Cornish Game Hens with Mustard and Herbs, plus Blue Cheese Muffins

I'd never made Cornish Game Hens before, but they were on sale at my supermarket and I am getting more and more frugal, so I figured they couldn't be that difficult and went ahead and bought two. Then I came home, and with the help of my friends at Google, I found several possible recipes. Of course I chose the easiest one (from about.com). Here it is:

1. Pre-heat oven to 375.
2. Remove giblits from game hens, rinse and pat dry.
3. Rub about a tablespoon of Dijon mustard over each game hen.
4. Sprinkle with tarragon, oregano, and basil (dried).




5. Bake for about an hour or until they reach 170.

If you like, you can deglaze the pan with about 3/4 cup of dry white wine (2 buck chuck, I love thee), and use that as a sauce for the hens. I thought this was a good addition. The Big Geek thought it was better without the sauce. If I'd had rice, it would have been good on top of the rice.

I must confess, I apparently did not put the thermometer thing all the way in to the base, so it didn't go off, and when I noticed and put it all the way in, the hens were all the way at 197. Oops. I figured we'd be eating super-dry hens, but they were moist and juicy. One hen was good for The Big Geek, and the little geek and I shared one. She's 3, so she didn't eat much of it.

If these are on sale again, I'd buy them again. The article on about.com had about 10 different glazes/rubs to try, and they all look pretty good. You could probably do this to a regular chicken as well. Of course, you don't really NEED to since you can just use salt and pepper and get the yummiest roast chicken EVER, but that was a different post.

I also made these YUMMY blue cheese muffins from a weight watchers recipe.

cooking spray
2 cups all-purpose flour, unbleached
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp table salt
1 tsp paprika
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg, beaten
1 cup fat-free milk
5 oz blue cheese, crumbled (extra-sharp cheddar, shredded, would work as well)

Preheat oven to 375 (convenient if you're doing the game hens as well).
Coat a 12-hole muffin tin wiht cooking spray (or line with muffin liners).
In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and paprika.
Create a well in the flour mixture with a spoon and place butter, egg, and milk into well. Mix until just blended (just use a spoon, no need for a mixer). Do NOT beat until smooth.

Fill each muffin cup with a Tbsp of batter (you'll have about 1/2 the batter left after this). Divide cheese evenly over center of each muffin, saving just enough cheese for a sparse topping. Divide remaining batter among muffin so each is 2/3 to 3/4 of the way full. Sprinkle muffins with remaining cheese.

Bake at 375 for 25 minutes. They are best served warm, but even if they cool off they are YUMMY!


We also had steamed green beans, and after dinner the little geek and I used leftover marshmallows from the bunny cake to make rice krispy squares. I was so productive today. . .