Garlic Cheddar Muffins

These are really good, tender and delicious:

Ingredients

3 cups self-rising flour
1&1/2 cup shredded or diced sharp cheddar cheese
1/8 cup sugar
1 tsp garlic powder [or more, depending on how much you love garlic]
1 egg
1/4 cup oil
1&1/2 cup whole milk

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix all ingredients. Put in muffin tin and bake for 18 minutes [give or take depending on your oven].

These are great with salad, soup, or chili. Mmmmmmm....

What Happened To The Blog?

I want to apologize to my readers. I've sort of left my blog in limbo while I try to figure out what to do with it.

Back in January, I became aware of a site called "Spokeo" [which is a sort of online phone book]. I went there and found that they had gathered a TREMENDOUS amount of information about me and my children - including photos of my children from my blog.

This freaked me out pretty much.

I deleted everything from the Spokeo site and I've tightened my Facebook controls down as far as they go [and removed most pictures and personal info from my Facebook info page too].

But I still remain very concerned about having our personal info out there on the web somewhere, along with our contact info. I've always been careful to keep this blog anonymous with no real names or real places - but it is linked to my email address and that was enough I guess, because my email address was used to get all my other personal info and put it down all on one neat site for any stranger to grab.

I've become very ambivalent about blogging since then. I've loved my blog. My blog serves as a creative outlet but also as a record for my family - it has been my online journal for years now. At the end of each year, I have my blog bound up into a nice hard back book for my family. It includes fun stuff we did that year, pictures of the kids doing it, and my recipes, among other things. Those have become a priceless treasure for my children and I, and I'd like to keep it up.

[I used "Blog 2 Print" to do this, by the way, and I can't recommend them highly enough - they are AWESOME and the books are fantastic!]

I've experimented with having a private blog but few people comment there and I tend to lose motivation to write when nobody talks back. [sad, huh?!].

And then there are some other projects I'm working on - and making good progress on - but which limit my time to blog.

So, for now, the future of my blog is just uncertain. Maybe I'll pick this blog thing back up later on. For now I am ambivalent, and I apologize to those of you who have been following me for years [and to my new readers as well!] :( :(

God Bless you all!

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

These are delightful. My children ate them like crazy!

4 ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup chocolate chips

2 cups self rising flour [or 2 cups all purpose flour + 2tsp baking powder + 1/2 tsp salt]
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp ginger

Preheat oven to 350.
Mix all wet ingredients thoroughly. Add flour and spices and mix just until incorporated.
Fill muffin tin and bake for 18 minutes [more or less depending on your oven].

These can also be made as bread loaves, but your cooking time will vary based on the size of your pan.

This is the best banana bread I've ever made - I've been trying for years to get a recipe that I just love and finally - this is it! :) :)

Granola

6 cups rolled oats
1 cup wheat germ
3/4 cup raw cashews
3/4 cup raw almonds
3/4 cup raw walnuts
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/4 cup sesame seeds
2/3 cup canola oil
2/3 cup honey
2/3 cup water
1 TBSP vanilla
1 tsp salt
1-2 cups raisins
[optional 1 cup chocolate chips - which we always add. LOL!]

Preheat oven to 325. Spray two large casserole pans with Pam. Mix oats, nuts, and seeds in a large bowl. Over medium heat, combine oil, honey, water, vanilla, and salt. Bring just to a boil and then pour over oat mixture. Mix well to coat everything.

Spread evenly in pans and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, stire, and bake for another 15 minutes. Let cool and add raisins [and chocolate chips].

Can be stored in a covered container for 5 days in the pantry, 2 weeks in the fridge, and indefinitely frozen.

[This is based on a recipe I found in a LLL magazine many years ago]

Mutter Without Paneer

My newest Indian Food Experiment - yummy! This is "Mutter Paneer" without the paneer [which is an Indian cheese that I cannot find locally and do not know how to make from scratch!]. Very tasty!

2 medium onions, diced finely
1 jalepeno, finely diced
2 TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP grated ginger root
2 TBSP minced garlic
2 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp tumeric
1 can of diced tomatoes [you can puree these if you don't like chunks of tomato]
2 cups frozen green peas
1 & 1/2 cup water
salt to taste
1/2 cup heavy cream or plain yogurt

Saute onions and pepper in olive oil till onions are translucent.

Add ginger, garlic, coriander, cumin, garam masala, and tumeric. Saute for one minute.

Add tomatoes and green peas. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until it thickens - about 20 minutes.

Add salt to taste and then add cream or yogurt. Stir together, simmer for a couple more minutes.

Serve with rice or naan bread.

[If you have access to paneer, you can slice up about 18 oz of paneer into chunks, saute in oil till golden, and add to the dish].