Whole Grain Cranberry Muffins

These healthy and absolutely YUMMY muffins, are loaded with cranberries and nuts and flavored with orange are 100% whole-grain -- and they taste AMAZING!

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour or White Whole Wheat Flour

3/4 cup quick-cooking rolled oats

1/4 cup buttermilk powder or nonfat dry milk

2/3 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries,*

chopped1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

1 tablespoon orange zest (finely grated orange peel)

2 large eggs

3/4 cup milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil or melted butter

Glaze 2 tablespoons orange juice AND 3 tablespoons sugar

For sweeter muffins you can substitute 1 cup sweetened dried cranberries (but those have added sugar!)

DIRECTIONS:

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients, then stir in the cranberries and nuts. Whisk together the orange zest, eggs, milk, and oil or melted butter. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, stirring until blended; don't beat, or your muffins will be tough! Fill 12 greased muffin cups or paper liners about 3/4 full.Bake the muffins in a preheated 350°F oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until they're golden brown. Remove them from the oven, leave them in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a rack.In a small saucepan or the microwave, stir together the glaze ingredients. Bring just to a boil, to dissolve the sugar. Dip the tops of the warm muffins into the glaze. Yield: 12 muffins.

You can make these ahead and heat them up in the microwave, or get up before the kids and serve 'em up fresh out of the oven. These tasty guys are the perfect wholesome breakfast on the cold Carolina mornings we've been having around here. It's been in the low, low 20's lately when we rise and shine!

Do try these when you get the chance.

Keep Warm!

WOW Your Family & Friends with Ravioli or Pasta with VODKA SAUCE

During a recent trip to New York City, I tried a dish which I've seen on menues millions of times but never ordered - Ravioli with Pink Vodka Sauce. Let me tell you, it was one of the most beautifully presented and delicious meals I've ever eaten.

Immediately upon arriving home, I put a pot of sauce on to cook all day and decided to look up a vodka sauce recipe. How EASY and how DELICIOUS! And while this is certainly NOT a Southern Recipe (which is what I typically share, ) this is so good, I want you to try it.

NOTE: I make the sauce and pour it over fresh ravioli (either cheese or veal ravioli). You can certainly use a good quality frozen ravioli, or pasta such as penne, rigatoni, bowties, etc.

VODKA SAUCE

1/4 lb. diced pancetta (Italian bacon) (if desired. this ingredient is NOT mandatory)

1/4 c. butter

1/3 c. vodka

1/2 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 1/2 c. heavy cream

1 1/2 c. tomato sauce

Melt the butter in a large frying pan. When the butter foams, add the diced pancetta. When the pancetta browns slightly (takes 2 to 3 minutes), add the vodka and stir.

After the alcohol burns off (about 3 minutes),

SLOWLY stir in the tomato sauce and cream.

Stir continuously for 5 - 8 minutes.

If you want to serve it over ravioli, place the cooked ravioli on plates and nicely drizzle the sauce over the top. Garnish with fresh, grated parmesan cheese and italian parsley.

If you would like to serve pasta such as penne or rigatoni or even shells, then throw the cooked (al dente!) pasta into the frying pan WITH THE SAUCE and toss. Then place on plates, grate fresh Parmesan over the top and garnish with Italian parsley.

Another idea for this sauce that I've tried is adding a cup or so of chopped tomatoes at the very beginning when you are heating up the butter and pancetta, throw some diced tomatoes in at that point. That gives the sauce a real "al fresca" taste.

HOW EASY IS THAT? And oooooh so impressive. It really is delicious. If you don't make your own sauce and want to use jarred sauce, you can do that to. Just follow the recipe using jarred sauce. I do recommend that you use a fine quality jarred sauce that has less sugar.

Drop me an e-mail or leave a comment if you've tried this and let me know what you think.

Now Mange!! Mange!!!

Mange: (from Middle English manjeue, from Old French manjue, from mangier, meaning to eat)

A Great Day in DC....

Turns out the week before Christmas was the perfect time to visit DC -- no crowds, no traffic and no lines. Awesome! Less than a four hour drive from Raleigh, we got up to DC by 11:00 a.m. We immediately found a place to park (!) and were on our way to the Smithsonian. We parked close to the National Mall so we first took a walk down that to see the Washington Monument and the Capitol Building. It was a beautiful blue, crisp day in Washington and we couldn't have asked for better weather.

Having never been to Washington before, Sabrina and I were both very excited. The city really is very beautiful and immaculately clean -- at least where we were. We only drove up for the day so we were limited in what we could experience. At Blaise's urging we first visited the Air and Space Museum, then the National Gallery and finally the Natural History Musuem. What a wonderful job they did laying these museums out. The buildings are beautiful and the exhibits are meticulously put together and very spacious -- which made the experience all the more pleasant. Did you know that it is absolutely FREE to get in to all of the museums in DC? I guess living in South Florida for so long - I had gotten used to PAYING through the nose for everything -- so I was totally shocked to find out that there is no charge for entrance to all of these spectacular. After the museums closed (5:30p.m.) we made our way over to the White House to take some pictures and then to our ultimate destination -- which was the National Christmas Tree. The White House looked lovely all lit up under the winter sky -- it gave me chills. The National Christmas Tree which was directly across the street from the White House was fun to see as not only was the tree itself pretty impressive, but what we enjoyed even more was seeing all of the U.S. Territory and States' Christmas Trees -- each one decorated by hand made ornaments from the region.


Blaise was amused by me because I was really moved by the experience. It was all very exciting to me and I really felt a sense of pride as I gazed upon the nucleus of our Great Nation (sigh!)

It was a wonderful trip and we are already talking about going back in a few weeks to see more as we barely scratched the surface. Even Sabrina is looking forward to making a return trip as she really wanted to see the contemporary art exhibits and we just didn't have the time.

I'll tell you what -- I think both Blaise and I would take a visit to the Smithsonian over a trip to Disney World any day!