What's Cookin': Oat & Streusel Muffins

I have the baking itch. Bad. I want to bake everything. Unfortunately, the little voice in the back of my head keeps saying "But you won't be around to eat it. It will go bad... Just wait til next week..." So I have been waiting. For the most part. However, I woke up this morning wanting muffins something awful. A desperate, aching longing for muffins. I could not go on if I didn't have muffins. So I pulled out the Better Homes & Gardens cookbook I got from my grandmother's house and took the basic muffin recipe. Then messed with it, because you know I can't leave anything alone.

Did you know I used to think that I could only make muffins from a box. Seriously. Ok, you can stop laughing now. It never occurred to me, until I became a stay at home mama and started cooking everything from scratch that there was another way to make muffins. It dawned on me that I could make them myself, without a box! So now that's all I do (except blueberry. I really love the little tin of tiny blueberries from the box.) No really, stop laughing. And go make these.

Oat & Streusel Muffins - makes 24 muffins
2 2/3 C flour
1 1/2 C oats
2/3 C sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 beaten eggs
1 1/2 C milk
1/2 C oil
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla

Steusel Topping:
6 Tbs flour
6 Tbs brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
4 Tbs butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix all the dry ingredients (including cinnamon) in a large bowl*. In a separate container, mix the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the liquid. Stir until just moistened. Don't beat it senseless. As little stirring as possible makes for fluffy muffins. Dish into muffin tins about 2/3 full (1/2 cup measure worked perfectly for me).

To make topping, mix together flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Cut in butter (I use my fingers) until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle on top of muffins and press in a little bit. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until they pass the toothpick test. Cool for 5 - 10 minutes before devouring.

*Muffins are one of the few things I will mix by hand, rather than in my Kitchenaid. I like the control I have and the ability to make sure they don't get over mixed. Muffins are picky that way.

Notes & Variations: I added oatmeal to mine because I wanted something I could feel happy giving my munchkins for snack aside from just sugar. This way they get a little healthy stuff in there. Also, it makes them more filling so you don't need to eat half the batch at once... Unless you're into that.

Ben Rating: 4. He promptly ate two as soon as he saw them. :)

FK: H's Baby Blanket - The Super Secret Project Reveal

Almost two weeks late, but it's finally done. This is the secret project I've been working on. It is a baby blanket for my niece, intended for her one year birthday. I was just a little off. I had cast on the Sunday before her birthday, and knew I would be seeing her on Wednesday. So I knit like the wind to try to finish. I got half way through, but did not make it. (Half way of a good size blanket in 3 days is pretty awesome though.) Then I got sick. I finally finished and gave it her mama yesterday.

Pattern: Mitered Corner Blanket adapted by me from Elizabeth Zimmerman

Yarn: TLC Amore in "Rose" - 3.5ish balls

Needles: US 7/4.5mm Brittany wood straights

I cast on 72 stitches and it made a very generously sized blanket. It should last her a good long while. It is made by using short rows to make 4 corners, then you are supposed to sew the beginning and end together. I changed that to using a temporary cast on with waste yarn, and grafted the beginning and end together using the live stitches. Very fun! The short rows added enough interest to the garter stitch to not make it boring, and it was a good TV knit.

YTD Mileage: I forgot to weigh it before passing it on, but since I used 3.5 balls, I'm going to estimate it to be about 903 yards. Which brings my new total to 2.19 miles!

What's Cookin': Spice & Crumb Banana Bars

My SIL was commenting today about how Mom's bananas were turning bad and that they needed to be made into banana bread. At which point my brain sparked and I remembered that I had this recipe and had never posted it. I told them about it and was immediately told I had to post it.

I have no picture, because it was awhile ago and I'm a horrible blogger.

You must make these. You must, must, must. They are the tastiest banana flavored dessert I have had. Delicious. Print this out and go make them now.

Spice & Crumb Banana Bars - makes 12 (ish. Depending on how big you cut them.)
2 C flour
1 C sugar
3/4 C brown sugar, packed
1/2 C butter, softened
1 C ripe bananas, sliced (about 2 'naners)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 C sour cream
1 egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine first four ingredients until crumbly and press 1 1/2 cups into ungreased 9 x 13 pan. Reserve 1/2 cup crumb mix for top. Add the rest of the ingredients to the remaining crumb mix and beat for 1 minutes, until well blended. (You'll have some mashed 'naners, and some chunks.) Pour over crust and sprinkle with reserved crumbs. Bake 30-40 minutes until golden. Cool before cutting.

When the bottom crust cooks all the sugar melts to an almost candy like slab on the bottom. So you get the softness of the banana muffin-type filling, and the crunch of the crust. If you can't wait until it cools, I would totally serve it warm with ice cream.

Hey Look! We're Alive!

Dude. Being sick sucks. And that was a nasty one. But aside from a few sniffles, the kids and I are over it now. And Ben's seems to be moving faster than ours did, so he should be over it soon as well.

Because of being sick, life all but came to a stop last week. Chores hardly got done and I didn't run all week. Our anniversary plans got pushed back to this coming weekend. And we've been eating a lot of junk food. Whoops. =\

But now! Now I am better, and now I can get back to life. I made a delicious batch of potato bread yesterday using leftover mashed potatoes. It turned out heavenly. I think the best part is that every now and then you get a bite of ground pepper that was in the mashed potatoes. It adds a nice, surprising little kick while having a piece of toast, or a sandwich. I used this recipe, with the difference of using about 1 1/2 cups mashed potatoes and a 1/2 cup water, instead of cooking a potato just for the bread.

This week's menu plan will go something like this:
Monday: Foil Wrapped Chicken & Rice
Tuesday: Beans & Rice with tortillas
Wednesday: Slow Cooker Pork (I'll figure out the details of that later. I just have a roast that needs to be consumed.)
Thursday: Leftovers

 I can't wait to get back to home cooking. I felt so guilty giving everyone junk food last week. So guilty, in fact, that I did a whole giant meal of Salisbury Steak, mashed taters, stuffing and bread on Friday. I guess the need to cook had been building all week.

I sat down yesterday to total our grocery spending and we're over. Way over. $160 over. Which makes me very disappointed, but I know exactly how it happened. The once a month shopping just doesn't work for us. I spent most of the budget at the beginning of the month and then we had little things purchased since then. I will try to cut it to two weeks instead and see how that works.

I will need to post pictures of our garden and the changes we made. We hung just about all of our produce-bearing plants in hanging pots to keep the cats out of them. They are hanging on our eaves and they are loving life greatly. I can't believe how big they're getting. I think we're going to have a ton of tomatoes and jalapenos. And our mint is trying to take over the world.

I can not wait for produce this summer. I realized the other day that I want to can so badly. Pickles, jams, vegetables, all kinds of stuff. I want a pantry stocked to the brim. My Mom-in-love said she will plant me some more spaghetti squash this year and I am so excited for it. I can practically live on that stuff.

In short, I guess I'm really ready for summer. I just wish the weather around here would make up it's mind.

Oh! Before I forget. I'm like 2 inches away from being done with my shirt. Just in time for our mini-trip. So once it's finished I will have pictures for you all. I love it! Although I wish I had made it just a wee bit smaller. I prefer tighter fitting clothes. I am thinking I might make another one in a different color. Also, I have 1/8 left on the secret project. Will reveal all when I can.

This Man

This man is the love of my life - I love him more deeply now than I have before.

This man still makes my heart turn over and my knees go weak when he walks in the room.

This man is the most beautiful man I've ever seen.

I'm grateful that this man gave me a chance over 4 years ago and asked me to be his wife.

This man gave me three beautiful, crazy, adorable children.

This man is a goof ball, and I love him for it. He can drop me to my knees in fits of laughter.

This man has stayed beside me and stuck with me through many trials. He has rescued me from many dark places.

This man is the greatest gift God has ever given me.