Banana Oatmeal Muffins

Muffins, muffins, muffins! It’s time for another marvelous muffin recipe. Last week, I had a bunch of bananas that were going brown and was thinking about making some lovely banana bread, but the Simmering Seoulmate had a hankering for muffins. So, we decided to make oatmeal banana muffins. I’ve got quite a sweet tooth, so I incorporated some chocolate chips. You can customized this recipe to suit your preferences by omitting the chocolate or by adding add other types of chocolate chips, such as peanut butter chips, or even add some nuts or berries. These delightful treats make a great mid afternoon snack or a quick and easy breakfast. I like to eat them warmed up with a bit of butter on chilly mornings with a cup of coffee.

Ingredients

2 cups flour
2 eggs
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 ̊ F or 190 ̊ C. In a large bowl stir together all of your dry ingredients, with the exception of the chocolate chips. In a smaller bowl, combine vanilla, butter, eggs, and bananas. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and mix until all the dry ingredients are just incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips. Spoon the mixture into greased muffin tins. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted and removed clean. Let cool on a wire rack.

Makes 15 muffins.

Fruit Infused Water

Apologies for the lack of posts recently. I went home to Canada for my summer vacation and had a busy week back in Seoul following that. The hot summer temperatures continue in Seoul and boy is it humid! Just last week the weather report indicated that it would be 32 degrees and 97% humidity.What IS that!!! With it being so hot, I've tried to increase my water intake. Our school has lots of water coolers for me to refill my bottle daily, but I've haven’t been doing such a great job.

Last year, a friend of mine showed me her CitrusZinger and I was intrigued. It’s a water bottle that essentially has a citrus juicer built into the bottle. All you have to do is pop a lemon or any other citrus fruit inside the bottom and fill it with water. The Simmering Seoulmate had noticed that I was interested and got her to pick one up for him. He surprised me with it and I've been using it ever since. I mostly use it with lemons, but recently I've been using grapefruits and WOW is it good!

I've wanted to increase my water intake at home as well, so I made some fruit infused water in a jug. I made it with nectarines, sliced blueberries and of course grapefruit. All you have to do is fill a large pitcher half full with ice. Then, add about 1 1/2 to 2 cups of your desired fruit and fill with water. Leave in the refrigerator for a couple of hours and enjoy.

Drink Up!

Salt and Vinegar Chips

A week ago, our school took the kindergartners to a farm to pick potatoes. They had panted some back in March, and the time had come to got pick some up. It’s mostly just a photo op that involved two men from work digging up the potatoes and the students picking one up and posing for an individual shot. The kids seemed to enjoy themselves anyway and I got to take home some fresh from the garden potatoes. 

I’d had a craving for salt and vinegar favored chips, which are hard to come by and only available in foreigner stores here for a high price. So, I decided to make some using some of the potatoes I got from the farm. A few years back, I attempted to make vinegar infused french fries and they didn't turn out tasting very good. This time I thought I would try to make chips instead, hoping the thin cut of the chips would let them soak up more vinegar flavour. These chips turned out great when served right away and got better when left out for a day to dry up a bit more, when I had them as a snack. 

Salt and Vinegar Chips

Ingredients
6-8 medium potatoes
2 cups of white vinegar
pinch of salt
3-4 cups canola oil for frying

Directions
For this recipe you do not need to peel the potatoes, so make sure you wash them well and cut out any eyes. Next, slice the potatoes as thinly as possible. If you have a mandolin, use that. If not, use a sharp knife and be careful when cutting. Soak the potatoes slices in water for about 20 minutes in a bowl in the refrigerator. After that, put the potatoes into a large pot and pour the vinegar over top. Pour enough boiling water over top to cover the potatoes. Let the potatoes sit in the pot for about 45 minutes to an hour. Fill a large pan with the oil. (I use a wok to fry food, because it’s the biggest pan I've got.) Heat oil over medium to medium low heat on your stove top. Working in small batches, fry the potatoes until they are a light golden brown colour. This takes about 10 minutes. Remove the potatoes from the oil using a slotted spoon or long handled mesh strainer and toss with salt. To keep your potatoes hot while cooking the other batches, put finished chips on a metal sheet pan and throw into a low temperature oven.

The vinegar taste is actually quite subtle, but definitely noticeable. If you like even more of a vinegar taste, drizzle with malt vinegar.

Enjoy!

Blueberry Lemon Muffins

Happy Sunday! I hope you've all have a nice relaxing weekend. Summer is finally here! In Korea, rainy season has just begun. It’s really not that bad, you just get used to carrying an umbrella with you everywhere for a few weeks. It doesn't usually rain all day either. Last night, the Simmering Seoulmate and I braved the rain and sticky heat and went out for dinner with a friend at our favourite Mexican place in all of Seoul, Gusto Taco. It’s a small restaurant right next to Sangsu station that serves up excellent tacos, nachos, burritos and one of my personal favourites, taquitos, which come served in a cute cauldron of cheesey goodness. Of course they serve delicious cocktails too. 

The night was filled with rain, friends, food, and a little debauchery in Hongdae of course. All in all a great way pick me up.

With summer finally here, blueberries are finally in season, and while still expensive, I thought I’d buy a package and whip up something delicious. While I debated for a long time about using them in the pancakes I made recently, I decided to go with muffins instead. I also had a bunch of lemons in the fridge so those are the flavours I went with. This recipe also uses yogurt, which I found quite interesting. It made the muffins perfectly moist and they tasted amazing. They also froze well, which made them last longer! I will definitely be making them again! Yum!

Blueberry Lemon Muffins
Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients
1 egg
1/3 cup butter
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
zest of one lemon
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen, I used fresh)

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 ̊ F (190 ̊ C). In a large bowl combine the butter and egg and beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Pour in yogurt and heavy cream and mix together with mixer for about 30 seconds. In a medium bowl, sift together sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture a half at a time. The mixture will be quite thick, more like a cookie dough consistency. Fold in blueberries. Line muffin pan with paper liners and spoon mixture into each one. Pop into the oven for 25 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted and come out clean.

Makes 10 muffins.

P.s. If you enjoy Mexican and are in Seoul, defiantly check out Gusto Taco. I know I will be back there again very soon!

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

I had a ton of bananas that were turning black…story of my life. So, I decided to bake delicious chocolate chip banana bread. I have tried several recipes, but finally I have tweaked this simple one from The Food Network and it is perfection! 

There are several times that I enjoy eating banana bread, here are a few. Firstly, I love to eat banana bread warmed up with a bit of butter for a quick breakfast in the morning, on days when I’m running late. AKA every day… I also like to wrap up a slice and eat it as a snack, when hunger strikes after my kindy classes finish at 3pm. Finally, banana bread makes a delightful evening snack with a cup of herbal tea. 

This recipe makes two small loaves. You can keep a loaf in the fridge for about a week or in the freezer for about a month.

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
4 very ripe bananas
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup coconut oil (can use vegetable oil instead)
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease your pans with a bit of cooking spray or butter. I skipped this step, and had mixed results. One pan I used must have been a non-stick one and the loaf fell right out. However, the second loaf stuck to the bottom of my other pan.

In a medium bowl stir flour, baking soda and powder, salt. Next take a large bowl and stir eggs and sugar together with a wooden spoon. Mash bananas in a separate bowl with a fork and add them to the egg and sugar mixture. Add vanilla, coconut oil and cinnamon. Add the flour mixture, a third at a time, until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Divide batter into two 9x5 loaf pans. Bake for about 45-50 minutes or until the top has browned nicely. Use a toothpick to check if the middle is cooked through.

Enjoy!