Since it was Phillip’s first full day back from Montana, I decided it was the perfect morning to make the Awesome-est Blueberry Muffins from this month’s Sweet as Pie menu.  Here’s how they came together:

The recipe called for sifting the dry ingredients together. This is my sifter. I hate this sifter. Hate it. I wish I could find one of the old-school kinds like my grandmother has - the kind with a handle that you turn - not this forearm muscle torture device.

A couple of dashes of nutmeg.

The wet ingredients.

The interesting thing about this recipe was that it called for yogurt and no butter in the batter. I was a bit wary, especially considering that all I could find at the grocery store was the fat-free variety and fat-free doesn't always translate well in baking.

After the yogurt was mixed in - looking creamy!

Now at this point, I started to pretend I was in class at Hogwarts since the recipe was reading like a potions textbook.  It instructed me to add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir to the count of 10.  Then, I was supposed to fold in the blueberries and stir 3 times.  I, of course, fully committed to this Harry Potter game and made sure to include at least one counter-clockwise stir and a few extra folds until the batter “looked right”.  Just call me the next Half-Blood Prince.  Fun with cooking!

Full muffin tin - I followed the recipe's directions here and pressed a few extra blueberries into the top of each muffin. I didn't have any of the fancy raw sugar for sprinkling on the top, so I used brown sugar instead.

My muffin cups were very full and I still had enough batter for two more. Although I buttered the first muffin tin, I dug out my paper liners for these bonus muffins. Didn't make a bit of difference in the end, so next time I'll just go with the paper liners.

While the muffins were baking, I worked on the blueberry sauce.  Phillip’s grandparents keep our freezer stocked with blueberries from their farm, so we always have some on hand.

Homegrown blueberries.

After 20 minutes - blueberry muffin perfection.

Popped right out of the pan.

The sauce was made with yogurt too.

The end product was very cake-like and moist. Yummy with a glass of cold milk on a Sunday morning!

These muffins were fantastic!  It was so hard not to drag Phillip out of bed to enjoy them right out of the oven.  He eventually got around to getting up and was pleased to find homemade blueberry muffins waiting on him.  We both really loved them – this one will definitely be going in the permanent collection.  Next time, I’ll probably forgo the sauce because these muffins just don’t need it – they were completely delicious without anything at all.  Thanks, Catherine, for a great pick!

Okay, so I cheated.  This is actually a February Sweet as Pie recipe, but I made it in January.  But I’m posting about it in February!  And we’ll just overlook the fact that I wrote this post in January and scheduled it to be posted in February.  No reason to let my cooking club misfeasance ruin the ravioli.

I was excited to try the Ravioli Three Ways recipe and so glad Ellen made it her pick for the month.  I did put a me-spin on the recipe though.  First, I did not even consider making the version with an egg yolk in the middle.  Just couldn’t do it.  If you read the quiche post, you know why.  Instead, I created a wild card fourth way to stuff the ravioli – sauteed baby portobello mushrooms with toasted pecans.  Here’s how it all came together:

Phillip was the assistant chef and the first thing he did was pour a couple of glasses of wine. He's an excellent sous chef and I love when we cook together!

Next, I whipped up a quick marinara with onions, garlic, crushed tomatoes, oregano, salt, pepper and a little bit of sugar.

Phillip sauteed the mushrooms while I got some of the other ingredients ready.

I made PW’s basic filling recipe, but instead of splitting it into two portions, I split it into three and used it as a base for all three versions of our ravioli.

Mushrooms and toasted pecan ravioli stuffing.

Arugula ravioli stuffing.

Plain cheese ravioli stuffing.

Once we had our fillings ready, it was on to assembly:

Instead of making your own pasta, this recipe calls for using wanton wrappers. Brilliant! So easy to use and surprisingly easy to find in the produce section at the grocery store.

We had a little system going - I did the egg wash, Phillip scooped the fillings, and we both sealed the ravioli.

Ravioli in wait (for the water to boil).

We boiled 4-5 at a time for 3 minutes per batch.

We finished the cheese ravioli with the marinara, the mushroom and pecan ravioli with alfredo, and the arugula ravioli with a drizzle of olive oil and a little salt and pepper.

Overall, we enjoyed this dish, but as Phillip said, it was a bit tedious filling and sealing the ravioli.  But, so goes ravioli.

Phillip’s order of preference was:

1. Arugula with Olive Oil
2. Cheese with Marinara
3. Mushroom and Toasted Pecan with Alfredo

My order of preference:

1. Mushroom and Toasted Pecan with Alfredo
2. Arugula with Olive Oil
3. Cheese with Marinara

I’d definitely make these again even though they are a bit time-intensive.  Next time I’d try out even more filling variations – maybe some goat cheese with the arugula, or sauteed squash with cheddar, cracker crumbs, and some sort of savory glaze.  The possibilities are endless!  And that’s really what I love about this recipe.

For the last Sweet as Pie recipe for January, we made Chicken Tortilla Soup.  Phillip’s parents were in town for a few days so we invited them and Phillip’s grandparents over for dinner.  I actually made the soup on Thursday night since it did require quite a bit of simmering.  Unfortunately for this post, I didn’t take any pictures.  Because, well, Thursday was a long day and I just didn’t feel like it.  But, I will assure you, it smelled wonderful.  On Friday we just had to reheat the soup while some Mexican Cornbread baked in the oven.  I don’t really care for beans, but out of consideration for the others at my table who like beans, I did leave in one of the two cans the recipe called for.  I threw in a can of corn in place of the second can of beans and I think it was a great addition to this hearty soup.

The soup.

We served the soup with a wide variety of toppings, including hot sauce.

Diced onion, banana peppers, sour cream, and limes.

Soft and crisped corn tortilla strips, monterey jack and cheddar cheese, and fresh cilantro.

Everyone really raved about the soup.  One of the best parts about this dish is the toppings – everyone can pick and choose how to dress up their bowl.  The cornbread also turned out well and was Phillip’s favorite part of the meal.  I definitely think we’ll keep this one in our recipe file and pull it out whenever we’re expecting a crowd.

Phillip at the head of our Chicken Tortilla table.

For dessert, I made another of Pioneer Woman’s recipes, Blackberry Cobbler.  I’ve made this cobbler several times before and love how easy and versatile it is.

This is a terrible picture, but the best one I ended up with - I was in a hurry to have my dessert before my ice cream melted!

All in all it was a great meal spent with great company.  Couldn’t have asked for much more out of a Friday night!

The first month of Sweet as Pie has flown by, but I have had so much fun trying new things and reading all about my fellow members’ cooking adventures.  There are some great picks on the February list so stay tuned for more delicious Sweet as Pie posts!

The next recipe from the January Sweet as Pie collection was Pioneer Woman’s quiche.  Now, it’s no great secret that I’m not a fan of eggs.  Or, for that matter, breakfast food in general.  That doesn’t mean that I don’t like breakfast – I eat breakfast every day.  But, my breakfast usually consists of leftovers from last night’s supper, a sandwich, chicken, etc.  Basically, I’m far more likely to eat any of the other Sweet as Pie recipes for breakfast (and did – leftover Twice-Baked Potatoes make for an excellent start to the day) than I am quiche.  Phillip, however, loves breakfast food and I knew he’d be happy to have an actual breakfast one weekend.  So, I gathered the ingredients for the quiche and got to work.  I have made my own pastry before, but for this recipe I decided to just go with the store-bought dough.  I also didn’t have a fancy quiche pan, so I used my trusty 9-inch springform (the cheesecake pan) and hoped for the best.

Pulling this pan out of the cabinet reminded me that I need to try to make cheesecake soon.

I started out by frying up some bacon.

Next came a thinly sliced onion. We got a mandoline for a wedding gift, but alas, I think I already packed it away in preparation for the house being put on the market and the subsequent move.

As the onions saute, a side note on the amazing wooden spoon: all-purpose, non-stick friendly, and generally extremely useful. And the most amazing part to me? In a world of endless kitchen gadgets, high-tech plastics and coatings, and specialty tools, pans, knives, etc., the thing I use most frequently in my kitchen are my wooden spoons. The same cooking utensil that has been used for MILLENIA. You can't improve on perfection, folks.

In go the mushrooms.

The recipe also called for artichokes, but I skipped these, because frankly, I just don’t like ’em.

While the onions and mushrooms cooled, I pulled out the box (mine's actually a triangle) grater to grate 2 cups of swiss cheese. Where's all this cheese you speak of, you ask? Being held captive in the cheese grater tower, of course.

To the seven eggs, you add some heavy cream, which I had leftover from making Jennifer's Ditalini al la Nona earlier in the week (delicious!).

I added a few dashes of cayenne, although would probably have added more or kicked in some hot sauce in retrospect.

Mixed in the cheese...

And after adding the mushrooms, onion, and bacon, poured it into the pastry shell

Ready for the oven. Thank goodness it didn't run over - you definitely need a deep dish for this recipe.

So, my ready-made pie crust came in a package of two.  What to do with an extra piece of pastry?  Why, make it into mini apple, blueberry, and strawberry pies, of course!

An experiment - although it wasn't perfect, a little practice could really pull these cute individual pies together.

Right out of the oven - very springy and smelling wonderful.

The springform pan worked beautifully with this dish!

Our fancy quiche for Sunday brunch. We were only missing a mimosa (for Phillip) and a bloody mary (for me).

The quiche had a nice flavor and smelled wonderful, but in the end, it was just too egg-y for me.  I wish I could rave about it, but I just can’t and that’s not the recipe’s fault.  Phillip really enjoyed it though and I think other egg enthusiasts would as well. This would probably be a great brunch option to make when we have house guests.  They can enjoy the quiche and be impressed by my fancy cooking skills, and I’ll just stick with my leftover pizza.