Applesauce Spice Muffins

After coming home from a weekend out of town, we have this in our fridge: beer, mustard, pickles, a bag of carrots.  Well, that's not exactly all that we have in there, but I definitely saw a tumbleweed go by on the shelf...  Moral of the story: no breakfast food in the house and no desire to run to the store.  So what to do at 10 pm?  Make muffins!!  I hopped on the internet at about 9:00 to search for an easy muffin recipe...half an hour later I found one that did not involve "beating butter and sugar until fluffy"...I'm not making cookies here!  I wanted a "throw-in-the-bowl-and-stir" kind of recipe.  I tweaked the Applesauce Spice Muffins (found on epicurious.com) recipe a bit.  I used up some frozen cubes of apple and pear puree that Luke has zero interest in. You would probably just use normal unsweetened applesauce OR (I'm so excited to try this!!) you could use pumpkin puree. OR...mashed banana! OR...zucchini, OR carrot! The variations on this quick recipe are making me so giddy!  Here's the lazy woman's modified recipe:


Applesauce Spice Muffins
Adapted from Gourmet Magazine, November 2003 via epicurious.com

Makes 12.

For muffins:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, melted (slightly cooled, or not...I am inpatient)
1 cup unsweetened applesauce (or pureed pear, pumpkin, zucchini, carrot)
For topping:
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Lazy, Easy Directions:
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together dry ingredients (flour through salt).  To bowl, add applesauce, eggs, and brown sugar and whisk together just until ingredients are incorporated.  Slowly pour in melted butter, and stir into batter.

Pour batter into lined muffin tin. Sprinkle each with sugar and spice topping.

Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.

**Make ahead option:  Fill muffin cups and cover with plastic wrap.  Don't sprinkle with topping yet.  Put pan in fridge overnight, or until you want to bake them.  Before baking, sprinkle topping on muffins.  Bake for 23 minutes at 400 degrees (a little longer than the regular directions since the batter will be cold) and have some delicious, warm, fresh muffins for breakfast!

Sad, blurry cellphone picture.

Buffalo Chicken Paninis and Baked Artichoke-Spinach Dip

Both of these dishes bring "restaurant food" to your kitchen.  I prefer most things when I make them at home for a bunch of reasons: 1.) Tastes better or just as good, 2.) Healthier, 3.) I know what ingredients are used, 4.) Less Expensive, and 5.) Fun to make new things.  There are really only two reasons it is good to eat at a restaurant these days: 1.) No dishes! and 2.) My mini sous-chef gets a little hard to manage as he crawls around the kitchen and pulls stuff out of the cabinets.  But, I have a really hot dishwasher and my sous-chef is stinkin' cute, too.  So, no good excuses here!  Ok, on to the recipes!  The Buffalo Chicken Panini recipe is straight from Cooking Light magazine from October 2010.  The only changes I made were 1.) add a slice of mozzarella and 2.) use a George Forman grill as a panini press.  I'm liking those numbered lists today...  The Baked Artichoke-Spinach Dip is adapted from an Alton Brown recipe on FoodNetwork.com.  I tripled (booya!) the amount of parmesan cheese, used more artichokes, and baked it instead of using the stove.  I ate it too fast to take a picture.



Buffalo Chicken Panini - Photo by Dan


















Buffalo Chicken Paninis

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 sandwich)
Ingredients
1/4 cup hot pepper sauce, divided (I used Frank's)
1 pound chicken breast tenders (Have whole chicken breasts? Slice into tender-sized strips)
1/2 cup (2 ounces) crumbled blue cheese
6 tablespoons canola mayonnaise
*4 Slices mozzarella
8 (1-ounce) slices white or sourdough bread (Used crusty bread from bakery section)

Preparation

Preheat broiler; coat broiler pan with cooking spray. Combine 2 tablespoons sauce and chicken in a medium bowl, tossing to coat. Arrange chicken in a single layer on broiler pan; broil 4 minutes on each side or until done (about 2 inches under broiler). Place chicken in a bowl; toss with remaining 2 tablespoons sauce. Combine cheese and mayonnaise. Spread 3 tablespoons cheese mixture on each of 4 bread slices; top each with one-fourth of cooked chicken, mozzarella slice and 1 bread slice. *I used a George Forman grill to cook the paninis.  If you don't have one, where were you in the early 2000's?? and follow the following steps: Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Arrange 2 sandwiches in pan. Place a cast-iron or heavy skillet on top of sandwiches; press gently. Cook for 3 minutes on each side or until bread is toasted (leave skillet on sandwiches while they cook). Repeat procedure with remaining 2 sandwiches.

Note about mayo/blue cheese mixture:  I made 2 sandwiches one day and saved the rest for the next day.  However, the leftover mayonaise and blue cheese spread turned into liquid in fridge overnight (weird).  So, just make the amount you need if you are making these in batches.


Baked Artichoke-Spinach Dip
adapted from Alton Brown's Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip (foodnetwork.com)

Ingredients
1 cup thawed, chopped frozen spinach  (using fresh? Chop about 4-5 oz. and add water in a microwave bowl.  Microwave for 2 minutes, drain)
1 can artichoke hearts in water, drained and chopped
6 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup light sour cream
1/4 cup light mayonnaise
1 cup grated Parmesan  (the kind in the bag, or the canister kind would work)
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Tortilla chips, for serving

Directions

Heat cream cheese in microwave for 1 minute or until hot and soft. Stir in rest of ingredients.  Spray an 8x8 glass baking dish with canola spray.  Pour mixture in dish, bake in oven until bubbly for about 35 minutes at 375 degrees.  Too hungry to wait??  Microwave mixture until bubbly and eat!  Serve dip with torilla chips, pita chips, crispy breadsticks, or vegetables.