Monday's Muffin

Time for another installment of Monday' Muffin! This weeks muffin is a daring experiment. Very Berry! I used my basic oatmeal muffin recipe, and added a special twist.They are baking up as I type this, so I hope they are as tasty as they smell.

Very Berry Muffins:

2 cups - unbleached white flour

2/3 cup - whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups - Oatmeal (I used quick oats, the ones that take about 3 minutes to cook if you were to cook them in a pot.)

2/3 cup - sugar (One of these days I am going to figure out how to substitute this with honey)

4 tsp - baking powder

1/2 tsp - salt

2 beaten eggs

2 cups - milk (The original recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups, but I found the muffins were too dry, so I increased the milk)

1/2 cup - cooking oil (I use canola oil)

Berry mixture - blackberries, blueberries and raspberries - Approx. 2 cups total

Directions:

*Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl,

*Combine all wet ingredients in a separate bowl

*Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients

*Stir about 10 times, then add fruit

*Continue to stir until moistened

*Grease muffin tins, Bake ate 350 for 15 minutes

*This will make 24 muffins

I hope you enjoy this week's muffin! Time for a taste test.

Happy Anniversary!

This weekend Papa Bear & I, will celebrate our 12th anniversary. From humble beginnings and rocky roads, from mountainous trials to incomparable joys.

We have loved, laughed and lived these past years, and we couldn't be any happier.

Loved you yesterday, Love you still.

Always have, Always will.

Monday's Muffin

I am very excited about this week's muffin. I tried something very new, (for me), and it turned out great! I love it when experiments work out so well on the first try. Allow me to present this weeks muffin Apple Pie! The idea came from Little Bear, who thought adding fruit other than bananas to the muffin would be yummy. She was right! These muffins are moist, and smell divine. I found as well that you don't need to use any kind of spread, these muffins are quite flavorful all on their own.

Apple Pie Muffins:

2 cups - unbleached white flour

1.5 cups - whole wheat flour

4 tsp - baking powder

1/2 tsp - salt

2 beaten egg

1.5 cups - milk

1/2 cup - cooking oil (I used a canola oil)

1 can apple pie filling

2 tsp - cinnamon

Diections:

*Empty entire can of pie filling into a small bowl, use a potato masher to break down the apple slices, stir in the cinnamon and set aside

*Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl

*Combine all wet ingredients in a bowl, exclude the apple filling

*Add wet ingredients all at once to dry ingredients, stir about 10 times

*Add the pie filling, and stir just until combined

*Grease muffin pans with cooking spray

*Bake at 350, for 12 minutes.

*This recipe will make 24 muffins

Mondays' Muffin

So, I am posting this on a Tuesday, because Monday kind of got away from me. Spring has (mostly) come to our corner of the world, and there is mush for a bear to do. Rest assured we did come up with a muffin for this week, even though I've yet to make it to a grocery store, Monday's Muffin is: Oatmeal Raisin.

Ingredients:

2 2/3 cups - unbleached white flour (I forgot to substitute any whole wheat flour in this week)

1 1/2 cups - Oatmeal (I used quick oats, the ones that take about 3 minutes to cook if you were to cook them in a pot.)

2/3 cup - sugar (One of these days I am going to figure out how to substitute this with honey)

2 tsp - baking powder

1/2 tsp - salt

2 beaten eggs

2 cups - milk (The original recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups, but I found the muffins were too dry, so I increased the milk)

1/2 cup - cooking oil (I use canola oil)

1 cup raisins

Directions:

*Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl, include the raisins

*Combine all wet ingredients in a separate bowl

*Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients

*Stir just until moistened

*Grease muffin tins, Bake ate 350 for 15 minutes

*This will make 24 muffins

Stay tuned for next weeks muffin, which will be made after I (finally) get to a grocery store!

White Dress 2 of 3

We had an excellent weekend, here at the Bear house. Little Bear, who recently turned 8, was Baptized! She was so excited about is, and it was all she could talk about for weeks before. In our area, we have Stake Baptism day, so all the children who turned 8 in February, were all Baptized on the same day. It worked out that 2 of Little Bear's friends were Baptized with her.

I think what made this weekend the most special, to me, was that I was Baptized on March 7. So, Little Bear and I were Baptized on the same weekend. As an added element of specialness, Little Bear also wore the Dress that I was Baptized in. This dress, also worn by my 3 sisters, was made from my mother's wedding dress.

Little Bear got great support from Papa Bear's family, all of her cousins from that side of the family were able to attend. After we went out for ice cream, and I didn't get any pictures of that, but we sure had a great time.

Monday's Muffin

This weeks muffin, we decided to make the easy and popular Banana Chocolate Chip. With baking supplies at an all time low, we had to make only a half batch this week. While we were making this weeks muffin, we did some brain storming and Little Bear came up with a couple of really interesting ideas for future muffins. I am looking forward to replenishing our baking supplies and trying out some of those good ideas.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins:

1 cup - unbleached white flour

3/4 cup - whole wheat flour

2 tsp - baking powder

1/4 tsp - salt

1 beaten egg

1/2 cup - milk (I used 2/3 cup milk, I found it is a little more moist)

1/4 cup - cooking oil (I used a canola oil)

3/4 cup mashed banana (I used 2 large bananas, which is slightly more than suggested)

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Diections:

*Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl, include the chocolate chips

*Combine all wet ingredients in a bowl, include the banana

*Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients all at once, stir until just combined

*Do not use baking papers for this kind of muffin, grease muffin pans with cooking spray

*Bake at 350, for 15 minutes.

*This recipe will make 12 muffins

Monday's Muffin

This week’s Muffin is: Blueberry Lemon. I again started with the basic muffin recipe and added my own touches to it. I generally don’t use whole wheat flour when I bake, but I am starting to introduce it slowly. One of the reasons we came up with the muffin idea was to have a healthier option for lunch. Over time I will be experimenting with larger portions of whole wheat flour, and I would like to try other flour varieties too. At the suggestion of someone, I am including the recipe for our Monday Muffin this week.

Ingredients:

1 ¾ cup – unbleached all purpose flour

¾ cup – whole wheat flour

2/3 cup – Sugar

4 tsp - baking powder

½ tsp – salt

2 beaten eggs

1 ½ cups - milk

½ cup – cooking oil (I use a canola olive oil blend)

2 cups - frozen blueberries

1 lemon, which I grated off the rind

Directions:

*Mix all dry ingredients on one bowl, include the lemon rind.

*Mix all wet ingredients in another bowl, except the berries.

*Add the wet to the dry all at once and mix about 10 times, add the blueberries and continue to mix until just combined.

*I use a cooking spray to grease my muffin tins, but you could line them with baking cups.

*This will make 24 muffins. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, I have an old stove so this works for mine, keep an eye on the muffins during the last 5 minutes of cooking time, the tops will not brown, so use a toothpick to check the centers