oh-so yummy cinnamon rolls

Easy. Soooo yummy. Pretty. Sweet-smelling. Fun to bake. Need I say more?
I missed baking cinnamon rolls and recently I found this recipe by the lovely Emily, although hers are super pretty. Mine turned out bit wonky, but... who cares? They're delicious anyway!
These were baked to celebrate hon's good grade on a paper for his masters degree. :)

{dried tomato+basil muffins}

Miguel and Shana had brought us this lovely jar of dried/smoked tomatoes with herbs and I've been wondering about what to do with them...

Until I found a recipe on the Sep. '05 issue of Delicious (p. 88) for sun-dried pepper and basil muffins. I adjusted the recipe a bit, but here's how it goes...

::: 4 tbsps olive oil, plus a wee bit more for greasing
::: 250 g plain flour (I guess you could try whole, too)
::: 1 tbsp baking powder
::: 1/2 tsp salt
::: 50 g grated Parmesan
::: 30 g dried tomatoes, finely chopped
::: 10 g basil leaves, finely shredded
::: 150 ml milk
::: 1 egg, lightly beaten
::: black pepper (this I forgot!)
::: a bit of rosemary


1. Preheat oven to 180º C. Lightly grease the muffin tins with a little oil.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Add some ground black pepper and rosemary. Stir in the Parmesan, tomatoes and basil leaves.
3. Pour in the milk, egg and olive oil. Beat with a wooden spoon until just mixed. Divide between the muffin tins and bake for about 20 minutes, until risen and firm to the touch.

Serve warm with a dollop (or 2!) of butter - this is actually real butter, made by this lady in a nearby town. I would have added some more salt and maybe some more cheese. But if your butter is salty, it's just perfect.

It's lovely with some soup! The soup is tomato+potato+onion+leeks+basil with some other herbs...

If you'd like to make your own sun-dried tomatoes at home, check these recipes here, here, here or here.

{thursday lunch}

::: couscous [with broccoli, carrot, corn, raisins, chopped pecan nuts, green pepper... seasoned with curry, vinegar, black pepper, salt, nutmeg]

::: beet and orange juice [an orange and a small beet, blended with a bit of moscavado sugar]

wednesday night dinner

Oh... what to do... what to do with a huge avocado from Grandma's backyard...?

How about some guacamole? I was wondering what to do with the avocado as it rippened and I saw this at Shana's blog. I also checked one of my favorite cooks for some recipes, like this one. and ended up with a mix of both recipes.

::: guacamole {half avocado, a bit of tomato, coriander, sea salt with mediteranian herbs, pepper, lemon juice, onion}

::: crab crackers
::: mango+honey soy milkshake