Monthly Archives: August 2013

August 6, 2013

Muffin Monday: Blackberry Beet Choc. Chip

By ritalovestowrite

on tray

[Props go to Megan at HuggingTrees&ShellingPeas who got me started on this particular flavor odyssey with her own Chocolate Beet Muffin recipe. I made some changes here for my twist on her recipe, but you should check out Megan’s original recipe (available at the link above) and make a batch of both muffins for a Chocolate Beet Muffin show down.]

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 Cup Blackberries
  • 1/2 Cup Beets, grated
  • 1 Cup Zucchini, grated
  • 2 Cups Flour
  • 1/2 cup ground Almonds
  • 4.5 tsp Baking Soda
  • .25 tsp Cinnamon
  • .25 tsp Garam Masala
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 1.5 C Brown Sugar
  • 4 TBLS Cocoa Powder
  • 1 Cup Almond Milk
  • 1 Cup Apple Sauce
  • 1 Cup Crisco, softened
  • 3/4 Cup Mini Chocolate Chips (Plus additional Mini Chocolate Chips for garnish)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Prep Muffin tin or Muffin Cups with spray.

2. Grate the Beets. Grate the Zucchini. Hand mash the Blackberries and remove the tough core.

Grated Beets and Zucchini and finger mashed/pitted Blackberries.

Grated Beets and Zucchini and finger mashed/pitted Blackberries.

3. Grind the Almonds in a nut mill, food processor or blender.

4. In a large bowl combine the Flour, Baking Soda, Salt, Cinnamon, Garam Masala, Brown Sugar and Cocoa Powder

5. In a smaller bowl combine the Almond Milk, Apple Sauce, and creamed Crisco.

6. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

7. Gently stir in the Beets, Zucchini, Blackberries and Chocolate Chips.

8. Divide evenly into 21-24 muffin cups. Top with a half-dozen extra mini Chocolate chips on each muffin.

Ready to go into the oven

Ready to go into the oven

9. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until the muffins pass the toothpick test. Remove from the oven and let cool in the muffin tin/cups for 15 minutes.

Given that there is 1.5 cups of brown sugar and quite a bit of chocolate in this recipe, I was surprised that these muffins weren’t sweeter. They aren’t. That’s not to say that they aren’t good. Just not on the sweet side.
I had my test muffin plain. One of my testers opted to try his with a bit of ice cream. That serving suggestion seemed to go over well, so if you are looking for a dessert muffin… add a bit of ice cream. However… I really tried to stay away from the diary on this one (Almond milk instead of cow’s milk; Crisco instead of butter; no eggs) adding ice cream kind of makes that a moot point.

These muffins are light and moist. While the Zucchini and Beets disappear once baked the Blackberry texture remains.

Eaten

4 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Muffin Monday, Muffins, postaday, Thought of the Day

August 5, 2013

Barack Obama 8.4.13 Thought of the Day

By ritalovestowrite

“In the end, that’s what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or a politics of hope?” — Barack Obama

 

The official presidential portrait of the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama. [Image courtesy: Whitehouse.gov]

The official presidential portrait of the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama. [Image courtesy: Whitehouse.gov]

Barack H. Obama was born on this day in 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. He is 52 years old today.

 

He is the only son of Barack Obama, Sr. and Ann Dunham. His mother, who grew up in Kansas, was attending the University of Hawaii when she met Obama, Sr, an exchange student from Kenya. When the baby was still an infant, Obama, Sr. moved to Harvard to pursue his Ph.D.. The couple divorced in 1964 and Obama, Sr. moved back to Kenya. Dunham  then married Lolo Soetoro, a student from Indonesia.

 

A year later, the family moved to Jakarta, Indonesia, where Barack’s half-sister, Maya Soetoro Ng, was born. Several incidents in Indonesia left Dunham afraid for her son’s safety and education so, at the age of 10, Barack was sent back to Hawaii to live with his maternal grandparents. His mother and sister later joined them. [Biography.com]

 

Obama grew very close to his maternal grandparents.

 

He was raised with help from his grandfather, who served in Patton’s army, and his grandmother, who worked her way up from the secretarial pool to middle management at a bank. [Whitehouse.gov]

 

 

Stanley Armour Dunham, Ann Dunham, Maya Soetor...

Stanley Armour Dunham, Ann Dunham, Maya Soetoro and Barack Obama, mid 1970s (l to r) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

 

 

He attended the prestigious Punahou Academy, graduating in 1979 with academic honors. He went on to study at Occidental College in Los Angeles before transferring to Columbia University in New York. He graduate in 1983 with a degree in political science.

 

After working in the business sector for two years, Obama moved to Chicago in 1985. There, he worked on the South Side as a community organizer for low-income residents in the Roseland and the Altgeld Gardens communities. [Biography.com]

 

He entered Harvard Law School in 1988 eventually becoming the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. He also met his former wife Michelle Robinson while his was at Harvard.  He graduated magna cum laude, in 1991 and went back to Chicago to “help lead a voter registration drive, teach constitutional law at the University of Chicago, and remain active in his community.” [Whitehouse.gov]

 

His work in the community lead him to public office. He was an Illinois State Senator from 1997-2004 and was an US Senator for that state from 2005-2008.

 

Barack Obama's 2009 presidential inauguration ...

Barack Obama’s 2009 presidential inauguration in Washington, DC. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

He was elected President of the United States  on November 4, 2009, having won 365 electoral  votes and 52% of the popular vote. He was reelected on November 6, 2012, with 332 365 electoral  votes and 51% of the popular vote.

 

English: Cropped version of File:Official port...

English: Cropped version of File:Official portrait of Barack Obama.jpg. The image was cropped at a 3:4 portrait ratio, it was slightly sharpened and the contrast and colors were auto-adjusted in photoshop. This crop, in contrast to the original image, centers the image on Obama’s face and also removes the flag that takes away the focus from the portrait subject. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

3 Comments   |  tags: , | posted in American History, Barack Obama, History, postaday, Thought of the Day, Today's Birthday, United States

August 3, 2013

Secondary Character Saturday: Russell “Stringer” Bell

By ritalovestowrite

The Wire was just named  the #1 greatest TV series of all time by Entertainment Weekly Magazine. I thought long and hard about which secondary character from The Wire  to feature today. It came down to diligent, honest cop Kima Greggs or complex, cool blooded Stringer Bell.

What the Baltimore-based series does is portray the uglier realities of urban America with a precision and honesty that has never been attempted before. The result is a phenomenal cast of characters that gives individual voices and humanity to people many of us might otherwise ignore or, worse, write off as being all the same. And of all the characters giving the lie to that assumption, Stringer Bell took that lie and tied it up in knots. [The Lessons of Stringer Bell, by Keith A. Owens]

Idris Elba as Stringer Bell [Image Courtesy: verysmartbrothas.com]

The amazing Idris Elba as Stringer Bell [Image Courtesy: verysmartbrothas.com]

WHO: Stringer Bell

FROM: The Wire

CREATED BY: David Simon

PUBLISHED: The series premiered on HBO in 2002 and ran until 2008.

PROS: Stringer is a genius. he’s business oriented, thoughtful (but not in a caring, friendly way), charming, handsome.

Bell was hardly your average drug-dealing thug. [Spoiler alert] It’s symptomatic of The Wire’s dismal prognostications for African-American men from Baltimore’s mean streets that Bell had the most considered exit strategy of any of them, and died within a whisker of making his escape. [The Guardian.com]

CONS: Well …he was a drug king pin and a sociopath. But if you put the killing, pimping, drug dealing and other crimes aside… he was a fascinating character. Just stay out of his way, because String could be stone cold and heartless.

MOST SHINING MOMENT: Stringer was at his best when he used his superior intelligence to try and improve his organization. Like when he tried to run the drug meetings with his crew under Robert’s Rules.

MEMORABLE QUOTES:

You see these east-side [expletive deleted] over here? I want’chu to extend to these [expletive deleted]’s all the hospitality west Baltimore is famous for.

That’s good. That’s like a 40-degree day. Ain’t nobody got nothing to say about a 40-degree day. Fifty. Bring a smile to your face. Sixty, shit, [derogatory racial slur] is damn near barbecuing on that [expletive deleted]. Go down to 20, [derogatory racial slur] get their [expletive deleted] on. Get their blood complaining. But forty? Nobody give a [expletive deleted] about 40. Nobody remember 40, and y’all [derogatory racial slur] is giving me way too many 40-degree days! What the [expletive deleted]?

WHY I CHOSE STRINGER: I don’t love that Stringer is a killer is a criminal, but I’ve got to say the guy had style.

The role only had a few lines in the first season, but his character became infinitely more interesting than Barksdale. Bell had aspirations to leave the dealing behind and become a legitimate property developer. “He had the intelligence to take classes in economics, I’ll give him that,” Elba says of Stringer. [The Guardian.com ]

String, as he was known on the streets, was a drug kingpin. He was also a drug kingpin who took business courses at night school in order to run a more efficient empire. He was a drug dealer who read great literature and philosophy, who translated his earnings into massive real estate holdings and other ventures. Stringer Bell was a genius who should have run a Fortune 500 company, but instead was trapped inside the twisted mind of a cold-hearted killer (who himself was killed at the conclusion of Season 3) and a drug dealer who would have made Machiavelli proud. [The Lessons of Stringer Bell, by Keith A. Owens]

Stringer Bell

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Leave a comment   |  tags: , , | posted in postaday, Secondary Character, Stringer Bell, The Wire, Thought of the Day

August 2, 2013

Farm Fresh Challenge: Summer Bounty Potato Salad

By ritalovestowrite

[Blogger’s note: I’m reloading this post since it was up briefly yesterday, but seems to have gone AWOL mysteriously today. OOOPS. ]

We are 11 weeks into our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) adventure with Calvert’s Gifts Farm.

It was our week for eggs (we get a half share -- so we pick up a dozen ever other week. The box also included: cucumbers tomatoes, Colorado rose potatoes, sweet peppers scallions, bok choi*, cherry tomatoes and garlic. (*I swapped out the bok choi for a second helping of potatoes.)

It was our week for eggs (we get a half share — so we pick up a dozen ever other week.)The box also included: cucumbers, tomatoes, Colorado rose potatoes, sweet peppers
scallions, bok choi*, cherry tomatoes and garlic. (*I swapped out the bok choi for a second helping of potatoes.)

I made some slow cooked pulled pork bbq for dinner and thought a nice potato salad would be just thing  for this week’s entry in…

[Not associated with the real Chopped, the Food Network or Ted Allen.]

[Not associated with the real Chopped, the Food Network or Ted Allen.]

INGREDIENTS:

In the box:

  • 6 medium Colorado Rose Potatoes
  • 1/2 medium Onion (from a previous box)
  • 1/2 garlic (3 cloves)
  • 1 cup Cherry Tomatoes
  • 2 sweet red peppers

From the Pantry:

  • 1 Peach
  • 2 slices of cooked Turkey Bacon
  • 1 TBLS Butter
  • 1 TBLS Olive Oil
  • 1/4 Mayonaise
  • Salt
  • Pepper
The onion and peach are the ringers here. They were in the fridge and I wanted to use them up. The rest is fresh from the box.

The onion and peach are the ringers here. They were in the fridge and I wanted to use them up. The rest is fresh from the box. Wait — don’t those pepper’s look like alien fingers from a bad sci-fi movie? Ewwww.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Peal and cube the potatoes. Boil them until a fork pierces a potato cube with ease. Colorado Rose Potatoes are on the tender side. It didn’t take long for them to cook.

2. Peal and chop the onion.  Peal and mince the garlic.

3. When the potatoes are ready… drain them and set aside.

4. Using the same pot add the butter and brown the onion and garlic.

Browning the Onion and Garlic.

Browning the Onion and Garlic.

5. Wash the Cherry Tomatoes and cut into equal sized pieces (1/2″ pieces.)

6. Wash, slice and de-seed the peppers. Grill on at hot grill (I used our Foreman Grill) for 5 minutes.  Remove, let cool, then finely dice into small piece.

7. Peal the peach and chop into 1/2″ pieces.

8. When the Onion and Garlic are browned add the Potatoes, Tomatoes and Peaches and the 1TLBS of Olive Oil.

The Cherry Toms and Peaches add a little color

The Cherry Toms and Peaches add a little color

9. Dice up you pre-cooked Turkey Bacon into bacon bits.

10. Add the diced Sweet Pepper and Bacon.

11. Carefully fold in the Mayonaise.

12. Salt and Pepper to tase.

The finished salad.

The finished salad.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Serving suggestion: We had our Summer Bounty Potato Salad with pulled pork bbq sliders. Fresh brewed iced tea complimented the meal.

Serving suggestion: We had our Summer Bounty Potato Salad with pulled pork bbq sliders. Fresh brewed iced tea complimented the meal.

My family gave this recipe two thumbs up. Bill said it reminded him of his mother’s potato salad. High praise, indeed. Maggie, ever sarcastic, added that it reminded her of HER mother’s potato salad. So why not give it a try and see if it reminds you of YOUR mother’s potato salad.

Cheers, Rita (aka Maggie’s mom)

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2 Comments   |  tags: , , | posted in Thought of the Day

August 2, 2013

Thought of the Day: STRUCTURE

By ritalovestowrite

[Taking my writing prompt from two people today. The first person is fellow blogger viewfromtheside who suggested the theme–STRUCTURE. The second is Maggie who suggested the subject — PENGUINS. Armed with those two prompts I thought for a bit and came up with a structured poem. Here is my loose metered sonnet that explores Darth Vader’s appreciation of a certain dark caped emperor… the Emperor Penguin.]

I wish I could be a Penguin

[Anakin’s Lament]

Oh, Penguin, you are a beautiful sight.

Sweet nature made you her the most noble bird.

Thoughts of wonder, jealousy, again have stirred

in my breast as I sit down to write

of your dark, fluid, modern-dance like flight.

Perhaps you find the notion somewhat absurd

that I, Dark Lord of Sith, am such a nerd

to write this ode of praise — but, no, I will not be deterred.

For who does not long to fly into the sky

or dive into the icy water

without this damnable metal coffin —AYE!!!

All around me is slaughter!

What would I give to look, unhelmeted — eye-to eye

with my long-lost son and his twin sister, my baby, daughter?

Too late… the storm troopers, the Death Star, the Emperor demand a fight.

Collage of Darth Vader meeting the Emperor

Collage of Darth Vader meeting the Emperor

If you like the Darth Vader Costume it can be yours from Amazon for just $857.

7 Comments   |  tags: , | posted in postaday, Thought of the Day, Writing