peanut butter & jenny

though i haven't been posting as promised, by "eating down the fridge" challenge has been going quite well! i must say it's a lot easier when you start off with good food to begin with =). eating down the college fridge means canned beans and tuna; eating down the home fridge means waffles, tilapia with olives (from simply recipes), seafood paella, homemade pasta sauce, chewy brownies, bur-berry oatmeal muffins, and matzo-ball soup!

i won't overload you. you can check out the picasa album for all the photos when i upload them tomorrow.

i have to share a few of these winners, though. who doesn't love pasta with marinara and some freshly-baked muffins.

seriously. nothing is easier than my homemade pasta sauce. you need this:

heat a tablespoon of oil in a good-sized pot. throw in 2 tablespoons of minced garlic. mush up 2 (1 lb) cans of peeled plum tomatoes with your fingers in a bowl and add them to the pot. throw in roughly 1/4 cup of freshly chopped basil, a teaspoon or so of oregano, salt, and freshly cracked black pepper. stir it up. and here's the secret: 1 teaspoon of sugar (i used a splenda packet because they sit next to the coffee maker next to the stove). it makes such a difference. allow to simmer over medium-low heat for 2 hours until it's thick and gloopy. it freezes wonderfully. i'm taking a vat back to college.

and as for these muffins. get ready now, because as soon as they're out of the oven you'll probably eat half the pan. obviously, i couldn't even get a picture of a baked one that i hadn't already eaten half of (i justify this by saying that the inside looks better than the outside).

i'm calling them my burberry oatmeal muffins because they have 2 types of berries and i made them on the day i got my second pair of burberry glasses. i'll admit it. i'm pretentious. i have 2 pairs of prescription burberry glasses (and most days i wear contacts...), an umbrella, and a scarf. i look ridiculous in public. it's fantastic.

anyway. the muffins. i adapted these from joy the baker, subbing plain non-fat yogurt for the applesauce because i bought this massive container and it really needed to be used (i bought it to make the yogurt scones off of chocolate and zucchini, but i don't want to talk about that experience). my version follows the pictures.

   

    

1 ¼ cups whole wheat flour
1 ¼ cups oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup yogurt
½ cup low-fat buttermilk (mix 1 tbl vinegar with plain milk)
½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 large egg, lightly beaten
¾ cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)

1/4 cup dried cranberries or raisins

Preheat the oven to 375*F and line or spray 12-15 muffin tins.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. if you're making your own buttermilk, combine the 1/2 cup of milk (minus 1 tablespoon) with a tablespoon of vinegar and let it sit for 5 minutes. in a small bowl, mix together the yogurt, brown sugar, oil, and egg. add in the milk when it's done.

make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet. stir lightly with a spatula until all the wet ingredients are absorbed, but don't over-mix.

sprinkle some flour on a paper plate and roll the berries around to coat lightly. this prevents them from sinking to the bottom of the muffins. fold them gently into the batter. fill the muffin cups about 2/3 full (i have a little tablespoon scooper and used it twice for each) and bake for 14-18 minutes. my mom's convection had these babies done at 12, but test them with a toothpick to be sure.

let them cool for a minute or two in the tins, and then invert them onto a wire rack. alton brown says this prevents gooey, soggy bottoms. i concur. plus it looks funny:

on a non-food-related note, i FINISHED THE ROUGH DRAFT OF MY THESIS about 40 minutes ago. it's definitely by no standards done completely, but i'm taking advantage of rough as the operative word in the assignment title. i am ready to hand it in by 1pm on monday. i should have thrown a party, but instead i'm uploading pictures of muffins and watching the american idol results show with my mom.

i think i'll celebrate by eating one of those muffins.

check back tomorrow for my first ever barefoot bloggers post! sneak preview: it was a success!

enjoy your wednesday night (without top chef).

ciao!

J