New recipes for 2011 - April

I ♥ AllRecipes.com. Oh, thank you for this one. (I modified the original recipe slightly - my variation is listed below.)

Apple Streusel Muffins

Muffins:
2 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c butter or margarine
1/2 c white sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 tsp. vanilla
3 apples, peeled, cored, and grated
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Streusel topping:
2/3 c brown sugar
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
2 Tbsp butter or margarine

Preheat oven to 375°. Grease 12-cup muffin tin or add liners.

For muffin batter:

Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a separate bowl, blend butter/margarine, both sugars, and eggs.

Add vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Blend.

Add apples. Blend.

Add flour mixture gradually. Blend.

For streusel topping:

In a new bowl, mix very well brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Cut in butter/margarine until mixture is crumbly.

Fill muffin cups to halfway with batter. Sprinkle a layer of streusel, using half of the streusel mixture. Add another layer of batter to fill cups. Sprinkle another layer of streusel.

Bake at 375° about 20 min or until tester inserted in center of muffins comes out clean.

Verdict:
Yum! Pretty much anything containing cinnamon is way up on my list!

Notes:
Several here.

• I doubled the recipe when I made it, but found myself short one egg (out of four). So my verdict is based on a recipe that was one egg short, and it was still great!
   
  
• Grating apples takes longer than you'd think. And even longer if two small boys start crying during the first apple.
   
  
• Next time I'll reduce the nutmeg. Not big on nutmeg.
   
  
• I lost patience with "cutting in" the butter for the streusel (by this time the crying had gone ultrasonic) so just ended up using my hands to moosh the mixture into crumbs. Very easy to over-moosh here, so be careful. In fact, this was my first ever successfully crumbly batch of streusel.
   
  
• Any kind of apple can be used. I used golden delicious, on sale last week for 99¢ a pound! And you don't have to grate them, you can finely chop them. My chopper is MIA, and I wasn't about to chop six apples into small pieces by hand.
   
  
• When you eat these muffins, it is very helpful to remove the paper liner before taking a gigantic bite. Hee hee! Love you, honey!

Repeatable:
Yes!

BONUS

For no apparent reason, April has been a big cooking month for me. Here's another one for you.

Taco Stuff

1 lb. ground beef or turkey, browned and drained
1 small onion, chopped
1 taco seasoning packet
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
1 can corn, undrained
1 cup cooked rice
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Optional:
Taco shells
Burrito wraps
Tortilla chips
Lettuce
Salsa
Sour cream

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine all ingredients except cheese and spread into square baking dish. Top with cheese.

Bake 20 minutes or until all bubbly-like.

Can serve in taco shells. Or wrapped as burrito. Or as a dip with chips. Or over lettuce with chips crumbled on top. Topped with whatever you'd like.

Verdict:
Good. Good. Yes.

Notes:
It goes fast. Double the recipe and bake in a 9x13. Oh, and I stuck the onion in with the beef when I browned it.

AND, who knew the main ingredient in store-bought taco seasoning is whey? Why? Why whey?? Poor Trey. No Mexican food either for him, I suppose. Unless I can figure out homemade taco seasoning...

Repeatable:
Oh yeah. I didn't mention that this freezes beautifully. I love my little one-cup Ziploc contaners. A definite repeat.

BONUS BONUS

I also made this. Very good. Steer clear of the "newer hotter crock pot" instructions, though, and cook the heck out of it. Our rice didn't get done.

I also made this. Though the instructions neglect to mention that you should grease the foil. And refrigerate. Mine never became squares, but stayed an ooey-gooey square stuck to thin metal. But the few finger-fulls I managed to pull away were ab.so.lutely delicious!