Fast fixing appetizer - Caprese Bites

Ever have one of those panic moments when you find out that you're supposed to take an appetizer to a party that's only a couple hours out?  Yeah...that might have happened to me this week.  I am pleased to say that my kitchen is finally almost in working condition, and that the only major appliance I am now lacking is the cook top, but I didn't feel like heating the house up to bake anything.  The solution was a four ingredient favorite and so simple to assemble that a kid could do it.  For this particular batch, I used cubed aged mozzarella cheese rather than the divine fresh stuff, but that was only because Costco failed me on the fresh mozzarella front that day.  I much prefer it, but either way it's tasty.  I am not listing quantities because that entirely depends on how many you want to make, and I trust that you can figure out how to count out equal amounts of cheese, tomatoes and basil leaves.

Caprese Bites

Mozarella cheese, either fresh small balls or aged cut into 3/4" cubes
Grape tomatoes
Balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing of your choice
Fresh basil leaves

Drizzle the salad dressing over the mozarella cheese and tomatoes in a medium bowl until evenly coated.  On round (non-colored) tooth picks, thread a tomato, a basil leaf and a piece of cheese.  Chill until serving time.

Better For You Pumpkin Muffins

What's better in the morning than mini muffins hot out of the oven. Not much! My kids love it when I make these, and being mini, they have the added bonus of cooking more quickly...excellent on a school morning...and being just the right size for my 20 month old to chomp.

Today was my first foray into cooking with agave syrup. I have to say that I felt a tad anxious pouring 2 bucks worth of syrup into the bowl. It is not for the financially faint of heart. But for the sake of experimentation in the kitchen and in the interest of trying to find ways to make more nutritious food for my family, it was worth it. I found this excellent article that describes agave syrup in more depth - definitely worth a read. I love that the author did her own personal blood sugar science experiment with different varieties of the syrup. I have to confess that when I purchased it last weekend, I just listened to the spiel of the guy demonstrating it and just took his word for it that it's much lower glycemic index than table sugar or honey. Then I read the label today and saw that it isn't that much lower carb than honey, tablespoon for tablespoon, though it does have the added benefit of naturally occuring minerals like calcium and according to the stuff I've read on line, the sugars are long acting fructoses that don't cause your blood sugar to spike as rapidly. Anyway, do your own research and come to your own conclusions.

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I can't see this becoming a staple in our pantry, mostly due to cost, but it's something that's nice to have around especially if I am going to be cooking for diabetics. It was very easy to incorporate into the batter and is a little thinner than honey, so it was easy to measure and pour. The flavor, if anything, was a little improved in the final product. The kids deemed them "very good". I simply modified my original pumpkin chocolate chip muffin recipe, reducing the amount of sweetener by 1/2 in the process of substituting agave for sugar, and they were plenty sweet. Here you go:

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Healthier Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins (though I suppose if you really want to be healthy, you'd take out the chocolate, but where's the fun in that)

2 eggs

1/2 cup blue agave syrup

1 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/4 cup oil

1 1/2 cups flour

1 t. each baking soda and powder

1/2 t. each cinnamon and cloves

1/2 t. salt

2/3 cup mini semisweet chocolate morsels

2 T. ground flaxseed

In a large bowl, beat the eggs, syrup, pumpkin, applesauce and oil until smooth. Combine the dry ingredients and stir into the pumpkin mixture until smooth. Fold in the chocolate chips. Fill greased mini muffin tins 3/4 full and bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes, or until muffins are golden and test done with a toothpick. Allow to cool for a few minutes before removing to a wire rack. Yield - 48 mini muffins.

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**Another couple of thoughts about nutrition. I used all purpose flour because I was reticent to turn my mill on so early in the morning and wake up the kids. You could certainly use at least half whole wheat flour without compromising the texture, and if you go for all whole wheat flour they'd still be fine - just a little bit heavier. Adding the flaxseed (which I did - I believe in sneaking in nutrition when I can) adds a little bit of fat, but it's healthy fat, and I could have eliminated one of the eggs by adding it. I've had other baked goods in which flax and water were substituted for part or all of the eggs with good results. Happy baking!