From Our Kitchen

One of my favorite hobbies is creating and trying out new recipes in my kitchen.  I've been asked frequently if I like to "cook or bake?"  The answer is both!  Of course, having a baby to care for makes spending a lot of time creating in my kitchen somewhat unrealistic, but I've been finding ways lately to utilize nap times and the bouncy seat (on the counter - yes, I know it's bad but she likes to watch me work and for now she's still fairly stationary, plus I never walk away from her when she's up there!) to continue doing what I love. 

Although I love being in my kitchen, I also tend to hurt myself there...a lot.  I've given myself bruises, nasty second degree burns, too many cuts and nicks with knives, vegetable peelers (yes, veggie peelers - who knew those could be a weapon??), and metal cans to counts, etc.  I even managed to start a small fire once in grad school by accidentally setting a pan of brownies fresh out of the oven on top of a burner that was turned on.  Did you know that ceramic baking pans can explode if you do that?  Well, they can, and mine did!  Fortunately no one was actually in the kitchen when it happened, so no one got hurt.

Anyway, I thought I'd post a couple of recipes for things we've eaten lately in the Marsh household that we really liked (and caused no accidents while making).  The first two originally came from Allrecipes.com (my favorite place to find new recipes, although I usually change them up a bit), the last is a family favorite.

Banana Crumb Muffins

Banana Crumb Muffins

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 over-ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar

1 egg

1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup toasted pecans

Topping:

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 Tbsp flour

1 Tbsp unsalted butter

Preheat your oven to 375.  Lightly coat a muffin pan with cooking spray (or use muffin papers). 

Mix the dry ingredients in a small bowl.  In a separate bowl, beat together bananas, sugars, egg, melted butter, and vanilla.  Stir in pecans, then dry ingredients until just moistened.

Spoon the batter into the muffin pans (aim for 2/3 full).  For the topping, cut the butter into the sugar, cinnamon, and flour to make loose crumbs; spoon this over the batter before putting it in the oven.

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the muffins comes out clean. 

  

Slider-Style Mini Burgers (Sorry, no picture of this one!)

1 lb. ground beef

1/2 pkg onion soup mix*

1/4 cup mayo

1 cup shredded cheese

1 pkg King's Hawaiian dinner rolls

Sliced pickles**

Preheat your oven to 350.  Cut two pieces of aluminum foil large enough to cover the rolls; spray foil with cooking spray.  Take the rolls out of the cardboard tray but don't break them apart - use a bread knife to slice halfway down and lift the top off; place the bottom portion on top of the sprayed foil.  Brown the ground beef with the onion soup mix and drain the grease off.  Mix in the mayo and cheese, then spread the entire mixture on top of the bread.  Place the top portion back on the sliders, then cover tightly with the foil.  Place in the oven for 20-30 minutes (just until it's heated through).  Serve with pickles.

*I try to avoid onion soup mix because of the MSG, but until recently I didn't have an alternative.  I just found a recipe on Allrecipes.com for it, so I'm going to try that the next time I make these!

**The recipe originally calls for dill pickles, but I prefer our homemade sweet pickles on these (see recipe below)

Sweet Hamburger Pickles

1 qt. sliced dill pickles (the cheapest you can find)

2 cups sugar

1 Tbsp mixed pickling spices tied in a bag (use a cheese cloth or scrap of fabric for this)

1/4 of an onion, left in a chunk

Drain the pickle slices and place them in a bowl.  Mix the sugar in and add the bag of spices; let this set on the counter for several hours.  Place the mixture back in the jar (or in any airtight container that has a flat top), add the onion chunk, seal and place in your refrigerator for 4 days before eating.  You'll want to turn the container once a day (hence the need for a flat top on the container) to keep it mixed well.  When you have eaten the pickles, you can use the juice to make another batch, but you may have to add more sugar along with a fresh onion chunk.



Sweet Hamburger Pickles



Enjoy!