Surprise yourself & others by creating delicious food and great ideas for everyday life.

Lemon Olive Oil Roasted Carrots

by Suzanne on February 8, 2012

in Side Dish

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I am a big fan of roasted veggies, roasting them seems to bring out a sweetness that you can’t get by steaming or boiling. I got inspired when reading another food blog called A Food Centric Life she made these beautiful roasted carrots a while back, they stayed in my memory bank as something to try. When I made the lemon infused olive oil I knew that I wanted to try it out on roasted carrots .  I loved the flavor the oil gave to the carrots and I think you will too. The carrots have a light bright lemon taste from the olive oil and they are flavor packed from the garlic and thyme leaves.  Lemon oil roasted carrots will go with chicken, pork, beef or fish .  If you want to try these out but don’t want to make a big batch of lemon olive oil then try putting a 1/4 cup of oil in a jar with the rind of 1 lemon and let it sit for about 5 days, then your ready to use.

Lemon Olive Oil Roasted Carrots

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Ingredients:
1/2 lb.fresh carrots
1 T. lemon olive oil
1/2 tsp. dried thyme leaves
1 garlic gloved pressed
1/2 tsp. kosher salt

Directions:
Step 1: Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees Farenhieght. Wash the carrots peel and cut them into julienne strips.
Step 2: Put carrots into a zip-loc bag or medium bowl and put the rest of the ingredients in close the bag and shake well so all the carrots are coated. If using a bowl just toss until well coated.
Step 3:Put carrots on a cookie sheet, spread around so they are not all in one heap and put into the oven the rack should not be right at top or at the highest, the next level down is fine. Cook for about 15 minutes or until they are tender and a little browned.
Serves:4

Tagged as: carrots

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Chocolate Love~Chocolate Chunk Ricotta Muffins

by Suzanne on February 4, 2012

in Muffins

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Who believes that there is such a thing as muffins? Well, keep telling yourself that because it seems to make it easier on the conscious to eat cake for breakfast . I like to think these little chocolate chunk cupcakes are muffins so that is what I’m sticking with . If you have a craving for chocolate then this is the blog hop to be a part of, you will want to bookmark this so that you can use it for a chocolate reference for the future. I am so glad to be a part of this wonderful group of bakers/bloggers who turn out beautiful and delicious food not only once a month but daily, so don’t forget to show some chocolate love and check out the other foodies recipes. I am a chocolate lover and I have to eat it daily even if it’s just a handful of chocolate chips, I have grown to love dark chocolate over the years and now health professionals are even saying it’s good for you, gotta love that. I wanted to try a baking recipe that had ricotta cheese since I have been seeing some recipes with it and I wondered how well it works, that’s when I found this recipe from Joy of Baking.  If you haven’t been to Stephanie’s site you need to check out all the wonderful recipes she has, wow! The recipe I used here is fabulous, I made some miner changes, I used chocolate chunks instead of chocolate chips and sifted all my dry ingredients to get any lumps out. I’m here to tell you that these muffins are really good, they have a great texture, they are dense and chocolaty but not too heavy feeling. The sweetness in these muffins is just right for a guilt free breakfast. The only thing I would change the next time I bake them would be to use half cake flour to get a lighter muffin and maybe some cinnamon and nuts, I like the flavor of cinnamon with my chocolate.

Chocolate Love~Chocolate Chunk Ricotta Muffins

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Ingredients:
1 cup ricotta cheese (239 g.)
2 eggs 1 1/3 cup milk (298 g.)
1 T. vanilla extract
4 T. unsalted butter melted and cooled (54 g.)
2 cups flour (260 g.) 1 1/4 cup sugar (250 g.)
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder(60 g.)
2 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup chocolate chunks or chocolate chips

Directions:
Step 1: Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a large muffin pan (6 muffins) with cooking spray, or use a regular 12 muffin pan sprayed with cooking spray or use baking cups.
Step 2: In a medium size mixing bowl whisk the ricotta cheese with eggs until well mixed. Whisk in milk and vanilla and set aside.
Step 3: In a large mixing bowl sift all the dry ingredients together to get out any lumps. Stir together the dry ingredients so the cocoa powder is incorporated well.
Step 4: Add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients and stir just until combined, do not over mix, then fold in chocolate chips.
Step 5: Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full because of the ricotta being heavier they will not rise as high as normal muffins would, so they need to be filled 3/4 full.
Step 6: Bake for 30 minutes if using large muffin pan, if using a regular muffin pan bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. When the muffins come out of oven let cool in pan for 10 minutes then turn out onto cooling rack. Enjoy!
Makes: 9 large muffins or 16 regular size muffins.

Tagged as: bloghop, breakfast, chocolate, muffins

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