The Accountant

The other night I was on the computer trying to get our federal taxes submitted and after awhile I looked over to see what Ryan was doing. He was watching Desperate Housewives. This made me laugh because most people would think it should be the other way around.

Blueberry Muffins

Makes 1 dozen
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups fresh blueberries
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Generously butter a standard 12-cup muffin pan and dust with flour, tapping out excess; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Working over the bowl, toss blueberries in a fine sieve with about 1 1/2 teaspoons flour mixture to lightly coat; set aside the flour mixture and the blueberries.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using a handheld mixer, beat butter and 1 cup sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until combined. Mix in vanilla.
3. With the mixer on low speed, add reserved flour mixture, beating until just combined. Add milk, beating until just combined. Do not overmix. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the blueberries. Divide batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups. If desired, in a small bowl, mix together remaining 1/4 cup sugar and nutmeg. Sprinkle sugar mixture on top of muffin batter.
4. Bake, rotating pan halfway though, until muffins are golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center of one muffin comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool 10 minutes. Turn muffins on their sides in their cups, and let cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.

-From The Martha Stewart Baking Handbook

pysanky easter eggs

Ukranian and Polish folk art

easter cupcakes

lettuce

I love salad. Especially ones with a lot of "stuff" on them. I recently taught a class on salad greens to try and encourage people to get away from just buying iceberg and romaine. I bought 15 different kinds of lettuce and had the class try to identify them by sight only. See how well you would do:

Answers: Iceberg, Romaine, Green Leaf, Escarole, Radicchio, Arugula, Red Leaf, Watercress, Butter, Mache (Lamb's Tongue), Frisee, Spinach, Belgian Endive

Here are some interesting facts about lettuce:

The ancient Greeks believed that lettuce induced sleep, so they served it at the end of the meal. The Romans continued the custom. However, the dictatorial Emperor Domitian (81-96 AD) served it at the beginning of his feasts, so he could torture his guests by forcing them to stay awake in the presence of the Emperor.

Iceberg lettuce got it's name from the fact that California growers started shipping it covered with heaps of crushed ice in the 1920s. It had previously been called Crisphead lettuce.

And here is a great recipe using ones of my favorites, arugula:

Grilled Chicken Sandwiches with Arugula and Chutney
4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. black pepper
2 tablespoons light mayonnaise, divided
Cooking spray
6 tablespoons mango chutney, divided (I buy the Mango-Ginger kind from Trader Joe’s)
4 (1-oz) slices sourdough bread
2 cups arugula
1. Prepare grill
2. Sprinkle chicken with ½ tsp. salt and ½ tsp. pepper. Coat both sides of each chicken breast half with 1 ½ tsp mayonnaise. Place chicken on grill rack coated with cooking spray. Grill for 3 minutes on each side or until done. Brush 1 ½ tsp chutney over each chicken breast half. Place bread slices on grill rack, and grill for 1 minute on each side or until golden. Spread 1 tablespoon chutney onto each of 4 bread slices, and top each serving with ½ cup arugula and 1 chicken breast half.
-If I don’t have a lot of time, sometimes I just toast my bread in the toaster, put on some rotisserie chicken or chicken slices from a previous meal, and then top with the chutney and arugula. It only takes a few minutes to make this way.

Cinnamon Chip Applesauce Coffee Cake

We made this tonight. Hannah wanted to help me cook so she had fun smelling everything and helping me pick which eggs to crack. When the timer went off, she raced over to the oven saying "timer....timer." Too bad she had to go to bed before it had cooled. But it will be a delicious cinnamon breakfast! We like it best a little undercooked.

1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup applesauce

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 2/3 cups (10-ounce package) HERSHEY'S Cinnamon Chips

1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Easy Glaze (recipe follows) or powdered sugar

Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl on medium speed of mixer until well blended. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Mix in applesauce. Combine flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until well blended. Stir in cinnamon chips and pecans, if desired. Spread into prepared pan. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Drizzle with glaze or sprinkle with powdered sugar. Makes 12 to 15 servings.
Easy Glaze: Stir together 3/4 cup powdered sugar and 1 to 2 tablespoons warm water.

Point Dume

Yesterday we drove to Malibu to enjoy the beach near Point Dume. We went on a hiking trail along the cliffs which was lined with yellow poppies and daisies. Hannah had fun walking along by herself and also riding in the backpack. There were a couple of viewpoints to stop at and we enjoyed seeing the Malibu coast and we could even see out to the Channel Islands. We also climbed down to the beach and saw the tidepools- Hannah touched a starfish and we saw a big crab. It was overcast weather, which was nice because we didn't have to worry about getting sunburned. The beach reminded us of our trip to the Oregon Coast last summer- and we even saw a migrating California gray whale while we were having a picnic in the sand.