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Muffin Monday: Chocolate Cheesecake Muffins

*** Chocolate and cheese together in one muffin. Does Life get any better?




From Denny: This muffin is a star any time of day. It has sweet goodness, chocolate awesome and the protein of cheese. Color me into the breakfast corner with this winner! :) And its versatile: For this muffin you can use ricotta cheese or small curd cottage cheese if the ricotta is not easily available.

It's been fun to explore the bed and breakfast inns behind these recipes. Each one is a surprise from the last one visited. I've been thinking about how to help the economy with blogging about these inns. Muffin Monday is quickly becoming a brain child for stimulating and growing our economy. By promoting these bed and breakfast inns, who are small businesses, we can help our economy because it keeps jobs here. Small business is the engine upon which the economy has traditionally run. Keep them strong, rejecting the big businesses whenever possible, and we can restore our healthy economy.

Just because the politicians have sold out to Big Business does not mean the regular American has to follow their wrong lead. So, next time you are traveling for business or pleasure, take a little time and find a bed and breakfast inn instead of the usual hotel. The prices are comparable, many times they are a better buy. And it certainly is a more sociable and welcoming atmosphere than the usual impersonal hotels. Try a little social consciousness along with a great recipe! :)

This innkeeper has a sense of humor and names their rooms: The Hide N Seek, The Spelling Bee, The Graduate, The Honor Roll, The Schoolmaster, The Schoolmarm, Miss Edna's, The Prose, Dick & Jane's, The Show 'n' Tell, and, of course, Teacher's Pet.





From the website: Located in the quaint village of Rocheport, Missouri, the School House Bed and Breakfast Inn provides premium accommodations in a restored historic 1914 building that served as Rocheport's public school from 1914 to 1972.

The School House Bed + Breakfast has ten distinctive guest rooms, each decorated in beautiful antiques with luxury sheets, spa-quality linens, goose down duvets and featherbeds. Light from the large schoolhouse windows, covered with plantation shutters, softens shades of pinks and yellows and dramatically deepens bold plums and greens. Each room in the bed and breakfast is accented with a few reminders of the building's simple past. First- and second-floor rooms have 13-foot ceilings with original hardwood floors, eight-foot windows and ceiling fans.

The B + B's two secluded third-floor rooms, created from the school's original attic, have gothic doors and skylights for star gazing.


School House Bed & Breakfast Inn
504 Third Street (Third & Clark Streets)
Rocheport, Missouri 65279

Phone: (573) 698-2022
email: innkeeper@schoolhousebandb.com

'Stay in Class!' at the School House Bed and Breakfast in Rocheport, Missouri.



*** Remember to support small business in your area and when you travel. Why stay at a Big Business hotel as you travel when you can stay in a more home like atmosphere of a bed and breakfast inn? The prices are comparable, the people friendlier and your stay will be memorable.


Chocolate Cheesecake Muffins

From: School House Bed & Breakfast Inn

Yield: approximately 18 muffins

Ingredients:

2 1/3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup cocoa
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup ricotta cheese (or small curd cottage cheese)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/3 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup canola oil
Cooking Spray


Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray muffin tins with cooking spray. In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, chips, cocoa, baking powder and salt.

In a medium bowl mix cheese with eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Whisk in milk and vanilla until blended. Fold cheese mixture and oil into flour mixture until just blended. Spoon approximately 1 cup batter into each muffin cup.

Bake 25 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from pans immediately and cool on a wire rack. These are delicious and moist, like cheesecake.



*** More Muffin Monday recipes:

American Revolt: How You Can Break Big Business, Big Banks, Big Insurance, Big Oil, Big Lobbyists

Muffin Monday: Egg, Ricotta Cheese, Sun-Dried Tomato Breakfast Muffins

Muffin Monday: Sour Cream Walnut Cinnamon Muffins

Muffin Monday: Pina Colada Muffins

Muffin Monday: Polynesian Bread or Muffins, Gluten Free Pineapple Muffin

Muffin Monday: Savory Feta, Roasted Pepper Basil Muffins From Sur La Table

Muffin Monday: Banana Praline Muffins, White Chocolate Banana Bread



*** Photo of Starbucks version of the chocolate cheese muffin by Kaunokainen @ flickr


*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!

*** Come by for a visit and check out my other blogs:

The Social Poets
Dennys Global Politics
The Soul Calendar
Visual Insights
Beautiful Illustrated Quotations
Poems From A Spiritual Heart
The Healing Waters
Dennys Art Sanctuary
Romancing The Chocolate
Comfort Food From Louisiana
Unusual 2 Tasty
Dennys Blog Feeds
Dennys Funny Quotes
Ouch Outrageous Obnoxious And Odd
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Posts Roundup of Dennys 14 Blogs - 27 June 2010

*** Check out news, political opinion - serious and funny cartoons, recipes, science and health news, poetry, funny posts, photography, spiritual thoughts and great quotes.




Cup of coffee from Brazil by il Quoquo @ flickr





The Social Poets:


Dark Humor: BP Oil Spill Cartoons - 26 June 2010

Fourth of July When Life is Simple poem - Libations Friday 25 June 2010

Pentagon Junkyard Dogs Bow to Obama Pressure

Funny Lawyer Quotes and Jokes - Cheeky Quote Day 23 June 2010

Gen. McChrystal Out For Crudely Dissing The President

Roundup of Late Night Funnies - 21 June 2010

Funny Video: Colberts The Word, Stay the Course

Funny Video: Colberts Simplified Version of Obama's BP Oil Spill Speech

Funny Video: Colbert Examines America's Strained Relationship With England

Funny Video: Stewarts Take On America's Oil Dependence

Funny Video: Stewart Calls Joe Barton A 'Disdainful A--hole'

Posts Roundup at Dennys 14 Blogs - 20 June 2010




Dennys Global Politics:


American and World Politics Cartoons - 26 June 2010

Unemployed Americans Screwed by the Republicans Again - News Headlines 24 June 2010

McChrystal as Dems Political Disaster - News Headlines - 22 June 2010





The Healing Waters:


Living Art Exhibit: Public Play at NY Times Square Pianos

Exploding Number of Young Widows in the World

Good News: Kids Sell Lemon Aid 4 Pelicans Hurt in the Gulf





Poems From A Spiritual Heart:


An Audience of One

10 Funny Posts For a Laugh - 23 June 2010

Life is About Everything

Stepping Through Life

Hope Transforms

Jazz Music




The Soul Calendar:


Big Oil Nixs Competing Aviation BioFuel: NASAs Project OMEGA




Romancing The Chocolate:


Cake Tuesday: Coffee Toffee Fudge Cake, Tunnel of Fudge Cake

Muffin Monday: Pina Colada Muffins




Unusual 2 Tasty:


Muffin Monday: Polynesian Bread or Muffins, Gluten Free Pineapple Muffin

Muffin Monday: Savory Feta, Roasted Pepper Basil Muffins From Sur La Table




Comfort Food From Louisiana:


Cake Tuesday: Fresh Peach Coffee Cake

Muffin Monday: Banana Praline Muffins, White Chocolate Banana Bread




Ouch Outrageous Obnoxious And Odd:


Funny Legal News Story: The Case of a Contraceptives Misstaken Use

Funny Cartoon: What to Wear For Employee Review




Dennys Funny Quotes:


Funny General McChrystal Cartoons - 26 June 2010

10 Funny Signs and 10 Funny Short Jokes




Visual Insights:


Dennys Photo Gallery: Fourth of July Watermelon




*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!

*** Come by for a visit and check out my other blogs:

The Social Poets
Dennys Global Politics
The Soul Calendar
Visual Insights
Beautiful Illustrated Quotations
Poems From A Spiritual Heart
The Healing Waters
Dennys Art Sanctuary
Romancing The Chocolate
Comfort Food From Louisiana
Unusual 2 Tasty
Dennys Blog Feeds
Dennys Funny Quotes
Ouch Outrageous Obnoxious And Odd
reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Raspberry Sauce

We recently picked our first raspberries!  We planted raspberry bushes last year and now we are enjoying the sweet rewards.  We love to eat them plain or tossed on cereal or yogurt.  As we continued to get more and more raspberries, I began to wonder what I could make with them.  I thought a raspberry sauce would be delicious with the beignet recipe I posted earlier.  I found a recipe on Recipezaar that looked straightforward and simple and decided to give it a try.

Ingredients
2 pints (4 cups) raspberries
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
Directions  
1. Crush the raspberries with water in a saucepan. 
2. Add sugar and cornstarch. 
3. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. 
4. Reduce heat and simmer 2 minutes. 
5. Push through a foodmill or strainer.
Serves 6

It's exciting to us that we planted and now harvested our own berries.  Here they are.  Aren't they beautiful!
I crushed the berries with the water and added the sugar and cornstarch.  Then, I let it boil for 2 minutes.  I poured the cooled sauce into a mini-foodmill.  Since the seeds are so small a lot of them still went through the foodmill.  I was able to remove about half of the seeds from the sauce.

The Results...
We drizzled some of this sauce on beignets for breakfast.  We all agreed that it was delicious.  I thought it had just the right balance of sweetness and tartness.  Of course you can always add more sugar if you want a sweeter sauce.  It also had a good consistency (not too thick or thin).  We look forward to having more of this sauce on pancakes, waffles, ice cream, cheesecake, chicken, salads....  
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Beignets

We love beignets.  Light, crispy, chewy, sweet; how could anyone not love a beignet?  If you're wondering what a beignet is, click here.  I was first introduced to beignets many years ago when I traveled to Louisiana to meet my in-laws.  I tried the famous Cafe Du Monde beignets and of course they were delicious.
A few months ago we received a box of Cafe Du Monde beignet mix from our family in the South (you can order a box here).  We quickly went through our beignet mix and my kids have been asking me to make more.  Maybe you're wondering, 'Why don't I just order another box?'  Well, the mix is inexpensive until you add $8 for shipping!  It's not just the cost.  I'm also wondering if beignets made from scratch will taste even better than beignets made from the mix.  I've decided to try the beignet recipe on whatscookingamerica.net.  We'll see which is better...

Ingredients
1 cup lukewarm water
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, room temperature and beaten
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup evaporated milk
4 cups bread flour or all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons instant active dry yeast
Vegetable oil*
Powdered sugar for dusting
* Use just enough vegetable oil to completely cover beignets while frying.
Directions
Using a mixer with a dough hook, place water, sugar, salt, egg, butter, evaporated milk, flour, and yeast in the bowl. Beat until smooth. If using a bread machine, select dough setting and press Start. When dough cycle has finished, remove dough from pan and turn out onto a lightly oiled surface. form dough into an oval, place in a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until well chilled (3 to 4 hours) or overnight.

To prepare dough, remove from refrigerator and roll out on a lightly floured board to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut into approximately 3-inch squares or circles.

In a deep fryer or large pot, heat vegetable oil to 360 degrees F. Fry the beignets (2 or 3 at a time) 2 to 3 minutes or until they are puffed and golden brown on both sides, turning them in the oil with tongs once or twice to get them evenly brown; beignets will rise to the surface of the oil as soon as they begin to puff. NOTE: If the beignets don't rise to the top immediately when dropped into the oil, the oil is not hot enough. Remove from oil and drain on paper towels, then sprinkle heavily with powdered sugar. Serve hot.

The dough can be kept for up to a week in the refrigerator - it actually improves with age; just punch down when it rises. Dough can also be frozen; cut and roll, or shape doughnuts before freezing.)

Makes 18 beignets.

The Ingredients
I use the bread machine for dough whenever possible.  It's so much easier.  I put all the wet ingredients on the bottom and the dry ingredients on top with the butter.  I used the dough setting and let the machine do the rest of the work.
When the dough was done I put it in a greased bowl, covered it with plastic wrap and left it in the refrigerator overnight....
Here's what I found the next morning.
I rolled out the dough and used a pizza cutter to cut small squares.
I heated the oil to 360 degrees and started frying.
Flip and fry some more.
Lots of sugar!

The Results... 
So, were these as good as the Cafe Du Monde beignets?  Unfortunately, no.  These were still quite tasty.  We ate our beignets with raspberry sauce and we had no problem finishing them off.   But, they were more like regular raised donuts not beignets.  The Cafe Du Monde beignets fry up lighter with a hollow center.  These were denser and solid all the way through like regular donuts.  These were not what we expected.  Tasty, but not what we think of as a beignet.  Cafe Du Monde is still the best.
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Posts For This Weeks Cartoons, Funny World Soccer Cartoons - 26 June 2010

*** Check out the fun world soccer cartoons and click on more links to funny cartoon posts for this week!





From Denny: Come check out the best of this week's political cartoons, lampooning politicians, Life and sports. Instead of paging through 50 websites pages to look at one cartoon at a time, I've embedded a dozen or more per post to enjoy easily. Can you tell I find it annoying to load page after page just to see all the latest cartoons? :)

These were only a few world soccer cup cartoons available for embedding. To see more just click on the link under the cartoons to take you to the cartoonists' sites. It seems like every night on the TV news we would hear those vuvuzela horns making their joyful noise while they blew out everyone's eardrums. Cartoonists had a lot of fun with that cultural icon.

Congrats go the USA soccer team as they made us proud. It was an amazing run with upset after upset. We got some bad referee calls when it was obvious the gambling syndicate phoned in how they wanted the game to be called. America's team still went forward to win after win. This week it was Ghana's turn to win against America and knock us out of the race for the world cup.

America's team went into this competition with little hope and fewer expectations. As far as Americans are concerned our team was a Cinderella team. They succeeded in winning our hearts and ignited a huge interest in this country for the game of soccer. From my corner of the world, I'd say your game was well played, guys!


*** See Also more cartoons of the day: Dark Humor: BP Oil Spill Cartoons - 26 June 2010

*** See Also more cartoons of the day: Funny General McChrystal Cartoons - 26 June 2010

*** See Also more cartoons of the day: American and World Politics Cartoons - 26 June 2010



























*** Photo by Tansan @ flickr

*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!

*** Come by for a visit and check out my other blogs:

The Social Poets
Dennys Global Politics
The Soul Calendar
Visual Insights
Beautiful Illustrated Quotations
Poems From A Spiritual Heart
The Healing Waters
Dennys Art Sanctuary
Romancing The Chocolate
Comfort Food From Louisiana
Unusual 2 Tasty
Dennys Blog Feeds
Dennys Funny Quotes
Ouch Outrageous Obnoxious And Odd
reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Papa Screams for Ice Cream

I love to bring people joy with my food, it's one of my favourite things about cooking and baking. This why I like bringing desserts when we get together with friends, or baking a cake for someone's birthday. It's the reason I send treats to work with hubby, or take a pie over to a friends house "just because". While I don't necessarily need an occasion, Father's Day was as good an excuse as
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10 Funny Posts For a Laugh - 23 June 2010

*** Links to funny posts from several of Dennys blogs this week!





From Denny: I just love the enthusiasm of this funny dog running full tilt, tongue flailing out and slapping his face. He is undeterred and happy anyway. If only we humans could live in the moment like this dog. Well, not to worry, I've found some funny things on the web this week and posted them: jokes, funny quotes, funny photos and funny videos. Knock yourselves out. And, hey, make sure to send me photos of you laughing - and having a good time falling off your chair. :)


Funny Lawyer Quotes and Jokes - Cheeky Quote Day 23 June 2010

Funny Legal News Story: The Case of a Contraceptives Misstaken Use

10 Funny Signs and 10 Funny Short Jokes

Roundup of Late Night Funnies - 21 June 2010

Funny Video: Colberts The Word, Stay the Course

Funny Video: Colberts Simplified Version of Obama's BP Oil Spill Speech

Funny Video: Colbert Examines America's Strained Relationship With England

Funny Video: Stewarts Take On America's Oil Dependence

Funny Cartoon: What to Wear For Employee Review

Funny Video: Stewart Calls Joe Barton A 'Disdainful A--hole'



*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!
reade more... Résuméabuiyad