Week 1 Thursday: Raspberry Jelly in the Middle Muffins, French Basil Chicken with Pine Nuts, Orzo and Butterscotch Blondies

 

It's Thursday morning of Week One.

 

It rained all night last night, so we woke up to a wet world with a slight chill in the air. The perfect kind of morning for a warm bread like fresh baked muffins.

 

And Jelly in the Middle Muffins are my children's favorite muffin. I've made them with lots of different kinds of jellies and jams: strawberry, apple cinnamon, razzleberry, huckleberry, blueberry and more. Today I am going to use raspberry - it's such a good mix of sweet and tart.

 

On the menu for dinner is French Basil Chicken with Pine Nuts over Orzo pasta.

I've got fresh basil growing in the garden so I get excited whenever I have a good dish to use it in. I can't wait to eat it tonight. This chicken dish is really good - it's got tomatoes, herbs, garlic, onions and artichokes in it. It's got a rich flavor but feels very light and so it pairs well with a tiny pasta like orzo.

Butterscotch Blondies are a favorite dessert of mine from my childhood. I love butterscotch. But I'm still looking for the perfect blondie recipe. I've tried several and they're all good but not exactly what I'm looking for - so I'm trying a new recipe tonight. We'll see!

 

Raspberry Jelly in the Middle Muffins





 French Basil Chicken with Pine Nuts, Orzo and Butterscotch Blondies

BREAKFAST:

 

 

1. First put the egg in warm water to bring it to room temperature. Then measure the 2 cups of flour, 1/2 cup of sugar, baking powder and salt into a medium size mixing bowl.

 

2. Add the cinnamon and nutmeg and whisk well to combine.

 

3. Make a "well" in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the milk, oil and egg.

4. Whisk to incorporate. If the batter is too thick or if there is not enough liquid to incorporate the dry ingredients, add a little more milk. The batter should be thick but stir-able. {The batter needs to be thick enough to hold the jelly but thin enough to make a tender crumb.}

5. Generously grease the tins of a muffin tin. Pour about 1/3 cup of batter into each one.
Then put 1-2 Tbsp of any flavor of jelly or jam in the middle of the batter in each tin.
I used Raspberry today.

6. Use the remaining batter to cover the jelly in each tin. Use the back of a spoon to smooth the batter to completely encase the jelly inside of batter in each tin.

 7. Bake at 425 degrees for 14-16 minutes or until the tops of each muffin is just beginning to turn golden brown. Let them sit for a few minutes before removing them from the tins. The jelly inside will be burning lava hot - so let cool a bit. But the wait is worth it because they are so good. ENJOY!

DINNER:

 

 THESE STEPS I DID IN THE MORNING

 1. Put the chicken in a crockpot set on LOW - it can still be frozen.
(My crockpot got a crack in it so - I lined it with foil to keep it from leaking).

  

2. Chop  the onion (I used my Ninja to chop mine). Add it on top of the chicken.

Then pour the diced tomatoes on top.

 

 3. Add the garlic, Herbes de Provence and salt and pepper.

4. I grow fresh basil and thyme in my garden, both of which are in Herbes de Provence - so I also added some of these from my garden.

5. I poured in white grape juice (instead of white wine) and a bouillon cube and cup or water for the broth. The I poured a jar of artichokes on top and put the lid on to cook on LOW all day.

 

 

 THESE STEPS I DID AT DINNER TIME
6. I chopped up the bell pepper. (I used an orange instead of red one). And tossed it into the pot.

7. Now it's time to thicken the sauce. I put 2 Tbsp of cornstarch in a small dish and added cold water to dissolve it. Then I added a few spoonfuls of the hot liquid that is cooking with the chicken in the pot. (This prevents lumps from forming when thickening). Then I poured the cornstarch mixture into the pot and stirred it in and let it boil to thicken.

8. While the sauce thickened, I cooked the Orzo pasta. If you've never used Orzo it is pasta that is shaped similar to rice. It's very good. After I drained the pasta, I served the chicken on top of it with the sauce, fresh basil and toasted pine nuts on top. ENJOY!

 

DESSERT:

 

I am still looking for the perfect butterscotch blondies recipe. I have tried many that are good but none are exactly what I am looking for in this dessert. So I am trying another variation today - it's similar to ones I 've tried before. We'll see!

 

1. First I put the egg in a bowl of warm water to bring it to room temperature. Then I melted the butter in a medium sized saucepan and cooked it until it was browned.

2. Then pour the browned butter into a medium sized mixing bowl and let it cool a little - but it should still be warm. Then add the brown sugar and whisk to incorporate.

 

3. Add the egg and vanilla and whisk until combined.

4. Pour the flour and salt in and then use a rubber spatula to gently fold it in together until it is incorporated.

5. Add the one cup butterscotch chips and fold in with the rubber spatula.

 

6. Generously grease an 8x8" baking pan. Spread the batter in it and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Don't over-bake these- they are best gooey and can become crunchy and crisp rather quickly!

 

 7. They are done when they are only lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean. ENJOY!

 

 * The original Butterscotch Blondies recipe I used called for cooking them for 40 minutes which sounded really long! My standard recipe I've used has a 20 min cooking time. So I only cooked them for 30 min but it turned out to be really too long. So I threw those out and made a new batch and cooked them for only 18 minutes. It was perfect. They were good, soft with a sweet brown sugary flavor that complimented the butterscotch. Yum!