Pucker Up Blueberry Muffins

At first glance these little lovelies may look a little pale, even anemic, but don't be deceived: they pack a lemony punch deliciously punctuated with bursts of fresh blueberries. Almost cake-like in texture, these muffins border on being good for you. They are made with yogurt and are almost fat-free. Grab a lemon and give them a try.

MA's Lemon Blueberry Muffins

Preheat oven to 375° F.
Grease muffin tins or line with paper or parchment muffin liners.

MA's Tip: I bought some parchment muffin liners on a recent shopping trip. I tried them for the first time making this batch of muffins. I also made some of the muffins in regular paper muffin liners. The parchment liners are a winner! The muffins slipped right out of the parchment liners with none of the muffin stuck to the liner.

Ready to mix it up

1 ½ cups flour
¾ cup white sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
Zest of one lemon (about 2 tbsp)
¾ cup (6 oz basket) fresh blueberries
¾ cup plain fat-free yogurt
2 tbsp butter, melted
Juice of one lemon (about 5 tbsp)
1 egg

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar and baking powder.

Ready for baking - parchment liners in foreground

Add lemon zest and blueberries to the dry ingredients.

In another bowl, mix together yogurt, butter, lemon juice and egg. Stir well.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until dry ingredients are moistened through out.

Fill muffin tins about 2/3 of the way.

Bake for 15 to 17 minutes. These muffins don’t brown much, if at all. I recommend using a cake tester or wooden skewer inserted into a muffin to be sure they’ve cooked through.

Makes 12 medium-sized muffins.

Printable Recipe for MA's Pucker Up Blueberry Muffins

Rustic Beef Stew and Bannock

Rustic Beef Stew and Bannock

This is the kind of food that warms a cold winter day, which is a good thing because where I live we have about five straight months of those. The comfort from a bowl of steamy beef stew and a chunk of bannock is always welcome.

The stew itself is pretty straightforward. I call it rustic because I leave the veggies and meat in rather large pieces. If you want things to stew up a little faster, just dice things up into smaller pieces (not too small because the meat will shrink as it cooks). You may loose a little of the distinctive taste of each ingredient, but you will save some cooking time. You can change out the vegetables to suit your taste, just remember that the softer vegetables like mushrooms and peppers won't need to cook as long as the crunchier ones, unless you like them that way like I do.

A word about the beef .... right now the stores I shop in have some pretty high prices on pre-cut stewing beef. I guess it's due to the convenience of having someone do the chopping for you. If you don't want to pay extra for that, or you don't like the look of meat they've chosen or the size of the dice they've used, check out what beef is on sale. Almost any steak or roast can be cut up to make a stew. And it doesn't have to be a pricey cut, because it's going to cook a long time and be tasty and tender.

And about the dried herbs ... please note that I use the same combination and amount of herbs with the flour to season the meat as I do to flavour the sauce. So you will have to measure out the herb combination twice.

This recipe makes a lot of stew, about 8 good-sized servings. Rather than halfing the recipe, I suggest making it all and freezing what you don't want to eat right away.

Chewy Carrot Oatmeal Cookies

An easy to make drop cookie

When the cookie craving hit me, I headed for my little blue plastic recipe box and leafed through the Cookies section. I decided on this recipe for Carrot Oatmeal Cookies because I had all the ingredients on hand and I didn't really feel like looking any further. I have no idea where I originally got the recipe that I wrote on the card, but it does make some tasty cookies. And because they are drop cookies, aside from taking time to grate the carrot, they come together quickly.

Unfortunately, I forgot to photograph the finished cookies before they were eaten. What can I say? They were really good, and, in my defence, I did share.

MA’s Chewy Carrot Oatmeal Cookies

Preheat oven to 375° F.

Grease cookie sheet (s).

1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

½ cup butter or margarine

2 eggs

½ cup milk

1 cup carrots, grated

1 ½ cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

2 cups quick-cooking oatmeal

1 ½ cups seedless raisins

MA’s Tip: To keep the raisins from drying out during cooking, plump them up before adding them to the recipe. Soak them in water for five to ten minutes; then drain them well in a colander. This is also a good time to pick through for any stems or woody bits that may have been packed with the fruit.

Cream together the sugar, butter and eggs.

Add milk and carrots to creamed mixture. Stir until well mixed.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Add oatmeal and raisins to dry ingredients and stir until raisins are well coated with the flour mixture.

Add dry ingredient mixture to wet ingredients.

Drop by tablespoons onto cookie sheet.

Bake about 15 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned all over.

Makes 3 dozen cookies.

Printable Recipe for MA's Chewy Carrot Oatmeal Cookies