Lemon Muffins

A favorite for church breakfasts; unfortunately it's getting harder to find the lemon yogurt at the grocery stores.

• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
• 1 beaten egg
• 8 oz lemon-flavored yogurt
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Combine dry ingredients with lemon rind. Mix egg, yogurt, butter and lemon juice, add to flour mixture and stir until moist. Bake in greased muffin tins at 400 degrees 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Fill cups half full. Makes about 20-24 muffins. Top with a thin coating of lemon glaze.
Lemon glaze:

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice

Stir until smooth, spoon over cooled muffins.

These are great as mini-muffins, too. Reduce cooking time to 10 minutes or less.

Wedding mints

Not really a recipe, but a nostalgia post.
When I married in 1990, my maternal grandmother, then in her mid-70's, at my mom's request, made the mints for my wedding reception. Granny was not getting around very well in those days and I think she was a little surprised at being asked, but my mom wanted her to feel useful and, typical for Granny, she went all out; buying multiple molds, tinting them various colors and packing them carefully in Tupperware, cushioned with paper towels and sitting in a cooler atop a Ziploc bag of ice cubes for the 90-minute trip to Chattanooga from Rome. "I was afraid they'd melt in the hot car." They were beautiful and delicious, of course.
When she passed away three years later, the mint molds were one of the things I got from her house. A graduate school friend of mine was planning a wedding at the time and I think I made some for her shower. Since then, I've made them for several other weddings, mostly for church friends.
They're not that hard. Just buy the melting pellets: Wilton is the brand most craft stores carry, though I recently ordered Merckens brand from Confectionery House (along with a frog mold for my son's next Harry Potter birthday party, chocolate frogs and peppermint toads, anyone?). It's not "real" chocolate, but it works great and tastes fine. The "white candy" can be tinted with oil-based dyes, or you can buy ready-made colors. I prefer to flavor the white stuff with creme de menthe flavoring (use oil-based, not extracts) and the "dark cocoa" with peppermint oil. As one of my husband's aunts remarked, they "taste like you melted down Andes."
The salmon-colored (not peach, not pink, but salmon) ones I made tonight, pictured above, are for the wedding of an education student from UVA who has interned at our church the last couple of years. Color was achieved by about 2 parts peach pellets to one part red. I had a swatch of ribbon from the bridesmaids dress to guide me. Granny would approve, and I can picture her with a swatch of my own bridesmaids' pattern, matching her colors to my multicolored floral print. I doubt I'll resort to paper-towel packing in the Tupperware when I take them to the bride at church next Sunday, as I've learned over the years that mints really don't scratch each other in transit. But, with a predicted heat index of 105, I'll probably use the cooler and a Ziploc bag of ice. Wouldn't want them to melt in the hot car.
I hope they'll add as many sweet memories to the new bride's wedding as my Granny's added to mine.

Spinach Lasagna

A favorite of vegetarians at our church's annual lasagna dinner for the college students. To hold down the calories, I use fat-free ricotta and cottage cheeses. It's easy to double the recipe and make a batch to freeze.

• 1 envelope spaghetti sauce mix
• 6 oz. tomato paste
• 15.5 oz tomato sauce
• 2.5 cups water
• 2 beaten eggs
• 8 oz. ricotta cheese
• 8 oz cottage cheese
• 2 10 oz. packages frozen spinach
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 8 oz. no-cook lasagna noddles
• 12 oz sliced mozzarella cheese

Mix first four ingredients in saucepan, bring to boil. Thaw and drain spinach, mix with eggs, ricotta and cottage cheeses and 1/4 cup Parmesan. Put one cup tomato mixture in a greased lasagna pan. Layer half of noodles, spinach mixture, mozzarella, then tomato mixture. Repeat layers, then sprinkle with last of Parmesan cheese.
Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting into squares.

Black Bean Corn Quinoa Salad

A combination of a Cooking Light recipe and a quinoa salad recipe my mom clipped from the paper. If you've never tried quinoa (a wonderful and healthful South American grain), this is a great place to start. I initially tried the recipe because of its low-calorie nature, but have stuck with it for the taste. When I brought it to a church supper, several non-dieters asked for the recipe. With or without the quinoa, it's a high protein and great for a vegetarian meal. It's a flexible recipe; good with shredded chicken and tomatoes added.

• 1 pound dried black beans.
• 2 cans corn, drained
• 2 sweet peppers (red, yellow or green)
• 1 large vidalia onion
• 1-2 cups cooked quinoa, optional

Dressing:

• 1/2 cup lime juice
• 2 TBSP olive oil
• 2 tbsp green salsa
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 2 tsp salt
• 1.5 tsp ground cumin
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup fresh cilantro

Soak black beans overnight, then cook according to package directions. Drain and cool.
Chop onion and peppers, add to beans along with canned corn and quinoa.
Mix lime juice, olive oil and salsa with spices in jar, cover and shake until blended. Pour over salad and chill in refrigerator several hours or overnight.
Serve as a salad, stuffed into tomatoes or peppers, wrapped in tortillas or as a dip with chips.

Cuban Black Bean Soup

AKA Sopa de frijoles negros. A big hit at a recent church supper, served with rice underneath and Pork Adobo on top.

• 1 pound dried black beans
• 1 cup chopped onions
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 4 cups water
• 1 beef bouillon cube
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 small can diced chiles or jalepenos
• 1 cup chopped bell pepper
• 12 oz cooked ham (optional)

Soak beans overnight and rinse. Saute onions in butter in bottom of soup pot, then add beans, water, bouillon cube, bay leaves, oregano and salt. Bring to boil, cover and simmer until beans are tender, 60-90 minutes. Puree one cup of beans in blender, return to soup. Remove bay leaves, add ham and green pepper, then cook for 30 minutes more. Serve over rice.

Grahammy Bars

I agreed tonight to teach two quarters of children's Sunday School next year, which reminded me of this recipe. One of the easiest to do in a group setting, even with preschoolers.

• 2 1/2 packs graham crackers*
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 package chocolate chips
• 1 cup nuts (optional, I usually skip these, especially with kids)

Crush graham crackers into crumbs.** Dump crumbs into bowl, add chocolate chips. Pour in sweetened condensed milk, stick until coated. Press mixture into greased 13 X 9 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. While bars are baking, remove cotton from ears and hose down any sticky children who helped you. Remove from oven and cut while bars are still warm.

*By "packs" I mean the wax-paper bundles that come in the box, usually 11 crackers. Total number of cracker used should be about 28, full-sized, or slightly over half a box.
**Here's where the kids have fun; put the crackers in a Ziploc bag, give them a rolling pin and let them go at it.

Pickle Medallions

An incredibly easy but unusual appetizer that impresses the heck out of people for very little effort. I have served these at everything from church picnics to wedding receptions and people always love them. The secret is to use a crisp, refrigerated brand of pickles (like Claussen) and to chill the wrapped pickles overnight before cutting.

• 1 jar whole pickles
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 2 packages thin sliced sandwich beef

Dry pickles with paper towel. With knife, spread a thin layer of cream cheese down one side of pickle. Cover with a single slice of beef. Continue until whole pickle is covered in cream cheese and wrapped in beef like a pig in a blanket. If the beef slice doesn't go all the way around, use a second one. It's fine if beef slices overlap as long as it's "glued" on with the cream cheese. Continue coating and wrapping pickles until all are done. Put on plate, cover with plastic and chill several hours or overnight.
To serve, cut the ends off the pickles and discard (or eat!). Slice the remaining pickles in crosswise sections, about 1/4 inch thick. They should look like bullseyes, with pickle in the center, a circle of cream cheese, then an outer rim of beef. Place on serving plate and serve with toothpicks. Don't worry about leftovers; there won't be any!

Pizza Chicken Italiano

One of my most frequently prepared dishes. I classify this in the Really Useful and Great for Kids categories. I making this frequently when I take meals to families at a time of death, illness, birth of a baby, etc. Kids who dislike the usual casserole-type dishes often love this! It's easy, and, if you're like me and get the big bag of frozen chicken breasts from Sam's, you usually have all the ingredients on hand.

• 4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 1/2 onion, minced (or 1 tablespoon dried)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced (or 1 teaspoon dried)
• 1.5 teaspoons oregano
• 1 teaspoon parsley
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4-6 slices mozzarella cheese

Place chicken in lightly greased casserole dish. Combine sauce with all ingredients except cheese, pour over chicken. Top with cheese slices. Bake at 425 degrees for 35 minutes.