Maine Blueberry Muffins

How about a recipe today?  I’d love to, thanks for asking!  These are my Maine blueberry muffins.  Why Maine?  Because this recipe uses real Maine blueberries.  You don’t have those?  You can substitute the ones your local store has – just don’t expect them to taste like fresh Maine blueberries.  *grin*

Two secret ingredients make this recipe rock: lemon juice and cinnamon.  These turned out beautifully and even though I’m just “starting to cook” I enjoyed playing with several blueberry muffin recipes to create the best blueberry muffins I’ve eaten.  The photos came out *very* well, too, which really made me happy!

Read more will get you to the recipe!

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Mini shell pasta with creamy smoked bacon sauce

I can’t believe I’ve written this many posts on StartingToCook without mentioning even ONE Jamie Oliver recipe.  I absolutely love his cooking and recipes.  I wanted to try a recipe with mini shells, like the ones they use in soup and I ended up finding this creamy bacon sauce pasta.

Once I made this recipe, I was even more of a fan of Jamie Oliver.  This is a very “home cooking” meal.  Make it on a cold night, sit back with a bowl and enjoy! (And it has bacon – call it good!)

Vegetarian Zucchini Grinders

A few weeks ago I was working on my 101 in 1001 list and eating all vegetarian for a whole week.  21 meals without meat of any kind.  One thing I had to do was figure out how to eat a tasty lunch.  I’m not a huge fan of traditional vegetarian substitutes (as I mentioned in my Chik’n Pot Pie post) but one day I made zucchini grinders.  They are very simple – chop the zucchini, fry it up, add the sauce, top with mozza and broil it to toast/melt.

These don’t look as pretty as I’d like (soft, wet bread) but tasted great!  I will definitely make these again.

My suggestion for eating vegetarian?  How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman.

Harvest on the Harbor 2010, Portland Maine food event

Before my trip to Florida I was fortunate to meet the design director of Portland Magazine who suggested I check out the Harvest on the Harbor and try to get in as press (for StC.)  I took his advice and contacted them.  Luckily I was able to get a press pass for the Seafood Splash on Thursday.  This event is a mix of seafood main courses, dessert (gelato yum!) and appetizers.  Even a soup or two.

The Seafood Splash was a phenomenal tasting event.  Some of what we got to taste included: seafood jambalaya by Cabot Creamery (amazing! One of my favorites!), two different lobster soups, an amazing lobster sandwich from the Brass Compass Cafe, sushi, taquitos with grilled Atlantic Salmon (by *far* my favorite!), kelp, and even gelato from Gelato Fiasco.  Steamed muscles, wine, live music … ahhhh!!  Definitely one of my favorite days in all of 2010!

It’s hard to even decide what to post for photos!  I think they came out great and I’m definitely going to post way too many.  Sorry about that!  Thanks to the organizers, Angie Helton for helping me get into the event, Bob from Portland Magazine for giving me the idea to go and all the chefs who prepared these great foods!  I hope to see you all again soon!

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Creme Brulee

I have never made creme brulee before.  This happens when you’re starting to cook and really “learningtocook.com” may have been a better site name.  Ha!

Anyhoo – moving on – I found a Youtube video for creme brulee that made it look *so* easy I had to try it.  And really, it was!  My picky brother’s response to this creme brulee? “You have to make more.  And make me like a salad bowl sized one this time.”  So, it’s good.

So watch the video above and enjoy my few creme brulee photos.  (If you need to buy a creme brulee torch and kit, try this.)