Universal Muffins

My inspiration today comes from the Universal Remote I bought yesterday from Radio Shack. To think, I lost the remote to our receiver a few years ago and I actually thought it'd be okay to walk over and adjust the volume every five minutes. Well, better minds prevailed and I swooped up a controller and it has replaced almost all five of the ones we used to use! Needless to say, this has been an enlightening event in my life and is the inspiration for the following muffins. They've got something for everyone, the ingredients are healthy, and the finishing touch can be adjusted with any dried fruit of your choice!

Serves: about 12 muffins

 - 1 cup whole weat flour
 - 1/4 cup oat bran
 - 3/4 cup quick oats
 - 1/2 cup brown sugar
 - 1/2 tsp nutmeg
 - 1/4 tsp salt
 - 1 tbsp cinnamon (open for interpretation)
 - 1/4 tsp allspice
 - 1 1/4 tsp baking powder

 - 1 egg
 - 1 egg white
 - 1/2 cup applesauce
 - 1/2 cup honey

 - 1 to 1 1/2 cups of any dried fruit. This time around, we have a boatload of raisins in the cabinet, so that's what I went to. The exact amount of fruit to put in the mixture is beyond me, I just look for a nice consistency and something that looks reasonable.

You can go ahead and preheat the oven to 375 since it'll probably be ready to go by the time you're done prepping this muffin mix.

Mix together all of the dry ingredients listed above in a large mixing bowl.

Then in a separate smaller bowl, throw together the wet ingredients and beat until you get an even overall look.

Now mix the wet and dry ingredients and stir just enough to get everything together. Once that's done you can throw in whatever dried fruit you've chosen for that day and you're all ready to go!

Cook at 375 for about 18 minutes and do the old toothpick test when you check them and make sure it comes out clean. Pop the muffins out with a knife and either put them on a cooling rack for a few minutes or just start the party!

These muffins are perfect because they're filling and you don't have to down like 6 of them to be satisfied. Throw one or two of them into your lunch bag for work and you're set. You can adjust the recipe to match your mood or craving and also accomodate the resources in your kitchen. There you go!

Seafood soup

So what better way to kick off the blog than with some seafood soup?

With a day off from work and plenty of time to prepare, I decided to head to University Seafood with dj seifi and pick up some salmon and shrimp! Paired up with just about any vegetables you have in the fridge, you've got your seafood soup for the evening. Here's what I used this time around:

 - 1 zucchini
 - 1 carrot
 - 3/4 onion
 - 1 celery
 - 1 white potato

 - 1/2 tsp pepper
 - 1/4 tsp salt
 - 1/4 tsp oregano
 - 1/2 tsp basil
 - 1/4 cup chopped parsley (save some for garnish)
 - 1 tsp minced garlic

 - 1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes
 - 1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
 - 1 cup chicken broth
 - 1/2 cup water
 - 2 tbsp olive oil

After chopping up your veggies to your desired size, warm up the olive oil in your pot at medium heat. Toss in the garlic and onions and cook for 2-3 minutes until the onions start getting transparent. After that you'll want to put the rest of the vegetables and the parsley in the pot and stir for a few minutes.

Now take all of your liquids and mix them into your veggie pot. After you've got the liquids mixed in, throw in your spices as well.
Turn the heat up so the soup comes to a boil and after a little bit of stirring, cover the pot and turn the heat down to LOW. Let that baby simmer for about 40 minutes. It's around this time I like to either:

a) prepare another part of dinner
or
b) sit on the couch and watch some sports

Once there's about ten minutes left on the timer, pull out your selected seafood (in this case, shrimp and salmon) and prepare them for entry into the hot bath of soup on the stove. I sliced up the salmon into 1 inch cubes and plopped them into the soup along with the shrimp. You'll want to put the cover back onto the pot and let it cook for about ten more minutes until the salmon is flaky and pink.

Once the seafood is all cooked up, you've got your soup! Spoon it into your serving bowls and throw on some of your leftover parsley as a garnish.

After preparing this, I've come to realize that it's got a nice balance of veggies and seafood, but you could easily add some clams or scallops and turn this into a full blown aquatic dish. While enjoying my second bowl, I threw in some hot sauce and found out that worked really well too. You can basically do whatever you want with it and it should turn out beautifully!