Bacon Ranch Stuffed Celery #FoodieExtravaganza

Bacon ranch stuffed celery is an easy appetizer that satisfies our need for crunch! And who doesn’t love cream cheese seasoned with loads of bacon, chives, parsley and plenty of black pepper? It makes the perfect filling for celery, not to mention baked potatoes.

As a child, my favorite dressing was always thousand island because I loved its creaminess with just a bit of bite. As I got older, I taught myself to love blue cheese dressing. Not sure exactly where I got the idea, but I decided it was more sophisticated than thousand island and that I should like it.

Every week in my high school cafeteria the menu seldom varied. Thursday was rigatoni day. It was our favorite meal of the week. Big rigatoni pasta with Bolognese sauce and a side salad. Despite not liking blue cheese, that’s the dressing I chose week after week, until sometime in the middle of possibly sophomore year, I actually really liked it. Yeah, I know, I’m weird. Blue cheese became my favorite.

Until 🎵dum dum da dum 🎶 RANCH DRESSING entered my consciousness. I first tried it at a Texas buffet restaurant I adored called Souper Salad, where one could fill one’s plate with salad ingredients too numerous to count, along with myriad toppings, like crumbled bacon and cheeses, sliced boiled eggs and sunflower seeds. The vats of dressing were enormous, like the ice cream tubs in the cooler at Baskin Robbins. They also served soup and some of the best cornbread on the planet.

After that, I wanted ranch on All The Things. And possibly some crumbled blue cheese.

Bacon Ranch Stuffed Celery

Sure, you could just dip your celery sticks in ranch dressing but my way is much more delicious. Mix the ranch flavors into cream cheese and stuff the celery full. It doesn’t drip off on your shirt like dip does and it’s more delicious to boot.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
4 thick slices bacon, fried till crispy, crumbled
8 oz or 226g cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup or 60ml mayonnaise
3 tablespoons minced fresh chives/green onion tops
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Salt, to taste
8 ribs celery (mine were about 8 in or 20cm long)

Method
Put the minced garlic in a large bowl and add in the lemon juice. Set aside for 10 minutes. This mellows the garlic so it isn’t as sharp but it’s still got plenty enough garlicky flavor.

Use a fork to mash the room temperature cream cheese into the lemon juice and garlic.

Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.

Taste and add salt if needed. With the cream cheese, bacon and mayonnaise, all of which are salty, you probably won’t need much, if any at all. I don't usually add any.

Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour to allow the flavors to meld.

Use a plastic bag with the corner cut off or a pastry bag to pipe a healthy amount of the filling into your cleaned celery ribs. Run the tines of a fork over the top to score the filling and gently push it into the celery so it won’t fall out.

Cut your celery into 2 inch or 5cm lengths and arrange them on a serving plate.

Enjoy!

This month my Foodie Extravaganza friends are celebrating National Celery Month by sharing our favorite recipes with celery. Many thanks to our host, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. Check out all the great recipes:

• Bacon Ranch Stuffed Celery from Food Lust People Love
• Braised Celery Over Cheesy Polenta from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Celery Leaf Pesto from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Homemade Celery Salt from Sneha's Recipe
• Italian Celery and Mushroom Salad from Making Miracles
• Shaved Celery and Apple Salad from Palatable Pastime
• Shaved Celery Salad with Sauteed Scallops from A Day in the Life on the Farm

Foodie Extravaganza is where we celebrate obscure food holidays by cooking and baking together with the same ingredient or theme each month.

Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board!

Pin this Bacon Ranch Stuffed Celery!

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Apple Brown Sugar Muffins #MuffinMonday

These apple brown sugar muffins are tender and fluffy on the inside. The warm cinnamon elevates these beauties to pure comfort food. Brew up a pot of tea and bake up a batch.

Our kitchen is in a bit of a shambles as we rip out the old narrow cupboards and add new more spacious ones but we feel very strongly that anyone who owns a home built one hundred years ago has a responsibility to keep the original feel and as many of the vintage elements as one can. I know my readers in the UK will laugh at a 100-year-old home being considered old but, hey, the US is still a new republic, history-wise. And goodness knows we have a lot to learn.

The William Wilson Realty Company created our neighborhood in Houston, the Woodland Heights, back in 1907 but we believe our house dates from the early 1920s. The word wasn’t used back then but we would have been in the suburbs! Now with the spread of Houston to actual suburbs, we are considered almost downtown. Isn’t it funny how times change? The original houses sold for about $4,000, which I am guessing was a lot of money in those days.

One thing a person can still bake in a distraught kitchen is muffins. Two bowls: Wet ingredients. Dry ingredients. Mix them together and bake, even if you don’t have a countertop. That arrives on Thursday. One day we will have a more functional kitchen and I have to tell you, I’m still going to bake muffins. And use the Instant Pot. It’s been a godsend.

Apple Brown Sugar Muffins

If there is any combination that smells as delightful as it bakes as apples, brown sugar and cinnamon, I don’t know what it is. While these were in the oven, my house smelled absolutely fabulous. Plus the muffins are delicious. Bake them. You won’t regret it.

Ingredients
1 large apple (about 9 oz or 254g whole)
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 cups or 250g all purpose flour
3/4 cup, tightly packed, or 150g dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup or 240ml milk
1/2 cup or 120ml canola or other light oil, plus a little extra for the pan
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Method
Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C. Prepare your muffin pan by brushing it with oil or line it with paper muffin liners.

Peel, core and chop the apple into small pieces and toss them immediately with the lemon juice to stop them from discoloring.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together. In another bowl, whisk together the milk, oil, egg and vanilla.

Add the apple pieces into the dry ingredient bowl and stir to coat.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and fold until they are just combined. Do not over mix.

 Divide your batter evenly between the 12 muffin cups.

Bake 20-25 minutes in the preheated oven or until muffins are golden. Remove them from oven and let them cool for a few minutes before removing the muffins from the pan. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

It's the last Monday of the month and that means it's Muffin Monday! Check out all the wonderful muffins my friends are sharing:

• Apple Brown Sugar Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Blueberry Kumquat Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Cheesy Corn and Bacon Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Curried Chicken Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Maple Cinnamon Nut Butter Muffins from Making Miracles
• Mini Nutella Swirled Muffins from Passion Kneaded

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

Pin these Apple Brown Sugar Muffins! 

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Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffin Bundt #BundtBakers

It looks like cake and tastes like cake but this is actually a big peanut butter chocolate chip muffin baked in a Bundt pan! Made with the muffin method of mixing wet and dry ingredients in one bowl, it’s fast, easy and delicious.

Happy National Muffin Day! As head cheerleader for Muffin Monday, I might normally have celebrated such an auspicious holiday by baking muffins but this year National Muffin Day happens to coincide with Bundt Baker Thursday, which falls on the third Thursday of every month. For a fun twist, our host Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm proposed that we take our favorite muffin recipe and turn it into a Bundt cake.

Best of all, since this is really one big muffin, you can enjoy a slice for breakfast. Don’t mind if I do! Make sure you scroll down past my recipe to see what other great muffin recipe Bundts my fellow Bundt Bakers are sharing.

Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Muffin Bundt

Because this is a celebratory muffin Bundt, I topped it with some melted crunchy peanut butter (and butter) and a generous sprinkling of semi-sweet chocolate chips. You can leave those off but I think you’ll be sorry you did!

Ingredients
2 cups or 250g all-purpose flour
1 cup, packed, or 200g dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup or 165g crunchy peanut butter
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/4 cup or 61g Greek-style yogurt
2/3 cup or 156ml milk
2 large eggs, at room temperature
6oz or 170g semi-sweet chocolate chips, plus extra for decoration, if desired

For the peanut butter glaze:
1/3 cup or 83g crunchy peanut butter
1 teaspoon butter

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C. Prepare your large Bundt pan by buttering it generously then dusting the butter with flour.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another mixing bowl, whisk the butter, peanut butter, milk, yogurt and eggs.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold until almost completely combined. You should still see dry flour. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Spoon the thick batter into your prepared Bundt pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 35-40 minutes or until a wooden skewer comes out clean.

Cool in the pan on a wire rack for about five minutes then transfer the Bundt to the wire rack to cool completely before moving it to a serving plate.

To make the peanut butter glaze, melt the peanut butter and butter together in the microwave 10 seconds at a time, stirring well in between, or over a low heat in a small pot, similarly stirring often if not continuously, until the peanut butter is of pouring consistency. Spoon it over the cooled muffin Bundt and sprinkle with extra chocolate chips, if desired.

Enjoy!

Many thanks to our Bundt Baker host, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm for this fun theme and all of her behind-the-scenes work. Check out all the lovely muffin recipe Bundts:

• Berry Lemon Bundt from Sweet Sensations
• Blueberry Muffin Supreme from Patyco Candybar
• Cinnamon Roll Bundt Cake from Cookaholic Wife
• Jambul/Java Plums Giant Bundt Muffins from Sneha's Recipe
• Morning Glory Muffin Bundt from Passion Kneaded
• Orange Poppyseed Mini Muffin Bundts from A Day in the Life on the Farm 
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffin Bundt from Food Lust People Love
• Pecan Sticky Bundtlette Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Sour Cream Coffee Cake Muffin Bundt Cake from Making Miracles

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our ;Pinterest board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers, can be found on our home page.

Pin this Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffin Bundt!

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