Glazed Orange Poppyseed Muffins #MuffinMonday

These bright sweet muffins have a snappy crunch when you bite into them. The orange juice and zest pairs nicely with poppy seeds and makes a sweet addition to a morning tea break, knitting club, or after school snack.

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Poppy seeds are not something I typically keep in my kitchen. I got out of the habit of eating them when I was in the military and subject to random drug testing. No desire for false positives--no muffin is worth that. How did I get from muffins to drug testing in a single paragraph? Back to poppy seeds, because it is #MuffinMonday and I've got poppy seeds on my brain.

Here's the thing (also the title of my current favorite podcast to listen to while working out in the basement)--I know oranges + poppy seeds rock the Salmon in the Company of Good Oranges. It stood to reason (in my mind) that, having a crisper drawer full of juice oranges and a container of poppy seeds left from an annual bowlful of pasta, I could swap the citrus in a poppy seed muffin.

I looked around online for Lemon Poppyseed Muffins Using Buttermilk. (I'm working on a soaked oat and buttermilk bread recipe and had plenty on hand. When it's 25 cents for a half gallon you tend not to hoard.) I didn't see anything that appealed, so I consulted my trusty red checkered Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book. I found a poppy seed muffin recipe that I used as a guideline for these tasty gems.

For more recipes using oranges, from a Marching Band Fruit Fundraiser or just because they are in season and on sale, please see my Orange Recipes Collection. It's part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me who have an alarming tendency to go big when it comes to seasonal produce. I'm sharing seasonal recipes on my FB page, pinning them to my Pinterest boards, and even giving you a taste of what's coming up on my Instagram feed. Want to know How to Use This Blog?

Sriracha Butternut Squash & Portobello Pizza

Spicy sriracha-seasoned grilled butternut squash and portobello mushrooms make a winter vegetarian pizza with a kick. You can break out the grill for this one if you dare.

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I'm pulling out another long-storing butternut squash from the Strategic Winter Squash Reserve for today's pizza. Friday nights are pizza nights around here, and I like to change it up to keep things spicy. Sriracha-spicy, that is.

The Sriracha I use is locally produced, House Made Sriracha. Until I started eating locally grown fruits and vegetables, and then eggs and beef, I never really thought about locally made sauces. It's neat how your horizons get expanded just by the simple act of choosing where to source your salad greens.

Shrimp Taco Bowls with Roasted Butternut Squash

A fresh way to spice up a winter salad, these taco bowls are filled with spicy shrimp and taco-seasoned roasted butternut squash cubes. The components can be made ahead and assembled when you're ready to eat.

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Winter squash are one of the gems of the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share. These long-storing vegetables (mine hang out in the Strategic Winter Squash Reserve for 3 to 4 months) can be roasted and pureed and added to anything from muffins [Herbed Butternut Squash and Cottage Cheese Muffins] to soup  [Stupefyingly Simple Butternut Squash, Chicken, and Rice Soup] to waffles [Butternut Squash Waffles]. They can be peeled and cubed or sliced for a colorful side dish [Colorful Roasted Squash & Potatoes] or main dish [Roasted Winter Squash Tacos]. While I am not usually in the mood for peeling acorn squash, it's a dream to cube up a butternut squash. Alanna has an excellent tutorial here. Heck, you can even buy it peeled, cubed, and ready to go if you need.

I was envisioning a seafood version of taco night, and looking to my Strategic Winter Squash Reserve for inspiration, when I decided to toss butternut squash cubes with taco seasoning and add them to a taco salad. The chunks added a nice flavor and texture contrast to our bowls, which is always appreciated in a winter salad. The shrimp kept things interesting, and with the color palette you can tell this is not your typical taco salad.

I'd like to point out that, by spending some time putting up produce when it's ripe, we can eat locally-grown produce year round. In this recipe I've use home-canned salsa verde, tomato salsa, and pickled peppers. If you've never tried canning, Food In Jars is a terrific book, and website, to help take the intimidation factor out of trying a new technique. Pick Your Own is another terrific resource.

For more recipes using butternut squash, please see my Buttercup/Butternut Squash Recipe Collection, part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient. This index is for folks like me looking for something a little different to do with the piles of squash stockpiled in the basement, or wherever you find yourself hoarding these terrific keepers. I've got a Pinterest board devoted to the squash recipes I find around the web, and I contribute to Laura's Winter Squash Lovin' board. Follow me on Pinterest for more recipe ideas.  Want to see what's up in my day? Follow me on Instagram. Want to read something that I thought worthy to share? Follow and Like my Facebook page. Want to know How To Use This Blog?

Chocolate Cherry Beet Brownies

These fudgy brownies are topped with dried cherries and white chocolate chips, stuffed with beets, and a divinely sweet way to enjoy beets from the farm share.

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My son had a school project--to make a recipe utilizing a vegetable, document it, and write it up for submission.  Sounds like a blog post, no? Especially fitting for a blog that provides ideas and inspiration for feeding family-friendly recipes using seasonal ingredients from the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share, the farmer's market, and the garden.


I had plenty of beets from the farm share (and had not discovered this amazing Beet, Orange and Cranberry Smoothie) so I asked him to find a recipe using beets.  He found this Fudgy Dark Chocolate Beet Brownies recipe from Pinch and Swirl. I gave my thumbs up and then sat back and filmed him for his project. Leaving my kid to figure it out on his own (to be clear, the instructions in the recipe were excellent and my son followed them easily) helps create independence in the kitchen. This in turn creates independence in life, which is what I want in a kid I'm raising. I wanted to make these brownies a wee bit seasonally festive, so I had him add a topping of dried cherries and white chocolate chips before baking.


I originally was going to share this recipe for #ChristmasWeek but got distracted with My Scottish Grandma's Shortbread and decided that they'd be an excellent Valentine's day treat. Perhaps as the finish for a kid-made meal of Baked Ravioli Valentines? Just a suggestion. I'm all about the suggestions here.

Want more suggestions for beets? Try my Beet Recipes Collection, part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient. This is a resource for folks like me trying to feed them family from the farm share without getting bogged down in the same old same old. Want more recipe ideas? I've got 'em on my Pinterest boards. I'm sharing them on my FB page. I'm finding them on Instagram. Want to know How to Use this Blog?

Baked Ravioli Valentines

Heart-shaped cheese-filled ravioli dipped in a tangy sauce and coated with seasoned breadcrumbs, then baked. Serve with sauce to dunk and you've got a kid friendly vegetarian Valentine's day meal.

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After sharing the contents of my fridge--as is--on my Instagram feed and Facebook page I figured I'd pan back from the tight Polish Pottery hearts photo to instead show the real state of one of my cookbook shelves.

For the past few years we've been eating this simple supper on Valentine's day. It's festive, but easy to get in the oven and it cooks quickly. I usually don't take photos--after all, I just picked up the package of ravioli at Costco and didn't make them myself--but I figured I'd share since the idea is a simple and good one. I got the idea from this recipe.

Sauerkraut and Summer Sausage Pizza

Ball park flavors in a home made pizza. This pie takes the sausage & sauerkraut combo and tops it with smoked mozzarella for a new twist on pizza night. If you've got holiday leftovers you're nearly ready to bake.

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In addition to the chocolate oranges, My Mother's Lefse and the Swedish meatballs, another traditional holiday food is a beef stick or summer sausage. If I don't get one, I pick one up at the store. A quick snack of a few slices of sausage + cheese + crackers + fruit is a welcome treat this time of year.

The sauerkraut is a slightly different topping for pizza. I was inspired to use it watching the folks at Dewey's Pizza make a ball park pizza using mustard as sauce and topping with bratwurst and kraut. It tasted pretty darn awesome, and I wanted to make a version at home. When I learned that folks around the region eat sauerkraut during the holidays and at New Year's, I figured I had my topping combo for a pizza. Getting a marked down ball of smoked mozzarella from the fancy cheese counter was just bonus, you know?

Easy Chile Relleno Dip

This hot, spicy, cheesy vegetarian dip has the flavor of a cheese-stuffed chile pepper similar to a jalapeño popper without all the fuss (or the jalapeños).  Salsa verde provides the heat in a smooth dip great for parties and game day snacking.

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I know I'm supposed to be all "eat healthier in the New Year" but the fact is that New Year's Resolutions, made during the post holiday let down while you're hungover from too much akavit, don't stick.

Small changes do stick. (Here's a link to how I increased the number of servings of fruits and vegetables over the course of my deployment. Here's another link to tips for increasing the amount of vegetables throughout your day.)

My small change for today is to offer a vegetarian alternative for your game day snack spread, evening cocktail party, or Cinco de Mayo fiesta.  While this recipe may not qualify as healthy, my grandmas--born around the turn of the previous century--would recognize the ingredients used to make it.

I tried my first Chile Relleno in Cody, Wyoming over the summer vacation. A roasted Hatch chile stuffed with Monterey Jack cheese, dipped in an egg batter, fried, then covered in a sauce made from more roasted chiles. And more cheese. I've ordered that dish twice more since we came home, made the flavor combo into a pizza even, but didn't think about making it into a dip until I spied twin warming trays at a holiday party. Little signs labelled one tray Buffalo Chicken Dip and the other Jalapeño Popper Dip. 

It was like dueling hot spicy cheesy dips--one for omnivores, one friendly to vegetarians. What a brilliant idea.

For more awesome veggie apps and snacks, please see my Pinterest board. For more game day snacks, just use the search bar on the sidebar to search for 'game day snacks'. For more recipes using Hatch chiles, please see my Hatch Chile Recipes Collection. For more recipes using tomatillos, please see my Tomatillo Recipe Collection. These are part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks trying to support their local producers by sourcing winter game day snacks out of produce grown locally during the summer.

2015, the Year in Review Clickable Collage-Palooza

I like the format of a Clickable Collage and the arrangement of the Instagram Hashtag2015BestNine,  so I decided to offer up 3 Best 9 Clickable Collages to summarize my 3rd full year of blogging, along with some thoughts about moving forward into 2016.

My top 9 most visited posts of 2015 were all published in earlier years.

(Click on each image to go to the recipe it represents, hover over each image for the title)

The most visited posts from 2015.

This further reinforces a few things to me:

• The content of food blogs is evergreen. That is, as I'm not here trying to shill the latest pre-packaged convenience food, a recipe posted in 2012 (like MA's Make Ahead Irish Mashed Potato Casserole, lower left corner) is just as relevant for Thanksgiving as this year's Apple Sausage Cornbread Stuffing (shown in the center of the next collage).

• Quality over Quantity. Since I started blogging in 2012 I have posted 3 times a week, mostly recipes with a smattering of gardening tips and some advice for families wanting to succeed with a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share. I've taken a few vacations and participated in a few week-long events, but mostly my focus has been consistently posting and building content. I've worked to create a searchable database of recipes for folks like me who need ideas for beets and kohlrabi. Now I feel I've accomplished that task with my Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient. Time to stretch and grow.

• Social Media is the present. The area I really need to work on is getting my content seen by my ideal audience--people looking to eat locally who are unfamiliar with lots of the vegetables they encounter. People looking to feed their families more vegetable-filled meals. People looking to save money by using their garden abundance throughout the year. Some of the best sources of traffic for me come from participating in recipe round ups. I've got a routine down for finding bloggers looking for my content, what I need to improve on is other ways to share my content on the internet.

The most visited posts published in 2015.

As with farmers hunkering down and working behind the scenes during the winter months, I too will scale back. I'm not going to fix a tractor or set up irrigation lines. I intend to post twice a week and spend my found hours on Instagram on Facebook updating my 500+ recipes so that they are formatted for easy searchability. After all, 28% of my traffic comes from people googling things like 'garlic scape recipes' or 'green tomato recipes', seeing my posts appear in their search engine, and clicking on my page. Thank you! I've said I plan to do this back end work before, announcing that I'm on vacation, but then I actually take a vacation and don't spend my blogging break working behind the scenes. I'll try this in a different way and report back.

My top-performing pins on Pinterest in 2015.

As for numbers, I don't have a blow-by-blow to report on but they are up. After I added social media sharing buttons in October I had a definite increase in traffic. I have no idea why I didn't do that sooner. It was on the Blogging To Do list, and I'm glad I finally got around to it.

 I'm joining in Meghan's party over at Clean Eats Fast Feets. Check it out!

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Have a lovely 2016. Let me know how I can help you achieve your eating goals.

Healthy Morning Glory Muffins

This recipe is a terrific breakfast muffin. It combines oats, orange juice and raisins with the sweetness of maple syrup plus crunch from coconut and sunflower seeds in a whole grain bite that is free of refined sugar. Looking for a healthy breakfast muffin? Here you are.

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This time of year I am enjoying copious amounts of citrus thanks to the Band Fruit Fundraiser (here's a link to 156 food blogger recipes using seasonal fruits like the kind my son sold at his recent marching band fruit fundraiser--support a band near you!). I'm also baking--and eating--rich holiday treats like those I recently shared during #ChristmasWeek--have you entered the Amazon Gift Card Giveaway yet? As such, I will take any opportunity to boost the nutrition in my other meals.

When I fix muffins as a breakfast food I know I'm giving my kids something nourishing that will power them through the morning. My mom is Canadian {I'm American so she's not my mum, she's my mom} and thank goodness for that. She raised me on Canadian muffins. Compared to American muffins, Canadian muffins have less sugar and less fat. American muffin recipes seem like cupcakes to me. I love cupcakes. Just not for breakfast.

Fresh Grapefruit Pomegranate Margarita

A seasonal winter holiday cocktail--fresh grapefruit blended in a margarita and finished with a splash of pomegranate juice. It's tart and refreshing while using the fruits of the season.

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I had an idea to try a winter holiday version of my Cheater Margarita Smoothie using some of the Band Fruit Fundraiser grapefruit. It stands to reason that grapefruit and lime, both being tart citrus fruits, ought to play nicely together. On a whim I picked up a bottle of pomegranate juice and decided to add a splash of that for color (and additional tartness). I really liked the result.

Then my friend gave me a margarita glass for my birthday (because my friends rock) and I decided I'd throw the recipe up on the blog while grapefruit and pomegranates are still in season and did some day drinking to have good light for the photos. Oh, the things I do to provide free recipes using seasonal ingredients! Unfortunately for my photos, but fortunately for me, a friend called to tell me the good news of her impending move back here and I pretty much lost the light. I'm sharing the recipe anyway, and if I feel like taking more photos I will.

In the past I have put up a Year In Review post (please enjoy last year's post and the 2013 post) and then taken time off over the holidays.  This year will be a little different--I enjoy sharing muffin recipes and participating in Muffin Monday, which happens the last Monday of the month, so I will be back to share a muffin recipe on December 28th. I'm not sure if it will be Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Butter Muffins or something citrus-y that has yet to be made. When I have the mental energy I'll assemble a year in Review post.  But for now, because I'm still recovering from (and sharing around social media) #ChristmasWeek -- have you entered the $800 Amazon gift card giveaway? There's still time -- for now, though, please join me in raising a glass to celebrate the season.

Cheers.

Caramel Pumpkin Butter Stuffed Bread

This lightly sweet braided bread is stuffed with caramel pumpkin butter and makes a terrific addition to a brunch or served with morning coffee or tea.

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I'll get to the recipe in a moment, but first I've got something else on my mind. I'm sharing this photo of the dogs for 2 reasons. First, I want to remind at least 3 people who've been thinking they ought to take a bag down to their local food drive to JUST DO IT. If 1 out of 3 people follows through, that'd be terrific. Second, I post this to illustrate the fact that despite holiday food drives THERE ARE HUNGRY PEOPLE IN YOUR COMMUNITY 12 MONTHS OF THE YEAR. Scroll below the recipe for ways you can reduce hunger in your town.

Orange & Beet Smoothie with Cranberries and Maple Syrup

This is a vegan smoothie that combines seasonal citrus, beets, and cranberries with a generous splash of maple syrup to make it go down smooth nice and easy. Overwhelmed with cookies? Haven't started the wrapping yet? Whip up one of these babies and power through your to do list without plowing through the cookie tray.

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To be honest I really wasn't feeling a post for today. I'm still a bit worn out from doubling my workload and sharing 6 recipes in a row for #ChristmasWeek. [As an aside, the Amazon Gift Card Giveaway is happening for another week or so, have you entered? I'd sure like to have a connection to the winner. Go to this post for all the details.] However, seeing that it is citrus season (we got our Band Fundraiser Citrus a week ago) and as this recipe kept me going all through last week's craziness, I'm going to share it as is--I ran out of light last night so I'll update the photos as soon as I've made today's smoothie. I promised myself I'd take time off closer to Christmas, so you'll get one more week of recipes before my break.


Did you think, after Spiked Hot Cocoa Gift Mix, Maple Doodles, My Scottish Grandma's Shortbread, Cranberry Chai Tea Cookies, No Bake Magic Cookie Truffles, and Fresh Cranberry Mini Scones that this blog is all about sweets? Ha! Fooled ya. It's all about beets.


If the only things I got in my farm share were a steady supply of potatoes, onions, carrots and lettuce I probably would not have started a blog about how to feed my family from the farm share. I mean, everyone knows what to do with potatoes, onions, carrots and lettuce. [If you don't, feel free to consult my Potato Recipes Collection, my Recipes Using Onions, my Carrot Recipes Collection, and my Greens (Lettuce/Salad) Recipes Collection. These collections are part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, the thing I am most proud of on this blog--a way to help my readers figure out what the heck to do with those veggies in the share that are new and unusual to them. And to me!]

A small farm can't make it on just a few crops--diversification is where it's at these days. [You may notice a change to my ads--I've switched from a few Adsense ads on the sidebars to a plethora of ads managed by MediaVine. Not a clue what, if anything, I am earning as I haven't made time to go check out my dashboard, but the experience has been very positive for me so far. Let me know how it is for you. Back to farms.] Farmers need to grow crops that will be ripening throughout the season so that us hungry folks have something to eat. And often, that means new-to-us foods.

Fresh Cranberry Mini Scones

Tiny tender scones stuffed with chopped fresh cranberries and brightened with orange zest. Make these scones bite size to serve at holiday brunches or coffees.

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This recipe wraps up #ChristmasWeek, a event started in 2012 and hosted by Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic and Kiss My Smoke. She gathered a bunch of us bloggers together to share holiday sweets for 6 days straight. We also chipped in for $800 worth of Amazon Gift Cards for a Giveaway. 

I'm sharing the recipe first because I've got a story that is only tangentially related to the recipe. Reading my story will not affect your ability to make the scones, so skip it if you'd like. If you're just here to try and win $500 or use some fresh cranberries up go on about your business, don't mind my ramblings after the recipe. This is the blah-ggy part of blogging. Sometimes life ain't sunshine and rainbows.

Magic Cookie Bar Truffles and Amazon Gift Card Giveaway for #ChristmasWeek!

Have you tried those decadent squares of chocolate, coconut and nuts on a graham cracker base covered in sweetened condensed milk? I grew up knowing them as Hello Dolly Bars, but the Eagle Brand website calls them Magic Cookie Bars. By either name they are a tooth-cracking sweet treat that snazzes up a holiday cookie tray. I didn't make those for my 5th recipe for #ChristmasWeek. You can find that one on the manufacturer's website anyway, you know?  

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Last time we made a pan of Hello Dolly Bars, for some 'shop the pantry first'-induced dessert craving, I wondered aloud about trying a no bake truffle version. Surely, I thought, the sweetened condensed milk folks have made one.

I stopped calling myself Shirley and searched several large recipe sites and chocolate cook books using various combinations of names and never found the Magic Cookie Bar turned Truffle. I think I may know the reason.  This batter looks like suet.

Cranberry Chai Tea Cookies with an Amazon Gift Card Giveaway for #ChristmasWeek

Cranberry chai blended into a lightly sweet buttery cookie dough. This delectable cookie is tasty with afternoon tea or morning coffee. The Holiday Embrace tea I used in this cookie was given to me by Plum Deluxe without obligation. 

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This is my 4th recipe for #ChristmasWeek. Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic and Kiss My Smoke gathered a bunch of us together to share a week's worth of holiday sweets and treats. We all chipped in for a massive Amazon Gift Card Giveaway. 

Dare to be different. You do you. I've realized that I aim for non-conformity in my life. I do not like to be 'one of the herd'. I strive to be just a little different, a little outside of the norm. If "everyone" is running to the Next Big Thing you can bet I'll be standing off to the side, watching and evaluating. When the brunch waitress wants to fill my cup with coffee--no thanks, I prefer tea.

When I was thinking about what kinds of recipes to share for #ChristmasWeek I knew I wanted an old family recipe [my Grandma's Scottish Shortbread], a recipe celebrating locally-sourced ingredients [the Maple Doodles], a recipe celebrating seasonal produce [the Fresh Cranberry Mini Scones coming up soon], a no bake treat, and a treat that would be an unusual addition to a cookie plate.

Grandma's Scottish Shortbread with Amazon Gift Card Giveaway for #ChristmasWeek

Scottish shortbread made the way my Scottish grandma made it--3 to 4 simple ingredients, small pieces, and plenty of time to ripen before serving. This is the ultimate make ahead Christmas cookie.

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Are you wondering what happened to the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share-centric recipes you've come to expect when stopping by the blog? I've been taken over by pod people in the form of joined with Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic and Kiss My Smoke, who is hosting #ChristmasWeek. Head on over to the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient for veggie-centric recipes, and scroll down for holiday sweets!

Many folks get their ethnic on especially during the holidays, and I am in this crowd. No matter if it's a new tradition or an old one, this time of year is the time to celebrate my heritage through food. Most of the holiday-specific recipes I've shared on the blog are Scandinavian [I even have a Scandinavian Holiday Pinterest board--follow me!] because 75% of my grandparents trace their lineage back to Scandinavian countries. The other 25% is my mom's mom. Alison Brown Grant emigrated from Scotland to Canada when she was 13, and from her I have my tradition of shortbread at Christmas time.

Shortbread is a pretty simple cookie--it's just flour, sugar, and butter. My aunt Ruth (mom's sister) added in the cornstarch, but My Mom's Sister's Version of her Scottish Mom's Shortbread is just not really an SEO friendly title. The key with shortbread is that it needs to ripen. Do not bake it and plan to serve right away. It will taste utterly boring and bland and is probably why so many people are in a rush to doctor it up with chocolate or nuts or something, which is silly. Appreciate shortbread for what it is, and be patient. If you put that plain cookie in an airtight tin and stick it in a cool dry place for a while . . . well, when you bring the tin back out a magical alchemy will have occurred and those 3-4 ingredients will have aged into a lovely little bite.

Growing up, my mom would bake shortbread around Thanksgiving weekend and store it, wrapped in plastic wrap, in coffee cans in the coat closet. She'd bring it out for the Christmas Eve smorgasbord and we'd enjoy it on the cookie tray alongside a bowl of Scandinavian Fruit Soup. One year she forgot about a tin, and she swears those 13 month old shortbread cookies were the best ever. Any cookie that gets better with age, that I can make in the early stage of the holiday rush, is a win in my book.

Maple Doodles with an Amazon Gift Card Giveaway for #ChristmasWeek

Pure maple syrup sweetens these seasonal treats. Rolled in a maple sugar and cinnamon coating, this refined sugar free version of the classic Snickerdoodle celebrates the bounty of a northern winter. A perfect recipe for #ChristmasWeek.

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Regular readers will notice that I've taken leave of my senses a departure from my usual recipes celebrating farm share produce. It's #ChristmasWeek, hosted by Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic and Kiss My Smoke, and I'm sharing 6 days in a row of sweet treats.  If you came here looking for some local produce recipes, please check out my Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient.

I went on a cookie quest for "something maple" at my library. I had a small jar of granulated maple sugar from my daughter's French class trip to Quebec. I associate maple with winter, so I wanted a maple contribution to #ChristmasWeek. Since I like to support local business and keep my cash in my local economy, I buy my maple syrup at the farmer's market. It's delicious and affordable. If you don't live in a place that produces maple syrup, I'll recommend Barn2Door where you can buy direct from the producers and have maple syrup delivered to your door!