Corn Dog Muffins

I saw this posted on Pinterest and had to try it! It is super simple and a way to have a corndog without the extra oil (or if you are me, the risk of setting the kitchen on fire from that much oil)

Start out with a basic corn bread recipe, I followed the instructions on the box.  This would also be super easy with Jiffy muffin mix.

Recipe from the box of Quaker Yellow Corn Meal

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup corn meal
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 egg

(extra step I had to take was calling the neighbor in a panic because I forgot I was out of baking powder)

Get your dry ingredients out (yes my mixing bowl is a soup bowl. Why? My mixing bowls are holding fruit =P)

Mix in your wet

Cut your hot dog, I cut each one into thirds

Pour your batter into greased muffin tins (I used full size, but mini would have been even better!)

Pop in your hot dogs

Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes and tada!

They really were not half bad! And about as healthy as a corn dog could get

Gnocchi from leftovers!

I love the fact I am dating a chef, that means I get to eat lots of nummy food.  One downside is when he brings home the same thing over and over.  The most common item is garlic mashed potatoes.  I mean they are really good, but every week...for months..gets to be a bit much! So I had a aha moment about a month ago.  I LOVE gnocchi and have even made them before.  It occurred to me that gnocchi are mashed potato, flour, egg, and cheese.  Looked at the box o mashed and thought hmmmmm I wonder! I googled my idea and found this recipe. I decided to cut it in half for me since that would mean less I would be tempted to eat! 

1 egg

1 cup leftover mashed potato

pinch of salt

That's it! I didn't add any seasoning as the mash was already cheessy and garlicy. 

The lineup (the black box is the box o mashed potato) 

Mix everything together, I find using a fork is the easiest.  If the mash has been in the fridge, pop it in the microwave for a minute to warm it up so it is less brick like.  Take a bit at a time and roll it out into a log on a floured board. Then cut into pieces.  You can roll the pieces on a fork or a gnocchi board if you like.  I used to do this so I could be authentic, but when I saw gnocchi on Iron Chef and they were not rolled I felt justified being lazy and leaving them as is =P The pop them into boiling water until they float.  Don't leave in too long or they will absorb water and turn into something akin to paste. 

For my sauce, I decided to doctor up a jar of pasta sauce.  To start out I took some olive oil, minced garlic, and pepper flake.  I heated on low for about 20 minutes to let the oils from the flakes come out and for the garlic to soften.  I then added in my tomato sauce.  

Add to gnocchi and tada! Dinner! 

Lemon Curd!

So you have sugar, tons of lemons, butter and eggs, what do you do? Lemon curd!! Having adorable 4 ounce canning jars makes it even better!

Using the recipe from http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publi​cations/nchfp/factsheets/lemon​_curd.pdf  my friend Jenni and I decided to make nummy lemon from!

First was sterilizing the jars.  We boiled them in water for about 15 minutes, while that was going on we zested the lemons.  1/2 cup of lemon zest is a lot of lemon zest! We then mixed it with the sugar and let it sit for 30 minutes.  Oh man it smelled so good!

Next is the 7 egg yolks and 4 whole eggs.

Then wisk baby wisk! We put the pan over gently boiling water (instant double boiler!) We added the sugar bit by bit and kept wisking! Arm work out of the day here we go!

Action shot! lol That blur is my hand >__<

Then add in the butter bit by bit and mix it in so its all melted. Num love anything with butter!

 After all the butter is melted in, take it off the heat and keep mixing while it thickens up.  At this point the entire kitchen will smell SOOO good!

 We poured the curd into the jars then, wipe the edges and pop the lids on.  Then it was back in the water to process the jars (and also time to eat what didn't fit in the jars num!)

Tada! So cute! and tasty! and shortlived because there is no way this won't get eaten soon! lol