A Tea Journey
It occured to me when I posted my Cranberry Walnut Buttermilk muffin recipe the other day, I have never posted a recipe for apple pie spice. So here it is.
Adapted From Served Up With Love
1 TBS cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp allspice
In a small bowl, combine all the spices. Mix well. Store in an airtight container.
On my day off I was going to remake this recipe and take some new pictures. Instead, I woke up with a nasty cold and no desire to do anything more strenuous than sit in my chair with a blanket and watch back to back to back to back episodes of The Musketeers on Hulu. So you are stuck with the old picture.
I am still playing around with my air fryer. This week, I have been playing around with baking in it. I don’t know why but I wasn’t expecting the air fryer to bake things well. It does. The muffins were some of the most beautifully golden brown all over baked goods I have ever seen.
Silicone muffin cups are the only equipment I bought specifically for the air fryer so far. I bought them because I love to make muffins and the silicone cups are easier to get in and out of the air fryer. If you don’t have them and don’t want to buy any, paper muffin cups work too. You just have to be more careful getting them into the air fryer.
I don’t remember where I found the original recipe but I added the spices, deleted some unnecessary toppings and wrote the air fryer directions.
3/4 cup cranberries, chopped
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
6 TBS sugar
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp apple pie spice
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup canola oil
3 TBS lightly beaten egg
3/4 cup buttermilk
Preheat air fryer to 325 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, apple pie spice and salt. Stir to combine well. In a small bowl, combine the canola oil, egg, and buttermilk.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and stir until just combined Fold in the cranberries and walnuts.
Fill each silicon muffin cup 2/3’s full. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Remove muffins from the air fryer and place on a rack to cool.
I don’t know if it is because its January or if its something about me but the food police have been coming up to me and commenting on my weight and food choices in the grocery store. WTF!!!?? I am a 50 year old woman who is quite capable of making my own food choices without the help of complete strangers.
As for my weight, if all you see when you look at me is a number on a scale, I don’t want to know you. You are missing out on one heck of a good friend. Rant over.
In both cases, the food police approached me because I had Hot Pockets in my cart. I love Hot Pockets. They are my favorite junkfood and happen to be frozen so I thought they would be good to use for some air fryer experiments.
It took a couple of trys to come up with the right time and temperature but in the end they were really good. The even cooking of the air fryer even eliminates that microwave hot spot in the middle of your sandwich so you don’t have hot cheese hanging from your lips when you take a bite and it only takes 12 minutes in the air fryer compared to 30 minutes in the oven. Thats a win/win in my book.
From my air fryer experiments
2 Hot Pocket brand sandwiches
Preheat your air fryer to 360 degrees. Place the Hot Pockets in the air fryer basket and cook 12 minutes, flipping halfway through.
You know what sucks? I find my new favorite thing in the world and its a limited time, when its gone, its gone deal. I found cranberry spice balsamic vinegar at a kitchen speciality store in the local mall. I can’t even begin to tell you how amazing this stuff is.
The cranberry hoarder in me is saying buy the biggest bottle so you never run out. The practical side of me is saying, you buy a 45 dollar bottle of vinegar you aren’t going to be able to afford groceries for the week. Sometimes, I hate my practical side.
What does this have to do with anything? Absolutely nothing but try the recipe anyway.
Adapted From Jars Of Lemons
1/2 lb ground turkey
1 cup spinach
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic, minced
3 bell peppers, various colors
1 TBS pine nuts, crushed
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a medium pan, cook the turkey. While the turkey is cooking, cut the peppers in half and clean out the inner membranes. Finely chop half of one of the peppers, set aside. Add the spinach, finely chopped bell pepper and spices to the turkey. Cook until the turkey is done. Stuff each pepper half with the meat mixture. Sprinkle with pine nuts. Bake for 20 minutes or until the peppers are tender.
I am not particularly inspired to write or cook lately. I haven’t done a full in grocery shop in several weeks so I am running out of everything. I even ran out of salt. What kind of cook runs out of salt? The weather is so cold all I want to do go back to bed and sleep the day away.
I am posting today anyway because last year with all the things going on in my life I wasn’t posting much or as regularly as I used to and I want to get back into the habit.
This is a simple breakfast casserole from the Whole Kitchen Sink. I made some substitutions because I am not particularly fond of sweet potatoes and I already had some cooked red potatoes on hand. I also subbed orange bell pepper for green because I already had those on hand too. If you wanted to get fancy, you could serve this with a fried egg on top. I just put it over greens with just a touch of ranch dressing.
Adapted From The Whole Kitchen Sink
1/2 lb ground turkey
1 cup diced potato
1/2 bell pepper, diced
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1 TBS olive oil
1 1/2 tsp garlic, minced
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 onion powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
In a medium skillet, heat the olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the garlic and diced potatoes. Cook 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they are browned but not cooked through. Add the turkey and spices, brown the turkey for 5 minutes. When the turkey is cooked halfway through, add the green pepper and onion, cook 5-7 more minutes or until the peppers and onions are done to your liking.
A Cuppa And Conversation 