My Husband is Right

My husband is right...I don't say that too often, but in this case he is. He tells me all the time that I am spoiled because I always end up getting all these fun, new kitchen gadgets that I want. But I don't think that's any different than him getting every new power tool or electronic gadget that comes out. And besides, I'm much more likely to use my kitchen tools for many more years than he'll use the things he buys. But anyway, back to me being spoiled. I realized today that I really am. I wanted to make some muffins to have for breakfast this week. I was all prepared with my recipe, and then I realized the bowl for my KitchenAid mixer was in the dishwasher (which I had just turned on by the way) along with my food chopper that I was going to use to chop some pecans, and my mandoline that I needed to shred my apples! All things I *needed* to make my recipe! At first I was disappointed because, being spoiled as I am, I couldn't figure out how I was going to make my muffins without my favorite kitchen gadgets. But then a little common sense finally kicked in. I realized that I still do have a hand mixer in the drawer, long forgotten since I got my stand mixer. I also have a hand grater in the drawer that I never use anymore, and as for chopping the pecans, well a plastic baggy and a heavy rolling pin works well for that. So I ended up making my muffins anyway and they turned out to be so delicious. Even my husband liked them and he is not into anything remotely healthy. Thanks to Elly over at Elly Says Opa for the recipe! I had to make some alterations to the recipe based on what I had on hand and I used a little different ratio of whole wheat to all purpose flour. Check out Elly's blog for the original recipe along with her other variations of the healthy muffin recipe.

Healthy Apple Muffins

3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 egg
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce (or vegetable oil, if you're not calorie counting)
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup lowfat buttermilk (I subbed 3/4 cup milk with 1 tsp lemon juice)
1 cup shredded apple (1 large apple)
1/3 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 400 and grease a 12-cup muffin tin. Sift together flours, baking powder and soda, salt and spices.

In a seprarate bowl, beat egg with brown sugar until well combined. Stir in vanilla, buttermilk, applesauce and shredded apple.

Pour wet mixture into dry mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in nuts.

Pour mixture into muffin cups and bake approximately 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

My Contribution to Thanksgiving

As much as I love to cook and bake, I did not host Thanksgiving this year. We always have the big meal at my in-laws' house. Of course I always offer to bring something and normally end up taking a main dish and a dessert. Well this year when I asked what I could bring I was told that all the main dishes were taken care of and that I could bring a dessert. Every other year there is always pecan pie and sweet potato pie at the in-laws and then I bring some other dessert. So I decided not to make I pie since I assumed there would be pie. I had seen these apple blondies on a couple food blogs recently and had heard rave reviews from everyone that had tried them. So I figured these would be a good option. Well, there ended up being no pecan pie at Thanksgiving dinner and I was disappointed in that. Safe to say I'll be making one of those soon to satisfy my craving. But the blondies turned out good anyway! I think they are the best blondies I've ever had! I took the advice of others that had made these and didn't make the brown sugar frosting recipe for these blondies. Instead I made up my own frosting recipe. Everyone loved them!

Apple Blondies with Brown Sugar Frosting

Blondies:
2/3 cup butter, softened
2 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chopped peeled apples
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (i did not add nuts)


Blondies:
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla until thick and smooth, about 3 minutes. Combine flour, baking pwder and salt. Add to butter mixture on low speed, mixing until blended. Stir in apples, cinnamon and nuts, mixing well. Spread evenly in greased 9x13 pan.

Bake in Preheated oven at 350 degrees until set and golden, 25-30 minutes. Let cool completely in pan on rack.

Confectioners' Sugar Frosting
(Icing recipe I made)

1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In a bowl combine all ingredients and whisk together. Add more milk if needed. The icing should be smooth but thick enough to coat a spoon. Drizzle over cooled blondies just before serving.


*This is the original frosting recipe. Others said it was just too sweet for these blondies so I made a different recipe.

*Brown Sugar Frosting
In a small saucepan over low heat, melt butter. Stir in brown sugar and milk. Bring mixture just to a boil then remove from heat and let cool to lukewarm. Stir in the confectioner's sugar, mixing until smooth. Spread evenly over bar. Let stand until frosting is firm enough to cut. Cut into bars or squares

Real Comfort Food

Tonight's dinner was a huge success for me. I had never made a whole roasted chicken. To be honest, it has always scared me a little. But it really wasn't hard at all. I will admit, when I first took this whole chicken out of the package, it really creeped me out. I can handle boneless, skinless chicken breasts and any other meat, but something about a whole raw chicken is a little icky to me. But I love roasted chicken so I quickly got past that and prepped my chicken. My other worry was how long to cook a whole chicken. I read so many different recipes and finally decided on how I would cook it. I gave my husband specific instructions on when to put the chicken in and at what temp when he got home and crossed my fingers that it would turn out.

When I got home I was pleasantly surprised. My house smelled great and the chicken looked so good! So I whipped up a couple easy sides and dinner was ready. I think I got 2 thumbs up from my husband.

On the menu tonight: garlic and lemon roasted chicken, wild rice, peas, and baked apples.

Garlic and Lemon Roasted Chicken

whole chicken (mine was 5lbs)
4-5 small garlic cloves, peeled, whole
3/4 cup lemon juice
salt and pepper, mixed together in a bowl (about 1/4 cup)
1/2 stick butter, cut into 1/4" slices (1/4 cup)

Begin by washing the chicken and patting it dry. Place chicken in a roasting pan. Rub a little of the salt and pepper on the inside cavity of the chicken. Place garlic cloves inside. Place a few slices of the butter inside the chicken as well. Rub remaining butter, salt and pepper on the outside of the chicken making sure to coat wings and legs, too. Pour lemon juice over the chicken. Bake at 375 degrees, 20 min per pound. Baste chicken with pan juices every so often. (I roasted mine for about 2 hrs-20 min longer than it really needed just to be sure
; P )


The baked apples I made as sort of an afterthought tonight. I had wanted to make a wild rice, apple, and pecan stuffing for the chicken but then remembered I used the last of my chopped pecans the other day. I wanted to do something with apples anyway so I made some simple baked apples.


Baked Apples (for 2)

1 large apple, cut into 1" chunks (I used Gala because that's what I had)
1/4 stick of butter, cut into 1/4" slices
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Spray ramekins with cooking spray and place on a baking sheet. Place apples in the bottom of each ramekin. In a bowl, mix brown sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle over the apples. Place 3 slices of butter on top of each dish. Bake at 375 for 15-20 min until apples are tender.