Comfort Food

 Welcome!

Paper snowflake kaleidoscope by inkspired 

Had enough snow/ice/wet?

Tired of being cold?

I think it’s time to make some comfort food!

Buttermilk biscuits

Comfort food is just that -

 food that comforts you.

It is a food that reminds you of home, your family, a gathering or coffee with friends.

Happy memories!

Yay, Sesame Street!

I have my favorites.

Yours will be different.

However, perhaps some of my favorites 

might become some of your comfort foods. 

If you choose to share some of your favorites,

maybe I will find new faves also!

Here is one of my comfort foods recipes:

Ooey Gooey South Saint Louis 

Butter Cake

With a name like that, you know it’s going to be good!

Ingredients:

1 yellow cake mix, any brand

1/2 Cup butter, melted

1 egg

****** ****** ******* ******* *******

8 Oz. Package cream cheese

2 eggs

1 box confectioners/powdered sugar,

(This is approximately 3 and 3/4 Cups)

 reserving 1/4 Cup if desired

***** ***** ****** ****** **** *****

Directions:

Heat oven to 350’

Combine first 3 ingredients

and press into the bottom of a greased pan 

(9x12 works great)

Set aside.

With mixer, combine last 3 ingredients 

and pour over first mixture in the pan.

Bake at 350’ for 1/2 hour

or until the top is golden brown.

If desired, sprinkle 1/4 Cup reserved powder sugar over top.

This cake will slightly ‘fall’ in the middle, and cracks a bit on top.

We enjoy it warm or cold.

My mom discovered 3 different recipes 

with similar ingredients and directions.

3 different names!

So we tweaked all three into one

and that is how we got

Ooey Gooey South Saint Louis Butter Cake!

A little Star Wars Food Fun

Found on Pinterest, unknown 

My comfort food involves a lot of carbohydrates 

like noodles, cake, bread and potatoes.

So naturally I have favorite recipes to satisfy this.

Pecan Cranberry Muffins

Makes about 18 good sized muffins

Ingredients:

 1 1/2 Cup chopped cranberries, fresh or frozen

1 1/4 Cup sugar, divided

3 Cups flour

4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 Cup butter/margarine

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 Cup milk

1 Cup chopped pecans

1 Tablespoon grated lemon peel

Directions:

In a bowl toss chopped cranberries with 1/4 Cup sugar 

Set aside.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt and remaining sugar.

Cut in butter until mixture looks like coarse crumbs.

Combine eggs and milk;

 stir into flour mixture just until moistened.

Fold in pecans, lemon peel and sugared cranberries.

Fill greased or paper lined muffin cups about 2/3 full.

Bake at 400’ for 20 - 25 minutes,

or until lightly browned.

(I buy extra cranberries every Fall and freeze them.)

A few of you may have noticed that I have 

posted this recipe before.

Since I have been blogging since

February 17, 2011

I thought it might be a good idea 

to try and gather faves together.

Saves you a lot of ‘search time’!

Kaleidoscope by inkspired 

It is common for Comfort Food to include 

sugar, chocolate, and saturated fats.

Sounds good to me!

Photo courtesy Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk

The Originator of this Recipe.

Magic Cookie Bars

Preheat oven to 350’, or 325’ for glass pans.

Melt 1 stick (1/2 Cup) butter in 13”x9”pan.

Add, in order:

1 1/2 Cups graham cracker crumbs

1 14oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 Cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 Cup butterscotch chips, 

1 Cup coconut

1 Cup chopped nuts

Press down with fork.

Bake 25 minutes or lightly brown

Let cool a bit before cutting into squares.

*******************************

- you can also use 9” x 9” pan. Let bake 4 more minutes.

-LOTS of substitutions for different tastes such as:

Raisins

M&Ms, including mini M&Ms

Dried cranberries

Mini marshmallows

Any flavor chips, like peanut butter chips

Go discover some faves of your own!

Now the recipe I am most familiar with has the sweetened condensed milk poured over everything as the last/final ingredient. There are MANY slightly different recipes out there.

The Swedish Chef, The Muppets

Up next-

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Prepare greased and floured Bundt pan

or Angel Food Cake pan

Ingredients:

1 Cup butter/margarine

2 Cups sugar

2 eggs

1 Cup sour cream

2 Cups sifted flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking powder

**********************

1 Cup chopped pecans

4 Tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

Cream butter and sugar well.

Add eggs one at a time; beat well after each egg.

Fold in sour cream and vanilla.

Mix dry ingredients; add to creamed mixture.

Pour half mixture into greased/floured Bundt pan,

 or angel food cake pan.

******************************

Mix chopped pecans, brown sugar & cinnamon.

Sprinkle 3/4 mixture on top of batter in pan.

Try to not let this mix touch sides of pan.

Top with other half of batter, 

and sprinkle on top rest of nut mixture.

************************

Bake at 350’ for 45-60 minutes.

Cool cake 10 minutes.

Using spatula, loosen edges from pan 

and turn upside down to remove cake from pan.

This coffee cake is dense and great warm or cold.

Mine almost always breaks and part of it remains in the pan. Grease/flour carefully and try to not let the ‘filling’ touch the sides to help prevent this.

Recipe from ‘Miller’s Collection of Recipes’

By WJ Miller

This next one has remained a fave since I got it back in 1979!

Mrs. Schindler’s Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients 

3 cans cream of chicken soup

1 pint sour cream

8 Oz. Can Diced green chilies

1 pound grated cheddar cheese

Tortilla chips

2-3 chicken breasts, cooked & cut up

Directions

Combine soup, sour cream, chilies 

and chicken in a bowl.

In the bottom of a 9”x13” pan 

place a layer of broken tortilla chips.

Spoon 1/2 of soup mixture over top with 1/2 of the grated cheese. Repeat (chips, soup mix, cheese)

Bake at 350’ for 30 minutes, uncovered.

This is a great potluck dish to share!

This next one, even though it includes peas, 

is a winner in my recipe box.

Hidden Valley Ranch Crunchy Pea Salad

Ingredients

1 10 Oz. Package frozen peas, thawed

1 Cup chopped celery

1 Cup chopped cauliflower

1/4 Cup chopped green onion

1 Cup roughly chopped cashews

1/2 Cup sour cream

1 cup Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing

(Optional garnish- crisp cooked crumbled bacon)

Combine all ingredients EXCEPT cashews & bacon.

Chill.

Add bacon and cashews just before serving.

Recipe from Hidden Valley salad dressings

I have more comfort food recipes to share,

Yet I think I best post this before y’all give up on me!

Sometimes Life falls into the ‘hectic’ category, doesn’t it?

‘Til next time,

inkspired

Do You Know The Muffin Man? more nursery rhymes

Salem

(Kazakh for 'hello')

I took this picture from our car window in Estes Park ,CO.

Those are elk with elk babies.

Do you know the Muffin Man?

The Muffin Man? The Muffin Man.

Do you know the Muffin Man?

Who lives in Drury Lane?

Yep, I'm gonna' be singing that all day....

c.1913

"One of the very nicest things about life

is the way we must regularly stop

whatever it is we are doing

and devote our attenton to eating."

- Luciano Pavarotti (and William Wright)

from 'Pavarotti, My Own Story'

The following recipes are from

'Better Homes & Gardens new Cook Book'

c.1968, 8th Edition, Seventh Printing, c.1974



My all time favorite that I fall back on again and again:

Best-Ever Muffins

makes 12+

1 3/4 all purpose flour

1/4 Cup sugar

2 1/2 tsps baking powder

tiny dash of salt

1 well-beaten egg

3/4 Cup milk

1/2 Cup canola oil, or melted shortening

Heat oven to 400'

Sift dry ingredients into bowl; make well in center.

Combine egg, milk and oil. Add all at once to dry ingredients.

Stir quickly just till dry ingredietns are moistened.

Fill paper lined muffin pans, or well greased muffin pans 2/3 full.

Bake at 400' about 25 minutes.

Now here is the extra fun part:

Blueberry Muffins:

Prepare batter above.

Gently stir in 1 Cup fresh or thawed and well-drained frozen blueberries.

and more fun....

Jelly Muffins:

Prepare muffin batter above.

Before baking, top batter in each pan with 1 tsp. tart jelly.

(Really, any kind of jelly works!)

and MORE Muffin Fun:

Cranberry-cube Muffins:

Prepare muffin batter above .

Fill muffin pans 1/3 full.

Cut 1 Cup canned jellield cranberry sauce in 1/2" cubes;

     sprinkle over batter.

Add remaining batter.

Bake as directed.

c.1914

"Never eat more than you can lift."

- Miss Piggy

littlereadersapp.com

"I did toy with the idea of doing a cook-book...

The recipes were to be the routine ones:

how to make dry toast, instant coffee,

hearts of lettuce and brownies.

But as an added attraction, at no extra charge,

my idea was to put a fried egg on the cover.

I think a lot of people who hate literature

but love fried eggs

would buy it if the price was right."

- Groucho Marx, Hollywood comic actor

from 'Groucho and Me', c.1959

mothergooseclub.com

Here is another all time favorite,

from the same BH&G new Cook Book:

Oatmeal Muffins

makes about 12 - 18 muffins

1 Cup quick-cooking rolled oats

1 Cup milk

1 Cup all-purpose flour

1/3 Cup sugar

3 tsps baking powder

tiny dash of salt

1 well-beaten egg

1/4 Cup canola oil or melted shortening

Heat oven to 425'.

Combine rolled oats and milk; let stand 15 minutes.

Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, and tiny dash of salt into bowl.

Combine egg, oil and oatmeal mixture.

Add all at once to sifted dry ingredients, stirring just to moisten.

Fill greased muffin pans, or paper lined muffin pans 2/3 full.

Bake at 425' for 20 - 25 minutes.

These are some add-ins that I have experimented with, and like:

Add to the batter:

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1 pared, and chopped apple

Sorry, I didn't get the name of this artist,

but he has done some fantastic art of nursery rhymes!

I'll track his name down and let you know later.

chocolate chip muffins

"Dessert...too much of a good thing

 is wonderful."

- Mae West, self made Hollywood star, writer, producer

Strawberry Muffins with white chocolate chips & frosting

Hmmm...

it's hard to pick just one more favorite.

This is one of my husband's faves, so I'll give you that one!

Peanut Butter Muffins

makes 18

2 Cups all-purpose flour

1/2 Cup sugar

2 1/2 tsps baking powder

tiny dash of salt

............................................

1/2 Cup chunky or smooth peanut butter (I always use chunky)

2 Tbs butter or margarine

1 Cup milk

2 well-beaten eggs

.............................................

1/4 Cup currant jelly, melted

1/2 Cup finely chopped peanuts

..............................................

Heat oven to 400'

Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and tiny bit of salt.

Cut in peanut butter and butter till mixture resembles coarse crumbs. (If you don't have a pastry cutter - get one! They are perfect for this recipe, and many other uses also)

Add milk and eggs all at once, stirring just till moistened.

Fill greased or paper lined muffin pans 2/3 full.

Bake in hot oven (400') for 15 - 17 minutes.

This is where I stop, and just serve them.

The recipe calls for this one more step:

Immediately brush tops with melted jelly; dip in peanuts.

Serve hot.

vinyl children's record

I'm not going to give specific directions for these next couple of muffins, but I think we can all figure them out!

Tint your muffin batter with just a couple of drops of green food coloring. Your'e going for a light green.  Chop up 1/2 Cup to 3/4 Cups pistachio nuts - natural, not dyed red! Add these to the batter right before you are ready to scoop into your muffin pans.

Yum!

This also gives me ideas for St. Patrick's Day muffins...

Mocha Chocolate Chip Muffins

Experiment! Try instant coffee to get the mocha taste.

Or, just search online. Tons of recipes there!

c.1909

"As for butter versus margarine,

I trust cows more than chemists."

- Joan Gussow

Neopolitan Muffins

Mix up 3 batches of plain muffin batter.

Divide into thirds.

Tint 1/3 light pink

Tint 1/3 with a bit of cocoa powder for light brown

leave 1/3 alone

Drop a tsp. of batter #1 into the paper lined

or greased muffin pans. Follow with 1 tsp. of color #2,

follow with 1 tsp of color #3.

Voila!

For the pretty presentation, be sure to remove paper liners (if you have used them) before serving.

c.1911

"In examining the potential of individuals, we must focus on their strengths

 and not just their mistakes.

We cannot be limited

by what they may have spilled

in the kitchen."

- William Pollard

I'm ending today with a picture of my son's favorite muffin:

Lemon Poppy seed Muffins:

Go forth and bake!

inkspired

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

dominoes@myinkspired.com

Punches, Quotes and Oatmeal Muffins

It's a beautiful day today. A storm is blowing in, and all the trees and grass are tipped with lovely white crystals. I love it when that happens - it is so pretty.

"Begin doing what you want to do now.

We are not living in eternity.

We have only this moment,

sparkling like a star in our hand -

and melting like a snowflake."

- Francis Bacon, Sr.

Thank you to those who have given me some feedback. After some consideration, I will try to streamline this blog and make it a bit shorter. I suppose it doesn't make sense to expect everyone to want to read an "inkspired  book" every day! :0)

Let me know what you think!

Tip:  Punches

Are your paper punches just not punching as well as when you first used them?

Fold a piece of wax paper (I use 1 sheet folded into fourths.)

Punch through the wax paper several times. Use a toothpick or sewing pin to pick out any pieces of wax paper that may have gotten stuck in the intricate design ones.

Repeat, only this time with a piece of aluminum foil, again folded into fourths.

Punch through several times.

Doing these two steps can really perk up sluggish punches that have been ripping your paper, and encourage them to punch their best!

Here is a great muffin recipe that is easy to make, tastes really good, and is good for you!

OATMEAL MUFFINS

pre-heat oven to 425'

1 Cup quick cooking rolled oats

1 Cup milk

Combine rolled oats and milk; let stand 15 minutes

while you assemble the rest of the ingredients.

1 Cup sifted all-purpose flour

1/3 Cup sugar

3 tsp baking powder

dash of salt

1 well-beaten egg

1/4 cup canola oil or melted shortening (I always use canola oil)

Mix:

Sift flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into bowl.

Combine egg, oil and oatmeal mixture. Add all at once to sifted dry ingredients, stirring just to moisten.

TIP: over mixing muffins make them condensed and tough after baking.

Fill muffin pans 2/3 full. You need to either grease the muffin tins, or use paper baking cups. I like the ease and no-clean-up of the paper ones!

Bake:

425' for 20 - 25 minutes. Makes about 16 muffins.

Let cool a few minutes so the paper wrapping comes off easier.

Add-ins, if desired:

3/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp nutmeg

1 pared and chopped apple

1/2 cup of chocolate chips, or butterscotch chips

1/2 cup raisins or chopped dried apricots

or my husband's new favorite - dried cherries!

Remember, laugh at least once today!

inkspired

http://www.inkspiredmusings.blogspot.com/

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

dominoes@myinkspired.com