Raspberry Cream Cheese Muffins

These are the tastiest muffins EVER! They are from the cookbook "More from Magnolia: Recipes from the World-Famous Bakery." If you've never been to the Magnolia bakery in Greenwich Village in Manhattan, you are missing out! Too bad I live on the other side of the world now! These muffins are soft and fluffy and would be nice for a mid-morning snack. This recipe makes 12 regular sized muffins.

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1 tspn baking powder
• 1/2 tspn baking soda
• 1/4 tspn salt
• 8oz (225 g) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 stick unsalted butter (115 g)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 tspn vanilla extract
• Raspberry jam
  

What you do:

1. Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F).
2. Grease and lightly flour muffin tins (I have 2 tins that make 6 muffins each).
   
3. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
   
4. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese, butter and sugar until smooth.
5. Add the eggs and beat well.
   
6. Add the dry ingredients in two parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins filling them about two-thirds full. Drop 3 small dollops (about a teaspoonful each) of raspberry jam onto the top of each bun (the recipe says to use the tip of a sharp knife, swirl the preserves into the batter, forming a decorative pattern. I had a hard time doing this).
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a fork inserted in the centre of the bun comes out clean.
   
8. Allow the buns to cool for about 30 minutes before serving. Yum!
   

p.s. I stole the photo from another blog here, because mine didn't look quite as pretty!!

Chicken with Creamy Mushroom Wine Sauce

This is Mark's second favourite dinner (his favourite is salmon spaghetti, which I will make next week sometime). It is so yummy! I found a recipe similar to this on tastespotting a while ago, and I modified it to make it easier and quicker. This picture just doesn't do this dish justice! This recipe feeds about 3-4 people. (note: While I am usually a vegetarian, I have been eating organic, free-range chicken during the pregnancy for the extra protein)

Ingredients:

• 3 organic, free-range chicken breasts
• 2 chopped shallots
• 1-2 cups of mushrooms
• ~ 1 tsp parsley (fresh is probably better, but I only had dried on hand)
• ~ 1 cup of dry white wine (I prefer to cook with Chardonnay, but Sav Blanc is fine too)
  
• ~ 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream
  
• ~ 1 Tbsp of sage (again, fresh is probably better, but I used dried)
  
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  

What you do:

1. Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper and saute in a bit of butter and extra virgin olive oil. Put aside.
   
2. In same pan, saute shallots for about a minute and add the musrooms and parsley. Saute until mushrooms are browned.
3. Add the wine and then after a minute or so, add the heavy cream, sage, and a few grinds of black pepper. Stir.
   
4. Bring to a simmer and add the chicken breasts at some point.
   
5. Adjust sage, salt, and pepper seasonings to taste.
   
6. Serve with freshly mashed potatoes (none of that packaged crap!) and a heaping portion of veggies (I enjoy broccoli). You could probably also use white rice or even pasta if you want!
   

Cheesy Rice and Bean Enchiladas

We eat Mexican all the time in our house, mostly because it's so easy to make, but also because Mark loves it (or eat least it certainly seems that way)! I have a few different Mexican dishes that I make, but this one is a new one that I thought of (I'm sure I'm not the first one to think of this). This recipe yields about 4 or 5 servings.

Ingredients:

• at least 1 cup of brown rice
  
• about 1/2 to 3/4 of a brown onion finely chopped
• 1 large garlic clove
  
• 2 cans of organic red kidney beans
• spices (adjust to taste): ground cumin, mexican chili powder, cayenne
• 1 little jar of old el paso taco sauce
• 1 packet of whole wheat tortillas (use corn tortillas if you are gluten-free)
  
• salsa
  
• grated organic cheddar cheese (probably about 2 cups)
  

What you do:

1. Start cooking brown rice and pre-heat oven to about 190 C (~370 F)
   
2. In a large frying pan, add some olive oil, then the onion, then the garlic
3. Sauté and add spices
4. When onions are nicely cooked, add kidney beans and more spices
   
5. After a bit longer add taco sauce
   
6. Let it simmer for a short time and then use a potato masher to mash up the beans right in the pan (turn off heat now)
   
7. When the rice is done mix it in with the bean/onion mixture
   
8. Add most of the cheese to the rice/bean/onion mixture. This should be very cheesy!
   
9. In a glass baking dish (I sprayed the bottom with pam, not sure if this is necessary) load up the tortillas (make sure to warm the tortillas in the microwave first) so that both ends are open
10. Top with salsa and remaining cheese and bake until cheese is melted (These should not be crispy! They are meant to be soft!)
    
11. Serve with sour cream and guacamole* and enjoy!! YUM!
    

*note: To make guacamole, you can just quickly mix up a mashed up avocado with a large scoop of sour cream, 1/2 a finely chopped and seeded tomato, some lemon juice, and a generous amount of sea salt and ground black pepper (surely there is a better recipe out there, but this is for sure the easiest and quickest!)

Banana Pancakes

I had a hankering for some pancakes, so I got this recipe from my mom. They turned out to be the best pancakes ever!! So fluffy and yummy! I made the recipe slightly healthier by adding whole wheat flour. I think next time I might add some cinnamon to the batter!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups of flour (use a 1/2 cup and an 1/8 cup each of regular flour and whole wheat flour)
• 2 TB sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cups organic whole milk
• 3 TB vegetable oil
• 1 or 2 bananas mashed up (extra ripe!)

What you do:

1. Stir together the flour, sugar, and baking powder with a fork
2. Add egg, milk, and veg oil and stir tobgether. Add more milk as needed until consistency is like really watery oatmeal
3. Stir in the mashed banana(s)
4. Heat frying pan on medium heat and add butter
5. Pour batter on the frying pan and when the bubbles pop, flip them over and cook until done
6. Serve with organic maple syrup and enjoy!!