Lemon Crumb Muffins

Here I am about to go out of town in just a few minutes, and instead of packing the car I am posting a recipe?! These are so amazingly good that I felt like I simply HAD to share them before leaving!!! :-)
OK, so when I first found this recipe I was weirded out by the fact that it makes 40 muffins...I mean who in the world needs 40 muffins, right?! But then I halved the recipe and made them. And now I'm actually disappointed that I didn't make all 40!
I think these have very quickly become my MOST FAVORITE muffin of all time!
They are very light and have a very mild flavor (not really lemony at all!), but so amazing! The butter gives them a neat texture and the crumb topping on top adds a little crisp crunch. AWESOME!
Enjoy!!

***I tried adding lots of blueberries and that made them even better!!!!!!!

These are from Taste of Home's website.

Ingredients:
6 cups all-purpose flour
4 cups sugar (still tastes sweet using 3 cups!)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
8 eggs (I used Ener-G Egg Replacer and yogurt for ours b/c of allergies)
2 cups (16 ounces) sour cream
2 cups butter, melted
3 tablespoons grated lemon peel
2 tablespoons lemon juice
frozen blueberries, optional

TOPPING:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cold butter, cubed

GLAZE:
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, combine the eggs, sour cream, butter, lemon peel and juice. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full.
2. In a small bowl, combine flour and sugar; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over batter.
3. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. In a small bowl, whisk glaze ingredients; drizzle over warm muffins. Yield: 40 muffins.

Sour Beef and Dumplings

This is my family's tradition! :-) SUPER YUMMY!
This makes a LOT of meat, enough to freeze for easy leftovers! Also yummy on egg noodles!

Ingredients for Beef:
3 large chuck roasts (3 lb each)
3 large onions, sliced
2 bottles Mrs. Minnick's Saurbraten Mix
1 cup vinegar
4 cups water

Directions:
1. Heat some oil in the bottom of a large soup pot. Cut meat into very large chunks and brown meat in oil. Add onions and brown them a little.
2. Add rest of ingredients and bring to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer on low all day.

Ingredients for Dumplings:
6 medium-size potatoes, boiled in their skins
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2/3 cup sifted flour
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp nutmeg (optional)
olive oil (optional)

Directions:
1. When cool enough to handle, peel and mash or rice the potatoes. Beat in all the remaining ingredients.
2. Shape into 1 or 2-inch balls. Drop into just boiling, salted water and cook for 7 to 10 minutes. Drain.
3. If desired, you can then saute the dumplings in a little olive oil until light golden brown. AWESOME THIS WAY!!!!
3. Serve with sour beef.

Creme Brulee

We LOVE this recipe! Got it from Taste of Home Holiday Recipes 2007 and have been making it for Christmas dessert ever since! :-)

Ingredients
4 cups heavy whipping cream
9 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
brown sugar

Directions:
1. In a heavy large saucepan, heat cream to 180 degrees over medium heat, stirring frequently. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla. When the cream reaches 180 degrees, slowly stir into the egg yolk mixture.
2. Pour into eight 6-oz custard cups; place cups in a baking pan. Add 1 inch of boiling water to pan. Bake, uncovered, at 325 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Remove custard cups from water bath.
3. Before serving, sprinkle each cup with 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons brown sugar. Place on a baking sheet. Broil 6 inches from the heat for 3-5 minutes or until sugar is caramelized. Serve immediately. Refrigerate leftovers.

Chocolate Chip Cookies - Eggless!

Just got this recipe from my good friend Hillary whose kids have lots of food allergies! Can't wait to try for Julie!!!

Renee’s Chocolate Chip Cookies
*Awesome cookies…can’t even tell they are milk and egg free! Huge hit!

Directions:
Mix together:
1 cup margarine
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup sugar
¼ cup rice milk or regular milk
2 tsp vanilla

Mix together:
½ tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 ¼ cup flour
12 oz. chocolate chips (Baker’s Real Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chunks)

Combine all ingredients and bake at 350 degrees @ 9 minutes.

Homemade Thai Curry Peanut Sauce

I'm so excited! I was wanting the Thai Peanut Curry Chicken I made about two weeks ago, but didn't have the store-bought Taste of Thai Peanut Sauce...bummer! BUT, I found a recipe online (several actually), and the first one I tried is EXACTLY what I was shooting for! I changed it a bit, so I'm listing my changes, but the original recipe was found here.

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 Tbsp minced garlic
2 Tbsp red curry paste
1 1/4 cups creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 Tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
2 - 13.5 oz cans coconut milk
1/2 cup milk
1 cup sliced red/orange bell peppers
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 - 1 cup cooked chicken, pulled apart
crushed peanuts, optional
rice noodles

Directions:
1. Soak rice noodles in large bowl with lots of water for about 20 minutes.
2. While soaking, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in the garlic, and cook about one minute, being careful not to burn. Add the red curry paste, and stir for 1 minute more. Whisk in the peanut butter, brown sugar, chili powder, cayenne pepper, fish sauce, sesame oil, and coconut milk. Bring to a simmer, whisking occasionally, until sauce has thickened and is smooth.
3. Add peppers, onion, and chicken and cook until peppers are soft. (I freeze my sliced peppers to have on hand, so they soften up very quickly, so not sure of the exact amount of time with fresh peppers).
4. Drain noodles, and add them to the peanut sauce. Heat through.