the idea of a masquerade party seemed so distant to me.  my only two visions of it were scenes from breakfast at tiffany's and from gossip girl (who DOESN'T remember that episode where lil J gets smooched by nate for looking like serena?!).  i was so excited to go to this party with e.tittlemouse, because it was going to be my first one!



it's rare for us to show up to an event like this empty-handed, so we (ahem, hung) decided to make meatballs! nowadays we can't make hardly anything without making a vegetarian version (if the dish isn't vegetarian already).  he's been using this recipe from smitten kitchen (modified with beef and baked on 450F for 20 minutes) for the real meatballs, and this recipe from serious eats for the vegetarian ones.  the recipe for the vegetarian ones is supposed to be for veggie burgers, but this is practically the same thing, right? since the veggie ones don't really have to be cooked (well, sort of, the egg I suppose has to be cooked through), he just tossed them in the oven with the real meatballs, just on a different pan. the cook time and temperature isn't SO important for the veggie ones. 



i couldn't let hung get ALL of the attention though.  after a failed attempt at creating a "super simple nutella stuffed baked wontons" i decided to go with a tried and true recipe for chocolate banana bread  (i'm ACTUALLY starting to use the recipes on my pinterest !!).  but for this event, we needed bite-sized everything, so i turned them into chocolate banana mini muffins!  i suppose all 3 dishes were a hit, considering everything was gone exept for one last mini muffin that got splashed in vodka (oops! party foul).

see more party photos after the jump!

you may have noticed there haven't been a lot of recipes on here lately.  that's not to say that we're not cooking (there's not a day that goes by that i'm not cleaning dishes at our house), we've just been total slackers when it comes to sharing the goods!  ...and we've been doing a lot more of "hey i saw this great recipe in food network magazine " or "i want to make this from thekitchn.com ".

last night was one of those nights we were dying to try something we saw on thekitchn.com :

savory muffins

i scored a half snow day from work, and told mr p i would make anything he wanted.  anticipating a response along the lines of something for dinner, he wanted muffins.  after trying scallion and black pepper scones at a&j king in salem a few years ago, we've been talking about savory baked goods ever since, yet we never take the time to make anything!

though not all of the ingredients for the muffins were things we had on hand, the actual recipe ( see here ) was simple, and didn't require a lot of dishes (that's the WORST part about baking sometimes!) with just 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour, the recipe was nearly gluten-free, and could easily be substituted with a gluten-free flour. the original recipe calls for prosciutto and chives, and i simply read that as "some sort of cured meat and something onion-y".  instead i used hard salami and scallions (hey, we had it on hand!) the recipe also calls for muffin liners and spray oil to keep the muffins from sticking to the liners. we didn't have any spray, and gosh they stuck so bad.  next time i'm definitely just buttering the pan and forgetting about the liners!!

the recipe is great for big group breakfasts, because the muffins are all finished at the same time (as opposed to cooking eggs, omelets, french toast, things that take lots of labor and you must eat as soon as it hits the plate.

.....well, and they are also good for snow days when you have a bit of extra time on your hands ;)

the recipe is a good base for any savory muffins, really. maybe i'll try adding amaranth or millet, or maybe i'll try adding in goat cheese and cracked black pepper! with all these ideas they make be on our weekend breakfast menu for a long time!  the amazing smell in the kitchen was enough incentive to make them again!

cheers.
jenn