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Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Best Blueberry Muffins EVER!

I absolutely love muffins, but I never can seem to find a home-made recipe that I like more than the store bought boxed muffin mixes. Well, I'm here to say that I have found "the one." The thing that gets me about them is their texture. They're moist and fluffy where most home-made recipes are dense and on the dry side. Needless to say this recipe stole my heart.

Brown Butter Blueberry Muffins

Fresh out of the oven...


The Stand Alone


Oh, it found a friend and they clothed themselves in butter. :)


Ok, here's the recipe (out of a Woman's Day magazine...March 2011)

Brown Butter Blueberry Muffins

Active: 15 min Total: 35 min

2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup whole milk 
1 large egg beaten
6 oz fresh blueberries (1 & 1/2 cups)

1.) Heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 12- cup muffin tin with paper liners or coat with cooking spray.

2.) In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and 1/2 cup of the sugar; make a well in the center.

3.) Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Once it melts, swirl the pan until the butter begins to brown and smell nutty, 2 to 3 minutes; remove from the heat. 

4.) Pour the butter, milk and egg into the well of flour and stir to combine (a few lumps in the batter are okay- don't over mix); fold in the blueberries. Divide the batter among the muffin cups; sprinkle with the remaining sugar. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 16 to 20 minutes. Let cool before unmolding.

per serving: 213 calories, 4 G Protein, 30 G Car. 1 G Fiber, 9 G Fat (5 G Sat. Fat), 40 MG Chol. 188 MG SOD



Thursday, February 17, 2011

Hard Work & Patience

I love making things. My favorite parts are picking out what to use and the finished product. The in between part can be at times tedious and mundane (for a beginner like me). My LEAST favorite part of a sewing project is cutting out the various pieces...it makes me want to SCREAM! I feel similar to how a child feels about waiting to get home from the toy store to play with their new toy.  I don't want to wait to get home to put the batteries in! I want it now! In the car!!!! However, as I'm moving along in the process and I begin to see the silver lining I am overwhelmed with satisfaction.

Anyway, today I used my Granny's Singer that's approximately 54 years old! That's over twice as old as me!! And it works fabulously, a lot better than my $75 machine that's loud and bouncy. It's beautiful...that's my grandma getting it set up for me. She's so sweet. :)


Here are the fabrics I chose from Hobby Lobby.


And here's the clutch! I added a handle to mine to make it a wristlet. :) It's unzipped in this picture. I should've zipped it up but I was in a rush.


A close up, I love the gathered part. So cute. So feminine. 


And here's the inside. Complete with two card slots and a divider. Perfect, all I ever need are my keys, phone, DL, debit card, and of course lip gloss. I was using my phone to take the picture so it couldn't be in the photo...


And I'm going to make one for my friend Sarah with these materials...just because. :o)


Here's a link to the tutorial that I used, it's awesome, I recommend it. 
So fun! If you sew, definitely check it out.

To conclude, hard work and patience pays. In my case, I gained a cute lil clutch that I'll be happy to use AND I'll love when people ask where I got it because I will get to say, "I made it!"








Wednesday, February 9, 2011

On the Spot Potato Soup Recipe


This is one of those recipes that you can definitely make your own. I don't have exact measurements but I do have approximations. You should know I did this on a whim & didn't even know what we were going to have for dinner. I'm also no Pioneer Woman; the photos are from my iphone and are of poor quality. So, let me take you on this simple yet satisfying adventure.

1. First, you need two potatoes. I like the simple baking potatoes. Peel them and chop them to the consistency that you like. I left mine in inch or so chunks. We like it chunky. 
2. Put the chunks in a pot and cover with water. Boil for 15 minutes or so just until you can pierce the potatoes with a fork easily.




3. Drain most of the water out, you'll need to leave a little bit. Now you need a can of chicken broth (you could really use any kind of broth) and a can of evaporated milk. I could literally drink a can of it, delicious. Add the whole can of broth to the pan but only a little less than half of the evaporated milk.


4. Time to season it up! This is where you will need to taste as you go. I never measure. A little garlic salt, (I just shake it for a few seconds over the pan), a little parsley (several good shakes), and a little onion powder (don't over do it). Don't be afraid!! Use your taste buds as a guide. Heck you can even branch out and add different kinds of seasonings. I just prefer these three.


5. Butter. DO NOT forget the butter. Approximately two & a half tablespoons...or more...you can't go wrong here.


6. You'll want to let this boil for a little while, about 10 minutes or so and then let it simmer for a few minutes to steam some of the liquid out and let the flavors mix. Let it get thick but not too thick or you'll have mashed potatoes instead of soup. (I like to mash the potatoes up just a LITTLE bit with a potato masher...just a little.)


7. While you're waiting for your soup to perfect get your toppings ready! We like turkey bacon. ALOT. And we like it crispy. We just put a couple paper towels on a plate and put one layer of bacon on top of that, throw it in the microwave for a few minutes until they're nice and crispy.




8. Cheese, need I say more?


9. Self explanatory. Taste your soup before you add salt, especially if you use garlic salt. The garlic salt and the broth may have made it salty enough. I cannot stress enough to you the importance of letting your taste buds be your guide. :)


10. When your soup is to the consistency of your desires dip some up and top it with your favorites. 



11. ENJOY!!!



*Recipe was made for two, if you are feeding more you may need to multiply the approximations. :o)

Snowpocalypse 2011!!!


I woke up to 20 + inches of snow, a record for our area I hear, as we haven't had this much snowfall in one day since 1918. I haven't checked this statement yet but I believe it. We're up to about 24 inches and counting! The snow isn't expected to let up until the early evening. 

Words can't describe what I'm about to share with you. You just have to see it for yourself.






Wasn't that precious??? That was our dogs Lily (the beagle) and Gunner (the sheltie) when they went out to potty this morning. 

This is outside my front door. Don't worry! Noah and I will shovel it!



(haha our faces were shadowed in this photo before I edited it...that's why it's not so good.)


Looking out the window into my backyard. The snow is almost as high as half the fence.


On the deck...after Dallas shoveled it off...


Paths that the dogs/Dallas made in the snow. They're much deeper than they look.



I wish Noah and I had clothes to play in the snow!!! We're going to go play on the porch for a minute. He's really interested in it. :)



Monday, February 7, 2011

And the Winner is...

Time to announce the winner of the Valentine Giveaway! 



& The winner is.... dun dun dunnnnnn....


Congratulations!!!

Thank you all for participating. 


*I used this Random Name Generator in case y'all were wondering. :o)

Friday, February 4, 2011

Valentine Give-away!

Who doesn't love a give away?! I do! And I want to give a little something to you. From my hands to yours. I've come up with a Valentine theme for you.

 I've included a sweet little fabric bow barrette.

A heart shaped barrette/brooch

And a set of heart-shape sticky notes

All together you get...


Okay, for the rules!
*1. You must "like" my facebook page.
*2. Leave a comment on this post with your name and e-mail address.
3. For an extra entry tweet about this little give away. (leave a separate comment on this post with your twitter name so I can see your tweet)
4. For yet another entry, make a facebook status about this give away. (leave a separate comment letting me know you did this)
*The first two rules are mandatory! The third and fourth are OPTIONAL. 

Altogether you have the chance for four entries. So get busy!!! 
Don't forget to FOLLOW my blog. :o)

The winner will be announced Monday by 6.pm.

Good luck!!

**you must be a resident of the United States for this give away.
*** Post-it/3M is NOT sponsoring this giveaway.