Angel Hair Pasta with Italian Sausage Marinara Sauce

Inspiration: Ever since the weather started cooling off a little bit, I’ve been craving a nice plate of spaghetti. Last week, I found myself with a big bag of very ripe tomatoes that B’s parents gave to us from their garden. They needed to be used fairly quickly, and I happened to have a pound of Italian sausage stowed away in the freezer. The stars had aligned. :)

What we Loved: I’m really not a big meat-eater these days, almost always preferring seafood or vegetarian meals. That being said, I really, truly adore things like bacon or Italian sausage. You know, the healthy stuff. I’ve never had a meat sauce for spaghetti made only with Italian sausage, though, so I was excited to give it a try. And it was so good! I plan to always use Italian sausage for my spaghetti in the future. It gave the sauce such a spicy, rich, almost pizza-like flavor. I served the sauce over angel hair pasta, because it’s B’s favorite kind of pasta, and I topped it with a nice sprinkle of fresh Parmesan. I was worried that the sauce might be too heavy for a delicate pasta, but it worked great.

Helpful Hints: I used a combination of fresh tomatoes and tomato paste as the base of my sauce, but you could certainly use canned tomatoes, tomato puree, or tomato sauce. I put most of my tomatoes in a food processor to completely puree them, and then I added an additional chopped tomato to the sauce for some texture. If you like your sauce without any tomato chunks, just puree them all. My pureed tomatoes resulted in a very, very thin sauce, which is why I added a good portion of tomato paste to thicken. Simmering uncovered also helped to thicken.

Similar Recipes: spaghetti with turkey meatballs, angel hair pasta with sundried tomatoes and goat cheese

Angel Hair Pasta with Italian Sausage Marinara Sauce
Source: Marinara sauce recipe adapted from Ina Garten

I used Ina Garten’s recipe as direction, but I changed it around quite a bit. Here’s the recipe as I made it.

Extra virgin olive oil
1 Vidalia onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup red wine (I used cabernet franc)
4 large tomatoes, 5 for tomato chunks in the sauce
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 pound Italian sausage
Angel hair pasta
Freshly grated Parmesan cheeese

1. Heat a pot of water to a boil. Add the four tomatoes, and cook for approximately 2-3 minutes, until the skin starts to just barely peel. Remove the tomatoes from the water, let them cool, and peel off the skins. Place the tomatoes in a food processor, and puree until the sauce reaches the desired consistency. The sauce will be very thin. If you’d like, chop an additional tomato, and add it to the sauce.

2. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a large saute pan. Add the onion, and saute over medium heat until it is cooked through and starting to brown, approximately 5 minutes. Add the garlic, and saute for one more minute.

3.Add the wine, and scrape any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook until almost all of the liquid evaporates, approximately 5 minutes.

3. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano, salt, and pepper to the pan. Mix well, and let simmer uncovered.

4. While the sauce is simmering, crumble the sausage into a dry skillet. Cook over medium heat until browned. Drain the sausage, and add it to the sauce. Simmer for an additional 15-20 minutes.

5. Cook the angel hair pasta according to package instructions. Serve the sauce atop the pasta. Top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Bacon Bleu Cheese Pizza

Inspiration: Pizza is one of my favorite foods. And I love a nice, greasy deep dish pizza with a big pile of cheesy, garlicy breadsticks as much as the next person. But truthfully, nine times out of 10, I’d much rather make pizza at home. I like to do this for health reasons, but I also love it because it’s one of my favorite ways to relax on a Friday night. I love to come home from work, crack open a beer with my hubby, and make a pizza with whatever ingredients we happen to have in the fridge. And even a homemade bacon pizza is healthier than one ordered for delivery.

What we Loved: B and I only recently started exploring bleu cheeses, because it took us a while to learn to like them. Now that we do, though, we really loved the bleu cheese flavor on this pizza. I scattered the crumbles of bleu cheese over the pizza, so we didn’t get a singular bleu cheese flavor with every bite, which might have been overpowering. Instead, there were little pockets of bleu cheese goodness throughout the pizza, which was perfect. Together with bacon and onion, this pizza definitely had a lot of strong, intense flavors, and we both really enjoyed it.

Helpful Hints:  If you’re not sure that you really like bleu cheese, then I wouldn’t try this pizza. While it’s not completely overpowering in its bleu cheese flavor, I would definitely say that you have to really enjoy bleu cheese to enjoy it on a pizza, even in crumbles. That being said, there’s nothing wrong with a bacon and onion pizza. :)

Similar Recipes: Bacon avocado pizza

Bacon Bleu Cheese Pizza
Source: Original Recipe

1/2 recipe pizza dough
Extra virgin olive oil
Mozzarella cheese, freshly shredded
3-4 ounces bleu cheese (I used roquefort)
10 strips bacon
1/2 small onion, diced
Freshly cracked black pepper

1. Add the bacon to a saute pan or griddle, and cook until crispy. Drain on paper towels, and then crumble into small pieces.

2. Spread the pizza dough onto a greased pizza pan. Drizzle with olive oil, and brush to distribute the oil completely over the dough.

3. Top with mozzarella cheese, the bacon crumbles, and the diced onions. Crumble the bleu cheese over the pizza, and top with a bit more mozzarella. Sprinkle with black pepper.

4. Bake at 450 for 10-12 minutes, or until the crust is browned.

Roasted Red Pepper and Black Bean Soup

Inspiration: I’ve seen a lot of recipes for various kinds of black bean soup floating around the internet lately. While trying to plan a really healthy week of suppers to counteract my love of beer, wine, cheese, etc. etc., I decided that a black bean soup would be perfect. And it just so happened that I served this on the first day of fall, too, which was nice.

What we Loved: I chose this particular black bean soup recipe because it had so many ingredients in it that B and I both adore. Black beans, roasted red peppers, chiles in adobo sauce, a heaping cup of cilantro. I had high hopes for this recipe, and it really didn’t dissapoint. While B was eating, he said that it would have to be a repeat recipe in our household for sure. That’s always a good thing! The flavor combination is really just amazing, with a nice smoky flavor from the adobo sauce and the roasted peppers and a great freshness from the cilantro. The soup turned out really thick and creamy, too, and it was also very spicy, which we loved. I really enjoyed this soup topped with plenty of avocado and green onions.

Helpful Hints: Because of the chile in adobo, this soup is very spicy. If you don’t like much spice, I would consider adding just a bit of the adobo sauce to keep the nice, smoky flavor, or maybe just a small amount of the pepper. I added one chile and some sauce for a super spicy soup. The soup in the original recipe was topped with sour cream, which I omitted because I needed to use up some vegetables, but next time I would definitely serve this with my favorite alternative to sour cream, 0% Greek yogurt. I’d highly recommend that, because this spicy soup would be even more fantastic with the nice chill of the yogurt. And I love 0% Greek yogurt because it’s so similar to sour cream, but so healthy.

Roasted Red Pepper and Black Bean Soup

Source: A Good Appetite

I changed a few things around in this recipe, using canned beans and using cilantro instead of parsley. Here’s the recipe as I made it.

2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
Extra virgin olive oil
1 cup vidalia onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 red peppers, roasted, stems and seeds removed, and chopped
1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, chopped
1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
1 cup fresh cilantro
Kosher salt
2 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth to keep this vegetarian)

1. Heat a drizzle of olive oil over medium heat in a pot. Add the onion, and cook until tender, approximately 5 minutes. Add the garlic, and continue to cook for an additional minute.

2. Stir in the red peppers, chipotle, oregano, cilantro, and a big pinch fo salt. Cook for approximately 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the chicken broth and one can of black beans, and stir to combine.

3. Pour the soup into a food processor, and process until very smooth. I let my food processor run for several minutes to achieve the right consistency. Alternatively, use an immersion blender.

4. Return the soup to the pot. Add the remaining can of beans. Cover, and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for approximately 15 minutes and serve. Top with sour cream, yogurt, avocado, green onions, or any other desired toppings.

Tortilla-Crusted Mahi-Mahi

Inspiration: A few weeks ago I ran across this post for tortilla chip coated salmon. I’ve kept it in mind ever since, because I, too, always end up with a quarter bag full of tortilla chip crumbs that just aren’t big enough anymore for dipping in salsa or guacamole. Several years back, I would also occasionally purchase a tortilla-crusted tilapia from the grocery store that I really enjoyed, so I don’t know why I never thought of making it myself at home. Now I have :)

What we Loved: I always love a crunchy coating on fish or chicken, and this coating was really crunchy with a nice flavor. Tortilla chips lend themselves really well to Mexican-type flavors, so I mixed the crushed chips with a lot of spices and served the fish alongside my homemade refried beans (sans cheese) and topped with pico de gallo. This meal was healthy, light, and flavorful, perfect for a weeknight.

Helpful Hints: This coating would work well on any kind of fish you prefer, and it would also work well with chicken. You could leave out the spices and just use tortilla chips for a plain breading, or mix any other spices in that you prefer for a different spin on the flavor. I always buy unsalted tortilla chips, but you could use salted and leave out the additional salt when adding the spices.

Similar Recipes: pistachio-crusted mahi-mahi, parmesan-crusted tilapia

Tortilla-Crusted Mahi-Mahi
Source: Inspired from Macheesmo

2 mahi-mahi filets
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup crushed unsalted tortilla chips, more if necessary
Chili powder
Ground cumin
Ground coriander
Garlic powder
Kosher salt and black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil

1. Place the flour in a shallow bowl, and the egg in a second shallow bowl. In a third shallow bowl, mix the tortilla chip crumbs with a sprinkle of chili powder, cumin, coriander, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. 

2. Dip the fish filets in the flour, then in the egg, and then in the tortilla crumb coating. Place the coated filets on a plate.

3. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a saute pan. Add the filets, and saute until browned and cooked through, approximately 5 minutes per side.

Pesto Shrimp with Bacon and Parmesan Polenta

Inspiration: I always think that polenta topped with seafood is a great combination. I’ve made red pepper polenta topped with fish and pepperjack polenta topped with scallops, and I adored both of those meals. When I saw this recipe a few months back, I knew that I would love it, too.

What we Loved: This meal is a just  full of flavors. I used a lot of pesto with my shrimp, which mixed nicely into the cheesy polenta as I ate, and the few bits of crispy bacon on the top added a really great saltiness to the dish.  I don’t know that you can go wrong with Parmesan, bacon, and pesto!  I served this with some sliced grape tomatoes sprinkled with salt and pepper for a delicious supper.

Helpful Hints: I could only find jumbo shrimp when I went shopping. As I was eating, I thought that it would be much easier to eat the meal if I had sliced the shrimp into smaller pieces before adding them to the polenta. Next time, I would chop the shrimp after cooking and also break the bacon into smaller pieces, so that I could mix everything together and get a bit of each flavor in every bite.

Similar Recipes: cornmeal-crusted orange roughy with roasted red pepper polenta, cumin-crusted scallops over pepperjack polenta with roasted vegetables

Pesto Shrimp with Bacon and Parmesan Polenta
Source: bitchincamero

I adjusted the recipe to serve two. Here’s the recipe as I made it.

3 tablespoons pesto
10 peeled and deveined jumbo shrimp
1/2 cup polenta
1 1/2 cups water
Kosher salt and black pepper
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
2 slices bacon
Extra virgin olive oil

1. Toss the shrimp with the pesto, and set aside.

2. Place the water in a saucepan over medium heat, and bring to a boil. Stir in the polenta, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook for 25-30 minutes, stirring and scraping the pan occasionally. When the polenta is done, stir in the Parmesan cheese, and season with salt and pepper.

3. While the polenta is cooking, add the bacon slices to a saute pan, and cook until crispy. Drain on a paper-towel covered plate, then break into small pieces.

4. In a separate skillet, heat a drizzle of olive oil over medium high heat. Add the shrimp, and cook until just opaque, approximately 2 -3 minutes.

5. Spoon the polenta into bowls, and then top with the shrimp. Top with the crumbled bacon and serve.

Zucchini Bread

Cuisine: American

Inspiration: When you have a lot of zucchini to use, zucchini bread is always a great idea. I like this recipe for such a situation because it makes a lot of bread and it can be frozen, and it comes out of the freezer tasting just as great as when it went in.

What we Loved: This is my Mom’s recipe, and like her other quick breads that I love, it’s just perfect. The inside of the bread is really moist with a nice, warm cinnamon flavor, and the crust has a great crisp to it that I just can’t get enough of. The flavors of this bread really remind me of the end of summer/beginning of fall, and it makes a great breakfast along with a nice, cold glass of milk.

Helpful Hints: This recipe makes two loaves of bread, which is nice because it allows you to use a couple of different add-ins if you want to. This time, I made one loaf of plain zucchini bread, and one loaf of chocolate chip zucchini bread. Any kind of nuts, raisins, or white chocolate chips would also work great if you prefer those flavors/textures.

Other Quick Bread Recipes (from my Mom!):  pumpkin bread, banana bread

Zucchini Bread
Source: Mom

3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups sugar
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups zucchini, grated
1/2 cup sour cream (I used 0% Greek yogurt this time, and it worked great)
Chocolate chips, nuts, or raisins, if desired

1. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl.

2. Add the sugar, eggs, oil, vanilla, and zucchini to the bowl, and mix thoroughly. If you’re using any add-ins, gently fold them into the batter.

3. Bake in two greased loaf pans at 350 degrees for 60-80 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean.

4. Cool the bread in the pans, on wire racks.

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

Cuisine: Italian

Inspiration: For the last few weeks, I’ve mentioned how I have ton of fresh garden vegetables to use. Lasagna is one of those dishes that will use up a whole lot of ingredients that need using, and a lot of vegetables that I had seemed to lend themselves really well to being roasted. Thus, I’ve had the idea in my head for a roasted vegetable lasagna for about a week now, and I was just waiting for a nice weekend day at home to try it out.

What we Loved: B and I both agreed that this was the best meal that we’ve had in a really long time. For the vegetable filling, I used a combination of zucchini, yellow squash, red peppers, broccoli, onions, and garlic, and the flavor combination of all of those vegetables was just amazing. That slightly charred, roasted flavor really seeped through the entire lasagna and was the predominant taste, which was a great surpise as I was wondering if the roasted vegetable flavor would cut through the other more intense ingredients. Combined with a bechamel sauce that stayed really creamy and the sharp, nutty flavor of parrano cheese, this was just a really great lasagna that we both loved. I’m really excited about this recipe, and I’m really looking forward to the leftovers.

Helpful Hints: Cut up a lot of vegetables, many more than you think you will need. I had an entire pan heaped with what I thought was way too many vegetables, but they reduce a lot in the oven as you’re roasting them. After my vegetables had roasted, I wondered if I had enough. So use plenty! I also like to use olive oil and skim milk to make a bechamel sauce, which isn’t the traditional route, but I honestly think that it’s much better than using butter and/or a heavier milk/cream. In my opinion, using olive oil and skim milk is so much healthier, still tastes great, and still thickens up just like it should, so it’s my preferred method.

Other Lasagna Recipes: seafood lasagna

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna
Source: Original Recipe

For the Vegetable Filling
1 medium-sized zucchini, chopped into 1/2 inch cubes
1 medium-sized yellow squash, chopped into 1/2 inch cubes
1 red pepper, chopped into 1/2 inch cubes
1 head broccoli, chopped into small florets
1 small vidalia onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
Kosher salt and black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil

For the Bechamel Sauce
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups skim milk
Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
1/4 cup Parrano cheese, shredded

For the Lasagna Layers
1 box lasagna noodles
3/4 cup Parrano cheese, shredded

1. Place the zucchini, squash, red pepper, and broccoli on a cookie sheet. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and toss well to coat. Roast the vegetables in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes, flipping every ten minutes.

2. In a saute pan, heat a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Saute the onion until softened, approximately 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic, and saute for an additional minute. Add the onions and garlic to the roasted vegetables when they come out of the oven.

3. Boil the lasagna noodles in a large pot of salted water for 7 minutes. Remove the noodles from the water, separating them onto paper towels or wax paper to avoid sticking.

4. In a sauce pan, heat the 3 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat to begin making the bechamel sauce. Add the flour, and stir for 2-3 minutes. Add the milk, and increase the heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring often, until the sauce thickens and bubbles, approximately 8-10 minutes. Season the sauce with pepper and a liberal amount of salt. Stir in 1/4 cup Parmesan and a 1/4 cup Parrano. Taste, and adjust seasonings if necessary.

5. In a 9 x 13 baking dish, spread enough bechamel sauce to lightly coat the bottom of the dish. Add a layer of lasagna noodles, 1/2 of the roasted vegetables, and 1/3 of the remaining bechamel.

6. Top with another layer of lasagna noodles, the other 1/2 of the vegetables, and 1/3 of the bechamel.

7. Top with a last layer of lasagna noodles and the last 1/3 of the bechamel. Sprinkle the top of the lasagna with Parrano cheese.

8. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes before cutting.

Fried Green Tomato Sandwich

Cuisine: American

Inspiration: I thought of trying out a fried green tomato sandwich a few weeks ago, and I’ve had the idea stuck in my head ever since. I was a little worried about whether or not green tomatoes would make a good sandwich, but in the end, curiosity won out.

What we Loved: This sandwich was packed with flavor. Tart green tomatoes, fresh cilantro, sharp cheddar, and crispy caramelized onions all paired really well together for a great sandwich. I loved that this was something different than your ordinary sandwich, and I really loved how well the tartness of the green tomatoes really complimented the other flavors.

Helpful Hints: I debated what bread to use for this sandwich. Originally, I was going to use hamburger buns, but I had too many tomato slices and wanted something with more surface area. I was also worried that the buns would be too soft for my liking. In the end, I toasted some rye bread. The flavor was great, but I was a little disappointed that the bread got way too crispy and crumbled apart a bit as I cut the sandwiches in half. I’m thinking that a hoagie roll would work perfectly. Also, I rarely fry and instead use very small amounts of olive oil to saute, so my tomatoes aren’t fried in a lot of oil as they often are. If you want a more traditional, heavily fried flavor, use maybe 1/4 inch of canola oil to fry your tomatoes.

Other Sandwich Recipes: grilled portabella caprese sandwich, turkey tango joes

Fried Green Tomato Sandwich
Source: Original Recipe

4 slices bread, or two rolls/sandwich buns
1 green tomato
1/4 cup flour
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs, more if necessary
Handful fresh cilantro, stems removed
1/4 cup cheddar cheese, freshly grated
1 red onion, sliced into rings
Extra virgin olive oil

1. Heat a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil in a small sauce pan. Add the red onion rings, and cook until very brown and carmelized, approximately 20-25 minutes. Stir often.

2. While the onions are cooking, slice the green tomato into 1/4 inch slices. Place the flour in a shallow bowl, the egg in a second shallow bowl, and the bread crumbs in a third shallow bowl. Dip each slice of tomato into the flour, then the egg, and then the breadcrumbs. Place the prepared slices on a plate.

3. Heat a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil in a saute pan, enough to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the tomato slices, and cook until browned on each side and softened, approximately 5 minutes per side. Use more oil if necessary after flipping your tomatoes.

4. Assemble your sandwich, adding a handful of cilantro, the tomatoes, the shredded cheese, and the onions.

Zucchini, Onion, and Cheddar Quesadillas

Cuisine: TexMex

Inspiration: B’s parents gave us a ton of fresh vegetables from their garden. A ton.  So instead of picking out what vegetables I need at the grocery store, I’ve got a whole supply of produce that I need to figure out what to do with. It’s really fun, and I’ve got a list of new recipes all lined up.

What we Loved: To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect with these quesadillas. I wasn’t even sure that they would be all that great. As it turned out, B and I both loved them. They were crispy on the outside, and the fresh zucchini and sweet onion flavors paired really well with the sharp cheddar cheese on the inside. I used a sparing amount of cheese, which I liked a lot because I could really taste the freshness of the vegetables. I served these with a tomato salad for a light summer meal that I plan to make again and again.

Helpful Hints: After grating your zucchini and onion, be sure to drain as much water from the vegetables as you can, to ensure that there isn’t too much moisture in the quesadillas.

Other Zucchini Recipes: zucchini saute with almonds and Parmesan, breaded zucchini and squash

Zucchini, Onion, and Cheddar Quesadillas
Source: Original Recipe

1 small zucchini
1/2 small Vidalia onion
1/2 cup freshly shredded cheddar cheese
4 flour tortillas
Extra virgin olive oil

1. Grate the zucchini and the onion on a box grater. Pat the grated zucchini and onion between paper towels to absorb as much moisture as possible. You will need to use several paper towels to absorb all of the moisture.

2. To assemble the quesadillas, sprinkle 1/4 of the cheddar cheese on a flour tortilla, then top with half of the zucchini and onion mixture. Top with another 1/4 of the cheese, and then top with a second tortilla. Repeat with the second quesadilla.

3. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a saute pan, enough to very lightly coat the bottom of the pan. When the oil is hot, add one quesadilla to the pan. Saute until the cheese is melted and the tortilla is browned, approximately 2 minutes per side. Repeat with the second quesadilla.

4. Slice into wedges and serve.

Blueberry Muffins

Cuisine: American

Inspiration: B and I pack our lunches every day for work, and we we always include some fruit. I love buying whatever is in season at the time, and lately I’ve been buying blueberries. We bought a big container at the store last week, and then over the weekend we visited B’s parents and picked a whole bag full of fresh blueberries from their blueberry tree. That left us with a lot of blueberries, meaning it was time to look for recipes! There isn’t even a comparison in taste and quality between the freshly picked blueberries and the store-bought, so I used the store-bought for these muffins. The fresh blueberries were so good that I couldn’t bare to use them for anything other than eating by the handful.

What we Loved: There were three things about these muffins that I really loved. First, they’re definitely not lacking in blueberries. Adding a cup of blueberries to the batter and a spoonful of blueberry filling to each muffin provided blueberry flavor in every bite, which was delicious. Secondly, I really loved the flavor of the muffin itself. It was light and airy, with a subtle but great sweet flavor, almost like a vanilla cupcake. I think that I could eat one of these muffins without the blueberries and still thoroughly enjoy it. And lastly, I really loved that these muffins weren’t full of fat and sugar, as a lot of muffin recipes can be. These only used 3 tablespoons of canola oil and 1/2 cup of sugar.

Helpful Hints: I didn’t have any blueberry jam to add to the center of the muffins before baking, so instead I used another idea that I saw and added a cup of blueberries and a teaspoon of sugar to a pan and heated until a thick syrup formed. As you can see from the picture below, this syrup infused itself into the muffins rather than sitting in the center as a filling, but it was a good alternative if you don’t have any jam. It did give the muffins a really moist texture, so if you have an aversion to that, I would definitely recommend using the jam or leaving both out completely. I also decided not to use a streusel topping as was written in the original recipe, simply to save some calories and sugar. That was painful, because I love streusel so much, and I know it would have went wonderfully with these muffins.

Other Muffin Recipes: pumpkin cream cheese muffins

Blueberry Muffins
Source for the muffins: For the Love of Cooking
Source for the blueberry filling: The Bitten Word, originally from Cooks Illustrated

I only made a few changes to the muffin recipe, omitting the streusel topping and making the blueberry filling that I saw over at The Bitten Word instead of using jam. Here’s the recipe as I made it.

2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup sugar, plus 1 teaspoon
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups 0% Greek yogurt
3 tablespoons canola oil
2 cups blueberries, divided

1. Preheat the oven to 375, and grease a 12 cup muffin tray.

2. Add one cup of blueberries and 1 teaspoon of sugar to a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat for approximately 10 minutes, stirring and mashing the blueberries often until a thick paste forms.  Remove from the heat, and let cool for 15 minutes.

3. Stir together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. In another bowl, combine the 1/2 cup sugar, vanilla, eggs, yogurt, and oil. Slowly add the flour mixture to the egg mixture, stirring until just barely blended. Do not over mix. Gently fold in the remaining cup of blueberries.

4.  Fill each muffin cup halfway full with batter. Top each cup of batter with a spoonful of the blueberry filling, then fill with the remaining muffin batter.

5. Bake for approximately 15 minutes, until the tops of the muffins are brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow the muffins to cool slightly in the pan, then remove them and serve.