Sweet Lemon Muffins

Is anyone else excited for the end of the school year? I am most excited to not have to pack lunches every day, but I will miss packing snack.  I usually have some sort of baked good on hand and anything with lemon is usually Miss F's absolute favorite.  The sprinkle of sugar on top makes these muffins a sweet treat, the whole pan was devoured in a matter of days.  Breakfast, snack, dessert...whenever...they were gobbled right up!  I will say that I am excited to make more doughnuts now that we will have more time in the mornings.  So out with the muffins and in with the doughnuts!  This recipe is adapted from Martha Stewart.

Sweet Lemon Muffins

2 ½ cups flour
1 ¾ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling
2 large eggs
¼ cup lemon juice
¼ cup milk
1 stick unsalted butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, lemon juice, milk and butter. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined. Dish the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle each muffin with sugar. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops spring back when touched. Cool on a wire rack.

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Shrimp in Tomato Cream Sauce

So Tide and Thyme pretty much lives my dream life, her Instagram breeds jealousy with every post.  I knew this recipe of hers would be a huge hit with Miss F, as long as I omitted the spinach.  I am not a huge fan of cooked spinach anyhow, so it was also a win for me.  We got amazing shrimp from the Seabrook seafood market and they were perfection.  Miss F may have taken down a half pound of shrimp on her own.  I used the amazing Fasta Pasta and dinner was ready in under 15 minutes, it doesn't get any better than that.

Shrimp in Tomato Cream Sauce

½ pound angel hair pasta
1 pound medium or large shrimp, peeled and de-veined
3 tablespoons butter
¼ red onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup white wine
½ cup heavy cream
¼ cup Parmesan cheese
3 Roma tomatoes, diced (a small handful reserved for garnish)

Prepare the angel hair pasta per package instructions, drain and set aside.

Season the shrimp with salt and pepper. Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium high heat, add the shrimp and cook for 2 minutes. Flip the shrimp over and cook 1 minute more. Remove to a plate and set aside. Add the onion and garlic to the pan, sauté for 1 minute. Deglaze the pan with the white wine, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom and let reduce for 2 minutes. Add the cream, parmesan and tomatoes. Cook over medium-low heat for 3 minutes. Return the shrimp to the pan and simmer for 3 minutes more. Add the angel hair to the pan and toss well to combine. Serve topped with the reserved tomatoes.

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Slow Ferment Pizza Crust

When I saw this pizza dough on Crumbly Cookie, I knew I had to try it. I love the flexibility it provides you by having a one to five day rise time in the refrigerator.  This is a picture of my pizza, if you want to envision Miss F's pizza, imagine a pizza with nearly no visible crust that is completely covered in pepperoni (or "peps" as she calls them.)  This pizza dough was incredibly easy and provided delicious results.  The only thing that makes it a little challenging is having to let it rest for two hours before baking, but it is totally worth it.

Slow Ferment Pizza Crust

2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 teaspoon yeast
¼ teaspoon sugar
7/8 cup water

In a medium bowl, combine all the ingredients until well combined. Tightly cover and refrigerate, minimally overnight or up to 5 days. After one day, knead the dough for 1 minute.

Two hours before baking, remove the dough from the refrigerator and place on a lightly floured surface. Form into a ball and cover with a dish towel.

About 30 minutes before baking, place the pizza stone in the oven and set the temperature to 500 degrees. Stretch the dough into a 12 inch round and place on a piece of parchment paper, top as desired. Transfer the paper and pizza to the pizza stone and bake for 7 to 10 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before slicing.

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Easy Muffin Tin Meatballs

Meatballs are a huge hit in our family. Well, I am not a huge fan, but I like the fact that they are easily picked out of spaghetti so that I can just have plain tomato sauce instead of meat sauce.  I do get frustrated with my go to meatball recipes, especially when Miss F helps make the meatballs.  Crockpot Spaghetti and Meatballs is easy, but I don't always have time in the morning to make it.  Enter baked meatballs...so incredibly easy, no more crumbling meatballs in the pan.  This recipe is heavily adapted (basically dumbed down) from Alton Brown.

Easy Muffin Tin Meatballs

1 pound ground beef
½ cup Italian breadcrumbs
½ cup grated Parmesan
1 egg, beaten

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a medium bowl, use your hands to combine the beef, breadcrumbs, Parmesan and egg until completely mixed. Using a tablespoon disher, roll into individual meatballs by heaping teaspoonful and place in a mini muffin pan until all 24 cups. Bake for 20 minutes. Use as desired.

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Banana Cinnamon Muffins

It's May. Which means I am totally over packing Miss F's lunch and snack. Especially since she refuses to eat sandwiches. I try to have some sort of muffin or bread in her snack bag alongside a squeezy applesauce. I always keep overripe bananas in the freezer for baking.  Miss F requested "cinnamon banana" muffins for her snack (and breakfast!)   Enter Betty Crocker (shout out to my fellow Delta Zeta!) and we had an easy muffin recipe perfect for any breakfast or lunchbox.   This recipe was easy enough that Miss F could basically do it all on her own, which is an added bonus.

Banana Cinnamon Muffins

2/3 cup sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2/3 cup mashed very ripe bananas (2 small)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 2/3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners. In a medium bowl, beat together the sugar, oil and egg with a whisk. Stir in the bananas and vanilla. Gently stir in the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon just until combined. Dish the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a cooling rack.

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Veal Francese

I know it is wrong to love veal, but I do. Even my father refuses to eat it, but I figure if I eat meat, what's the difference? In fact, I selected Grotto for my Mother's Day dinner because I know I can get great veal there and I always like to support Tilman Fertitta because of all he has done for the University of Houston.  And we have a Landry's Select card, which adds and even bigger bonus.  This technique for cooking the veal was new to me, but it was awesome.  I plan on trying it with chicken next, basically keeping the recipe as is, replacing the veal with pounded out chicken cutlets.  This recipe was adapted from Cookstr.

Veal Francese

1 tablespoon butter
1 can quartered artichoke hearts
1 lemon, sliced
1 tablespoon capers
¼ cup flour
¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
½ teaspoon basil
¼ teaspoon Kosher salt
2 eggs
1 ½ cups white wine
½ pound thin veal cutlets

In a large skillet with a lid, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter over medium heat. Add the artichokes to the pan and sauté for 2 minutes. Add 1 cup of the wine, the lemon slices and capers, cover and simmer for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In a shallow bowl, whisk together the flour, pepper, basil and salt. In another shallow bowl, whisk together the eggs with 2 tablespoons of the wine. Dredge each veal cutlet in the flour, then in the egg. Add the cutlets to the pan and simmer on low heat, shaking the pan to keep the cutlets floating in the liquid; add wine if needed. Turn the cutlets after 3 minutes and cook for 1 minute more. Plate the veal, remove the lemon slices, and pour the sauce over top; serve.

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Creamy Chicken and Noodles

I am loving the one pot trend for cooking pasta and sauce all together, how was this not discovered sooner? So I was happy to try it in a pasta dish that wasn't so pasta-esque. I adore the frozen egg noodles, they cook up just as well as homemade and are a heck of a lot easier to prepare.  A complete meal was ready in under thirty minutes.  Feel free to use frozen or fresh carrots, it really doesn't matter.  This recipe was inspired by Baked at Midnite.

Creamy Chicken and Noodles

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
3 cups chicken broth
1 bag frozen egg noodles
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup peas
¼ cup water
2 tablespoons flour
½ cup cream

Heat the oil in a large skillet with a lid over medium heat. Add the chicken and sauté until no longer pink, about 3 minutes. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Add the noodles, carrots and peas; bring to a simmer. Cover and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Whisk together the water and flour, stir into the skillet slowly, then stir in the cream. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes more. Salt and pepper to taste, serve.

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Fried Shrimp with Meyer Lemon Tartar Sauce

I need to find an all you can eat fried shrimp place to take Miss F. And hopefully they charge less for a child. And then laugh and laugh when she takes down fried shrimp by the dozen.  She prefers her shrimp plain, no dipping sauce needed.  When I was her age, I was a ketchup only kind of kid, but I learned to appreciate tartar sauce and remoulade as time went by.  And I still don't mind ketchup!  I made this tartar sauce with the Meyer lemons from my mom, but it could be made with regular lemon juice, just half the amount.

Fried Shrimp with Meyer Lemon Tartar Sauce

½ cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons capers, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons Meyer lemon juice
1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish
hot sauce

1 egg
½ cup milk
½ cup Panko breadcrumbs
½ cup flour
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined

In a small bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, capers, pickles, lemon juice and hot sauce to taste. Cover and chill for one hour.

In a shallow dish, whisk together the egg and milk. In another shallow dish, combine the Panko and flour. Toss the shrimp in the egg and milk mixture and then dredge in the Panko mixture. Refrigerate the shrimp for 15 minutes to set the coating. Heat two inches of oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Fry the shrimp for 3 to 4 minutes, remove and drain on paper towels.

Serve the shrimp with the tartar sauce.

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