped walnuts

1/3 cup powdered sugar

1/3 cup Hershey's cocoa

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened

1 T cornstarch

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp peppermint extract or 1 T green creme de menthe

Green food color (optional)

Chocolate Drizzle (recipe follows)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Melt 1/2 cup margarine in medium saucepan; stir in the crumbs, walnuts, sugar and cocoa. Press firmly on bottom of ungreased 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking pan.

2. Beat cream cheese, remaining 2 T margarine and cornstarch in small bowl until fluffy. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk then egg, peppermint extract and food color, if desired. Pour evenly into prepared pan.

3. Bake 25 minutes or until center is set. Cool. Drizzle Chocolate Drizzle over top. Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. Cut into bars. Store covered in refrigerator.

CHOCOLATE DRIZZLE: Melt 1 cup Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate Chips or Hershey's Semi=Sween Chocolate Chips with 1 1/2 tsp shortening (do not use butter, margarine or oil).

The base of the dessert

Corned Beef Hash

My son insisted on having corned beef hash for St. Patrick's Day. Having never made it before, I told him to look up the recipe. He found a recipe on About.com:Southern Food. Seemed easy enough. I just got corned beef from the deli and made sandwiches with the rest. I made 1/2 recipe since it was just the two of us. It was very good and easy to make.

Ingredients:

2-3 T butter

2 cups cooked corned beef, finely chopped

3 cups cooked, chopped potatoes

2 T minced onion

2 T chopped parsley, optional

salt, pepper and brown gravy

Directions:

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add corned beef, potatoes and onion; spread evenly in the skillet. Brown on one side; turn with a spatula and brown the other side. Continue turning until most of the meat and potatoes are well-browned. Drain off excess fat and moisten with 3-4 T of brown gravy or beef gravy. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with parsley, if desired.

Irish Soda Bread Muffins

This is my third recipe from the Taste of Home Holiday Irish Food & Fun magazine. I have never had Irish soda bread. My son, on his dad's side, is part Irish so he takes St. Patty's Day serious. I didn't want to mess with yeast (no time, really). When I found this recipes, I decided to try it. They were good muffins. A mixture between rye bread and a sweet raisin bread. Made a good side dish to the soup.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup, plus 1 T sugar, divided

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. caraway seeds

1 egg

1 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/4 cup vegetable oil

3/4 dried currents or raisins

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine the flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda and caraway seeds. In another bowl, beat the egg, buttermilk, butter and oil. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in raisins.

Fill greased muffin cups 3/4 full. Sprinkle with remaining sugar. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to wire rack. Serve warm.

Yield: 1 dozen

Best Ever Potato Soup

This is another recipe from Taste of Home Holiday Irish Food & Fun book. I made dinner on St. Patrick's Day and everything was pretty much all Irish related. This soup was so delicious. My son said it was his favorite soup. It was easy to prepare and one I will make over and over. I added a few more ounces of cheese. Jimmy helped me prepare the dish - cubed the potatoes and fried the bacon.

Ingredients:

6 bacon strips, diced

3 cups cubed peeled potatoes

1 can (14.5 oz) chicken broth

1 small carrot, grated

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 T dried parsley flakes

1/2 tsp each celery seed, salt and pepper

3 T all-purpose flour

3 cups milk

8 oz Process cheese (Velveeta), cubed

2 green onions, thinly sliced, optional

Directions:

In a large saucepan, cook bacon until crisp; drain. Add potatoes, broth, carrot, onion, parsley, celery seed, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.

Combine flour and milk until smooth; add to soup. Bring to a boil; boil and stir for 2 minutes. Add cheese; stir until cheese is melted and the soup is heated through. Garnish with green onions, if desired.

Yield: 8 servings (2 quarts)

St, Patrick's Day Cupcakes

I found this recipe from the Taste of Home Holiday Irish Food & Fun book. They sounded and good and thought perfect for St. Patty's Day.

They are very easy to make and really yummy with our without the frosting (of course, the frosting is delicious by itself, too!).

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup sugar

1 pkg (3.4 oz) instant pistachio pudding mix

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup cream cheese frosting (or more)

green sprinkles and/or chocolate jimmies

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, pudding mix, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, combine the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients until combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

Fill paper lined muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake at 375 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely. Frost and decorate as desired.

Yield: 1 1/2 dozen

before the frosting

Pioneer Woman's Buttermilk Chicken Strips

I found this recipe on Mommy's Kitchen site. This one was another keeper! They were delicious! I'm usually not one for frying food in oil, but I couldn't resist trying these. Boy, am I glad I did. They were so wonderful! Jimmy wants to spice it up next time.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pkg chicken breast tenderloins or strips (about a dozen)

1 1/2-2 cups buttermilk

1 1/2 cups flour

2-3 tsp season salt or spices of your choice

Directions:

Rinse and dry the chicken. In a bowl, submerge the strips in buttermilk for 15-20 minutes, or longer.

In another bowl, combine the flour and season slt. Mix together; add 1/4-1/2 cup buttermilk into flour mixture and stir lightly as you add it.

Heat about 1 inch oil in a skillet or cast iron skillet on medium low to medium heat. Remove a few of the buttermilk-soaked strips from their bowl and place into the flour mixture. Turn them over to thoroughly coat. Then place them on a plate. Continue coating chicken until all is ready to cook.

When the oil is sufficiently heated (flour should bubble when sprinkled in), begin cooking strips a few at a time. Cook for about a minute or minute and a half on the first side--until you can tell it's getting crispy and golden. Turn them over and finish cooking the other side - about 1 - 1 1/2 minutes or so. Removed them to a baking sheet lined with a cooling rack. Place in the oven on warm while you cookd the remaining strips.

Serve with ketchup, honey, honey mustard, sweet and sour, gravy.