Making Muffins In The Morning

Applesauce Muffins

Yes, I really found time to make muffins while the little ones were still here. The trick was to start early--before the baby woke up and get as much as possible done before Little Sister figured out what I was doing and wanted to help. She came into the kitchen in time to stir. That was about the right amount of help. My timing was perfect. The muffins were coming out of the oven when Baby Girl woke up. Daddy-O fed her some of the leftover applesauce for her breakfast.

I made these muffins for the first time last summer when Little Sister was here. (It was easier with only one little one in the house.) And I've made them several times since. But it's a recipe worth posting again. This time I'm rewriting it with measurements to make 2 dozen muffins. I'll put about half in the freezer. I like to put four muffins in a quart Ziploc freezer bag. That's the right amount for me and Daddy-O to pull out for a snack. They are great with a cup of coffee or a glass of milk.

APPLESAUCE MUFFINS (2 dozen)

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups applesauce

4 cups all-purpose flour 

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1 cup of your favorite add-in...diced apple, raisins, or chopped nuts (optional) 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  

In a bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla and mix well. Stir in applesauce. Combine flour, baking soda and spices. Stir into creamed mixture. Fold in add-in, if using. 

Fill greased muffin cups about 3/4 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean. 

Cool for 5 minutes and then remove to wire rack. 

Makes 24 muffins.  Pop some in the freezer for later. 

For this batch, I added in diced apple (pretty good size pieces) and I think maybe this is my favorite. Daddy-O pulled a little 4-pack out of our freezer last night. A muffin with a cup of tea was a perfect bedtime treat. And this morning, we each had one with a mug of coffee for breakfast.  These really do freeze well.

When I pulled up this photo that I made a couple of weeks ago, I am reminded how much we miss these little girls now.

Roasted Okra

I love okra. I love it fried best. (Well, I do.) I love it stewed with tomatoes and onions. I love it in vegetable soup. Now I have a new way to cook it. This okra went into the oven less than an hour after it was cut in our garden. There wasn't much at this first cutting, but the harvest will increase in the next few days. I'll get to try it any way I want.

I don't know how common okra is in other parts of the country.  Here, it is a normal part of our summer menus.  When I was growing up, it was always fried at our house. (Fried at home, it was not heavily breaded and deep fried like you get in restaurants.) When you fry okra, it shrinks. A lot. So when you start with a giant pan full, you don't have so much when it's done. We never got much on our plates when we divided the panful.

When I fresh out of college, I got my first job as a home economist in the lower part of our state. A man selling fresh vegetables stopped by our office a couple of times a week. One day I bought 2 pounds and went home and cooked it all. And nearly ate it all. It was the first time I'd had all the okra I wanted. I was single and didn't have to share one bite!

 

Roasting it was the quickest way to prepare it I could think of. I know you can roast it without splitting it lengthwise. But splitting it, made it look like I had more than I did. And it made a great photo!

ROASTED OKRA

1 pound fresh okra
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (can also use canola)
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper (or *House Seasoning)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Discard any hard pods. Cut off tops of okra. Slice the okra in half lengthwise. Arrange on a baking sheet and drizzle with the oil. (I used my hands to make sure the okra was evenly coated with oil.) Season with salt and pepper.

Roast for 10 minutes. Flip and roast 10 more minutes.


*House Seasoning: 1 cup salt, 1/4  cup black pepper, 1/4 cup garlic powder. Mix together and store in airtight container.

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For those of you who told me that you did not know the song "Make Me A Servant" mentioned in Sunday's post, here is a link to listen to it.

A Stitch A Day

 

 

Pattern: Pinwheel Blanket

Yarn: Berroco Comfort in Ballet Pink

Needles: size 8

I loved Aesop's Fables when I was a child. All of those stories about animals were fun. I read them over and over. And years later, I realized that I had been learning from those tales all along. I can't even pick a favorite, but one that comes to mind more than some is The Tortoise And The Hare. What I remember is that the one capable of the greater speed didn't win the race. The race was won by the slow tortoise, who kept steady at it.

I felt a bit like the tortoise this summer as I worked on the baby blanket. (Hurray! I'm done and the baby has not been born yet.) I did not have great spaces of time to work on this. I knew this when I started. But a blanket was needed.

I just knitted every tiny spare moment I could find. A few stitches before bedtime after the toys had been picked up. A nice way to wind down at night.

Several rounds early in the morning before the little ones woke up. A wonderful way to start the day. Knitting was my morning meditation.

I knitted at nap time. There were interruptions all along the way. Little hands tried to help. Little hands got into things that meant I had to stop and rescue someone or something. But I kept knitting.

After the little ones left for their new home, I still had more to go, so the blanket went with us to the lake. And in the glorious quiet there, I zipped through those last few rounds. I could have thought, "I don't have time to make this now" and no one would have argued. But knitting a little every day—and some days it was only a few stitches—WAS possible. Those stitches added up.

And this new baby, who will be here soon, has her blanket ready and waiting.

Make Me A Servant

 

Today I sat in a different seat. One that let me look at these windows as the morning sun streamed in. I could sit and gaze at these windows that are over 100 years old while listening to our young people tell of their hard labor in the extreme summer heat as they served our neighbors in need as part of Salkahatchie Summer Service.

And then we sang this song...

Make me a servant
Humble and meek
Lord let me lift up those who are weak
And may the prayers of my heart always be
Make me a servant
Make me a servant
Make me a servant today

So happy to be part of a community that sings this song and means it.

Hot Bread In A Hurry

 

Mayonnaise Biscuits

My mother was famous for her biscuits. But not in a good way. She was a wonderful cook. Just not when making biscuits. My mother-in-law, however, could bake biscuits that nearly floated up off the plate. She baked them twice a day for many years. There was no recipe. After baking thousands of them, she didn't need one. Nothing was measured. Just a few ingredients tossed together and mixed with her hands. I take after my mother and have never baked a really good biscuit.

Thankfully, there are other ways to get hot biscuits on the table. When Little Sister and Baby Girl were here, I made these mayonnaise biscuits one night, because I had the ingredients on hand. It was hard to get to the grocery store with them in tow, so I found myself pulling out old recipes that were super simple.

This recipe came from my grandmother. (I think the recipe was widely passed around in the 1970s, but we got the recipe from her.) That right there should be validation that they are good. However, they are not exactly biscuits. Or muffins. Just think of it as hot bread! And her "measurement" of the mayo was not level tablespoons. She just used a tablespoon from her flatware drawer and stirred in 2 or 3 big dollops.

This is so quick and easy. I made these again just after we got home from the lake tonight and wondered what I could find for supper. A big salad and hot bread made it looked like I had planned dinner. (Daddy-O thinks I'm a genius. He figured take-out pizza was our only hope.)

MAYONNAISE BISCUITS

2 cups self-rising flour
1 cup milk
2-3 tablespoons mayonnaise (big spoonfuls--not level)

Mix all ingredients together. Spoon into greased muffin tins.
Bake at 450 degrees for 12 minutes.

Makes 12 biscuits/muffins.
(Divide in half if you are a small household like us.)

These are best eaten hot.

If you dislike mayonnaise, you cannot taste it in here at all. 






  

Beside The Still Waters

We are lucky to have this spot. Not so very far from home. It's simple. It's quiet. It's where I recharge my battery. I hope you have your special place, too.





-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

After They've Gone

Our house "full" is now our house "empty." It is eeriely quiet here. And still. I'm taking a few minutes to think back over the last seven weeks.

For weeks, I washed, wiped, read, tucked, chased, soothed, corralled, consoled, entertained, played, bathed, sang, cooked, fed, dressed, changed, held, reached, handed, mediated, rocked, wrangled, and explained. (Have you ever tried to explain to someone what a ditch is when you are not standing by one so that you can point to it? Little Sister asked the question. She's four. That didn't make it any easier.)

We have picked up most of the toys. We are still looking for two dominoes, the "wife" in the vintage Fisher Price farm set, and a couple of toy eggs. I can't imagine where they could be. But while we've looked, we did find a few other things that we thought were lost forever. Maybe the farm wife will show up soon.

How are we now that it is just the two of us here?

It is nice not to step on Lego pieces with my bare feet.

I can sit down now. 

I don't miss the dirty diapers.

I don't miss cleaning up all the food in the floor under the high chair.

I really don't miss the 8:00 PM screamfest that happened most nights. Those two little girls had a great time chasing each other and shrieking in that high shrill voice only little girls can produce. They might catch each other and tumble around for a while. Then after about 15 minutes, it was over. They were having a ball. I wasn't.

I do miss hearing those feet coming down the hall—bap bap bap bap bap bap—and seeing that curly headed little girl climb up into Daddy-O's lap for a hug and snuggle first thing every morning.

I miss the sweet smell of a freshly bathed baby still wrapped in her towel.

I miss the bedtime stories. Even the ones I read over and over. And I miss Little Sister reading to me at bedtime. "Spot can jump. Jump, Spot, jump."

I miss the random hugs during the day from Little Sister followed by, "I love you, Mimi."

I miss rocking Baby Girl to sleep.

I miss hearing Little Sister sing the blessing at each meal.

I might even miss watching Peppa Pig.

I am more fit than I was. I got quite a workout from lifting Baby Girl and carrying her around many times a day. That, and stepping over all of the baby gates, often with Baby Girl in my arms. I should keep it up. (Well, not the stepping over gates part, but I should do something.)

We are excited that they are so much closer to us now. Still in a different state, but it a state that borders our own. We hope that we helped by keeping the girls here while they unpacked at the new house. Can't wait to go see them. After we've rested a little.