Bears Like Marmalade

Anyone else remember that adorable bear, Paddington, that loved marmalade? Well, if you don't, you should go look him up and read at least a couple of the books about his adventures.

Freezer Marmalade

Ingredients 

3 large oranges
1 large lemon
1/2 c water
1 package sure-jell pectin
3/4 c water
4 1/4 c sugar

Instructions 

Using a large cheese grater, grate off peel of oranges and lemon. Cutting off all pith (and other bad places) chop up orange and lemon innards. Add zest and innards to stock pot with 1/2 c water. Bring to boil for about 15 min. Mix pectin with 3/4 c water then add to boiling fruit mixture. Bring everything to a boil and stir constantly for about 5 min (until peel begins to look tender). Turn off heat and add sugar making sure it is well mixed in (no lumps!). Ladle hot marmalade into clean containers. Let sit for 24 hours to cool. After 24 hours, put containers in freezer (for 1 year) or fridge (3 weeks).

Recipe adapted from: http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/30-minutes-homemade-surejell-orange-freezer-marmalade-52029.aspx

The Taste of Summer Sunshine

Ever wonder what summer sunshine tastes like? I'm pretty certain it involves blueberries and lemons. Anyways, after being hit by a craving for something involving blueberries and lemons, I decided to make Blueberry Lemon Scones. Enjoy!

Blueberry Lemon Scones

 

Ingredients

1 box (18 oz) Original Fisher Fair Scone Mix (I got a big box that had 18 oz packets at Costco)
 3/4 cup milk
1 lemon
1 cup blueberries (I used frozen but I am sure fresh would work too)
2 teaspoons butter
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar

Directions

Zest your lemon then squeeze all the juice you can from it (my lemon was small so I had to use extra bottled lemon juice I keep on hand).

Combine about 1 tablespoon of lemon juice with your milk and set aside. Empty your scone mix into a bowl and add half of the lemon zest. Mix it up so the zest isn't in clumps. Add your blueberries to your scone-zest mix and toss it up so the blueberries are evenly distributed.

Add your milk-lemon juice mix (it should be a little lumpy) to your scone mix and stir it all together. It will be pretty sticky.

Divide the dough into two equal parts and pat them into domes about 7 inches in diameter.

Using a sharp knife, cut the domes into quarters then scrape them off the counter and put them on a greased pan (can you tell my pans are really old and very well loved?).

Bake at 425 degrees for 13-15 minutes. (When they come out of the oven be sure to remove them from the pan immediately so the bottoms don't get any darker!)

As your scones are baking, take your remaining zest and mix it with 2 Tablespoons of the remaining lemon juice and 2 teaspoons of butter.

Microwave the juice-zest-butter for a few seconds (just until the butter is melted--I put mine in my crappy little microwave for 30 seconds). To your warmed juice-zest-butter, add the powdered sugar (for thicker or thinner glaze add another 1/4 cup powder sugar or decrease powder sugar by 1/4 cup, respectively) mix it all up and set it aside.

After the scones come out and you put them onto a cooling rack, let them cool for 10 minutes then glaze them (I HIGHLY recommend you put the baking sheet back under the cooling rack to catch the extra glaze that drips off. It will be MUCH easier to clean up). Serve after 10 more minutes of cooling or store them in an air tight container after they have cooled completely (about an hour).

Yum!

Love from the wet side,
Mrs. Mommystars

"When the spice flow stops, all eyes will turn to Arrakis." -Muad'Dib, Dune 1984

So I have been having a hard time getting veggies down my 19 month old little monster's throat. I have tried everything I can think of to get veggies down him. So far, the only thing that is working is the magic of hiding them in things I know he likes. Enter in this God-sent recipe. :) It was originally a Paula Deen recipe but I adjusted her recipe for healthier choices and combinations of flours, sugars, and spices. I love Paula's Southern Cooking Bible but, lets be honest, 99.9% of her recipes need a bit of cleaning up in the heath department--hence my modifications. Enjoy!

Spiced Zucchini Muffins

2 cups shredded zucchini (the food processor is my best friend with this)
1 1/2 cups maple syrup (or 1/2 cup honey if that's what you'd rather use)
1 cup vegetable oil (I use Canola oil)
4 eggs
2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup flax meal
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 3/8 teaspoon baking soda

Mix wet ingredients (the first 5) together. Mix/sift dry ingredients together. Combine the wet and dry ingredients. Using a 1/4 cup scoop batter into muffin tin. Bake muffins for 25 minutes at 325 degrees or until toothpick comes out clean. Makes 2 dozen plus 1 daddy-size muffins.

Paula Deen suggests serving her version of the recipe with an herb cream cheese. Personally, I have never bothered making that but the sweet, savory, spicy combination intrigues me. I will have to try that this summer when I can get my hands on some reasonably priced fresh herbs.

While these were baking I saw some oranges in my fruit bowl. Next time, I think I will add the zest of an orange. I think that would make these smell even more heavenly and complement the spices nicely. I'll let you know how it goes!

If you are looking to swap granulated sugar for something a little healthier in a recipe, like I did for this one, I found this infographic very helpful.

Love from the wet side (of Washington this time!!! We are so happy to be back home but miss all the good friends we made down in Portland),
Mrs. Mommystars

Vampires and Mushrooms

This week I saw some beautiful—and large!—Portobello mushrooms. I couldn’t pass them up! I love mushrooms and have been trying to think of various ways to incorporate them into our diet more often. Since Washington is known for its vampires—I am, of course, referring to the lack of sunlight and not a certain teen vampire book/movie that was all the rage a few years ago—I am convinced that God put mushrooms (dark/shade loving organisms that happen to be high in vitamin D) here for a reason (a place know for its lack of access to vitamin D producing sunlight). What better way to enjoy such beautiful large Portobello mushrooms than in burger form? And ya know what? They turned out great! Mr. Legendary even approved! Hope you enjoy them too!

Oven Baked Portobello Mushroom Burger

Ingredients (for 2 servings)

2 Portobello mushrooms

2 rolls or hamburger buns

1 tomato

2 leaves of lettuce

2 slices of provolone

1 or 2 tablespoons of basil pesto

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon olive oil

Instructions

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Remove stems of the mushrooms and place the caps frill side down on a cookie sheet. Bake them for 10 minutes. While the caps are in the oven, mix the pesto, Worcestershire, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil together. After the timer goes off, remove the caps from the oven. Flip them over (use a fork or spatula so you cont burn yourself!) and spoon half the pesto mix on to each cap. Place a slice of cheese on each seasoned mushroom cap then return them to the oven for 5 more minutes. After the 5 minutes, remove the mushrooms and let them sit for another 5 minutes. Place warm caps on hamburger buns or rolls and top with lettuce and tomato. Enjoy!

If you didn’t follow my recipe exactly, I’d love to hear what modifications you tried!

Love from the wet side, 

Mrs. Mommystars