Bran Cereal Muffins

Ingredients:

• 3 cups Fiber One original cereal
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 cup dark brown sugar (packed tightly)
• 1 1/4 cups King Arther® Unbleached White Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups whole milk
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons vanilla paste
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon Redmond's Real Salt
• 1 cup dried cranberries

Preheat Oven to 400 degrees


Directions:

Spray your muffin tins with Pam® Baking Spray or grease them and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl (or your stand mixer), pour boiling water over cereal, stir thoroughly until all the water is absorbed, and let stand.

Mix together the milk and lemon juice, stir thoroughly, and let stand for 10 minutes.  Alternatively, you could use two cups of buttermilk and skip the lemon juice.

While waiting, measure out the spices into a small bowl.  Mix together the flour, salt, and baking soda into a medium bowl.  Gather the brown sugar, applesauce, eggs, vanilla paste, and dried cranberries on the counter.

When the cereal has cooled and the sour milk is ready, add the sugar, eggs, applesauce, and milk and stir.  Next add the spices and vanilla paste and stir.  Then slowly add the flour mixture until all is incorporated.  Finally, add the dried cranberries and stir until they are thoroughly mixed into the batter.

Spoon into prepared muffin tins, filling to just below the top.  Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes.


Myrtle's Note:  I wanted a bran cereal muffin recipe, but had to do some tweaking when I found one that started with Fiber One cereal.  I changed the type of milk and sugar and flour, I dropped the egg substitute for real eggs, I added spices and flavoring, and I added dried cranberries.  I botched the cooking time, so the first batch and the second look different.  You can see the ones on the left have a higher muffin top, as they were cooked at the right temperature (400 degrees).  I thought that the muffins turned out fantastic ... if you like bran muffins.  By the way, it will not hurt my feelings if you swap out the dried cranberries for raisons.  I know that is more traditional.  I just prefer dried cranberries, and I am the one eating these!


Yield: 27 muffins

Adapted from:  http://www.food.com/recipe/absolutely-delicious-bran-muffins-60141?ftab=tweaks

Spicy Dr Pepper Barbecue Sauce

Ingredients:

• 12 oz Dr. Pepper
• 2 cups ketchup
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
• ½ teaspoon liquide smoke
• 1½ teaspoon Redmond's® Real Salt
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• ½ teaspoon McCormack's® Chipotle Chili Pepper
• ½ teaspoon McCormack's® Peppercorn Medley
• 1 large dollop Gourmet Gardens® Garlic Paste

Directions:

Combine all the ingredients into a sauce pan, whisking thoroughly.  Bring just to a boil and continue to simmer vigorously for

Myrtle's Note:  I swapped out garlic powder to garlic paste, for a bit fresher taste.  I wanted to add a little heat to this to balance all the sweet, so I added the two peppers.  And I upped the salt to that end, too.  This is my first ever barbecue sauce.  I was tickled pink to discover a recipe for Dr Pepper barbecue sauce posted on my Facebook wall by a dear friend.

Yield:  ~28 ounces

Adapted from:  http://www.missinthekitchen.com/dr-pepper-barbecue-sauce/

Chilorio

Ingredients:

• 3 pounds boneless pork loin 
• 1 1/2 cup orange juice, preferably freshly squeezed 
• 1 cup water
• 5 (about 55 grams) dried ancho chiles
• 1 1/2 cup of the chile soaking liquid (see below)
• 1/2 cup roughly chopped vidalia onion
• 5 garlic cloves peeled
• 2 large dollops Gourmet Garden's® Parsley Paste 
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper or more to taste
• 2/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• kosher or sea salt
• Flour tortillas warmed, optional

Directions:

Rinse the pork and cut into two inch chunks.  Place into a cast iron pot. Barely cover with the orange juice and water, add a teaspoon of salt and set over high heat. Once it comes to a boil, bring the heat down to low and let is simmer for about 40 to 45 minutes or until most of the liquid has cooked off and the meat is thoroughly cooked and has rendered most of its fat.  

It is okay if there is still a lot of liquid left.  Remove the meat to a bowl and turn the liquid up to boil until it is reduced to a thick broth.  Strain into a cup for later.

Whilst the pork is cooking, set a kettle to boil.  Remove the stems from the chiles, make a slit down their sides and remove their seeds and veins. Place them in a bowl, cover them with boiling hot water, and let them sit and rehydrate for about 15 minutes.  Do not throw out the soaking liquid!

Place the chiles and 1 1/2 cups of their soaking liquid in the blender along with the onion, garlic, parsley, oregano, cumin, black pepper, vinegar, and puree until smooth.

Once the meat is ready, place it in a bowl along with any remaining cooking broth. Once it is cool enough to handle, shred it with your hands or with two forks.

In the same pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Pour in the chile sauce and let it season, simmering it for 4 to 5 minutes. 

Then toss in the shredded meat. Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon salt and let it cook, stirring often, until the meat has absorbed most of the chile sauce, which will have thickened, seasoned and changed to a darker color. It will take about 20 minutes. 

Taste for salt and add more if need be.

To serve (the way I liked them), take a warm flour tortilla and smear it with mashed avocado, seasoned with salt and a bit of lime.  Top with Chilorio, spreading it out across the avocado.  Roll into a burrito.  

Myrtle's Note:  I tweaked this a bit.  I upped the cumin and garlic and changed the type of onion.  I also swapped fresh parsley for Gourmet Garden's® fresh Parsley Paste.  And I tilted the orange juice/water ratio just a tad.  Wild, I know, for a first time trial of a recipe.  But I know that Pati Jinich writes excellent recipes that can handle slight tweaks.  The Chilorio was really awesome.  It made me think of Mexican food and barbecue all at once.  I just adored it.  

Yield:  8 servings of two burritas.

Source:  https://patijinich.com/recipe/chilorio/