Sasha's Kitchen: Blueberry Muffins

Blueberries are one of my favorite summer fruits. Lately , I have been getting some pretty fantastic blueberries from the farmers market here in Park Slope. Some went into that blueberry peach pie I posted recently, and there were just too many delicious blueberries not to make some blueberry muffins.  I never make my muffins with butter. Many people do and I am sure they are good, it's just that if I wanted to load them up with butter, I'd just make some cupcakes. Hence, my banana pecan muffins are also butter free. These blueberry muffins were delicious and the recipe I came up with wound up making about one and a half dozen. Use the best blueberries you can find - freshly picked ones from that summer farmers' market are idea. This is a great way to brighten up a sunday morning!

Sasha's Blueberry Muffins
3 cups flour
7 T canola oil
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs'
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup milk
2 cups fresh blueberries

Preheat the oven to 375. Combine the baking powder, salt and flour in a bowl with the sugar. Mix in the other ingredients (eggs, canola oil, vanilla, milk and blueberries) and combine well in a bowl. Divide in muffin tins and bake for about 30 minutes until just golden and toothpick clean. Allow to cool and unmold. Eat right away!

Sasha's Kitchen: Blueberry Muffins

Sasha's Kitchen: Summer Plum Salad

For the last week, it has been unbearably hot in New York.  I haven't felt like cooking much after taking the subway home from work in 103 degree heat. It's just too hot to turn on the oven and cook.  However, it's just the right temperature for making a summer salad.  I like to make these salads after picking up some delicious summer fruit at the Union Square farmers market, which is near my office. This time I picked up some yellow Japanese plums, called Shiro plums, a wonderful sweet Japanese plum. They are quite tiny, so I picked up a handful for incorporation into a salad with my favorite nuts (hazelnuts), mixed greens and crumbled goat cheese.  The mix of the sweet and the tart flavor of the plums is great in a summer salad like this. If you don't have access to Shiro plums or want to try out another fruit, I have also made this salad with apricots (which are actually my favorite fruit for this salad), nectarines and peaches - basically all of the stone fruits.  I also can do this salad with strawberries and it's  a great salad, too.  However, if you are going to make the salad with strawberries, I recommend blending some of the fresh farmers' market strawberries right into the salad dressing along with a small amount of dijon mustard to make it nice, creamy and pink.

Sasha's Summer Stone Fruit Salad
Handfull of sliced Shino plums, or a couple of sliced apricots, peaches or nectarines
Organic mixed greens
Chopped Hazelnuts
Crumbled goat cheese
Balsamic vinegar & canola oil for the dressing

Sasha's Kitchen: Summer Plum Salad