It was cold (well, it was 69 degrees, which is cold for us in March) windy and rainy yesterday, the perfect day for baking!

These savory little muffins came to be after Matt McLinn, Executive Chef at The Grind, taught at Les Gourmettes and left behind a batch of his candied jalapeños. This particular batch had gone past the point where Matt usually cooks them at the restaurant and had dried out to the real “candied” stage. Usually, they are still juicy and dripping with syrup.  The recipe below makes them that way, if you want them to be more dried out like they are pictured here, just cook them long after the vinegar is added, to dry them out. I prefer them still juicy though and they will work perfectly in this recipe either way. Matt uses them on his “to-die-for” burgers. You’ll want to use them on and in just about everything you can imagine… trust me, they are an addiction!

Along with that new vice, you should know that the muffin recipe makes a whole heck of a lot of mini muffins … how many?  Nearly 100!

Don’t try to count the muffins in the picture above. Before it was taken, I’d already delivered 2  1/2 dozen of the little gems to my sweet neighbor, Lori, who lent me 2 of the eggs I needed to make them.

I have four mini-muffin pans, so I had to make them in two batches. You can easily cut the recipe in half, but they freeze great and make the most wonderful party-size appetizer sandwiches.  Just cut in half, spread with a little jalapeño butter or jalapeño jelly, and fill with shaved deli ham or turkey.  So Amazingly Good!

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Before we get to today’s recipe I want to let you know about a change to the summer schedule. I’ve changed Week 5 to a new format. It is now a “tween/teen” week for 11-16 year-olds and will take place from Monday, June 27-Friday, July 1. There are still six spaces available for that week, so if you are interested, go to the “Classes” page on the left and check it out!

And speaking of kids… This dessert can easily be made “kid-friendly” by substituting 1/2 cup fresh orange juice for the Grand Marnier and Cognac in the compote.

This, the fourth – and final – for a little while, recipe installment in the 80th birthday party theme incorporates two interesting food-related items from 1931.

In 1931 the sidecar was created by Harry MacElhone of Harry’s Bar in Paris during prohibition here in the States. To make the famous drink; pour 1 1/2 -ounces Cognac or Armagnac, 3/4-ounce Grand Marnier or any other strong liqueur, and 1/4 ounce fresh lemon juice into a cocktail shaker filled with ice shake well and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Also in 1931, General Mills introduced Bisquick. According to General Mills, Bisquick was born when one of their sales executives met a train dining car chef who mixed lard and the dry ingredients for biscuits ahead of time. So between the drink named the “sidecar” and the fact that Bisquick was born on a train dining car…. these sweet delights are aptly named.

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Here we have another recipe installment for the 1931-themed upcoming birthday celebration for my dad…

Although the television was already invented by 1931, regular commercial network television programming did not begin in the U.S. until 1948.  And it was many more years until it was commonplace for families to own a black and white television.  So it is not so much the television, but black and white photos that these pizzettas are meant to represent from the year 1931.

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Here is another of the recipes, along with a little history, that will be on the menu for my dad’s 80th birthday party.  You can use standard (big) size croissants or cocktail (mini) sizes, depending upon the occasion you plan to serve these delicious and classic sandwiches.

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These darling green tartlets are perfect for St. Patrick’s Day but they will soon be serving another purpose for me.

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As promised, here is the fantastic recipe for a traditional Irish Soda Bread, given to me from Sharon Cereska. The recipe writer in me couldn’t help but rewrite it a little bit, but I only changed one actual ingredient from the original recipe, and that was using unsalted butter instead of margarine. I don’t use or buy margarine, sorry, can’t help being a foodie snob about that one!

My reworded recipe is first and Sharon’s original family recipe is below. But first, here is what Sharon wrote to me when she sent the recipe, accompanied by a lovely treasured family photo of hers.  Thank you Sharon for sharing with me and everyone out there in the blog-a-sphere.

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What are you looking for; Gluten-free? Easy-breezy? Meatless Monday? Kid-friendly? Convenient? Meat-free Friday Lenten meal? Then this recipe is for you! But before we get to it, I want to provide you with a head’s up about tomorrow’s recipe. Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day – the most amazing Irish Soda Bread recipe. It comes directly from the source, a true Irishwoman who also happens to be a great friend of this blog. None other than, Sharon Cereska; loyal follower, mother to long-time students of Les Petites Gourmettes, and one of the two winners of our latest contest. Sharon generously brought me a loaf of the delicious bread as a thank you when she came to my cooking class at Les Gourmettes (the prize of the said contest). Marissa and I devoured the entire loaf before Dave even knew it was in the house! Besides the usual flour and such, you’ll need 1 egg and 1 3/4 cups buttermilk. Get to the store and pick those up so you can make the bread. Trust me, you’ll be thanking me, and especially, Sharon, later!

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This lovely spring or summertime tart is perfect as an appetizer, placed atop lightly dressed greens for a salad, or as a side dish for fish, poultry, pork, or beef. Basically, it’s good anytime and anywhere! I created it while trying to use up things I had in my fridge (what’s new?) including the zucchini, caramelized onions, and blue cheese.  I always have Parmesan and puff pastry on hand, so this was a no-brainer. Feel free to add in whatever you have on hand as well; such as sun-dried tomatoes, capers, olives, or tapenade… the possibilities are endless. If you’re not the huge fan of blue cheese, that I am, substitute in another good melting cheese… say Fontina, or just use more Parmesan. Just get in that kitchen and create!

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I’ve posted the recipes for regular chicken stock and for rich duck stock here before, but I just realized that I’ve not put up recipes for beef stock or brown chicken stock yet.  This recipe is for brown chicken stock, but the recipe for the beef stock is exactly the same, just sub in beef bones for the chicken pieces. Having these two stocks in your freezer, ready when you need them, will make you feel very rich indeed, as there is nothing better than homemade stock!  I’m including nearly a dozen pictures to make it as easy as possible to follow along.

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I’ve been either on the go or sick for weeks now without a break!  But today – today there is not a single thing written on my calendar – a FREE day!  A lazy day – a perfect Friday! So keeping with the feel of the day, this will be a lazy and easy post.

Marissa is home this morning, not having to go to work until 5:00 tonight.  I’ve been up since 7:00 AM, she got up at 9:00 when I woke her up (accidentally) to look at something online.  An hour later she said, “I want pancakes.”  Oooh, pancakes, that sounds good. So we made “Pancakes ala Marissa”, which means the mix was from a box, but there are always awesome mix-ins.  This time, the embellishments are toasted pecans and slices of ripe banana… yummers!  Then I added a little special touch of my own, cooking them in a mixture of butter AND Queen Creek Olive Mill Vanilla Bean Olive Oil – so good!

Another great thing about this particular Friday; Connor comes home for the week of Spring Break! He’ll be jealous about these pancakes, but luckily for him, there is some batter waiting for him in the fridge…

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