Cranberry Orange Muffins

We've had an epiphany: orange zest is amazing in baked goods. While old news to some, it was a revelation today when we bit into a cranberry orange muffin and we had to immediately make it at home. 

This is another recipe trifecta: easy, cheap and uses staples you already have in your pantry. 

The original recipe came from The Food Network and we substituted milk with half and half because that's what was in the fridge!

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes

What you'll need:

• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar 
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup half and half

What you'll do:
Preheat the oven to 375.

In a small sauce pan, simmer the cranberries and orange juice. When it bubbles, take it off the heat to cool and plump. 

Coat a 12 muffin tin with cooking spray. 

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In a separate bowl, cream butter, orange zest and 2/3 cups of sugar until fluffy, remembering to scrape down the sides. 

Add the eggs in one at a time and beat well after each egg. 

Alternate folding in the flour and half and half, being careful not to over mix.

Fill the muffin tin and bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Roasted Broccoli, Mushroom, and Barley Salad

Nothing like finding a delightful new side dish to complement your meals. This one comes courtesy of Real Simple-of course with a few tweaks to suit the pantry. 

The original recipe calls for an anchovy flavored dressing, but that's not really our jam. Instead, we substituted the anchovy paste with sriracha paste. Bonus points: this is very easy to make and you can substitute the vegetables with whatever you have handy.

Prep time: 10 minutes 
Cook time: 25 minutes 

Ingredients:

• 1 
  cup quick cook 
  barley
• 1 
  large bunch broccoli, cut into florets
• 1-2 shallots, cut into rings
• 1 
  pound 
  cremini or oyster mushrooms, halved if large
• 4 
  tablespoons 
  olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Kosher salt and black pepper
• 1 teaspoon sriracha paste
• 2
   garlic cloves
• 3 
  tablespoons 
  fresh lemon juice
• Feta

What you'll do:

Wash and chop the vegetables. Preheat the oven to 425 and line a baking sheet with foil. 

In a large bowl, mix the broccoli, shallots and mushrooms with the olive oil, salt and pepper. When they are coated, spread in a single layer on the baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until browned.

While the vegetables are roasting, cook the barley according to directions. 

Mix the remaining tablespoon of oil, crushed garlic, lemon juice and sriracha. Set aside.

When the vegetables are done, mix with the cooked barley and toss with the dressing and sprinkle with feta. Serve hot or cold! 

Pumpkin Spice Muffins!

Nothing says fall like pumpkin spice _____ [fill in the blank]. Everywhere we turn it's pumpkin this and pumpkin that...not that we're complaining. The subtly of the pumpkin taste makes baked goods a little more savory and not too sweet. Pumpkin flavored breads and muffins then have a great diversity, either as a sweet dessert (maybe paired with cream cheese frosting?) or as savory breakfast bread with just a dab of butter.

From The Smitten Kitchen, this pumpkin muffin recipe is easy, quick, and only includes one non-pantry staple item: canned pumpkin. The muffins are spongy and moist. We tweaked it slightly to up the pumpkin spice taste. 

Prep time: 10 minutes

Bake time: 25 minutes  

Makes 16 muffins (can probably make 12, slightly larger ones)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin spice 
• 1 15 oz can pureed pumpkin 
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin spice + 1 tablespoon sugar

Preheat oven to 350 and grease standard size muffin tins. 

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pumpkin spice.

In a larger bowl, combine pumpkin, vegetable oil, eggs and 1 1/4 cups of sugar. 

Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and mix until combined.

Fill muffin tins 3/4 full (or slightly more for 12 muffins vs. 16) and sprinkle with the pumpkin spice and sugar mixture. 

Bake for 25 minutes, rotating the pans half way to ensure equal baking time. Muffins are done when a wooden pick or skewer inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.