Cheese Fondue

Cheese Fondue From a Box

Maybe you can sneak one of these in before it gets well too balmy out to even think of sitting round a hot pot of melted cheese. Sounds good, doesn't it?



I don't have a recipe for this (though I have made it from scratch before) because it's from a box!
We Mustards buy the Safeway brand from, uh, Safeway but add a pinch of paprika and pepper and an even smaller pinch of nutmeg. And about 1/4 C white wine. Which you are required to purchase anyway should you make fondue, so you will inevitably have it on hand.
We sometimes dip drained, canned pineapple in the cheese in addition to bread. But I know Swiss people who would object to this.



I know all this because Mister M is Swiss. A real, live Swiss man.

Blueberry-Lemon Muffins & Banana Muffins

B Muffins


Blueberry muffins.
My mum used to make these often when I was growing up. I will always remember taking them to school in Kindergarten and having this one boy (Ryan?) asking to trade some of his lunch for my muffin. Hands off, boy! These are some good muffins!


Banana muffins.
Last year, in Switzerland, jonesing for some muffins, I made these. Several times. Because they never stayed around long.

Blueberry-Lemon Muffins
From my mother's Betty Crocker cookbook.

1 1/3 C flour (I used whole wheat, but my mum always made white. I think both are tasty)
1/4 C sugar
1 1/2 t baking powder
1 well-beated egg
3/4 C milk
1/3 C cooking oil (I used melted margerine since I didn't have neutral oil)
1 tsp lemon zest
1 C blueberries (fresh or thawed)

Stir together first 3 ingredients and 3/4 t salt; make well in centre.
Combine egg, milk and oil; add all at once to dry mixture. Add in lemon zest and blueberries.
Stir just till moistened.
Fill well-greased muffin tins 2/3 full.
Bake at 400 F for 20-25 minutes.
Once muffins are baked and still slightly warm, dip tops in melted butter (we used margerine) and then in sugar. **

** I suppose you could skip the butter and sugar top, but really, why would you? I like to cut back on fat and sugar just as much as the next girl, but I think you should endulge here.

Banana Muffins
Recipe from muffin-paradies.de
(loosely translated by me)

Ingredients
2 ananas
100 g chocolate
60 g butter
120 g sugar
2 T milk
220 g flour (I use whole wheat)
2 t baking powder
1 pinch salt

Method
Preheat oven to 180 Celsius and grease (or spray) muffin tins.
Mash peeled bananas in a bowl. Cut up chocolate (Europeans don't typically have chocolate chips, but you would obviously use them here. Unless cutting up chocolate is your thang)
Mix butter, bananas, milk and sugar well.
Add flour, baking powder, salt and chocolate and mix only until moistened.
Fill muffin tins and bake for about 20 minutes.

Cheedar Broccoli Soup

Cheddar Broccoli Soup Dreams



Recipe from thewiveswithknives.blogspot.com
It is cooold and rainy today. I would have felt like eating this for dinner. But. Lazy.

At 9:45pm I think it's about time to snuggle under the covers with My Booky Wook...

Vegetarian Wonton Soup

Vegetarian Wonton Soup



I possibly feel like making this right now. It is delicious.
And, what I mean by "vegetarian" is simply that I used mock ground "beef" (I have also used mock ground "chicken") instead of the real deal. Maybe I can think up a yummy vegetable version.
Really, this soup is so good. Especially with the cabbage, which you don't find in traditional wonton soup. You could leave it out of you want, but I think it really adds to it.

Missus Mustard's Wonton Soup

Serves 2-4

For the wontons:
about 14-16 wonton wrappers (for as many dumplings as you want) (I found mine in the freezer section of Buy-Low)
1/4 of a package of Yves Original Veggie Ground Round
2 tsp dried chives
1 spring onion, white & green parts chopped
salt & pepper

For the broth:
1/2 head of a small savoy cabbage, cut into strips
3 c (ish!) of water
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
enough vegetable bouillon to make the water salty enough for your taste
sprinkle of dried chives
pepper (optional)

1. Thaw wonton wrappers in the fridge the night before.
2. Put cabbage and sesame oil into a pot and let cook for 1-2 minutes, until just beginning to wilt. Add the rest of the broth ingredients and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
3. Mix all ingredients for the wontons (except the wonton wrappers) in a small bowl.
Place a teaspoon of mixture in the centre of a wonton wrapper, bring in opposite corners of the wrapper over the filling and pinch the wrapper together at the top. Get it? Then squish the top all together so nothing can spill out and so it looks like a little candy in a wrapper. **
4. Do this with all wrappers and filling.
5. Bring a pot of slightly salted water to a slow boil.
6. Add the wontons in carefuly and take them out with a slotted spoon once they float to the top.
7. Place the wontons in the broth and serve.

** Next time I will try wetting the edges a bit with water on my finger to help them stick together. I think this will really help a lot.