Confessions of a Grandma

Marvelous Muffins from Cooking Light. 1 cup all purpose flour 1 cup whole wheat flour 1 3/4 cup oat bran 3/4 cup brown sugar 1/3 cup non-fat powered milk 1/4 cup flaxseeds 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon 2 teaspoons baking soda 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 cups shredded carrots 2 cups chopped Granny Smith apples 1 cup raisins 1 cup fat-free milk 1/4 cup canola oil 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 3 large egg whites 1 orange, unpeeled and quartered Preheat the oven to 375°F.  Spray muffin tins with cooking spray. Combine dry ingredients (first 10) in large bowl and whisk together.  Add carrots, apple, and raisins. Combine milk, oil, vanilla, eggs, and orange in blender or food processor.  Process until smooth. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour the milk mixture into it.  Stir just til moist. Spoon batter into muffin cups and bake in batches for 20 minutes.  Muffins should be brown and should spring back whe...

This is an easy recipe that serves 8.  Three basic ingredients and some flavoring.  Share.  Don’t eat it all yourself! You know who I’m talkin’ to. It is like a big shortbread cookie, but the almonds make it Italian. Heat the oven to 350.  Butter a 10” tart pan with removable bottom or a regular 9” pie pan. Melt 2 sticks of unsalted butter (1 cup) and allow to cool. Coarsely grind one cup of unblanched, whole almonds ; set aside. In a medium sized bowl. whisk together: 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 cup sugar, and 1/4 tsp. of salt. Stir in the almonds. Stir   2 tsp. real vanilla extract into the melted butter and stir that mixture into the dry ingredients. Stir until butter and flour mixtures are evenly combined. Put 3/4 of the mixture into the prepared pan and press lightly with fingers. Scatter remaining crumbs over this.  Do not press. Bake 25 minutes, until golden and cooked through. Allow to cool before slicing into wedg...

There is an old Vermont saying along the lines of  "Hope the rain don't hurt the rhubarb." In fact, though, there is not a thing in the whole entire world that can hurt rhubarb.  Floods?  Drought? Toxic waste spills? Nuclear plant meltdown?  Rhubarb will survive. (Honestly, Stephen King, I hope you read my little blog because I am just full of ideas for horror story ideas lately.  And they are free for the taking!) Mike has his own food classification.  It includes a category called 'nuisance vegetables' which are not to be eaten and preferrably not to to ever appear on the table.  Rhubarb appears in that category--more than once, actually.  So it is kind of too bad that we have rhubarb growing in the back.  (It came with the house, and as I have mentioned, there is no way to get rid of it.) Mike also likes to have it pointed out that not even the neighborhood woodchuck will touch the rhubarb.  Make of that what you will...

A friend of mine gave me this recipe many years ago.  She called it Not To Be Believed Fudgy Chocolate Chickpea Cake. Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips, melted 2 cups well rinsed and drained chickpeas 4 eggs 1 cup white sugar 1/2 tsp. baking powder Preheat oven to 350 F.  Generously grease a 9" round cake pan. In a food processer, mix the melted chocolate chips and the chickpeas. Add the remaining ingredients and process well. Pour into prepared cake pan. Bake for 45 minutes. My friend says, "This cake needs no frosting." Well, it may not need frosting, but it dosn't hurt it in any way.  My friend is the type who will have cut down on the sugar from the original recipe, I am quite sure.  Frosting and a small scoop of vanilla ice cream, I say. No claims here that this is health food, but did you know: Chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans or bengal gram) are low in fat, cholesterol and sodium while high in fiber (29% of your daily need)...

This recipe came with my KitchenAid stand mixer.  It's easy as can be...if you have a powerful stand mixer.  Otherwise, I think you would need a really, really strong mixing arm and I'm pretty sure I would not attempt it. Creamy Mints: 1    3-ounce package of light cream cheese 1/4 tsp.  peppermint extract 2 drops food coloring  (as you can see, I used red and green) 4 1/4 to 4 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar Superfine sugar Mix cream cheese, extract and food color is mixer bowl just til smooth (30 seconds or so). Keeping mixer on low speed, gradually add the confectioner's sugar and mix until very thick (at least 90 seconds). Shape teaspoonfuls of the mixture into small balls and roll in the superfine sugar.  (It's like playing with play dough.  My grand son would love it.)  Press flat with fingers or a fork to form patties. Refrigerate, tightly covered.

As you know by now, Mike is kind of a picky eater  He  is definitely not fond of many vegetables, but he has a particular aversion to orange vegetables.  It might be somewhat of a family thing because it has never been a given that one would see squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, or even pumpkin at his family's Thanksgiving dinner.  They have a joke about the sweet potato being saved from year to year in the freezer. I, on the other hand, could quite contentedly eat all orange vegetables with maybe a spoon of cranberry sauce on the side. We will drive to Mike's sister's in Connecticut for the big meal this year.  We went to Costo's today and bought wine and Cabot cheddar for our contribution.  This year, I am also going to take a dish of the glazed carrots I mentioned a while ago. I am tempted to also prepare this squash dish, reducing all the measurements so it only serves one or two: Baked Squash with Apples 1/4 cup butter 1/2 cup VT Maple Syrup...

This salad is a mixture of garbanzo beans, edemame, corn, chopped red pepper and onion.  I dress it with fresh squeezed lemon juice and olive oil, cracked pepper and sea salt.  I mix up a batch and can eat it for lunch on its own or as a side dish for a few days.  I also add dried cranberries to give it a nice sweetness, but I prefer not to have them sit in the mix for too long. It earns a zero on the Mike approval rating scale. Edamame is the immature soy bean that is often served with Japanese cuisine.  It has a good amount of protein plus nine essential amino acids so it is worth considering if you try for meatless meals.  This is kind of an example of my season confusion.  I ate a lot of this while we were in Florida.  Since I have been back in Vermont, I find I want to crawl into bed early and sleep late.  I want to spend the afternoons roasting and baking, followed by eating.  I want hot drinks and thick, cream...