Do you know the muffin man?

Today's post is a twofer.

Which is only fair, as I haven't posted anything in a while.

A couple of weeks ago, my baby boy (and in case you don't know, by baby boy, I mean my dog) celebrated his 7th birthday.

Every year, I make him cake... and every year, I end up burning it.

He always eats it anyway.  Because hello! He's a dog.  He doesn't care if it's burnt.  But this year, I was determined to make him non-burned birthday cake.

I perused some recipes for dog safe cake, as I do every year.  But I just couldn't find anything I really liked. 

Then I realized that I really didn't need a recipe.  I could wing it.  And if it didn't work out... well, no harm, no foul.  I mean, he's been eating burnt cake for six years. 

Shockingly, it did actually turn out.  Except instead of being fluffy like cake, they were denser, like a muffin. 

Here's what I did:

Peanut Butter Muffins

1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 vanilla fat free yogurt
1/3 cup honey
1 egg
1 t vanilla
1 cup flour
1 t baking powder

1.  Stir together peanut butter, yogurt, honey and vanilla until smooth.  Add in egg and stir until well mixed. 

2. Whisk together flour and baking powder.  Add to wet ingredients and mix until just combined.

3. Pour into greased muffin tins (about 3/4 full) and bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes.  I used a king sized muffin tin and baked for approximately 20 minutes.  I also made a batch in a mini-muffin tin and only baked for about 10 minutes.  Adjust for the size of your muffins, and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

4.  After removing from oven, turn muffins out onto a wire rack to cool.  Don't leave them in the hot muffin tin because they will continue to cook.

As you can see, they were a big hit.

They certainly had Winston's seal of approval, but I wanted to know if they were any good from a human perspective.  

So I had one for breakfast the next morning.  

And it was great.  Except it needed a little something more.

Like chocolate.  So I made them again and added a cup of chocolate chips.

Perfection.

I brought some into the gym the next day for friends, and the people in my spinning class wanted to know what exactly a person had to do to get some muffins.  So I promised to make them muffins the next week.

Except the night before I was supposed to produce said muffins, I realized I had forgotten about my promise.

And also, I didn't have the ingredients to make peanut butter muffins!  No peanut butter.  No yogurt.

What's a girl to do???

I fell asleep that night thinking about the ingredients I had at my disposal.  Because necessity is the mother of invention.

And this is what I came up with:

Banana Oat Muffins

1 LARGE banana

1/2 c applesauce

2-3 T honey

1 egg

1/2 c. flour

1/2 old fashioned rolled oats

1 t baking powder

1.  Mash your banana until it's mush.  If you don't have a large banana, use 1 1/2 medium banana or 2 small bananas.  Add in applesauce, honey and egg.  Whisk until well mixed.  

2.  Whisk together flour and baking powder.  Add to wet ingredients and mix until combined.  Stir in oats.

3.  Pour into greased muffin tins (about 3/4 full) and bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes.  Again until a toothpick inserted in the middle of hte muffin comes out clean.

I'm not even a big fan of banana, and these were delicious.  They would have been even more delicious with some walnuts.  If you're so inclined.

So there you go.  Two healthy muffin recipes to try.  No oil!  No sugar!  Only 1 egg and limited flour!

Go forth and bake and amaze your friends and family with your skills.

Spinach & Chickpea Quinoa with Balsamic reduction

When I was in law school, most of my meals were meat free.  Not because of any personal beliefs or ideals.  It was much more basic: meat is expensive, and I was poor.

Even before that, I was never a big meat eater.  Especially red meat.  I feel like it weighs me down.

Plus I'm really crap at cooking red meat... although I'm getting better.

And I can cook the hell out of a chicken breast.  Just thought I'd throw that out there.  Chicken is easy.  You can add pretty much anything to it and make it work. (I said that in my Tim Gunn voice.)

But some nights, you just want something light.  Light but filling.  You know?

Ergo, Spinach and Chickpea Quinoa.

This dish was inspired by my friend Devon.  She's a vegetarian, and I like to tease her with my recipes.

Quinoa is my new food love.  If you are not familiar with it, it's a grain like crop.  Like rice.  Except it's not a grain.  It's a seed.  And it's chock full of good stuff, including lots of protein.

We like protein.

And chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans), are also high in protein.  Yay proteins!  Chickpeas are a very meaty, filling bean.  Fills you up and good for you.  Win/win.

Spinach and Chickpea Quinoa with Balsamic Reduction
What you'll need:
Uncooked quinoa
Vegetable broth
1 bag frozen spinach
1 can chickpeas
1 cup balsamic vinegar

1. In a small saucepan, bring balsamic vinegar to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for approximately 20 minutes, stirring occasionally until vinegar thickens and coats back of spoon.

2.  While your vinegar is simmering, cook your quinoa.  Read the directions on your bag of quinoa.  Some brands require that you soak your quinoa prior to cooking to remove the saponins.  If your directions require this step, do not skip it.  Otherwise, your quinoa will be bitter.  Many brands treat the quinoa prior to packaging to remove the saponins, so you can skip this step.  Every brand of quinoa I've used calls for the same liquid to quinoa ratio - 2:1.  If you use 1/2 quinoa, you use 1 cup of liquid.  The directions on the bag call for water.  Substitute broth for water.  If you want to make your meal herbivore friendly, use vegetable broth.  If not, you can use chicken broth.  This just gives your quinoa some extra flavor.  So add your quinoa and broth to a pot, bring it to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes or until broth is absorbed.

3.  After you have 1 and 2 started, cook your spinach.  If you read my first post, you know I'm a big fan of quick and easy.  Therefore, I like to use steam in the bag vegetables.  Including spinach.  If you can't find steam in the bag spinach, most bags of frozen spinach have microwave cooking instructions.  If you have the time (which I usually don't), you can steam or saute fresh spinach with some olive oil and garlic.  I'm determined to do this on a weekend when I have more time.  Because it sounds delish.

4.  Drain and rinse your chickpeas.

5.  Plate cooked quinoa, top with spinach and chickpeas.  Drizzle your balsamic reduction over everything and prepare your taste buds for the orgasmic pleasure.

Okay fine.  Maybe I embellished that last sentence.  But this dish contains some of my favorite things.  This girl gets excited over legumes.

Tips & Tricks:

I absolutely LOVE quinoa.  It's incredibly versatile.  I use in in place of rice and pasta in recipes.

If your grocery store sucks (like mine), you may not find canned chickpeas in the aisle with the rest of the beans.  Check the ethnic food aisle.  They'll definitely have them there.  Chickpeas are delicious and can be eaten right out of the can without any further cooking.  However, if you'd like a little extra something something, I'd suggest you roast your chickpeas.

Roasted Chickpeas
1 can chickpeas (drained, rinsed, patted dry)
1 Tbls olive oil
seasonings of your choice (I suggest a little sea salt and garlic powder)

Stir together oil & seasonings in a medium bowl.  Add chickpeas and toss until coated.  Spread in a single, even layer in a baking sheet and bake at 425 for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until nice and crispy.

You could also try these sweet roasted chickpeas.  Or if you're sauteing fresh spinach, you could toss your chickpeas in there also.

Tons of possibilities.  If you try your own variations, please let me know in the comments.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Hello! Welcome to the inaugural post at The Cutthroat Culinarian.

By the way, lots of love to Squarer Pegs, Rounder Holes for the name suggestion.

And to my friend Marty for making me feel my food is good enough to share.

Most of you know me as Rachel from The Rachel Chronicles: The True and (Un)Amazing Adventures of a Girl and Her Dog.  And you're probably wondering why in the world I'm starting another blog when I barely post on the one I already have.

Good question.

And I don't really have a good answer.  Other than, because I can?  Because I love food?  Because I have an overinflated sense of self and believe people want to read what I write?

Take your pick.

Don't let this blog fool you though.  I am not exactly what you would call a "great" cook.  Far from it, actually.

If I stick to food I grew up eating, I do okay.  But a girl has to spread her wings and fly.  You know?  There's a great big world of food out there.  And I want to eat my way through it.

However, as I will never be able to visit all the places I see featured on The Cooking Channel and The Food Network (even though I do keep a list of "Must Eat Places" on my phone), I have to learn to make some of these things myself.

And I'm getting better.  It used to be when I made dinner, there was a 50/50 chance it would be edible. Now I'm probably up to 70/30 in favor of edible. (My boyfriend may disagree with my figures... but he'd never say it to my face.)

And while I may not be a great cook, I AM a great baker.  If I do say so myself.

So this blog will be a hodgepodge chronicling my kitchen journeys.  The good.  The bad.  The OMG open the windows and take the batteries out of the smoke alarm.

Trying out my own creations.  Trying out other people's creations.  What worked.  What didn't.  Dinners.  Desserts.  Snacks.  Tips.  Tricks.  Healthy.  Sinfully delicious and decidedly unhealthy.  The herbivore friendly.  The omnivore friendly.

We'll have it all.

And the plan is to get some guest bloggers in here to share their own kitchen adventures.

To start it all off, I'm featuring one of the few non-dessert related recipes people ask me for quite often.  You see, one night a few months ago, I had a craving for chicken tortilla soup.

Which was weird because up to that point, I had never even eaten chicken tortilla soup....

And I had no idea where I could obtain such a thing in my not so bustling metropolis.

The only option was to make it myself.  And it needed to be quick and easy.  After my day job, I spend two hours a day at the gym, then home to walk the monster dog.  So dinners have to be quick to make.  Otherwise, I'm eating a sandwich.  So I started with my friend Shannon's chili recipe (I'm hoping she'll be one of my guests...) and adapted it for my purposes.

Here's what you will need:
2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1- 28oz. can crushed tomatoes
2-3 1/2 cups chicken stock/broth
1 can kidney beans
1 can great northern beans
1 can black beans
1 bag frozen sweet corn
packet McCormicks Mild chili seasoning
Adobo sauce
chili powder
garlic powder
brown sugar
shredded cheddar cheese
tortilla chips

Add crushed tomatoes and chicken broth (2 c. for more stew like, 3 1/2 c. for soupier) to a 6 qt Dutch oven (or pot) on medium heat.  Add half the packet of chili seasoning, 2 t. of chili powder,  1 t. garlic powder, 1 t. adobo sauce, and a sprinkle of brown sugar.  Rinse and drain all beans, add to Dutch oven.  Stir in frozen corn and shredded chicken.  Increase heat and bring to a boil.  Once soup begins to boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.  After it has a chance to cook for a little while, taste it and add more of whatever spices you'd like.

Serve topped with shredded cheese (sour cream would be good, too) and tortilla chips.

Tips & Tricks:
The Dutch oven is, in my humble opinion, the best kitchen invention EVER.  If you do not have one, you should consider investing in one.  I use mine all the time.  Seriously.  I have a Lodge Dutch oven.  And many of my recipes will utilize a Dutch oven, but obviously you can substitute with a pot (or even a crockpot) or casserole dish much of the time.

Because I'm often struck by odd cravings, I rarely plan ahead for meals.  The beauty of this soup is, I can use a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store instead of taking the time to cook chicken for my soup.  Rotisserie chicken is one of my favorite grocery store tips.  They range from $6.50-$7.50.  It can be a meal in itself.  Or you can pick the chicken apart for use in recipes, then use the carcass to make your own chicken stock (more on that later).  It's a pretty good deal.

As I've said, my hard and fast rule is that recipes need to be quick and easy.  I want good food, but I don't have a lot of time to make it.  Therefore, a lot of my recipes will contain easy and convenient ingredients.  If you can substitute ingredients for a "cleaner" recipe, please do and share your own tips.  For example, if you have a garden (and the stupid deer don't eat it all), you can can your own tomatoes for use in recipes.  Also, there are several websites that provide recipes for your own seasoning mixes so you can skip the store bought.  I just haven't had a chance to stock up on my own, but hopefully soon, I'll have time to mix some up.

I have out of control acid reflux that often makes my throat burn hotter than the fires of Mount Doom.  So you'll very rarely find me posting a recipe for spicy foods.  The beauty of this recipe is it's very easily adaptable.  If you want it spicier, instead of using just adobo sauce, opt for chiles in adobo sauce and dice up one of the chiles and toss it in the pot, too.  This is a basic soup you can tailor to your own tastes.  Have fun with it.

Also, if you use less chicken broth for a thicker stew, this makes a good "dip" to use as an appetizer or at a party.  And as with any soup, the flavor is better on day 2.

This blog is a work in progress.  I would say most of the early posts will not have pictures because they're things I've made in the past, and I'm just posting from memory.  As I make them again in the future, I'll go back and add in pictures.  I'll also attempt to figure out how to add in those handy dandy recipe cards you can just print off.

If you have any suggestions, please feel free to share.

Thanks for visiting.  Happy eating.