Recipe: Chocolate Chocolate Chip/Chunk Muffins | UPDATED for Vegans

From Miss M. She used chocolate chunks rather than chips.

This is veganizable and just as soon an Miss M. let's me know how to do that, I'll share.

UPDATE: Substitute soy milk (or another non dairy alternative) for milk and 2 Tbs cornstarch plus 1 Tbs water for the egg.

CHOCOLATE CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS

1 3/4 C flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 Tbsp cocoa
1 large egg
3/4 C semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 C milk
1/3 C oil plus 2 tsp
3/4 C sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients well. Fill muffin tins 3/4 full and bake at 400° for 20 minutes.

Recipe: Turkey/Duck Gumbo El Dorado

I think this should wrap up the recipe posting for a while.  My mistake. Miss M. has emailed me to tell me the location of the vegan muffin recipe. So look forward to that during my next break from tidying up the house in preparation for company. 

Says Mr. Big Food about this gumbo, "We made the duck gumbo with wild turkey breast (including the stock) and I used 2 lbs andouille (store-bought) instead of the shrimp."

We froze the little that remained because you can never have too much gumbo.

DUCK GUMBO EL DORADO

Serves 12 generously

5-6 lb duck, dressed

2 sticks butter

1 C flour

2 C white onion, chopped

2 C celery, chopped

1 lb okra, fresh or frozen, sliced

3 cloves garlic, chopped fine

1 6 oz can tomato paste

15 oz stewed tomatoes (can use canned, flavored variety)

2 tsp Accent

1 C bell pepper, chopped fine

1 bunch green onions and tops, sliced

1 bunch parsley, chopped fine

1 tsp dried oregano leaves, crushed

1 tsp dried thyme leaves, crushed

2 Tbsp salt (or less, to taste)

1 Tbsp black pepper (or to taste)

½ Tbsp Cayenne pepper (or to taste)

2 lbs cooked shrimp (cleaned, thawed if frozen)

Box of wild rice, cooked according to package directions (or half wild rice, half rice)

File powder

Directions below

Recipe: Hollister Vegetable Casserole

I am discovering that this vegan food isn't half bad!

“A finalist in the Garlic Recipe Contest and Cook-off, Lena says this entry is a favorite with her family and some of the Gavilan College staff where she is Cafeteria Manager. “This dish is particularly good for vegetarians,” says Lena. It would also be a good choice as a side dish to serve with barbecued meats.”—The Garlic Lovers Cookbook (1980)

HOLLISTER VEGETABLE CASSEROLE

6 zucchini, sliced

6 potatoes, peeled and sliced

3 bell peppers, cut into strips

2 large onions, sliced

1 large eggplant, sliced (and peeled, if desired)

½ C Romano or Parmesan cheese, shredded (or use 4 Tbsp vegan cream cheese for a vegan casserole)

Salt, pepper, to taste

5 cloves fresh garlic, sliced or pressed

1 tsp oregano (or more, to taste)

8 large tomatoes, sliced, or 2 lbs canned tomatoes, broken up

½ C oil or olive oil (or combination of both)

Preheat oven to 350^o. Place layers of zucchini, potatoes, bell peppers, onions, and eggplant in a greased baking dish, alternating with 4 Tbsp shredded cheese, and salt and pepper. Combine garlic and oregano with tomatoes, and top casserole with tomato mixture and remaining 4 Tbsp cheese. Drizzle oil over top, cover casserole, and bake 90 minutes. Increase oven temperature to 375^o, uncover casserole, and bake 90 minutes longer.

Recipe: Baked Omelet

served in a Fancy dish!

"Another fabulous breakfast dish. Can be doubled, tripled, quadrupled . . ."

BAKED OMELET

6 eggs

6 Tbsp butter or margarine

½ C flour

3 C milk

1 ½ tsp salt, ¼ tsp black pepper OR 1 ¾ tsp Creole seasoning

Shredded cheese, for topping omelet

Preheat oven to 350^o. Melt butter in a saucepan and stir in flour, blending well. Add milk gradually, stirring constantly. Add salt and pepper and cook until sauce thickens. Remove from heat. Beat eggs and blend with white sauce. Pour into greased baking dish and bake for 1 hour. Top with shredded cheese during last 15-20 minutes baking time.

Recipe: Cheesecake with Fruit Glaze

May I suggest this for a mid-morning snack? Because-- you know-- I'm getting ready for something that rarely happens here on the Farm and I need my mid-morning snack. 

Mr. Big Food used Royal Anne cherries for the glaze.


CHEESECAKE WITH FRUIT GLAZE

CRUST

1 C Zwieback crumbs
½ stick butter, melted

Combine crumbs and melted butter, and line the bottom of a spring form pan with mixture.

FILLING

5 8-oz packages cream cheese, softened
½ C milk
6 eggs
1 ½ C sugar, plus an additional ¼ C
2 tsp vanilla, plus an additional 1 tsp
½ tsp salt
1 C sour cream
Strawberry or Blueberry Glaze

Preheat oven to 350o. Beat together softened cream cheese and milk, and add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually add 1 ½ C sugar, 2 tsp vanilla, and salt, and beat well. Pour mixture into crust and bake 1 hour 10 minutes, or until set. Remove from oven and allow to set for 15 minutes. Increase oven temperature to 475o. Combine sour cream, additional ¼ C sugar, and additional 1 tsp vanilla, spread mixture over cheesecake, and bake 5 minutes. Cover and refrigerate. Serve with Strawberry or Blueberry Glaze spooned over cheesecake.

STRAWBERRY OR BLUEBERRY GLAZE

below the fold

Recipe: Apple Sausage Ring

Not the prettiest picture-- and we should have served it on a platter but we were running out of time & space-- but danged good!

APPLE SAUSAGE RING

2 lbs bulk sausage (any variety, and preferably homemade—see recipes in Meats section)

2 C plain bread crumbs (preferably homemade—see instructions in Basics section)

2 eggs, beaten

¾ C evaporated milk

3 Tbsp onion (white or yellow), chopped fine

2 tsp sugar

Large apple, peeled, cored, and chopped fine

Combine all ingredients, mixing well. Line a bundt or tube pan with plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray (like Pam). Press mixture into pan to shape. Chill 15-20 minutes. Preheat oven to 350^o. Turn packed mixture onto a glass baking dish and remove plastic wrap. Bake 55-60 minutes or until sausage is completely cooked. Slice to serve.

Recipe: Creative Cooking Baked Sausages

Note that these are to be served with cabbage and mashed potatoes!

CREATIVE COOKING BAKED SAUSAGES

Makes 6 servings

2 lb pure pork link sausage (preferably homemade—see recipes in this section)

Crisp Cabbage (for serving—see recipe in Vegetables section)

Mashed Potatoes (for serving—see recipe in Potatoes … section)

Preheat oven to 350^o. Place sausages on a rack in broiler pan. Bake 20 minutes or until browned. Turn and bake 15 minutes longer. Serve with cabbage and mashed potatoes.

Recipe: Creative Cooking Brandied Fruit Salad

Apples, pears, oranges, green grapes, and strawberries

Read more about Mr. Big Food's journey through the Creative Cooking Course here.

As variety is the spice of life, a variation of ingredients is a most when preparing fruit salad with a flair. An unusual assortment of fruits and flavorings will add a distinctive taste to any salad. Here brandy and wine blend with fruits in a truly marvelous way, as the brandy lends a heady contrast to the tartness of the fruits. The brandy, wine and fruit mixture should be chilled overnight for best results.—The Creative Cooking Course (1982)

CREATIVE COOKING BRANDIED FRUIT SALAD

Makes 12 servings

3 Tbsp strained lemon juice combined with 3 Tbsp cold water in a large salad bowl

3 large apples, peeled, cored, diced

3 ripe pears, peeled, cored, diced

2 large oranges, peeled, separated into skinless sections

½ lb fresh pitted Queen Anne cherries

½ lb seedless white grapes

1 small honeydew melon, peeled and sliced into narrow strips

¾ C confectioner’s sugar

1 C Sauterne (or other dry white wine)

½ C brandy

Place diced apples and pears in lemon juice mixture in bowl, turning to coat well. Let stand 20 minutes. Add orange sections, cherries, and grapes. Add melon. Sift sugar over fruits. Mix together wine and brandy, and pour over fruits. Chill overnight. Serve in individual bowls.

Recipe: Natural Fruit and Bran Muffins

From Mae Louise Mays, wife of baseball great Willie Mays

NATURAL FRUIT AND BRAN MUFFINS

Makes 12 muffins

1 C natural bran

1 C whole wheat flour

1 C milk (can use skim or low fat)

2 eggs

1 Tbsp baking powder

3 Tbsp natural honey

½ tsp salt

1 C favorite fruit, peeled, cored, and chopped coarse

Preheat oven to 350^o. Grease 12 muffin tins. Combine all ingredients except fruit, stirring just until blended. Fold in fruit. Spoon batter evenly into muffin cups. Bake 20-25 minutes.

Recipe: Blackeyed Pea Hummus

We substituted chick peas... .

Southern goes Middle Eastern

BLACK EYED PEA HUMMUS

2 cups

1 15 oz can black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed

2 Tbsp tahini

2 Tbsp olive oil

¼ C lemon juice

2 garlic cloves, minced

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp cumin

½ tsp black pepper

1/8 tsp red pepper

3 Tbsp water

Additional olive oil, for topping (if desired)

Parsley, chopped fine (for tipping, if desired)

Process first 9 ingredients in a food processor until blended, stopping occasionally to scrape mixture down from sides. Gradually ad up to 3 Tbsp water until mixture is desired consistency. Cover and chill 1 hour. Drizzle olive oil over top and sprinkle with chopped parsley, if desired. Serve with Pita bread or crackers.

Watt's Up?

As I was busy doing other things the last few days, I'd forgotten to look at my calendar.* Now that night has fallen here on the Farm, and I've turned on a light by which to read, I thought I'd see what I'd missed.

February 8

Boy Scouts of America formally incorporated 1910

February 9

William Henry Harrison born 1773; "Soldier and ninth President of the United States. ... He died after only one month in office and was succeeded by Vice-President Tyler."

Nebraska admitted to the Union 1867 (37th state)

U.S. Weather Service established 1870. Originally under the Signal Corps of the Army, it was transferred to the Department of Agriculture in 1890 and "officially became" the United States Weather Bureau. 

February 10

Birth of some folks of whom I'd never heard.

February 11

Thomas Alva Edison born 1847 (died 1931):

American wizard inventor and electrical investigator; creator of the phonograph, the incandescent lamp (1879), and the motion picture projector (1887); pioneer in the field of electrical power distribution.

~~
Of note: 

1) The U.S. Weather Service was created by an act of Congress nine years before Edison invented the incandescent light bulb.

2)  The U.S. Weather Service is now The National Weather Service, an agency of The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a part of The United States Department of Commerce. It has an annual budget of $5,500,000,000.

3)  An Act of Congress shattered the 100 Watt bulb, and-- according to that infallible source, Wikipedia-- effective 1/2013, the 75 Watt bulb, too. Who knew?

~~
* All uncited date facts from the crappy old book referenced here.

Mr. Big Food's Version of a Country Mouse Brunch Buffet

We-- Mr. Big Food, Daughter C., Miss M. and I-- invited some friends and colleagues out to Farther Along Farm for Sunday Brunch to mark the occasion of another successful event at State. Kudos to The Bart Man who orchestrated the event's Main Events. 

Mr. Big Food thought it would be fun to treat our out-of town guests, i.e., the City Mice, to some Good Ol' Country Food. He and Miss M. teamed up to be sure there were tasty Vegan selections.

A Country Mouse Brunch Buffet Menu

Beverages

Coffee
Tea (choose from several)
Green-Tea Sun-Tea
Orange juice
Water
Bloody Marys from scratch

First Course (out, as folks arrive)

Great BIG fruit salad (soaked over night in dry white wine and cognac)
Shrimp in (New Orleans' style) remoulade
Hummus
Assorted cheeses
Assorted crackers

Homemade muffins: bran blueberry, chocolate (vegan), cranberry (vegan) served with whipped butter/vegan "butter"

 Main Course (below)

Dinner Was Paid For

But we had to buy our own drinks.

The bacon was a nice touch. Thank you, Trisha!

For 90 minutes

she sat in the front row, took notes, paid attention...

and for all that, she didn't even get her own wrist band.

If you're in the neighborhood

you may want to check this out:

Mississippi Philosophical Association Meeting Program 2013
Hosted by Mississippi State University

Theme: Philosophy of Biology

Schedule below the fold

Happy Birthday, Babe!

One of the crappy old books I picked up at the Palmer House last week was Anniversaries and Holidays: A Calendar of Days and How to Observe Them by Mary Emogene Hazeltine published by American Library Association (Chicago) in 1944. What a fun book! In addition to the calendar, Part II provides, among many other things, "Origin and History of Holidays and Holiday Customs," and "Time and the Calendar." Fun stuff.

I've taken to skimming today's entries-- not so much to learn who was born when, but to recall who is worth remembering to today.

Today,

February 7,

let's recall

Charles Dickens 1812-June 9, 1870. Great English novelist and social critic.

Sir James Augustus Henry Murray 1837-July 26, 1915. Distinguished editor of the scholarly Oxford English dictionary, completed in 1933 after 50 years of work.

Sinclair Lewis 1885- . American novelist, satirist of contemporary life. [He declined the Pulitzer.]

George Herman (Babe) Ruth 1894- . Baseball's greatest batsman; home-run king of the New York Yankees.

Thanks to Miss M., we've had a great deal of Dickens lately and are expecting more.

O.E.D. Can't live without it here at the Farm.

Lewis. One of those names I know. Pretty sure I have Babbitt somewhere on a shelf. But that's all I got. (Hey! What did you expect? I'm a vegetable farmer, not an English major.)

Happy Birthday, Babe!   

On a whim

I added Big Food, Big Garden, Big Life to Pollis, "The New Newspaper." I'm not sure it's showing up where it's supposed to be, though.

I'll keep you updated.

Custom Made at No Additional Charge

I am pleased to report that thanks to Mr. Big Food's unrelenting efforts in a small space of 50 square feet and wall heights ranging from 8-10 feet the prison-striped wall paper is history!

As you may recall, there is no law (Yet? That I'm aware of?) forbidding home owners from affixing wall paper to sheet rock which has not first been primed or painted. And I'll not be painting over wall paper. Daughter C. recommended steam-- and hey!-- if you have a now-previously very nice garment/drape/upholstery steamer you might as well put it to good use. Steam works remarkably better than diluted Downy Fabric Softener [insert trademark thingy]. There is one small problem, though.

No caption needed if you know what bare naked sheet rock looks like.

The original plan was to paint. There's still paint involved in the revised plan, but it comes after the walls are textured

because when you texture walls, you don't have to sand after you fix the gouges in the sheet rock.

After I'd sanded the bare naked wood door frames and mouldings, I was sort of tired of sanding. (Don't forget, I just sanded all the bare naked wood in the half-bath.) Texturing it is!

Steam also works remarkably well to loosen Joint tape. [Let me remark here that if it sounds like I know what I'm talking about it's due in large part to Bro. Mike.] Turns out that before I knew what Joint tape was, I'd managed to scrape away a whole Joint's worth in the worst of all possible Joints--

that crazy Joint at the Corner of Door Frame & Wall.

What did you do before 9am?

Commuters: I Feel Your Pain

Commuters' wasted time in traffic costs $121B
By CHRIS TOMLINSON | Associated Press – 5 hrs ago


AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — An annual study of national driving patterns shows that Americans spent 5.5 billion additional hours sitting in traffic in 2011.

The Texas A&M Transportation Institute released a report Tuesday that found Americans are adapting to road congestion by allowing, on average, an hour to make a trip that would take 20 minutes without traffic. The Urban Mobility Report also says clogged roads cost Americans $121 billion in time and fuel in 2011.

It also determined that the 10 most congested cities are Washington, Los Angeles, San Francisco-Oakland, New York-Newark, Boston, Houston, Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia and Seattle.

The report is one of the key tools used by experts to solve traffic problems. But the institute advises that every community has unique challenges and require different, multi-faceted approaches to solving congestion.

I plan my Friday Starkvegas errands quite carefully so as to avoid traffic jams. Last Friday, just as Mr. Big Food and I were finishing up the last errand, I received an unexpected phone call from Daughter C. letting me know she was back in her office. She had my color wheel in her office-- and I really wanted my color wheel-- so we had to backpedal against the flow. No matter how you looked at it, getting to Daughter C.'s office required a Left turn. (No. Multiple Right turns would not have worked. See above: "every community has unique challenges." Just ask the Experts!)

You should have heard Mr. Big Food cussin'. It took us about three whole minutes to maneuver out of the parking lot and onto a side street so we could scoot through the back streets. What a waste of time! Awful. Just awful. You should have heard Mr. Big Food cussin'.

Surprisingly, I did not see this commercial last night.

Tip of the Cowboy Hat to Mr. Big Food's Dad for passing this along.

An Invitation

Dear Miss M.'s "Friend,"

We invite you to visit us at Farther Along Farm this Spring. The earlier, the better. There's nothing quite like grillin' steaks out on the patio listening to the Peepers in early March.

Most Sincerely,

Marica & John

BREAKING! Cats kill mice & birds!!

If I didn't have several other projects in the works right now,

• texturizing walls and then painting/glazing
• the Big Egg Conspiracy talk
• polishing floors before the hoo-ha next Sunday
• company coming*
• new books from the Palmer House to talk about
• &c.,

I could have a field day with this:

The impact of free-ranging domestic cats on wildlife of the United States

Anthropogenic threats, such as collisions with man-made structures, vehicles, poisoning and predation by domestic pets, combine to kill billions of wildlife annually. Free-ranging domestic cats have been introduced globally and have contributed to multiple wildlife extinctions on islands. The magnitude of mortality they cause in mainland areas remains speculative, with large-scale estimates based on non-systematic analyses and little consideration of scientific data. Here we conduct a systematic review and quantitatively estimate mortality caused by cats in the United States. We estimate that free-ranging domestic cats kill 1.4–3.7 billion birds and 6.9–20.7 billion mammals annually. Un-owned cats, as opposed to owned pets, cause the majority of this mortality. Our findings suggest that free-ranging cats cause substantially greater wildlife mortality than previously thought and are likely the single greatest source of anthropogenic mortality for US birds and mammals. Scientifically sound conservation and policy intervention is needed to reduce this impact.

[my emphases]

There's data at the link!!!!! 

But alas! And quite fortunately, I think, I have walls and talks, and floors, and company and books to talk deal with. 

One comment, tough. This revolutionary research was funded by you. Not only are taxpayers paying these guys salaries, I bet there's an NSF grant tucked away in there somewhere. Author information.

Affiliations
Migratory Bird Center, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, National Zoological Park, P.O. Box 37012 MRC 5503, Washington, District of Columbia 20013, USA
Scott R. Loss & Peter P. Marra
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Division of Migratory Birds, Midwest Regional Office, 3815 American Boulevard East, Bloomington, Minnesota 20013, USA
Tom Will

Please note that there will be no intervention here at the Farm. Sadie killed a mouse the other day & we are gosh-danged proud of her. Were there to be interventions with respect to the feral cat hanging out here... . Just sayin'.

~~
Backtracking: here from here.

*There's talk A. Leland is coming.

No. Thank *you*!

Good to know about your blog I have read its is really very impressive i need more ideas can you please update your blog?

Thank you for Post.

Polystick

As Polystick requests, I have updated my blog.

Spam can be fun.

Mr. Big Food Laughed Out Loud!

I didn't do it on purpose, but I did something yesterday that caused Mr. Big Food to laugh out loud when he arrived home from work.

Mr. Big Food (laughing): Why is there a shotgun on the counter?

Me: It's loaded!!

Mr. Big Food (laughing): Why is there a loaded shotgun on the counter?

Me: I put it there so the dogs couldn't reach it.

Mr. Big Food (still laughing): What did you need the shotgun for?

Me: Those danged cats were upsetting the dogs.

Mr. Big Food (laughing harder): Did you shoot them?

Me: No. Of course not. 

Now, Mr. Big Food is not the sort of fellow that one would expect to see rolling on the floor, so I'd be exaggerating if I said he was rolling of the floor laughing his you-now-what off. But he was laughing pretty hard.

Mr. Big Food: I wonder how many other guys came home from work to find their wives had gotten the shotgun out?

Me (laughing): Probably not too many.

Mr. Big Food (rolling on the floor...): Be sure to discharge it before you put it away. And wear ear protection!

Me: Okay.

~~
Just so there's no misunderstanding-- I did not intend to shoot the feral cats, only to warn them.