Another cyberfridge cleanout...

Baozi. I promised I'd write the recipe last time I posted about these, but I never did. I'm gonna have to make another empty promise...
EDIT 5/7/10: OK,I actually found my chicken-scratch recipe for the baozi dough:

3 cups flour
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp yeast (or one packet)
1 cup warm water, give or take a teaspoon
1 Tbs vegetable oil
1 large egg

To make dough:
Combine flour, pinch of salt in a bowl. Make a well in the flour and pour in oil and beaten egg. Proof yeast with sugar in water. Once it's foamy, pour into the well and stir, gradually incorporating flour into liquid in the well.

Knead into a soft, but not terribly sticky, dough. If it's stiff, add a few drops of water at a time until it's soft. If it's sticky, add a tsp flour at a time until it's not.

Let it rise in a bowl, covered with platic wrap and placed in a warm, dry, draft-free spot. (I put mine on top of the stove.)

After an hour, punch down the dough. Let it rise again until it's double the original size.

Divide the dough in half, then each half into half... etc. until you've got 16 balls of dough.

Starting with one dough ball, press or roll the ball into a flattened circle, about 1/4-inch thick. Scoop one tablespoon of filling into the center and then pinch the edges together to close, giving it a little twist to seal. Place bun seam-side down in a steamer basket and steam for 10 to 15 minutes.

As for the filling, I'm afraid I usually just wing it.
So, try using the following ingredients to taste:
1 lb ground turkey, crumbled and cooked with
chopped sauteed cabbage
shredded sauteed carrot
chopped sauteed onion
a few splashe soy sauce
a few drops vinegar
generous amount of garlic/garlic powder
pinch cinnamon or five spice
a couple spoonfuls sugar
a few shakes salt
pepper
a dusting of cayenne or chili powder

You'll probably have filling left over. So, you'll just have to make some more buns!

Veggie Quiche Muffins. It's pastry made from scratch, filled with veggies, cheese and eggs. I made these for Joe to take to work, as I've been on a campaign to actually feed him.
On the opening day of the downtown farmers market, I bought some beautiful barrel-shaped radishes... from which I made baked radish chips that got eaten so fast that I don't have any photos. :-(
Morroccan Carrot soup... so delicious I was calling it a carroty butter cookie in a bowl. I ate it for breakfast it was so good. From Bon Apetit, which is just barely growing on me. I'm going to post the recipe as soon as I post the baozi recipe, if you know what I mean.
Finally, something I didn't cook: Tried some new specials at Da Vinci's while my mom was visiting. The foreground has lobster ravioli with sage and butter sauce. I love sage with pasta.

Another use for cake mix

Chocolate chip banana craisin muffins
1 box chocolate cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup oil
3 mashed bananas
1/2 cup mini chips
handfull of craisins

Spoon into muffin tin, cook until set at 350 degrees.

These came out pretty good. I had to restrain myself from eating more than one on a full stomach.

Don't try this at home

Or anywhere.

Avocado Kiwi Muffins...
It seemed like a pretty inspired thing when I thought of it in the shower. We had two avocados about to walk away, and three kiwis forgotten in the crisper. Both are exotic green fruits... one is rich and fatty, the other sweet and tangy.
Anyhow, if I had added more sugar and flour, I think it might have worked. But the sign that these are truly a failure is that we still have most of them sitting in a bag on the counter. Usually Joe and I polish off a dozen muffins in a day or two.

Avocado Kiwi Muffins
1 cup flour (should have used 1/2 cup more)
2 very ripe kiwis, mashed
1 avocado, mashed
1/3 cup sugar (should have used more)
3 tsp baking powder
1 egg
2 T oil
dash salt
vanilla extract

Mine were done, but dense and gooey inside. Needed more sugar and more flour. Sigh.

Muffin mood

Tripplet cakes:
I've been inspired lately. Here's zuchinni wheat, pumpkin spice and cocoa clementine muffin recipes.

Zuchinni Wheat Muffins
1/2 cup unbleached flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1 heaping cup finely grated zuch
3/4 cup sugar
2 egg whites
1/8 cup canola oil

Pumpkin Spice Muffins
1 cup unbleached flour
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 egg whites
2/3 cup sugar
1/8 cup canola oil

Cocoa Clementine Muffins
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup unbleached flour
pinch salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 small can mandarin oranges, drained and lightly squished
about 1/2 cup orange juice- or enough to make batter a little thicker than pancake batter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg

For any of these recipes, mix dry ingredients in a big bowl, wet ingredients in a medium bowl. Combine and stir til moistened.
Makes 12 muffins at 350 for 20-30 minutes. Just test doneness by pressing on the top of a muffin with your finger. If it springs back, it's done.

More oven lovin'

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Wet ingredients:
2 mashed bananas
1 egg
1/4 cup oil
2/3 cup sugar

Dry ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
pinch salt

Add wet to dry, stir a little then fold in
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Spoon into muffin cups, cook until they look done at 350.
Still lovin the oven. (Now all I need to do is visit the Love Library, right Julie?)

Love my oven

Oven theater presents:
It's not a special oven, really. I mean it's just standard. But to me it's special. I never had such a nice oven in the five years I've been married. It's full size. I can fit 9x13s and muffin pans and cookie sheets in it. It works. BOTH heating elements get red hot. And it has a light and a little window.

For fun, I like to push back the dish rag curtains and watch the show of muffins rising. Joe laughs. But laughter quickly is silenced, muffled ... by one of the tasty muffins of my performance produces.

After making vegan (read: I ran out of eggs) zucchini muffins, I made a dozen banana chocolate chip muffins... Joe's request.

So you might have guessed I'm feeling human again. Though my sinuses are swelling intermittently as the battle grounds for my immune system and that nasty bug. My side is fighting the battle, like good little white blood cells should.

But I think I'll go help them along in the best way I know how. Good night!

Edited 8/31:
Rachel reminded me to put up the recipes. ;)
For "vegan" zucchini muffins:
Dry Ingredients:
1 cup flour
3 tsp baking powder
pinch salt

Wet Ingredients:
heaping cup of grated zucchini (I use a grater with really small holes)
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup canola oil (or a little less)
a little vanilla extract

Pour one bowl into the other, stir til moistened. Spoon mixture into muffin cups and cook at 350 until tops turn golden brown. Because they don't have eggs, they don't really rise above the muffin cups. But they taste really good. You can also stir one egg into the wet ingredients and get regular muffins that are also tasty.

Weekend warriors

It didn't rain this weekend. Several weeks ago we scouted out a camp site on a little grassy penninsula with four different paths to the lake. We arrived around 6 on Saturday night and just barely had time to gather firewood, make our dinner and pitch the backpacker's tent that we haven't used since our honeymoon in the Appalachians in '01. We were both pretty exhausted ... and my hands were too sticky from s'mores to take photos that evening. Our peaceful plot was actually quite noisey. The frogs in LBL are not normal ribbiting frogs. They sound more like hogs with megaphones. Anyway, they're also very long winded. I didn't sleep much, but I was still happy when our tent was surrounded by sunbeams and birdsong. Even if it was only 5:00. We managed to get into the tent without more than 2 insects inside with us. But when we woke up, we could hear the buzzing swarms just outside. So we stayed in and ate some muffins.

They look like blueberry. But they're plum-peach with strawberry jam surprise middles.

Finally, I left Joe to snooze longer, and ventured to see what all the buzzy chirpyness was about. And I found dozens of fuzzy bumblebees having their breakfast too.

Then I spent some time appreciating the lake views and getting my toes wet in the dewy grass.

When I finished, there were some other visitors to the tent. But for some reason, blogger isn't letting me post the pics. So they will remain a mystery until I get a chance to edit this.