In a flurry of domesticity, I ignored Mount Laundrous and went a little crazy in the kitchen for a change.
Pumpkin muffins (I know they look like rocks. They're MINI muffins. Shush. If you can take a better picture, bring your highfalutin camera over here and DO IT.)
Grape salad.
Yes, you read that right. Grape. Salad. It sounds weird and the recipe uses the word “congeal” (which? YUCK!) but works in ways I just can’t explain.
A mess. A BIG mess
Just looking at this picture makes me thirsty.
Oh, and while I’m thinking about it – see that black pan in the background? Here, let me give you a better look:
Hello my love. I'll be heating and using you later....
Y’all, this is a cast iron griddle pan. Let me reiterate: This is a cast IRON pan. I don’t EVER want to hear you say you don’t like him again. The only time you need to fear cast iron is if it’s hurtling toward your head at a high rate of speed. Ignore those who would have you believe you can’t treat that pan exactly the way you want to. Please, use nonstick spray if you love it. Stick it in the dishwasher. Scrub it with soap.
IT IS MADE OF METAL, Y’ALL.
Just be sure that when you DO cook with it, you give it a good spray. Or knob of butter. mmmmmmm butter.
Now, about those pumpkin muffins. They are one of the few ways I can sneak “good for you” stuff into Daniel. Your mileage may vary. Batteries not included. Some restrictions may apply.
1 C cereal**
1 1/4 C nonfat buttermilk
1 C self-rising flour
5 T sugar
1 T baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 T “pie” spice of your choice
2 T vegetable oil
1 lg egg, beaten
1 T vanilla extract
1 C canned pumpkin
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Combine cereal and buttermilk, and let stand.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and apple pie spice.
Add oil, egg, vanilla, and pumpkin to cereal mixture.
Make a well into the dry ingredients and pour wet ingredients into the well. Stir gently until combined.
Spray muffin tin with your favorite nonstick cooking spray and spoon dough into the muffin cups. Bake for 20 minutes (10 if you’re making mini mufins). Let them cool in the pan (they’ll cook a bit more as they’re sitting there.)
Notes: For the cereal, I have used All Bran (not the buds though – they don’t soften as well), Raisin bran (Daniel doesn’t like raisins but the rest of the family ate them), and this last batch was actually made using 1 C of milled flaxseeds.
And there are no pics of the process because I’m a huge goob and left my camera at work. Just yanno…pretend or something.
