Foodie Friday Steamed Crab and Baking

I can’t believe it’s Friday already!  I wrote a post for Tablescape Thursday but I didn’t post it because I thought it was Tuesday.  Oh, well!  I’ll post it next week.

 

Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum

This week has been all about food for me.  I started out organizing all my recipes- getting rid of ones I either hadn’t tried and new I wouldn’t or ones I really didn’t like.  Why do I keep recipes I don’t like?  I made a list of all the recipes we have enjoyed and cook often.  I’m up to 66 unique entre options.  I am now working on a list of all the recipes I have and want to try, as apposed to just keeping a pile of recipes.

Today I took out two recipes for baked goods.  I really don’t care for baking, but I wanted to have something quick and hearty to bring fishing.  The first recipe is for Oat Bran Applesauce Mini-muffins.  I ended up baking them in my silicone muffin tins.  I have discovered I don’t care for these “tins” for all kinds of baking.  These muffins did not cook well- I didn’t like the way the outside came out.

This recipe is from a women’s magazine from a while ago.

2 C unsweetened applesauce	2 oz dates, chopped	1 C Oat Bran
1/2 C buttermilk	1 lg egg	2 TBL honey
3/4 tsp grated ginger	1/2 tsp vanilla	1/2 C +2 TBL flour
2 TBL ground flax seed	1 1/4 tsp baking soda	1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground allspice	1/4 C +1 TBL old fashioned oats

Bake at 375.  Cook the applesauce and dates over medium heat, stirring frequently, until reduced to about 1 1/4 C (about 15-20 min).  Spread on cookie sheet to cool completely (you can just cool in a bowl).  Transfer to bowl and stir in bran, buttermilk, egg, honey, ginger, and vanilla.  Let stand 10 minutes.  Whisk flour, flaxseed, soda, salt, allspice, and 1/4 C oats.  Stir into bran mixture.  Spoon batter into tins, fill to brim.  Sprinkle oats on top.  Bake about 23 min.

I didn’t realize I had only put in 1/2 tsp of baking soda so my muffins turned out a little flat, but not bad.  These muffins are very similar, if not the same, as the Starbuck’s apple bran muffins.  Well, maybe not as sweet.

The second recipe is for Chocolate Snowballs.  They are called snowballs because you are suppose to roll them in powdered sugar.  I chose not to because I do not care for the sweetness.  I only wanted the chocolate and this recipe was the first chocolate one I came across.

3/4 C melted butter	1/2 C unsweetened cocoa	1 C sugar
2 eggs	2 tsp vanilla extract	2 C flour
1 tsp baking powder	1 tsp baking soda	1/2 tsp salt
3/4 C powdered sugar	1/2 c chocolate chips
Powdered sugar for rolling

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix butter, cocoa, and sugar.  Add eggs and vanilla.  In a bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, soda, and salt.  Slowly add to cocoa mixture until all combined.  Add in powdered sugar.  Add chocolate chips.  Roll into 1-inch ball.  Roll ball in powdered sugar.  Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 10-12 minutes.

The last food interest I want to share is our attempt to cook crab more efficiently.  My husband discovered a better- faster and cleaner, method for prepping crab.  Because of the new method, we are not boiling the crab but instead steaming the crab.  It was so fast!  The best part was using beer instead of water.  We chose a lager because of the hearty, earthy flavor, which came through in the crab meat.  It was not an overpowering flavor but rather complimentary.  My husband learned about this on youtube, I think.  Where ever he learned about it, it was a great idea.  We’re going to experiment with different beers, too.

Now, as a side note, has anyone been having issues melting butter in the microwave?  Every time we cook butter for longer than 25 seconds, the butter explodes.  If we do it in 20 second increments, it’s fine.  I have never had this happen before and have to think there is something with the butter.  It even happened when I put a stick of butter in a baking pan and melted in the oven.  Just wondering.

Have a really great day!  Can’t wait to see what everyone is posting today.  Beth.