Canning Party Carrot Salad

My good friend Kirsten invited me along yesterday to a canning party at her sister-in-law's house in Kensington.  At first, I was a little dubious (canning?), but the party was fun, informative, and delicious.  The guests were in charge of all the chopping and prep work for a strawberry jelly, sour cherry and currant jam, and fresh salsa.  I had a little bit of a bad run-in with some jalapeños (I'd never encountered one in real life before), but it was a great chance to meet some lovely, interesting ladies and have a demonstration in case I ever feel the urge to can (I admit this seems unlikely, since I like to eat what I make as soon as I make it, but you never know).

After the food prep, a delicious afternoon tea party spread was set out, including banana bread sandwiches (genius!), brown bread baked in a coffee can (deliciously moist), chicken salad, scones, homemade sangria, and stuffed grape leaves.  My own humble contribution was a cold carrot salad, which was one of the lesser impressive items, but it's the recipe you're going to get.  I also neglected to take a photo (tsk tsk).  But it is tasty, simple, and extremely portable, so let's get cracking:

You'll need:

1 lb. carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch slices
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1/2 cut white onion, finely minced
1 clove garlic, finely minced
2 tbsp. parsley, minced
salt and pepper, to taste

Bring a small pot of salted water to a rolling boil, then add carrots.  Cook in boiling water for about 8 minutes, or until tender.  Be sure not to overcook—mushy carrots are gross.  Drain in the sink and then rinse with cold water for about 4–5 minutes to stop the carrots from cooking with residual heat.

Meanwhile, combine all the rest of the ingredients, except the parsley.  Stir well.  Once the carrots are cool, put them in a bowl and drizzle the marinade over top.  Mix well and stick in the fridge for at least 8 hours.  Right before you're ready to serve, toss in the minced parsley.  This keeps it from wilting and maintains the nice crunch.

And you're ready to go!  You can even walk two miles to the party with your tupperware in your bag and it will still be delicious!  Not that I know about that from experience or anything...

Meanwhile, our sous chef was:

Yeah, big help.

Strawberry-White Chocolate Muffins

Honesty, I've been told, is the best policy.  So I have to confess: I had an ulterior motive for baking these muffins.  Mainly: Bribery.

Yes, bribery.  To convince my New York roommate-to-be that I would be the best roommate ever.  And to sweeten the deal for a friend to look after Rizi Bizi.  Both of these situations, I might add, turned out quite well and while they might have done so anyway, the muffins sure didn't hurt.

So if you find yourself needing a baked good to tip the balance in your favor, I'll vouch for these extra-moist strawberry-white chocolate muffins (with a streusel topping), based on the decadent muffins at the C-Shop and this recipe.

You'll need:

3/4 cups brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup diced strawberries
3/4 cup white chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees and line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

Combine brown sugar, butter, and vanilla in a medium bowl.  Add eggs one at a time.

Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt incrementally to the wet batter.  Then add diced strawberries and white chocolate chips.

Equally portion batter into the 12 muffin cups.

For the streusel topping:

2 tsp. cold butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp. cinnamon

Combine the ingredients together, cutting the butter into the mixture.  I used a fork for this process.  You should get a crumbly-looking mixture.

Sprinkle streusel on top of the batter in the muffin cups.

Bake muffins for 25 minutes, or until a knife stuck in the middle of the muffin comes out clean.

They ain't healthy, but they sure are tasty.

If you store them in an airtight container, they should last up to 5 or 6 days.

Word to the wise: When I was making these muffins, I was really concerned about the dryness of the batter.  But worry not!  When you add the strawberries to the mix and stir them around a bit, their moisture will make this into a surefire, true muffin batter.