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BAKE SHOP #4: BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

Blueberries were on sale this week. We were pretty excited about the idea of them, but they were soon forgotten in the fridge. Blueberry muffins seemed the obvious (and easy and delicious) answer to surplus berries -- especially since I am still feeling a little under the weather.

I turned once more to my Food & Wine Best of the Best 2007, and made "Best Berry Muffins" from The Good Home Cookbook: More than 1000 Classic American Recipes.

The muffins were quite good -- I was surprised that the batter was so lumpy and dense. 

Are these the "best" ever, the master muffin recipe to which I will always turn? 

Not quite. I'll just have to keep baking. 

PENNE DRAGGED WITH FLORENTINE MEAT RAGU

Am home sick today and wanted to make something meaty and Italian. Got this recipe from Food & Wine's Best of The Best 2007. I love Food & Wine cookbooks and grab whichever ones I see on sale at Barnes & Noble or TJ Maxx/Marshalls -- they always have great discounts.

This recipe originally appeared in Biba Caggiano's Biba's Italy: Favorite Recipes from the Splendid Cities.

Although an authentic Florentine ragu includes chicken livers, I omitted them. Still got delicious results. What I most love about this dish is that it's a dry sauce that isn't overly tomato-y. The only liquids in the sauce are wine and chicken broth. Veggies are onion, carrot, celery and just three juicy plum tomatoes. 

I let it simmer for just over five hours...that's probably the number one secret for creating a memorable sauce. 

It's also one of those dishes that will undoubtedly be a terrific leftover.