Blueberry Muffins with Cinnamon Streusel & Blog Appreciation

Apr 1, 2012 by lovelypantry

One night late last week, I stayed up late to make muffins for my husband and his co-workers. They are doing an internal course in order to advance within the organization. Let me tell you. The work load is what I consider “University INTENSIFIED”. It’s a lot of work and pressure, especially for those who have families and responsibilities. Time management and balance is key. I thought it would be a nice gesture to send something home-made and not some sugar spiked junk from the coffee shop. They need nourishment as well as encouragement over the next few months and beyond. I figured blueberry muffins were portable and universally enjoyed.

I made these muffins for the first time over a year ago and my husband really liked it – we all did. I actually misplaced the recipe that I had found online. Do you know how many Blueberry Muffin recipes are online???? Luckily I found it (phew) and got to baking around 1am.

Yes, 1 AM.

I wanted to have the muffins as fresh as possible since this Diva doesn’t do early very well. Everyone enjoyed the muffins and my husband totally appreciated me making them for the guys. I’m sure he must have been very happy to wake up to that wonderful aroma of muffins at five o’clock in the morning. Thank you dear husband, for leaving a few muffins behind for the family to enjoy 🙂

 

 

 

This recipe is slightly adapted from a recipe found at The Family Kitchen on Babble

 

I prefer Blueberries cooked rather than fresh. Or in a smoothie. However I end up having them, I always enjoy it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know, we don’t eat muffins with a fork. Well, I kinda do…sometimes.. 🙂

 

 

Take a Big Blueberry BITE!

 

 

Hey, speaking of appreciation… I’ve had some really awesome food bloggers give me some wonderful awards! I’m so humbled and thankful that my online foodie friends thought of me to give me these awards. So very humbled. I love what I do here at The Lovely Pantry and as I continue to grow, it’s really encouraging to know that there are people out there who understand what it takes to do this. We blog for many reasons including the love of food, the art of cooking, the love of sharing, the love of community and my personal favourite – photography. It feels great knowing that there are people cheering you on! I’m going to share the love in my next post.

 

Have a wonderful Sunday!

~Lyn

 

read more

Chocolate Stout Cake

Mar 13, 2012 by lovelypantry

I tried to resist making this. I really did. But I had all the ingredients! I just had to.

I picked up a little recipe book called Irish Favourites and the recipes were interesting… as in, I’d make most of the recipes in the book! It was perfect timing seeing that St.Patrick’s day is right around the corner. The original recipe had a cream cheese frosting but I opted out. The chocolate cake is bad enough. And by bad, I mean good.

 

 

 

Look what I found – Jamaican Dragon Stout. The sweeter alternative to Guinness. My hubby had a stash and was nice enough to let me use one. I’m not a stout drinker myself, but I think I may like cooking with it.

 

 

 

The recipe called for a 13 X 9 inch baking pan but I thought it would be more interesting to use a Bundt pan. Okay, I just really wanted to use it. This is my first Bundt cake. Chocolate Stout Bundt Cake. Sounds good!

 

 

Glazing was some messy fun! Me and my daughter had green fingers for a while…

 

 

 

 

A rich but not too sweet chocolate cake, made with a Jamaican stout…just in time for St. Patrick’s Day.

 

 

About how long do I need to walk on the treadmill to fix this?

read more

Buttermilk Quick Bread

Mar 7, 2012 by lovelypantry

I’m quite fond of quick breads. I love how easy they are to make and the wide variety and variations of each recipe that I come across. I have yet to make a quick bread that I did not like. Granted, I scrutinize the ingredients very carefully before I decide to make it. Please allow me to formally introduce you to Buttermilk Quick Bread. A very simple bread that I have been making on the weekends if I have any buttermilk in the fridge. I found this recipe on one of my daily sources of inspiration: The Kitchn, and knew as soon as I saw it, that I was going to make it. I’ve made it 4 times already – twice plain, once with raisins and this past weekend, with blueberries. Versatile little quick bread, isn’t it? The original post, has a few other variations that look interesting to try too – like Pesto Loaf. (Are you imagining a green quick bread?)

I love that this plain bread is like a canvas. You can tweak it to your liking and chances are, it will turn out great.

 

The consistency of the batter is quite thick, so you have to gently spread into the corners with a spatula.

 

 

Ah! Perfection!

 

 

It’s best to use a serrated knife to cut this bread since it is a bit delicate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like that because the batter was so thick, the raisins didn’t have the chance to sink to the bottom of the pan 🙂 For some recipes with a batter of thinner consistency, like the Ginger Carrot Bread, you have to toss the raisins (or small fruit like blueberries) in flour before folding them into the batter. So nice that I was able to skip that step.

 

 

Finally, with Blueberries. I wanted to cut the loaf to take a quick photograph however, I was entertaining so I did not want to cut it before we were ready to eat it. Everyone loved it!

 

 

Happy Wednesday! I hope the week has been off to an awesome start! I’ll be back soon.

Cheers for now.

Lyn

 

 

read more

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Feb 14, 2012 by lovelypantry

Today is Valentine’s Day and although I don’t celebrate it, I thought it would be awesome if I made something I’ve been wanting to make for a while now. A friend of mine made it and it was really nice and ever since, I keep seeing the recipe everywhere. It was a sign! So I did it. And it was FABULOUS. I swear, I ate my cupcakes in moderation.  I will not swear the same for the frosting! My daughter ate the frosting and half a cupcake. She then refused to eat any other cupcake without frosting. Major meltdown if her frosting had no sprinkles.  MAJOR.

 

 

 

I’ll say this now – I will likely make these Red Velvet darlings once per year. Or maybe on a REALLY special occasion. No more than that. Perhaps this will be my Valentine’s Day treat for the family. I guess it’s better than nothing 🙂 It tastes great but oh my, could we use a bit more oil? Sugar? Please? I’m sure there’s a “light” version out there somewhere in cyberland. I’ll come across it eventually.

A general warning…don’t wear white or a light coloured shirt while making this recipe. Don’t say I didn’t tell you. I really ought to invest in an apron 🙂

 

Here’s the recipe and a few photographs. Cupcakes are awesome models.

 

This recipe was adapted from Annie’s Eats.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So anyway, I had a great time photographing my cupcakes. Like my silicone hearts? Beats the reusable cupcake liners! There were only 12 in a pack so I used 12 paper liners also. Fact: The cream cheese frosting was the star of the show. It’s just so GOOD!

 

 

 

I won’t be doing much romancing today – no more than the usual (wink). But I’m sure I’ll be watching some romantic comedy or the other on television tonight with the husband. If you celebrate Valentine’s Day, have a good one. If you don’t celebrate, have a good one!

 

~Lyn

read more

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies

Jan 18, 2012 by lovelypantry

I wanted to post the recipe for these cookies for a few days now but alas, I’m slightly behind in my posting. I’m so happy to share this with you though, as these are my husband’s favourite cookies. I kinda love them too. I promised him I’d make a batch this week so me posting is great timing. I love the simplicity, and also that I’m using  low-fat peanut butter, less sugar than what the original recipe called for plus I used dark chocolate chips. Sounds like some good stuff right? You can substitute peanut butter for the organic kind. I plan to use vegan dark chocolate peanut butter to see how it comes out. I may omit the chocolate chips to avoid overkill. We’ll see!

This recipe is adapted from Everyday Food.

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t you just want to dive in? Seriously.

 

 

Take good care guys! ~ Lyn

 

 

 

 

read more

Apple Crisp

Jan 9, 2012 by lovelypantry

For those that don’t know me, I have a deep love for my family. I suppose it only gets magnified knowing that I’m so far away from them. But it warms my heart whenever we do get a chance to talk and catch up with each other. I’m always so happy to help with any recipes or techniques should they inquire. Recently, my cousin called me with a question that was so simple, but somehow I didn’t have an answer for her. She had an apple and wanted to know if I had any recipes for a single apple. I looked for recipes for a while just to satisfy that desire to have a recipe for a single apple 🙂 Although I did not find exactly what I was looking for, I played around with the basic concept of apple crisp and came up with my own version. I did it quite a few times until my husband and I agreed that we had arrived at something special. So thanks to Kim, I’m able to share this recipe today.

I wanted to keep the ingredients as simple as possible and good for you too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For some reason, Brown Sugar and Cinnamon look so beautiful together…

 

 

 

 

The result is a very clean and lean Apple Crisp that I’ve enjoyed many times. Thanks, Kim!

 

 

 

 

Have a great week everyone!

~Lyn

 

read more