Quick and Easy Blueberry Muffins

My sister Regina sent me this blueberry muffin recipe a few years ago and I just made them today. I was looking for a blueberry muffin recipe that uses oil instead of butter and that's what this one uses. She said out of all the blueberry muffin recipes she's tried, this one is her favorite and the only one she makes now. She's made it with both fresh and frozen blueberries and said it comes out better with fresh ones. I used fresh blueberries and the muffins were delicious! They were also very easy to make. I made a double recipe so I can freeze them for easy weekday breakfasts. Mine took about 16 minutes to bake.

Quick and Easy Blueberry Muffins

Recipe courtesy Inspired Taste Blog

 

This easy blueberry muffin recipe is our most popular for a reason! It’s quick to make and yields muffins with a moist, tender center bursting with blueberries and a perfectly golden-brown top.

 

When measuring the flour for these muffins, either weigh it or use the “spoon and level” method: Fluff the flour, spoon it into the measuring cup, and level off the top with a flat edge.

 

1½ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled

¾ cup granulated sugar, plus 1 tablespoon for muffin tops

2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

1/3 cup vegetable or olive oil

1 large egg

1/3 cup milk or non-dairy milk, use more as needed

1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

6 to 8 ounces fresh or frozen blueberries, generous 1 cup

Preheat the oven to 400°. Line muffin cups with paper liners.

 

Lightly grease or spray the tops of the muffin tin with oil to prevent the tops from sticking. High-quality nonstick pans may not require this.

 

Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.

 

Choose a measuring jug that holds at least 1 cup. Add the oil to the jug, and then crack in the egg. Pour in enough milk to reach the 1-cup line on the jug (this should be about 1/3 cup of milk). Add the vanilla extract and whisk until everything is combined.

 

Add the wet ingredients to the bowl with the dry ingredients. Stir gently until the batter comes together. Be careful not to overmix! The batter will be thick, see tips below.

 

Gently fold in the blueberries.

 

Divide the batter between muffin cups. Sprinkle a little sugar on top of each muffin.

 

Bake muffins 15 to 20 minutes or until tops are no longer wet and a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out with crumbs, not wet batter. Transfer to a cooling rack.

To store, place them in a plastic bag, seal, and store at room temperature for up to 3 days. To freeze, wrap them tightly in aluminum foil or place them in freezer bags. Freeze for up to 3 months.

 

Makes 12 standard size muffins.

 

NOTES:

Frozen blueberries: Add frozen blueberries while frozen, do not thaw.

Measuring your flour: Fluff the flour in its container, then gently scoop it into your measuring cup until slightly mounded. Level off the top with a knife for accurate measuring. For even more accuracy, use a scale and measure the flour by weight (in grams).

For mini muffins, the baking time will be less — keep an eye on them while they bake and expect them to take 9 to 11 minutes.

Batter thickness: The batter should be thick and “scoopable” — not runny and not dry or extra thick like dough. If the batter is too runny, add flour, a tablespoon at a time until correct consistency. If the batter is dry or too thick, add milk, a tablespoon at a time until the proper consistency.

Recipe inspired by Allrecipes blueberry muffins.

Ooey-Gooey Rice Krispie Treats

Tomorrow is my twin sons' 7th birthday. Every year I make a homemade treat for them to bring to school and share with their classmates. Last year I made these delicious Rice Krispie Treats and they asked me to make them again this year. This is the only recipe I've used so I'm posting it here so I can find it more easily!

For a double recipe, I buy an 18-ounce family size box of Rice Krispies and 4 10-ounce bags of mini marshmallows. I don't measure the marshmallows - I just use 1.5 bags to melt and the remaining .5 bag I keep whole to stir in at the end. I cut 24 large Rice Krispie Treats from a double recipe.

Ooey-Gooey Rice Krispie Treats

Recipe courtesy “Brave Marshmallow” Instagram

 

10 Tablespoons unsalted butter
½ teaspoon salt (sea salt preferred!)
10 cups Jet-Puffed Mini Marshmallows (save 1 cup for tossing)
1 teaspoon vanilla
7 cups Rice Krispies cereal

 

Note: you’ll need two 10-ounce bags of mini marshmallows for these treats.
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Line a 9x13 casserole dish with parchment paper, leaving enough overhang to lift the treats out at the end.

Measure out the cereal and mini marshmallows in separate bowls for easy pouring.

Melt butter over low-medium heat in a large pot.

 

Add salt and stir to combine.

 

Remove from heat and pour in mini marshmallows (save 1 cup for later!). Fold those little marshmallows over each other until they’ve nearly finished melting completely. I like to leave my marshmallow goop a little lumpy for a bit of texture!

 

Add in vanilla and stir.

 

Add cereal and use a spatula to coat with the marshmallows; you want to work rather quickly and be sure to scrape down the side of the pot as you go (less mess to clean up later).

 

Pour in the remaining cup of mini marshmallows and stir loosely to combine.

 

Pour mixture into your 9x13 casserole dish; gently push cereal around the dish with fingertips or spatula, being sure to reach all four corners of the dish (otherwise you end up with some pretty funny looking end pieces). Do not press down firmly on the treats, otherwise they lose their ooey-gooey quality, becoming a bit too firm.

 

Let cool at room temp (don’t refrigerate) for about 30 minutes to an hour before slicing and diving in!

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days.

 

NOTE: Vanilla is key in these sweet treats, so I recommend going for a pure vanilla extract rather than imitation. Vanilla is going to really bring out the marshmallow flavor and add a bit of depth to this otherwise simple treat, so it’s not an ingredient that I like to cut corners with. My preferred vanilla is Nielsen Massey.

Spinach Lasagna

A few years ago my sister Regina made a delicious Spinach Lasagna. She got the recipe from my cousin Gabrielle. I made it once, two summers ago, and wrote down a few changes I made to the recipe, mostly that I tripled the amount of sauce and had to bake it at a higher temperature and for longer. I made it again today, but this time I used homemade lasagna noodles and it was even better! I also used Breakstone's Whole Milk Ricotta, which doesn't have the additives most store-bought ricotta has in it. It's just milk, vinegar and salt, the way ricotta should be. I always prefer homemade ricotta but I don't always have time to make it, so this was a nice alternative without any added junk. I also shredded a block of mozzarella rather than using pre-shredded cheese.

The recipe below is based off the recipe from my cousin Gabrielle, with the changes that I made to mine. This is a delicious meat-less meal, but you can easily serve it with cooked sausage links, bread and salad to make a complete meal.

Since this is a bit of a process and takes a while to make (it took me about 4 hours), this is what I did. I started out by sautéing the spinach. I let it cool while I began to make the sauce. While the sauce cooked, I made my pasta dough. While my dough was covered and resting, I blended the tomato sauce with an immersion blender, chopped the spinach, mixed the ricotta filling, and shredded the mozzarella. I used my new Marcato Atlas 180 roller and went to thickness setting #8. Once all of my dough was rolled out into long sheets, I cut the sheets the same length as my lasagna dish. I let them rest for 10-15 minutes before I started assembling my lasagna. I did not parboil them - there's no need to as long as there is enough sauce covering them. I used 2 lasagna sheets for each of the 3 layers. This was the perfect amount of dough for 1 lasagna plus a long sheet leftover that I cut into pappardelle for my son who doesn't like lasagna. I had enough sauce for 1 lasagna, the pappardelle, extra sauce to serve on top of everyone's pieces of lasagna and about 5 cups left that I froze for a future meal.

I had my sister and her husband over for dinner and between the 5 people eating lasagna, we only had 1.5 pieces left. This lasagna is so good and I'm sure I'll be making it again soon!

Spinach Lasagna

Adapted from Gabrielle Capobianco Feezer

Sauce: 

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

6 garlic cloves, minced

3 6-ounce cans Tomato Paste

2 6-ounce cans water

Red wine, to taste

3 28-ounce cans Whole Tomatoes

Salt and Pepper, to taste

 

Ricotta Mixture:

1 bag of frozen Spinach OR 11 ounces fresh Spinach, chopped

2 pounds Ricotta Cheese

2 eggs, lightly beaten

Salt and Pepper, to taste

 

Lasagna:

1 box Oven-Ready Lasagna Noodles or 1 recipe homemade lasagna noodles

1 pound Mozzarella cheese, grated

Parmesan or Romano cheese, grated - to taste

 

To start, make the sauce in a 6-quart pot. Heat the olive oil in the pot over medium heat. Add the minced garlic - be careful not to burn it. Cook for a minute or two and then add the tomato paste and water. Add red wine. Stir to combine and then add the whole tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper, partly cover and turn the heat to medium low and let it simmer.

 

Before using the sauce in the assembly of the lasagna, using a potato hand masher, squish the whole tomatoes. This is more easily done when the tomatoes have been cooking for a little while. This will give a chunky sauce. If you prefer a smooth sauce, use an immersion blender at this point. Alternately, blend the whole tomatoes, tomato paste and water in a blender first before cooking it with the garlic. You can also use crushed tomatoes that don’t need to be blended at all, if you prefer.

 

If using frozen spinach for the ricotta mixture, defrost with warm water and set aside. Drain and squeeze out most of the water before adding it to the ricotta mixture. For fresh spinach, heat a little oil in a pan and sauté the spinach until cooked. Let it cool and then chop up the cooked spinach.

 

In a mixing bowl, combine the ricotta, eggs and spinach. Stir to combine completely and then season with salt and pepper.

 

Using a 9x13 baking dish, add a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of the pan, then place a single row of noodles. Spoon half of the ricotta mixture over the noodles and then sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Spoon a layer of sauce and then sprinkle with grated parmesan or Romano cheese. Repeat this entire layer order one more time and then finish with another layer of noodles, topped with sauce and then finished with grated parmesan or Romano cheese.

 

Preheat oven to 350°. Place a sheet pan on the bottom rack of the oven in case any sauce spills over. Cover the lasagna with aluminum foil and cook for 30 minutes and then continue cooking uncovered for an additional 15 minutes. (Note: depending on your oven, you may have to cook at a higher temperature or for a longer time. I cooked mine at 375° but it took over an hour).

Fresh Homemade Lasagna Noodles

I've been wanting to make homemade lasagna sheets for a while and finally took the plunge today to use in this Spinach Lasagna recipe.. It was so easy! I did a quick search last night and this was the first recipe that came up so it's the one I tried. It's similar to the pasta dough I usually make except it calls for 1 egg yolk in addition to 3 whole eggs, rather than all whole eggs. This small change made the dough even easier to work with. As always, I measured the eggs to get to the correct weight of 185 grams. I was pressed for time so I mixed the dough in my KitchenAid mixer before turning it onto my wooden dough board, and then finished kneading it by hand.

While my dough was covered and resting, I blended the tomato sauce (which had been cooking for a while), mixed the ricotta filling, and shredded the mozzarella.

I used my new Marcato Atlas 180 roller and went to thickness setting #8. Once all of my dough was rolled out into long sheets, I cut the sheets the same length as my lasagna dish. I let them rest for 10-15 minutes before I started assembling my lasagna. I did not parboil them - there's no need to as long as there is enough sauce covering them. I used 2 sheets for each of the 3 layers. This was the perfect amount of dough for 1 lasagna plus a long sheet leftover that I cut into pappardelle for my son who doesn't like lasagna. I'm so glad I finally took the time to make these myself. It was very easy and tasted so good!

This was also my first time using my Marcato Atlas 180. This machine produces 180mm (about 7") sheets, compared to the Atlas 150 (150mm or 6"). The wider sheets are very helpful when making dishes likes lasagna, filled pasta like ravioli or hand cutting pasta.

Fresh Homemade Lasagna Noodles

Adapted from Emilie Raffa

 

Soft, silky, homemade lasagna noodles are at your fingertips! My recipe and method yields enough lasagna noodles to fit a standard 9×13-inch pan (or something similar) which feeds up to 6 people. You’ll end up with approximately 10-12 lasagna noodles. I use my Kitchen Aid stand mixer with the roller attachment in the instructions below. However, a hand-crank pasta machine can be used to roll the pasta dough.

 

300 grams Tipo 00 Flour (Molino Grassi or Caputo recommended)

185 grams eggs, room temperature (about 3 large eggs + 1 large egg yolk)

Make Pasta Dough: Add the flour and eggs to a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Process to form dough, about 15-20 seconds. Remove to your work surface and cover with an upturned bowl for 5 minutes. Then, knead the dough into a ball, about 1-2 minutes (don’t worry about technique here, the food processor does most of the kneading for you). Cover again, and let rest for 30 minutes to 1 hour to relax the gluten. Use this downtime to set up your work station in the next step.

Set up your work station: Choose a large, clutter-free work surface to spread out (I like the kitchen table). Dust your work surface and the pasta machine/roller with semolina flour to prevent sticking. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper, no overhang. Cut 4 additional pieces to layer in between the lasagna sheets as you roll them out; set aside.

Roll Pasta Dough Into Sheets: Cut the pasta dough into 4 equal pieces. Flatten one piece into a 5×8-inch long disc (re-wrap or cover the remaining pieces so they don’t dry out). A rolling pin helps with this step.

Send the disc through the roller on the widest/lowest setting. This is “#1” on the Kitchen Aid attachment, but it might be a “#0” on other machines. Send it through a second time. Note: remember, if using a hand-crank pasta machine, refer to their specific instructions for rolling pasta sheets for lasagna. The process is the same, but the settings are different.

Continue to roll the dough through settings #2-4 (2x on each setting), dusting with semolina flour in between if the pasta gets sticky. You can also cut the sheet in half if it gets too long. The pasta sheet is ready when it’s slightly translucent and you can see your hand underneath, about .60 mm thick. For thinner noodles, go up to setting #5 (again, refer to the instructions for the machine you are using – I go up to #8 on my Marcato Atlas 180). Now, you’re ready to make lasagna noodles.

Cut Lasagna Noodles: Trim the pasta sheet to fit the dimensions of your 9×13-inch baking pan. For reference, I can get about (3) 5×12-inch long lasagna noodles from one rolled out pasta sheet, approximately 38 inches long. Your measurements will differ slightly from mine which is normal. The goal is to end up with 10-12 lasagna noodles.

Place lasagna noodles onto your parchment-lined sheet pan in a single layer. Cover with another sheet of parchment paper so they don’t dry out.

Repeat to roll and cut the remaining 3 pieces of pasta dough, 1 piece at a time so they don’t dry out. Layer the additional lasagna noodles between the remaining pre-cut sheets of parchment paper. When finished, select a storage option below.

How to Store Lasagna Noodles

At Room Temperature (1 hour): arrange lasagna noodles on a parchment-lined sheet pan in a single layer. Cover with another sheet of parchment paper so they don’t dry out. Layer and repeat, ending with parchment paper on top. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and store at a moderate room temperature for up to 1 hour. Alternatively, use an airtight container.

To Refrigerate (12 hours): arrange lasagna noodles in between layers of parchment paper as indicated above. Chill up to 12 hours. Fresh pasta tends to oxidize and discolor after this timeframe. However, this will not effect the taste.

To Freeze (1 month): arrange lasagna noodles in between layers of parchment paper in an air-tight container. Freeze up to 1 month. Defrost before using; they are easier to handle without breaking.

How to Dry Lasagna Noodles

Line (2) wire cooling racks with kitchen towels. Arrange semolina-dusted lasagna noodles on top in a single layer. It’s important for the air to circulate underneath the lasagna noodles. Let air-dry, at room temperature, for up to 24 hours. The exact drying time will vary according to season (i.e. faster in winter, slower in summer). The lasagna noodles are fully dry when they snap in half with a clean break. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 month.

Yield: 10-12 lasagna noodles.