My new cookbook, The Muffin Tin Cookbook, has just been released by Adams Media. This fun book is filled with 200 recipes for entrees, sides, appetizers, bread, desserts, breakfasts, and much more all made in muffin tins.
The creative and delicious recipes are perfect to help you maintain portion control – each cup is one portion. So easy. And kids love eating foods made in muffin tins.
I had so much fun writing this book and coming up with all of these great dishes, I hope you will enjoy it!
Sometimes I try to make Sunday dinner (roasts or pot pies, things that feel sort of homey), but who feels like spending tons of time doing dishes on a Sunday night? Not me. By Sunday night I’m trying to reserve my energy for the busy week ahead. This past weekend, I made a spinach stuffed pork roast, but I did it in parchment paper and it was fantastic! My mom always says that the pork you can buy today is nothing like it used to be. She always says it is too dry. Well, this recipe is not dry at all. The parchment seals all the moisture right in the roast, and the best part 
is there is no roasting pan to scrub!
Spinach-Stuffed Pork Roast in Parchment Paper
1 boneless pork roast (1.25-1.5 lbs)
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 yellow onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
3 slices whole wheat sandwich bread, ripped into small pieces
1/4 teaspoon dried sage
8 ounces frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1/8 teaspoon dry mustard
2 tablespoons beef broth
Butterfly the pork roast (cut through the center from one of the long edges, but stop before you get to the opposite side). Open it like a book. Season the pork roast with salt and pepper. Mix all other ingredients, with salt and pepper to taste, in a bowl and place 2/3 inside the roast. Close the “book” and place the roast on parchment paper (see Technique tab on this site for instructions about size and folding). Place the additional stuffing on top of the roast. Fold the parchment and bake at 375 for 45 minutes. Open the parchment packet (fold the edges down or cut them off) and return to the oven for about 10 minutes. Allow the roast to rest about 5 minutes before carving.
It came out delicious, moist and filled with flavor. I even ate some of the leftovers cold the next day for lunch and they were amazing!
Another way to use parchment paper is in your panini press, waffle iron or George Foreman-type grill for sandwiches. Wrap your sandwiches in parchment, then cook. You won’t have to clean off the appliance once you’re done this way, and scraping melted cheese and sauces off these can be one nasty job!
I was in the mood for something Mexican, but enchiladas have that messy pan to deal with! Instead, I made this great (and easy!) recipe in parchment.
You can either use purchased guacamole or make your own easy substitute:
Lazy Man’s Guac
Smash one avocado and top with the juice of 1/4 a lime and mix. Add half of a 15 ounce jar of mild salsa and 3/4 cups of light sour cream and mix.
Chicken with Guac
For each serving, place one boneless skinless chicken breast on a piece of parchment (see Technique page of this blog for parchment and folding instructions). Season it with salt and pepper. Place 1/2 cup of the guac on top then 1/2 cup arugula. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons Mexican grated cheese mix (or just use Cheddar or Jack). Fold the parchment and bake at 400 for 25 minutes. 5 minutes before the timer goes off, spray a taco tortilla with cooking spray and set it on the baking sheet or rack next to the packet. When you take the chicken out, slice the tortilla into thin slices and top the chicken with it once you open the packet.
My family loved this and no one even knows there is arugula in it which is great if you’re trying to sneak more veggies into your kids.
I’m definitely in my cozy winter cooking mode and craving warm, comforting dishes. This cooked up quickly for a great weeknight dinner. I heated up a loaf of bread and cooked some carrots and dinner was done.
1 1lb pork tenderloin, cut into 8 pieces
1 cup sauerkraut
sage
1 apple, cored and cut into 8 slices
cinnamon
salt and pepper
1/4 cup cider
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
Preheat the oven to 400. Spread the sauerkraut out on a large piece of parchment, in a space large enough for the pork. Cover with the pork. Season pork with a pinch of sage sprinkled over it. Top with apple slices. Season with salt and pepper and a pinch of cinnamon. Mix cider and cornstarch and pour over and around the food. Seal the packet and bake for 20-25 minutes until a meat thermometer says the pork has reached 145 degrees. Allow the packet to rest about 5 minutes before opening and serving. Serves 4.
I’m married to a man who doesn’t much like Brussels sprouts. But I happen to love them, so I’m always looking for ways to convince him to eat them. One of my tricks is to roughly chop them. They no longer look like little cabbages and are somehow much more approachable when they are soft little pieces. My other trick is to add flavor. There’s been a recent explosion of flavored oils in grocery stores and specialty shops. In this recipe, I used an olive oil infused with wild mushrooms and sage, but there are many options you could try. Lemon olive oil is an easy one. Almost any other herb infused oil will work as well.
1/2 lb Brussels sprouts, roughly chopped
2 Baby Bella or button mushrooms roughly chopped
1 tablespoon wild mushroom and sage infused olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
pinch of dried sage
That’s it! Place the ingredients on the parchment, toss with your hands or a spoon, and fold the packet (see Technique page on this blog) and bake at 400 for 30 minutes.
Did he eat them? Yep. And so did the kids!
I made this great little salmon dish (and promptly forgot to take a photo). It’s made with lemon olive oil (buy it in the oil section of your grocery store) and ponzu, a citrus soy sauce you can find in the Asian section of your grocery store. It was light, citrusy, delicious and super quick for a weeknight dinner.
2 6 ounce salmon fillets
1 1/2 cups chopped Napa cabbage
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon Ponzu
1 tablespoon lemon olive oil
Place the salmon fillets side by side on the parchment. Pile the cabbage on top. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle oil and ponzu over it. Fold the packet (see Technique page on this blog) and bake at 400 for 20 minutes.
I just had to share this with my readers. Teresa Stannard is the director of the library in a place called Parchment, Michigan. Parchment paper was manufactured there from 1912 – 2000 at the Kalamazoo Valley Paper (KVP) Company. The library has many samples of the papers the plant produced, but KVP was especially known for its parchment paper. Here is a link to a scan of a 1931 KVP booklet in their collection entitled “Paper Finds Many New Uses.” It contains several pages devoted to parchment paper cooking techniques. You have got to check this out – as well as the other uses they describe for parchment paper! Many thanks to Teresa for sharing this!
New year, new resolutions for many of us. If yours is to simplify, eat more healthfully, or cook more at home, parchment paper packets can help you!
Here are some tips to get started with parchment paper cooking, which will allow you to cook with ease with no clean up, producing healthy, yummy dishes in a flash:
I’ll be adding more delicious parchment packet recipes soon after a holiday break. Check back soon!
This fall dish would be perfect for Thanksgiving if you’re still looking for a side dish! It’s got lovely flavor from the apple and orange juice and the cinnamon warms it up. This is adapted from a recent recipe in Everyday Food Magazine.
I large parsnip, peeled and sliced thinly
1 apple, peeled, cored and sliced thinly
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp orange juice
1/8 tsp cinnamon
Salt and pepper to taste
pinch of onion powder
Place the parsnips and apples on the parchment. Sprinkle oil, orange juice and spices on top. Toss with your hands to combine. Fold the paper (see Technique page) and bake at 400 for 45 minutes.
