Lemon Poppy Seed Cupcakes

I love lemon poppy seed. It was our choice for a wedding cake. However all the recipes I have ever used call for prepared poppy seed, something like a poppy seed jam. In my home town you can buy it in the grocery store, here in Saskatoon, not so much. So I am using a recipe from here. Its a great blog, you should check it out.

When it came down to choosing a recipe I went with this one for two reasons. The first is that most recipes called for plain yogurt and this one called for cream cheese and extra cream cheese is easier to use up (you only need to buy a few bagels). The second reason is that this recipe uses lemon zest and real lemon juice, which is a necessity when making anything lemon related. I decided to decorate the cupcakes with lemon icing and raspberries since I am taking them to a barbeque and want them to look as delicious as they taste.  I usually steal about one cupcake worth of batter and eat another cupcake fresh out of the oven . . . you know . . . for quality control  . . .

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp cream cheese
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• zest from one lemon
• lemon juice from 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp poppy seeds

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.
2. In the bowl of your mixer add the butter and sugar and mix until light and fluffy.
3. Add the egg and the cream cheese and continue mixing until everything is well incorporated.
4. Add the milk, lemon juice, and lemon zest and continue mixing.
5. In a bowl, mix the flour, salt, baking powder and poppy seeds together.
6. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl and mix for a few seconds, but do not over mix the batter.
7. If you are not using muffin liners, butter your muffin tray. Pour the batter in each muffin cup, this should be enough for 12 muffins.
8. Bake for about 20 minutes or until muffins are done. (The original recipe said 30 minutes, but  I found that this is far to long. My muffins were starting to get overdone at 25 minutes)

Lemon Buttercream Icing

Ingredients

•  1/2 cup butter or margarine softened
• 1 tsp lemon extract
• 2-3 cups icing sugar
• 1 Tbsp milk

Instructions

• Mix all ingredients together with a mixer until smooth and a not too thick consistency.
• Pipe onto cupcakes, I used a round rather than a star tip because that was what I was in the mood for. Be creative.
• Top with a raspberry (my friend tops her lemon cupcakes with a lemon candy. It looks super cute)

Ratatouille

I hate zucchini. But everyone's gardens always have a plethora of zucchini this time of year so I inevtiably end up with some. And there is only so much zucchini chocolate cake you can make (a recipe I promise to publish). So to use up my least favorite vegetable, I make ratatouille, adapted from the Joy of Cooking cookbook. The end result is delicious and the only way to eat any type of squash, including eggplant.

The Joy of Cooking cookbook is a must for everyone's kitchen. There is literally a recipe for everything in it. Come across a turtle you need to cook up? This cookbook will tell you how to find the tastiest turtle meet and how to cook it. Using canned turtle? The cookbook will tell you how to adapt your recipe. Even exotic foods like breadfruit are in this cookbook.

Ratatouille 

Ingredients

• 1 medium or large zucchini (or squash or eggplant) sliced. 
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 green peppers, sliced.
• 2 large onions. 
• 5 or 6 tomatoes sliced
• 1 sprig of rosemary.

Instructions

1. Slice the onions and cook with the garlic in 1/3 cup olive oil.
2. Layer everything, salting and peppering each layer. Start with the zucchini slices in the bottom a roaster. Top with a layer of onions. Then a layer of green peppers. Finally, layer the tomatoes on top. Add the rosemary and drizzle with olive oil
3. Cook for 40 minutes, covered in an oven at 350. Uncover and cook 20 minutes more. 
4. Serve. We eat ours sometimes with sour cream.

Beetniks (Beet Leaves and Dough)

This is one of my favorite Ukrainian dishes and today I am using my mom's recipe. You take fresh made bread, wrap it in beet leaves to make tiny dumplings and then soak them in a dill cream sauce. It is a staple of every special occasion and you can make the dumplings ahead of time and freeze them for months. We call them beetniks (or beet leaves and dough) and I can never find a recipe on the internet so I am posting one. This is a very local dish, but very rich and tasty. It also is a good use for beet leaves, maybe left over from cooking, say borscht.

Beetniks

Ingredients

• 1 loaf bread dough (I used frozen)
• About 50 small to medium beet leaves (don't use ones that the  bugs have eaten). 
• 1 litre cream
• 1 onion
• 4-6 Tbsp of fresh dill

Instructions

Beetniks

1. Wash the beet leaves. Remove the stems. To dry, spread one layer of leaves between tea towels. You can use leaves that are slightly wilted but don't use leaves that are eaten by bugs.
2. Break off about a walnut sized ball of dough. Place on the rib of the beet leaf and roll up tightly. Repeat until you run out of beet leaves or dough.
3. Let rise until the dough peeks out the edges of each roll. 
4. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes on a greases cookie sheet until golden brown. Fill a roaster with the beetniks. 

Cream Sauce

1. Dice the onion and cook in a generous portion of butter until soft.
2.  Add the cream and the dill and simmer until the sauce thickens. If the sauce does not thicken, fry a little flour with butter and add to the cream. If too thick, add a little more cream. Sauce should be a yellow color.
3. Pour the sauce over the beetniks. Allow the sauce to soak in,(you can heat them up in the oven if you like). Serve.

Beet Borscht

Beet Borscht (beet soup) is a delicious vegetarian soup that my Ukrainian grandmother used to make. Today I am making it using all fresh garden vegetables. Everything, even the garlic, is from the garden(with the exception of the canned tomatoes and beef broth). It is a great recipe because it is so versatile. Don't have peas? Don't use them. Have celery? Throw that in too. The trick is to use lots of beets and lots of dill and the rest sorts itself out.

As a pro tip, beets will stain your kitchen a lovely shade of pink. And your hands. And your wooden spoon. And the handle on the fridge. And your tea towel. So wear an apron and gloves and watch that you don't recolor everything.

Beet Borscht

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup diced potato
• 1 cup diced carrot
• 1 cup peas
• 1 diced onion
• 2 cups diced beets (about ten small beets)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 onion
• 4 tablespoons fresh chopped dill
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 4 cups broth
• Sour cream

Instructions

1. Add all the vegetables and garlic to the soup pot with a little oil. Cook until the onions are clear and everything is died pink, about ten minutes. 
2. Add the broth and dill. Bring to a boil. Cook for 20 minutes.
3. Garnish with sour cream and serve.

Applesauce Cookies

I love applesauce cookies. I can (and have) eat two dozen at time. They are a joy to cook as they are easy and rarely stick to the pan. And the they are soft and spongy and tasty. I could go on all day about how much I like applesauce cookies, so here is the recipe.

Applesauce Cookies

Ingredients

• 2 cups packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups margarine
• 2 cups applesauce (homemade is best)
• 5 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 2 cups dried cranberries

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
2. Cream together sugar and margarine. Add egg and applesauce. 
3. Mix together dry indgredients. 
4. Add dry to wet and mix in cranberries.
5. Drop by spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. Cook 12 minutes or until the edges are brown

Spinach and Cheese Frittata

Frittata is basically a quiche with potato. It is easy to make. I am a huge fan of meals that you cook in a single pan, so this is a favorite of mine.

Spinach and Cheese Frittata

Ingredients

• 2 large potatoes, thinly sliced
• one onion, diced
• one package frozen spinach, thawed
• 6 eggs
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/2 cup cheese
• salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Using a large skillet, fry the potato and onion with a little bit of oil for ten minutes until the potatoes are soft
2. Add the spinach and cook a little longer
3. Beat the eggs and milk together
4. Add the egg mixture to the skillet. Sprinkle with cheese
5. Cook for ten minutes or until the center is firm.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

My mothers method of cooking pies is this:
1. Buy a pie crust
2. throw some fruit into the pie crust
3. Throw in some flour and sugar and bake.

I have had very limited success with her three step method. Half the time the flour doesn't thicken and I end up with soup in a pie shell.

Since I don't have my mother's cooking talents (at least not when it comes to pie). I have added 2 more steps for delicious never fail pie.
1. Make your own pie crust. Store bought ones are tasteless at best.
2. Throw in some fruit
3. Make a thick syrup.
4. Pour the syrup over the fruit.
5. Cover with a lattice and bake.

Lattice pies look gorgeous and are not that difficult to make. Today I am making strawberry rhubarb pie with a really easy homemade pie crust. Below is the recipe.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Ingredients:

• Pie crust: 
• 3 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup margarine (cold, cut into pieces)
• 8-10 Tbsp cold milk
• Pie Filling
• 6 cups fruit (some combination of strawberries and rhubarb)
• 1.5 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 4 Tbsp corn starch

Instructions

Crust: 

1. Mix together butter, salt and flour with a pasty cutter until crumbly. Add cold milk, 2 Tbsp at a time, until the dough sticks together in a ball. Split into two balls. 
2. Roll one ball of dough between two sheets of wax paper. Drape over a 10 inch pie pan and cut to fit.
3. Roll out the second ball of dough and cut into 1/2 inch strips. This will be used for the lattice later

Pie filling

1. Fill pie shell with fruit. 
2. Boil the water, sugar and cornstarch together until clear. Pour over fruit.

An almost perfect lattice

Lattice

1. Make a lattice over the pie. Lay out strips one at a time, starting with the middle and switching between horizontal and vertical strips. Weave each strip together as you lay it out.
2. Press the edges into the bottom pie crust. Trim.
3. Bake pie for 10 minutes at 450 and 40-50 minutes at 350. This pie will be extra juicy so put it on a cookie sheet when you put it into the oven. 

Here is the finished result. It was delicious, not to tart, not to sweet, although next time I may add more cornstarch.