A Perfect Match!

Well, yesterday I had my match day ceremony...that means that I found out where I'll be doing my pediatric residency! In November/December, I went to several different locations and interviewed. Then in February, I submitted a rank order list, telling the powers that be where I wanted to do my residency (and the programs submitted lists telling which residents they wanted). Then, yesterday, all was announced across the entire nation. Before all that, though, my class had a party at a local pizzeria/bar. It was lots of fun to see my fellow classmates, as fourth year has us so spread out we don't ever see each other. Unfortunately, I spent the entire time waiting for a wonderful pizza to come out (this place has LOTS of unique pizzas); however, they never brought one out, so I had to settle for supreme. It was good but not quite what I wanted...oh, well...at least I had fun! The next morning, the alumni association hosted a breakfast for us. My dad was able to attend with me. They had tons of food to choose from. You could make a breakfast burrito, though I chose to just get eggs. They also had grits, waffles, biscuits, hashbrowns, muffins, cinnamon buns, and fruit. I got eggs, which were SO GOOD, grits, which were not so good, an apple muffin, which I ate the top of (that's my signature move!), and fruit...excellent raspberries, cantaloupe, strawberries, and blueberries, all painstakingly grabbed with ice tongs! After breakfast we moved to the student union where the ceremony began. After lots of waiting we all found out where we would be going. About half the class is staying here. We had a couple going to Utah, a girl going to NYU (she was SO excited, jumping in the air!), a guy going to John's Hopkins, a girl going to Mayo Clinic, a guy going to Duke. I am going to be staying here at Blair E. Batson Children's hospital along with three other people from my class (and eight other people from elsewhere)...Sarah, me, Yakela, and Josh. After the ceremony my family went to Walker's Drive-In for lunch. They are known for their grilled redfish sandwich, which my dad got.It has the fish, red onion, cheddar, bacon, avacado, aioli, and is served with sweet potato fries. Philip and Kenna got the hamburger.Kenna had cheddar on hers. Philip got bacon and pepper jack cheese. Mama got the turkey sandwichIt had avacado, pepper jack cheese, tomato, and aioli. I got a grilled chicken salad (after pondering the redfish vs. veggie sandwich - both of which I've had before) that I've never had before. It had green apple, dried cherries, feta, roasted corn, avacado, and grilled chicken on top of field greens with a lemon vinegarette. Very good! I think that some red onion would have made it perfect...and maybe a piece of focaccia. We enjoyed good weather, good food, and good fellowship!

Not Exactly Irish...

For some reason, I tend to have a hard time finding things to do on the weekend. Whenever I try to plan parties or get-togethers, no one is available; so, when my friend Katie said she was available to stay for dinner after we got another friend's baby shower give, I was quite excited. We planned it on Wednesday...but first, the gift. So, Jennifer doesn't know what she's having (which really drives me crazy (for ME) but I'm excited that she's going to have a surprise). We had planned on getting her one of those little bouncers, but the one she registered for was out. Hmmm...I saw a cute one but it was very clearly for a girl...pink, brown, and decorated with birds and flowers! Somehow, I don't think a little boy would appreciate that. HOWEVER, Katie got into her head that we should get that one...so we did! Ahhh...Jennifer just laughed. She thought it was funny. Anyway, after making that purchase, we came home and made a yummy pork chop dish. It has only THREE ingredients...pork chops, potatoes, and saurkraut! Yummy! Total time is probably about 35 minutes. I served it with broccoli...so, instead of corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick's day, I give you pork and saurkraut with a little broccoli for the green! Stay tuned for Chocolate Gooey Buttercakes for dessert! Katie's Pork Chops
pork chops (I had four)
2 large potatoes
1 can saurkraut

Season pork chops on one side with Season All. Place the pork chops in a large skillet, seasoned side down and season the other side. While searing the chops, thinly slice the peeled potatoes. Flip pork chops...do NOT cook all the way through. When seared, remove from pan...spray pan with cooking spray. Place potatoes in the bottom of the pan. Cover with saurkraut. Top saurkraut with pork chops. Cover with a lid OR if you don't have one large enough, use aluminum foil and weigh down with a lid. Cook for 30 minutes on medium head. At the end of the time, test the potatoes with a fork or knife. If tender, remove from heat. Place pork chops and potatoes on plate. Serve with your favorite veggie! Enjoy!

First Omlete

One of my favorite easy meals to make is omelets! You can just pull together some veggies heat them up, put some eggs in, add cheese and top with whatever sauce you want...viola, a healthy, delicious, and comforting dinner. One time when I went home, I pulled out my dad's new pan and made one...oh my, this pan was awesome! So, when Christmas came, it was the only thing on my list. Let's just say that I have thoroughly enjoyed it. Here's a picture of my first omelet from my new pan!
Spinach and mushroom Omlete
handful of spinach
handful of mushrooms
1 egg
egg whites (I use the store brand), just eye-balled
Season-All
goat cheese/feta
salsa

In pan, saute spinach and mushrooms until wilted and soft. While doing this, whisk the egg and egg whites together with the seasoning. When ready, pour over the cooked vegetables. Sprinkle cheese on top. Cook on medium heat. As the eggs cook, slide a spatula under the side of the eggs and allow uncooked eggs to flow to the bottom of the pan. Continue cooking until the visible portion of the eggs is no longer runny but still soft. Flip one half over the other. Allow to cook for one more minute. Remove to plate and place salsa along side for dipping.

Chocolate on Call

So, I know you are all chomping at the bit to know what my resident requested for our last on call snack. Actually, I gave her some choices but when I said brownies, she immediately perked up and said, "Oooooo...brownies!" So, I brought brownies, nutless brownies...I let her choose that, too! So, I went in search of a recipe. Now, I am particular about my brownies. I don't like them cakey and, for some reason, I don't like recipes that use an 8-inch pan. After going through several different recipes I settled on one that I KNEW would be good...one of Emily's! Now, if you have been watching the Food Network recently, you know who Emily is. She is a very talented young lady whose ambition is to go to culinary school. She was a finalist on Ultimate Recipe Showdown and, right now, if vying for a spot as a finalist in Quaker's Oatmeal Showdown (go vote for her and send her to NYC!). This recipe is your basic, fudgy brownie and is pretty simple to make. You probably wouldn't even have to go get anything at the store as it uses items most bakers (and many moms) keep on hand...no cocoa needed...just the basics: eggs, chocolate chips, butter, sugar, flour. Mmmm! Everyone in the lounge enjoyed them...thanks, Emily! Emily's Chewy Fudge Brownies Ingredients:
3/4 cup unsalted butter
14 oz. chocolate chips
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line an 11x8-inch baking dish/pan with foil. Coat foil with shortening/non-stick spray/butter etc. (I LOVE putting foil in my pan, makes clean up and serving SO easy!)

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Turn heat off, and stir in chocolate, until melted. Set aside pan, to cool slightly.

In a medium sized mixing bowl, sift together flour and salt.
In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer on high speed, beat together eggs, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla, for 4 minutes. This will be really light after this time period. Reduce mixer speed to low, and beat in melted chocolate, until combined. Stir in flour until just combined.

Scrape batter into prepared pan, evenly. Bake at 375 degrees F, for 23-25 minutes. Cool brownies (Emily suggests plunging the pan into ice water but I didn't and mine were STILL very fudgy. She also suggests placing in the freezer...my freezer isn't that big!) Cut (if you can't wait until they're cool, use a plastic knife or lettuce knife to cut) and enjoy.

Yield: 15 brownies (per Emily...I probably got 30ish)

Want S'more?

Apparently, you guys like it better when I post my sweets, baked goods, for my previous post about Philip's nachos seems to have gone unnoticed! That's okay...I'll give you cookies! When I was on my internal medicine month in January, I tried to take a treat every time we were on call. I also tried to make new recipes often. One time I decided to try this recipe from Oatmeal Cookie Guy as I had some marshmallows sitting in my baking Rubbermaid, waiting to be used! These are SO good! Maybe freezing the marshmallows helps. I don't know. All I can say is that the next time we were on call I offered a choice to my resident as to what I'd bring. She didn't know but said, "Those cookies you brought last time were really good." Now, I admit, I didn't take those cookies again just because I wanted to make something different (that is coming to a post near you soon!); however, it shows just how good these cookies are that she would request them again! Thanks OCG!S'Mores Oatmeal Cookies from Oatmeal CookieBlog
2 sticks butter
2 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon (T) vanilla
2 cups finely ground graham crackers
1 1/2 cups flour
1 T cinnamon (yes!!!)
1/2 teaspoon (t) salt
1/2 t baking soda
2 cups chocolate chips
2 cups frozen mini marshmallows

Cream together the butter and brown and white sugar. In a small bowl, combine the vanilla and eggs. Whisk together the wet ingredients and add to the creamables. Mix together until smooth. In another large mixing bowl, add the graham crackers, flour, cinnamon, salt, baking soda. Using a spatula, fold together until evenly distributed. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture. Mix until evenly combined. Preheat oven to 350º. Shape dough into balls--about 2 tablespoons each. Place dough balls about 2 inches apart on baking stone or cookie sheet. Bake at 350º for 10 minutes. (Be very careful not to overbake them.) If the cookies feel too underdone when you remove them from the oven, let them set on the cookie sheets for two to three additional minutes. Then place cookies on wire racks to cool.

Nacho, Nacho Man!

This girl is really excited! In just a few minutes I will leave with my friend to go see the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical "Jesus Christ Superstar." SO excited. But before I leave, I want to tell you a story: One cold February day, after a very late breakfast, a boy walked up to his mom and moaned "What's for lunch." She and her daughter made several suggestions...grilled cheese, soup, leftover pizza...none of this pleased the boy. He was inconsolable..."What's for lunch" he moaned. As he and his mom stood at the pantry door, his eyes landed on some refried beans..."Nachos!" He pulled out the chips from the bag as his mom sliced some tomatoes. Next he spooned some refried beans into each chip...very meticulously! Following the beans went some taco meat (which him mom had very smartly frozen from a previous meal. Then some cheese, both the processed variety, melted, and the sliced variety. Then jalapenos and tomatoes...seems like this boy has done this before! Into the oven they went until the cheese was melted and warm! Now the boy doesn't like many extras, but his mom and dad added some sour cream to theirs...seems like the perfect Saturday snunch (that would be snack and lunch combined...what else can you call it when you eat at 3:30?!). He was proud of himself and all enjoyed his efforts! A few weeks later, he turned 23...Happy Birthday, Philip!

Philip's Nachos
1 bag tortilla chips (scoops work well)
1 can refried beans
1 cup (or more) left over taco meat
several cherry tomatoes, sliced
jalapenos
velveeta cheese, melted
jalapeno cheese, torn

Place chips on a baking sheet. Put beans in chips. Sprinkle taco meat over beans. Place jalapenos on meat. Place tomatoes on chips. Pour melted cheese over chips. Place torn jalapeno cheese over chips. Bake in 350 (guessing) degree oven until cheese is melted and nachos are warm. Enjoy!

Obviously, you can tailor this to your tastes by adding or removing or modifying ingredients.

Fudgy February

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge. When I saw the challenge I knew that I wanted to make it when I went home. You see, it was my dad's birthday, and he loves chocolate cake! I was a little leery of making ice cream. I mean, it's February and it's cold...but I decided to try it anyway. How glad am I that I did...it's the first time that I made ice cream and I now know that I can do it! I decided to do all semi-sweet chocolate. Most people will tell you that you MUST use a high quality chocolate...I say, Toll-House morsels work great! Not to say that high quality chocolate probably does have a smoother taste, but this does not have to be a high budget dessert. For me, the hardest part was melting the chocolate. You see, I was unwise in the bowl I chose for the double boiler and it was too small, making the process take a lot longer than it should have. However, this is a fairly straight forward recipe that results in an impressive, delicious, fudgy cake. My dad appreciated the dark taste of the cake. I paired it with a cinnamon ice milk, which I changed a bit...nope, no cream here. The frozen confection ended up being VERY cinnamony...the intensity of the flavor could easily be decreased by reducing the enormous amount of cinnamon used. If you were aware of the intense flavor, it was delicious. I don't think my brother would agree as he nearly choked when he ate it. However, the rest of us and a guest really enjoyed it. Being that it is simply ice milk, it has a very light texture. I felt like I was eating snow!!! The cinnamon really complemented the chocolate nicely. For more results, check out the Daring Bakers here! Chocolate Valentino
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter (I only used 1/2 cup)
5 large eggs separated

1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.
2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.
3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.
4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).
5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.
6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.
7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter. {link of folding demonstration}
8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C
9. Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C.
Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.
10. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.

Cinnamon Ice Milk adapted from Gluten-Free Desserts
3 cups milk
3/4 cup sugar
3 Tablespoons Cinnamon - VERY cinnamony...use less if desired
1 Tablespoon Vanilla
original recipe calls for 1/4 cup cocoa...you can use this to make it chocolate flavored, I just didn't want more chocolate!

Directions

Just place all these ingredients into your mixer's bowl, and mix on low speed until the sugar dissolves and the cocoa and cinnamon are distributed nicely (feel free to alter the blance of cocoa and cinnamon to your liking). Then pull your pre-frozen ice-cream maker bowl from the freezer, placed it in the ice-cream maker machine, and fill the bowl with the mixed ingredients and turned the machine on for 20 minutes or until it is done.

It's a Wrap!!!

Tomorrow, I finish my ethics course. It's been interesting, concerning, and enlightening. I hope that I will be able to put into practice what I've learned and the things I'm convicted of. With spring on the horizon, here is a light and healthy lunch that my mom and I enjoyed over Christmas. It was based off of a sandwich that she had from Panera bread. It was the veggie sandwich. Her sandwich had a pesto on it, but we just used hummus instead. I used a La Tortilla Factory wrap (which I love!) but this would also be delicious on any other tortilla, focaccia bread, or beer bread...of which I will be providing a recipe soon!!! Veggie Wrap
1 tortilla
hummus (see "recipe" below)
lettuce
tomatoes
red onion
cucumber
olive (not on this one but would be GREAT!)
goat cheese

Spread hummus on one side of the tortilla and goat cheese on the other side. Place lettuce on one side. Top with tomatoes, onion, cucumber, and olives. Roll and enjoy!

Hummus (this is how I make it about once a week)
1 can chickpeas, drained
2 Tablespoons olive oil
salt
parsley
garlic or garlic powder
1/2 cup water

Place all ingredients (except water) in food processor. Process (!). Gradually add water until processor runs smoothly. Taste and season as desired. Be careful not to add too much salt! I did this time and the only way we could eat the hummus was on this wrap!

Happy Mardi Gras!!!

Before I show you an easy recipe for King Cake, I want to tell you about a contest at Southern Plate. Christy is giving away an AWESOME Wilton cupcake set. This is a sacrifice to tell you about this contest because I really want to win this...but telling you about it gets me extra entries, so I'll be nice. Drop by here and enter!

I guess I celebrated today a bit early...I had my pancakes on Saturday when I went home! However, the pediatric chief resident's wife, Maggie, gave me a recipe for King Cake that I was excited to try. Overall, this is a very simple recipe. The first proof is only an hour long and the second probably about the same, though I wouldn't know because I accidentally missed that you were supposed to let the formed ring rise! Ooops...wonder if that had anything to do with it being underbakes....ooops again! This was REALLY good. It tasted just like a store bought (which in MS is good) King Cake. The recipe had a simple cinnamon-sugar filling, but on request of my friend Sarah (the one who just had the baby) I did a sweetened cream cheese filling. Makes me wonder if the filling is the reason it was underbaked. The cream cheese certainly added moisture and thickness, so maybe I should have cooked it longer to start with...hmmmm. Overall, I highly recommend this recipe. It's quick and easy and makes TWO cakes...one to keep and one to give away!

King Cake from Maggie

1/4 cup Butter
1 16 oz. carton Sour cream
1/3 cup Sugar
1 teasp Salt
2 pkg Yeast (or four teaspoons)
1 tbsp Sugar
1/2 cup Warm water
2 Eggs
6 1/2 cups Plain flour (six cups directly stirred in, 1/2 cup kneeded in)

Filling:
1 cup Granulated sugar
4 teasp Cinnamon
2 teasp Flour
1/2 cup Butter
2 Token plastic babies
OR (per king cake)
1 block cream cheese
1/2 cups sugar

Frosting:
3 cups Powdered sugar
3 tbsp Butter, melted
3 to 5 tbsp Milk
Colored sugar for garnish

Mix first 4 ingredients in a saucepan. Heat until butter melts. Let mixture cool.
Dissolve yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar in warm water in a large bowl. Let stand 5 minutes.
Add butter mixture, eggs, and 2 cups flour; beat 2 minutes. Gradually stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough. Turn dough out on a lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl, cover and let rise 1 hour.

For filling, combine sugar, cinnamon, and flour. Set aside with butter. OR cream together cream cheese and sugar.

When dough has risen one hour, punch dough down, and divide in half. Turn one portion of dough out onto a floured surface, and roll out to a 28 by 10 inch rectangle. Repeat with remaining dough portion. Spread butter over each rectangle and sprinkle with filling or spread with cream cheese mixture. Roll up each rectangle jellyroll fashion, starting at short side. Place a token plastic baby inside each roll. Gently place each roll of dough seam side down, on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bring ends of each roll together to form an oval ring of each roll. Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, until double in bulk.

Bake at 375 F 15 to 20 minutes (probably 30-40 minutes if using cream cheese filling). To prepare frosting, mix powdered sugar, butter and milk. Decorate each cake with frosting; sprinkle with colored sugars. (Makes 2 King Cakes)

The Importance of Fat

I went home this weekend, and we all know what that means...banana bread of some sort! Well, this time, it didn't work as I wished. I pulled the muffins out of the oven and decided to check the inside of one. It just wasn't quite right, why? Oh my goodness! I realized that I had totally forgotten to put in any form of fat (or fat substitute)! I had hopes that they might still be good, but when I got up in the morning my mom told me that they had to "punt!" Oh, well! Over Christmas I DID have a very delicious new banana bread recipe, though. This is a gingerbread banana bread that I found at Baking Bites. It ended up with a VERY moist crumb...almost gummy but not quite. I honestly kind of like that texture! I highly recommend this recipe if you want a flavorful bread to go with tea...at least, I assume it would be good with tea! The addition of sugar on top of the batter makes for a lovely change in texture and appearance, my mom even noticed! And for those of you who want to redeem something healthy...it has whole wheat flour AND bananas in it! There you go...eat away! Banana Gingerbread
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground ginger
1 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup banana, mashed (about 2 large)
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup buttermilk
4 tbsp vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan.
In a large bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices.
In a medium bowl, whisk together brown sugar, banana, molasses**, buttermilk and vegetable oil. Pour into dry ingredients and stir until just ombined. Pour into prepared pan and sprinkle with coarse sugar, if desired.
Bake for about 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.
Makes 1 loaf, 8-10 slices.

**Hint - to more easily get the molasses out of the measuring cup, spray the cup with cooking spray before measuring. It just slides right on out...slow as molasses, but out! :-)

A Meal for You

I feel like such a blog slacker! I totally have recipes to give y'all but just haven't done any posts. So, today I'll give you an entire meal! It's really pretty easy and, except for the fact that it cooks for longer than 30 minutes, could be a 30 minutes meal. :-) Over Christmas break, my brother and his girlfriend decided that they wanted to make dinner for all of us...he made it a big surprise as to what he was making. They ended up doing pork loin, creamed corn (from the tube!), and garlic mashed potatoes (from the bag) and I added a salad. It was all very good. The pork loin was SOOO good. He just used an A1 marinade and instead of marinading the meat, cooked it in the marinade. I don't remember exactly how long but I think it was about 1.5 hours on 350...he followed the instructions on the meat package and then tested with the meat thermometer. Great job, Philip!!!

I provided the dessert (ooops, not at this meal but earlier that week!). After seeing so many rave reviews about the Levain Bakery, I decided to try Anna's recipe for the copies. I made four cookies instead of two. I don't know if I did something wrong, but they pretty much turned out like your typical chocolate chip cookie, though still good.

Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies from Cookie Madness

2 ounces unsalted butter, room temp
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 3/4 tablespoons beaten egg (that’s half an egg)
3/4 cups BREAD flour (3 1/4 oz) – weigh if possible. If no scale, scoop and sweep
1/8 plus 1/16 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Beat butter and both sugars just until they come together. Don’t over-beat. Add the egg and beat just until incorporated. Mix together the flour, salt and baking soda. When thoroughly mixed, add to batter and stir just until blended. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. The dough should be neither sticky nor dry. Divide dough into four freeformed mounds. Bake on ungreased insulated cookie sheet or an upside down rimmed cookie sheet for 15-20 minutes at 350. Cool on sheet for about 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Philip and Kenna shared one with some ice cream.

Steak and Apples

I have had a yummy food week. On Tuesday, our pediatric department hosted a dinner for all the M4's. It was at a really nice place and our menu consisted of roasted corn chowder (which was more like a sweet tasting potato soup), autumn salad (with field greens, apples, blue cheese, and a vinegarette), a choice of filet or mahi mahi (I had mahi mahi!) with broccoli and roasted potatoes, and bread pudding. It was SO good! Then tonight I was invited to stay and eat with my friend Sarah. I had been visiting with her, baby Luke, and her mom all afternoon and was helping with him while she dealt with a dog issue as it neared supper time. We had steak and salad. It was VERY good! Although, my recipe tonight isn't as elegant or excited as the eats described above, it was a yummy breakfast option...or snack! I found this recipe for muffins on Cook, Craft, Enjoy. I made a few changes that turned out to be really good. I used whole wheat flour which lended a really wholesome and satisfying taste to these. If you're looking for something to satisfy your tummy, taste buds, AND body...try these!

Apple Muffins

2 cups whole wheat
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 apple, cored and chopped
2 eggs
1/2 oil
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 400. Grease a 12 cup muffin tin or line with paper cups.
2. Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together in a large bowl. Stir in apple.
   
3. In another bowl, mix together eggs, oil and buttermilk mixture. Add this to the flour mixture all at once and mix until just combined.
4. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tin. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until golden. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack.

Birthdays All Around

I don't know if you remember, but last year I had a friend who had a miscarriage. Well, Thursday she gave birth to her little boy, Luke! I spent about 2 and a half hours visiting with them yesterday. He is so cute and precious! Makes me want one of my own but I'm going to have to wait on that...gotta have a husband first! :-) I told her that she was supposed to wait until today to have him, as it's my birthday today, but I guess I'll let her keep being my friend even though she didn't wait! Anyway, at the end of December I hosted a baby shower for her. It turned out quite well even though we didn't have a big turn out. It is quite difficult to get a lot of fourth year medical students together at one time...except for three days: Match Day (March 19), Long Coat Ceremony (May 21), and graduation (May 22). I decided to serve my Polynesian Chicken because it's easy, yummy, and makes a lot for not a lot of time. For dessert, I pulled out a delicious recipe from Southern Sideboards. It has quite an impressive name...Pineapple Cake...but really is delicious. I decided to decrease the oil in the cake, as I knew that the mandarin oranges would add extra moisture (see the yummy oranges?). The end result was still very moist...not quite as moist as the recipe as written but more moist that a regular cake. It's such a fresh tasting cake and isn't overly sweet. I had some extra "icing" leftover and highly suggest using it for a fruit dip. It's perfect! Pineapple Cake adapted from Southern Sideboards
1 box butter recipe golden cake mix
1-11 oz can mandarin oranges with juice
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups (I used 1 cup) cooking oil
1 (15.5 oz) can crushed pineapple with juice
1 box vanilla instant pudding mix (I used sugar free)
1 (13.5 oz) carton Cool Whip

Beat the cake mix, oranges, eggs, and oil together until well blended. Bake in 3 9-inch cake pans at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Cool completely. Meanwhile, mix together pineapple and pudding mix. Fold into Cool Whip. Spread over one cake layer, top with another cake layer. Proceed to top second layer with cool whip mix. Top with the last cake layer. Spread over the top and sides of the cake. Refrigerate overnight. Will keep for several days in the refrigerator.

Lemonade and Pumpkin

No, these two don't really go together. Typically, lemonade makes me think of summer and pumpkin brings thoughts of autumn. However, I was given an award a few weeks ago by Jane and Loves To Eat called the lemonade award. If you are not familiar with the Lemonade Award, it is given by a previous winner to 10 people who have shown a great attitude or gratitude this week. It’s a great way to show these people that you appreciate them. So....here are my awards:
1. Jenna at Eat, Live, Run
2. Deborah at Taste and Tell
3. Ashley at A Year in the Kitchen
4. Laura at The Dawkins Narrative
5. Kaytie at Tiny Biscuits
6. Kristen at Dine and Dish
7. Erika at Tummy Treasure
8. Casey at Blog a la Bradshaw
9. Peabody at Culinary Concoctions by Peabody
10. Megan at The Johnsons

I hope all of you ladies enjoy your award! Now on to the Pumpkin! I made this bread from Jenna's site MANY months ago, but it was so good I just have to share it with you. Jenna is a baker at Greenwise, so you know it has to be good! I halved the recipe and it still turned out well.

Spiced Pumpkin Bread by Jenna (halved with a slight alteration)
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground cloves
2 eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 CAN pumpkin
1/3rds cup warm water
1 cups chopped, toasted pecans

Per Jenna, just dump everything except the nuts into a mixing bowl, mix with a paddle attachment for about 2 minutes (or until everything has come together…do NOT over mix!!!!!), fold in the pecans and bake for 50 minutes at 350.