Old blueberries make what?

These are some very juicy blueberries. My hands were purple all day!!!

I guess I am sort of following a really crappy pattern here. I have soooooo much food that seems to been the right on the edge. Too old to eat as it is but just right for baking or cooking...aren't I lucky????

This time it was blueberries. Can you guess what I made?

Blueberry Muffins (adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book)

Ingredients:

1 cup AP Flour
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour (you can use regular AP flour)
2/3 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 beaten egg
3/4 cup milk (2 Tbsp more if using ww pastry flour)
1/4 cup vegetable oil or canola oil
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 tsp finely zested lemon

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  
• In a mixing bowl combine all of the dry ingredients. Make a well in the center.
• Combine all of the wet ingredients except the blueberries and zest. Add all at once to the flour mixture and stir until just moist. The batter should be lumpy.
  
• Fold in the blueberries and the lemon zest.
• Fill greased muffin cups or paper liners 2/3 full.
• Bake for about 20 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.

This was another really quick and easy recipe. Loved it!!!

On another note...Hurricane Ike.

Crystal Beach near Galveston, TX after Ike roared through.

I know that now that the storm is passed and it is no longer in the news we tend to forget that it is a story about individual lives. I know first hand that the people who live there still need to be in our thoughts. A very good friend of mine is just on her way from here to Galveston where her family has lived forever. They are going there to help do the demolition of their home. Yes, all of their lives were spared but the storm surge came through and pushed their home 4 inches off of the foundation and the house is no longer livable. They have lost everything. Mostly to water damage but at this point with out any A/C they have lost the rest of it to mold. I experienced the loss of my home and most of my belongings to Hurricane Charley 4 years ago (see my post here). I guess all I am trying to say is let's not forget that those people still need our thoughts and prayers.

If anyone is interested in making a monetary donation to this family please email me at judy@nofearentertaining.com and I can get you the family's name and address. This would be going right to them, not through me. They really need all the help they can get right now!

As Always...

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Brownies again...and an award!

Homemade Super Rich Chocolate Brownies w/ Walnuts and Pretzels!

It seems like every time we are due to get any bad weather or anything severe I want Brownies. Maybe these have become my comfort food? This time it was Hurricane Ike.


I know, I know we weren't even suppose to really get anything bad from it but it was out there and it was within 200 miles of us!!! Was I really just looking for an excuse??? Now in my defense we have had a lot of flooding due to heavy rains. Lots of wind with gust up to 40 miles an hour but nothing like having a huge storm pummel you head on...my prayers go out to the people in Ike's path.

Anyway. I made Brownies again. This time I added some walnuts and some pretzels (trying for that salty/sweet thing). I only had pretzel thins though and they got a bit soggy before it cooked up so use the regular size ones if you try this!

And this is how I ate my piece!!!

Homemade Super Rich Chocolate Brownies

Recipe from Martha Stewart’s Cookies.

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for pan
• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

I also stirred in 3/4 cup of chopped walnuts and 1/2 cup of crushed pretzels.

Preheat oven to 350°. Butter an 8″square baking pan. Line pan with parchment paper, leaving 2 inches hanging over the sides. Butter parchment paper.

In a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, stir together butter, chocolate, and cocoa powder. Set aside to cool slightly.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Combine sugar, eggs, and vanilla using an electric mixer with a whisk attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale, about 4 minutes. Add chocolate mixture and mix until combined. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, mixing until combined.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Spread evenly with spatula. Bake about 35 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out with a few crumbs but is not wet. Let cool in pan about 15 minutes.

Lift brownies out of pan. Cool completely on a wire rack before cutting into squares.

This is a wonderful award that was passed on to me from Meryl's Musing which is a really fun blog filled with a little bit of everything. I am so truly honored every time that someone passes an award on to me. I love the validation that comes with it.

The rules are as follows:

1) Add the logo of the award to your blog.

2) Add a link to the person who awarded it to you (as shown above).

3) Nominate at least seven other blogs.

4) Add links to those blogs on your blog.

5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

So the ones that I am choosing are the ones that I read all of the time and have actually become "friends" with most of them.

Jenn - the left over queen
Peter at Kalofagas
Danni at On the Way to Critter Farm
Nuria at Spanish Recipes
Dharm at Dad~Baker and chef
Val at More Than Burnt Toast
and last but not least Brittany at Musings of a Barefoot Foodie

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Wow...what a night???!!!

Wow!

We had a storm blow through here last night that was one wicked storm. You have to remember that we live in South West Florida. It storms just about every afternoon in the summer so for us a bad storm has to be really bad or we really don't even notice it passing. The one last night sure got our attention. We had a tornado touch down not too far from us and those poor people lost the roofs off of their homes, cars flipped over and piled on top of one another. Just craziness. We were pretty lucky though. We did lose a tree but it didn't blow into the pool screen or the house. It just blew over into the yard. I certainly feel for the people who have lost their homes. 3 years ago we lost our home to Hurricane Charley and we had to move into a rental home for 6 months while we had our home redone. That memory never leaves!

Onto some work now! I had told you all that my e-book would be out today. Well I think I was a little bit ambitious. If I do get it out today it will be very late. I am working on making it he best that it can possibly be so it will definitely be worth the wait.

Have you signed up to receive it? You can either sign up for my newsletter here to the right (my e-book will be a sign up bonus) or on my website at http://www.nofearentertaining.com/ .

Have a great day!

Judy

http://www.nofearentertaining.com/