I was cleaning out our freezer a few weeks ago and discovered a giant ziplock bag filled with blueberries I had frozen last summer and completely forgotten about. I don't remember what I had the intention of doing with them at the time, but last week, muffins sounded like a good idea. And since blueberries and lemons are a great pairing, I threw some lemon into the mix as well. Can't go wrong with lemon blueberry muffins for breakfast! Shawn was particularly happy because he has been asking me to make muffins for a while. He doesn't like bananas, so my favorite muffins don't work for him.

Unfortunately, when I went to find my go-to basic muffin recipe, I could not find my recipe binder anywhere! Shawn and I looked around the apartment for a half hour or so, until we eventually gave up. I'm definitely bummed because that binder has all of my recipes in it. Yep, every single recipe that I have been making for the last 7 years or so. And I really have no idea where it could possibly have run off to. Last I remember, it was sitting on the bookcase next to some cookbooks, and now it's no longer there. Perhaps this is a chance to start fresh? But man, there were some really damn good recipes in there! And I definitely don't remember them all from memory.


Still determined to make muffins, I looked to King Arthur Flour for a basic muffin recipe and found one that is pretty darn close to the one I was using. The muffins turned out delicious! But I still haven't tracked down my recipe binder....

Lemon Blueberry Muffins

slightly adapted from King Arthur Flour
makes 6 jumbo sized muffins
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup milk
1/4 cup canola oil
2 eggs
2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen; I used ones I froze last summer)
zest of one lemon
turbinado sugar

- Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Line a muffin pan with paper liners.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. In a small bowl or pitcher, combine the milk, oil, and eggs. Whisk until completely combined.
- Stir the blueberries in the dry ingredients until they're fully coated. Then fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, making sure not to over mix! You may see a few bubbles of flour, but that's okay; over mixing the batter will lead to tough muffins.
- Use a spoon or a large scoop to fill the muffin liners 3/4 full. Sprinkle about a teaspoon of turbinado sugar* atop each muffin. Lower the temperature of the oven to 400 degrees** and bake the muffins until golden brown on top, about 15 - 20 minutes.
- Let cool completely. Enjoy!

* The turbinado sugar helps give the muffins a nice crunchy top. You can skip this step if you don't want the extra crunch!
** Baking the muffins at such a high temperature may seem odd at first, (it did to me) but it's the heat that activates the baking powder and gives the muffins that beautiful domed top that you want!

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Jammin' on Between Three Kitchens

I posted my super simple recipe for strawberry rhubarb refrigerator jam over at Between Three Kitchens; you should definitely check it out if you're into that kinda thing.



Have I ever mentioned Between Three Kitchens on here before? It's a food blog that some friends and I share. I wanted a place where I could post recipes without people needing to see all the intimate details of my life too. But I knew I wouldn't have content frequently enough to post on my own, so I invited some friends to join in on the action, and Between Three Kitchens was born. We've been terrible about updating since our 'launch' over a year ago, but I'm hoping to flip that around this year and be more diligent in posting over there. My ultimate goal is to move all my recipes from here over to there, but first I'd like to make them all again to get some new photos and to see if anything needs tweaking. Well, that sounds like quite the project!

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Breakfast Platter

Having grown up in New Jersey, to me (and I'm sure Shawn would also agree) there's no better breakfast sandwich than a pork roll, egg & cheese on a kaiser bun (The band Ween even wrote a song about it!). Bacon is yummy as all hell, and so is sausage... but if you want a true breakfast sandwich, pork roll is where it's at! Unfortunately, pork roll seems to be primarily a Jersey thing- good luck trying to find some outside of the tri-state area. The packaged stuff is in most grocery stores, but finding a deli/restaurant that makes sandwiches with it is a whole other story. Lucky for us, there's a small deli only four miles away that serves up some of the best pork roll egg & cheese sandwiches I have ever tasted...

But that's not what this breakfast post is about, because I didn't get a pork roll egg & cheese this morning... I got a breakfast platter. Two eggs (over-easy for me!), with cheese, hash browns, and toast. With a side of pancakes. Yes, you read that right- I got the platter, plus three tasty fluffy round pancakes. (Because, you know, eggs and all that jazz just isn't enough for a grumbly Marine belly.) And as evidenced in the photo below, I devoured nearly everything.

Shush. I'll let you in on a secret... I actually ate more after the photo was taken. Oh, and that cheese danish off to the side there? That was Shawn's breakfast. Which he didn't even finish. This is why we rarely go out for breakfast together - I'm a monster in the morning! And now there's photographic evidence. I guess Shawn just isn't one of those people that wakes up with a grouchy stomach that won't stop yelling obscenities at you until you fill it with something. What? Your stomach doesn't do that to you? Well, maybe my appetite and I need to have a sit-down chat one of these days.... one that includes eggs, potatoes, and pancakes.

The best part is, when we went to pick up the order the woman at the register asked if we'd be paying for everything together, and then she threw in two sets of forks and knives. Heh! If only she knew. (Actually, it's probably better that she didn't.) I don't need the whole world knowing I'm secretly housing a monster in my belly. Don't worry, I charge him a hefty rent... and then I give him all the food he can eat.

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Chocolate, it's what's for Breakfast

I took our usual pancake recipe and added some cocoa powder to it; BAM! New and improved pancakesters.

Chocolate pancakes, with chocolate chips, topped with more chocolate chips. Oh. My. Chocolate.


A little pancake mushroom!



To add glory to glory, maple syrup tops off these little beauties; because what are pancakes without maple syrup?



Shawn seems to think pancakes are finger food. I disagree, but making messes is his specialty.

And now you can go enjoy your chocolate-less morning while being jealous of ours.

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Pancakes on my plate!

There's no substitution for real maple syrup and homemade chocolate chip pancakes...

Reader question time! How do you like your pancakes?
Fluffy and chocolatey like us? Perhaps a little fruity? Topped with whipped cream? How about tiny silver dollar pancakes versus huge plate sized ones? Flat or big and fluffy? Real maple syrup or the corn syrup loaded fake stuff? We want to know!!!

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