Blackberry Muffins

The fruit is ready early this year so not only are we frantically try to use up the berries from last year so we have room for this years lot! I find muffins so handy so I am turning most of the berries into muffins.  We love muffins in our house and I think they are the perfect gift for families with little ones.
These moist muffins are marvellous! I love how flavours of the cinnamon and blackberries blend so well together.  If you want to add a little extra sweetness to the muffins you could sprinkle the top with cinnamon and sugar.  This recipe would go well with any berries you have if you don't have blackberries at your disposal.

Blackberry Muffins

2 cups flour

1/2 rolled oats

1/4 flax seed

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 eggs

1 cup yogurt 

1 tbsp milk

1/2 cup melted butter

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup sugar

2 cups blackberries

1. Preheat the oven to 400.
2. Combine the flour, oats, flax, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
3. Whisk together the melted butter, yogurt, milk, vanilla sugar and eggs together.
4. Combine the wet ingredients with the dry and stir until just blended.  Fold in the blackberries.
5. Bake for 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Balsamic Dijon Chicken Marinade

Now that the days are getting longer, it is the perfect time to have a couple of friends over for a barbecue.  Tonight we had a great time with some friends and their kids.  I hope we can have many more nights like tonight this summer.  The kids were great, the company was great and the food turned out well.
I wanted a simple marinade to use on some chicken that would work well with grilled vegetables.  After looking at a couple of recipes I borrowed a couple of ideas and came up with a hybrid of a few. I marinated the chicken overnight and the flavours turned out wonderful.

2 chicken breasts
2 tbsp Olive Oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/8 tsp ground black pepper

Red Current Oatmeal Muffins

With the berry season nearing we are frantically trying to use up all of last year's berries from the freezer before we start picking this year's crop.  Judging by how the bushes look this year, I think there will be lots.  We still have lots of red currents in the freezer so I have decided to focus on finding recipes to use them in.
I have always loved muffins and with two young kids I have come to love them more.  They are so easy to eat while you are busy and my little ones like them too.
This recipe is very easy to make and the end result is delicious.

Red Current Oatmeal Muffins

1 1/4 cup quick oats

1 cup flour

1/3 sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup milk

1 egg

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 cup red currents

1. Preheat the oven to 425 and either grease the muffin tins or put in paper liners.
2. In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients together.  Make sure they are well mixed before making a well in the middle of the ingredients.
3. Whisk together the milk, egg and oil.
4. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together until just combined.  Fold in the currents.
5. Fill. the muffin tins 2/3 of the way full and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Chocolate Almond Cake

It is always hard to find a recipe that will work for the dietary requirements for everyone in my extended family.  I was desperate to find a cake recipe that everyone could enjoy without having any discomforts from the ingredients.  This is a wonderful gluten-free cake that everyone can enjoy!  It is a cake I will make even when I do not need to have a gluten-free dessert option.  It is sweet and does not need to be iced if you do not have time.

Chocolate Almond Cake

2 cups almond flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup olive oil

2 eggs

1 tbsp vanilla

1. Grease and flour a 9" cake pan and preheat he oven to 350.
2. Combine the dry ingredients together.
3. Warm the honey with the oil so they combine together and then mix in the vanilla and eggs.
4. Combine the wet with the dry and stir until everything is moist.
5. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 35-40 minute or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.  Allow the cake to cool before you try to take it out of the pan.

Spiced Apple Chicken

I do love cook books and fingering through them to find inspiration for meals but I two little ones demanding my attention so I am not able to do it as often as I'd like too.  I had some apples that I needed to use up and so I looked to Google to help me create the menu for tonight's meal.
This created a wonderful meal that didn't take hours to make and one that every one enjoyed.  When I use apples in recipes, I prefer to leave the skin on because of the nutritional benefits but if you are going for elegance, it may be better to peel them.  In the future I could see adding the seasonings in this recipe to bread crumbs to make a breaded chicken and serve the apples on top.
This is a flavourful dish that pairs well with pretty much any standard side dish.

Spiced Apple Chicken

2 apples (a sweeter variety is best)

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp cinnamon

3 tbsp olive oil, divided

3 tbsp butter, divided

1 1/8 tbsp Herbs de Provence

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 cup chicken stock

zest of one lemon

1. Core and chop the apple into thin pieces and toss in a bowl with the lemon juice and cinnamon.
2. Heat 1 tbsp of the oil and butter together in a skillet then add the apple mixture.  Stir occasionally until the apples are tender and then keep them warm for serving.
3. Place the chicken between plastic and tenderize it with a mallet or rolling pin until it is of uniform thickness (roughly 1/2 inch).
4. Mix 1 tbsp of the Herbs de Provence with the salt and pepper.  Sprinkle this mixture on both sides of the chicken breasts.
5. Add 1 tbsp of the butter and olive oil to the skillet over high heat.  Add half the chicken and cook it through.  Set it aside where it can stay warm.  Repeat with the remaining chicken.
6. Add the broth, zest, remain Herbs de Provence and any juice from the chicken to the pan.  Cook, stirring any brown bits from the side of the pan for about 3 minutes.
7. Spoon the sauce over the chicken and serve beside the apples.

Blackberry Chicken

I love looking to the world wide web for inspirations and ideas for meals, especially when I want to put ingredients together that are not typically paired together.  Our freezer is still full of berries from last summer that we would like to use up before the summer so I decided to hunt for a recipe.  I found a recipe on a great blog called The Gracious Pantry and I modified it a bit based on what I had on hand.  I am sure it is a blog I will return to for more recipe ideas!
 I served it with some roasted vegetables.

Blackberry Chicken

1 onion, sliced into rings

4 chicken breasts

1 cup frozen blackberries

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp minced rosemary

3 cloves minced garlic

1. Make a layer of onions in the bottom of the crockpot and place the chicken over top.
2. Scatter the blackberries over the chicken.
3. Whisk together the balsamic, rosemary and garlic before pouring it over the mixture in the crockpot.
4. Cook on low heat for 6 hours or high for 3.

Blueberry Coconut Pancakes

Whenever I ask my toddler what she wants to eat, 99% of the time she will say pancakes.  Pancakes are a special breakfast in our house that we like to do on the weekend.  I thought it would be nice to try a new recipe for a change so I went online and did some searching.  I found a couple of pancake recipes made with coconut milk and I am a huge fan of coconut milk.  Knowing that we still have a bunch of blueberries in our deep freezer to use up in the next couple of months, I decided this would be a great recipe to try.
The pancakes tasted wonderful and had just a hint of coconut.  If you really want a coconut flavour I would suggest adding some coconut flakes to the batter as well.  I like my pancakes with a lot of blueberries so adjust the amount of blueberries in the recipes to you liking.

Blueberry Coconut Pancakes

1 1/2 cup flour

1 1/2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2c tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 14 oz can coconut milk

1tsp vanilla

1 egg

2 cups blueberries

1. Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
2. Whisk the coconut milk together until it is smooth (I find it helps to heat it up a little bit). Then add the addition wet ingredients, whisking them until they are blended.
3. Combine the wet and dry ingredients together and mix enough to moisten all the dry ingredients.  
4. Lightly stir in the blueberries.
5. Heat a non-stick pan or griddle to medium heat and oil the surface as needed.  Pour enough batter on the surface to make the pancakes your desired size.  I will usually use 1/3 of a cup per pancake.
6. Allow the pancake to bubble and the edges begin to dry before flipping to cook the other side.

*I will often turn my oven on to the lowest setting so I can keep the first pancakes warm while I use up the batter.