Bumblebees and Blueberries.
The last few days have been wet and dreary. It feels like the rain and chill are interminable and we'll never see the sun come out from behind the dark clouds.
The air is thick with the fresh earthy scent of fresh rain. If you venture outside even for a moment you return with frizzy rain hair, water droplets decorating it like a halo of mini lights.
The normally cheerful pansies drop their tiny faces to the ground under the weight of a few raindrops. But nothing seems to dampen the spirits of this determined little bumblebee. He buzzes from flower to fragrant flower and seems to inject new life and colour into the otherwise grey world.
I decided I'd pick up where the sweet bumblebee left off and bake up some happiness of my own. There's nothing like fresh from the oven Blueberry Vanilla Bean Muffins to brighten your morning. The sweet scent of vanilla paired with the bursting flavour of blueberry.
Muffins For Mom.
The thing about moms is that you never seem to really appreciate them until you've grown up.
When you're a child mom is your best friend, banisher of monsters and kisser of boo boos. When you're a teenager she's the voice of reason, enforcer of chores and face of dreaded responsibility. When you're in college she's the embodiment of worry, telephone police and always the last one to find out about anything. When you've finally settled down and maybe even starting a family of your own she's right back to being your best friend, reliable confidant, trusted adviser.
I had struggled to draw upon one memory in particular to illustrate my mom for you. I've decided I can't choose just one because so many swim to the surface. Drawing lady bugs on band aids over my scraped knees. Letting me lick the bowl and beaters. Teaching me how to thicken sauce or roll dough. Knitting into the night squinting in her tiny reading glasses. Talking in her sleep in the dim light of the TV. Driving me to piano lessons and making sure my fingernails were cut short. Passionately singing along to songs on the radio to which she only knows half the lyrics. Sending me care packages of fudge, seeds, aprons and pearls. Calmly taking my various panicked calls about the pie, custard or turkey.
It's a well known fact that all moms love muffins. Breakfast is the traditional celebratory meal for mother's day so I combined the sweetness of turbinado sugar, the enticing scent of cinnamon and the adorable tartness of cottage cheese to make this mother's day special.
I love you mom! These muffins are for you.
Play.
All around is the sound of trickling water. Icicles shrinking and dripping. The wind blows as though breathing a long baited sigh of relief. The birds sing again. The sun burns red through closed eyelids and thaws the chill from the interminable Winter.
Spring is here. In case you didn't know, Spring is my favourite season. It's when Winter fades and slowly life begins again. Winter is like living on pause. Life is frozen in place. It's time for play.
Speaking of which, I was playing with my original Banana Muffins recipe the other day and transformed it into Chocolate Banana Cinnamon Muffins. I think you'll like it.
Love Muffin: Maple Bacon Cheddar Cornmeal.
There's about two feet of snow carpeting the ground. Icicles decorate the eaves troughs. The evergreens slouch under the new weight. The streets haven't been plowed all Winter. A single Autumn leaf clings stubbornly to the frozen ground. The temperature has plummeted to uncomfortable depths.
There's only one thing to do when the weather turns this chilly. Make Chili! The natural partner for a steaming hot bowl of Chili is, of course, Cornmeal Muffins. These aren't your average Cornmeal Muffins, folks. They're Maple Bacon Cheddar Cornmeal Muffins.
A little sweet to compliment the spice. A little hot inside to contrast the cold outside.
How else are you going to work up the nerve to shovel the driveway? Or scrape ice off the windshield? Or risk frostbite to check the mailbox? I suppose you could always just stay toasty warm inside and eat muffins for dinner. Like I did.
Love Muffin: Peach Cheesecake.
Could someone please tell me why it is that I can have grey hairs and acne breakouts at the same time? That doesn't seem fair does it?
It should be one or the other. Not both. At the same time.
It's like my body can't decide what age I am. One minute I'm thirteen with a book report due on Of Mice and Men and the next I'm sixty-five dashing out to Denny's for the early bird special. Make up your mind!
It seems like the general public can't decide what age I am too. I get carded all the time when the rest of my table doesn't even get a second glance. Door to door salesmen ask me when my parents are going to be home. True story. So I tell them six, maybe seven o'clock so they leave me alone to wallow in my self-pity.
The one that bothers me the most is the wide-eyed looks I get from perfect strangers when my boyfriend of thirty-three introduces to them his girlfriend of twenty-four. Age is just a number. I've known people far older than me that are also far less mature. Lee and I are on the same level mentally, why do we need to be the same age?
I know. I shouldn't complain. It's a compliment. It will be useful when I get older.
For now I'm going to keep dying my hair and washing my face.
This topic really doesn't segue into muffins. At all. So I'm not going to try.
I made muffins. So there! They're awesome. They have peaches and cheesecake in them. Did I mention they're awesome?
Love Muffin: Maple Bacon Oatmeal.
Yeah you read that right. Ladies and gentlemen, that was no typo.
For those of us who just can't make up our minds in the morning. I give you the ultimate breakfast. It's like four breakfast meals rolled into one. It's a bowl of oatmeal. It's a stack of pancakes. It's a handful of bacon. It's a muffin... umm obviously.
Breakfast. Of. Champions.
These days we're discouraged from eating things like greasy bacon and pancakes slathered in syrup and here I am combining them. No, I'm not trying to kill you. There's some oatmeal in there so that's got to count for something, right? The healthy power of oatmeal might magically counteract the unhealthy evil of it's breakfast foes.
You can pretend it's healthy. Like I do.
Or just shirk the rules and shove them in your mouth. Like I do.
Love Muffin: Chocolate Cherry
This is the first post of its kind, one of many to come. I've decided to experiment in the wonderful world of muffins once every month or perhaps every two weeks. I love muffins. Don't you love muffins? It's cute. It's muffiny. It's Love Muffin.
Now with that said I'd like to address a certain someone with whom I am currently quite displeased.
Dear Mother Nature,
What is your problem? For serious.
It's Spring right? Let me check my calendar. Yes, definitely Spring. Actually, nearly Summer. And what do we have to show for it? A measly week of blessedly warm and perfectly sunny weather. It's actually snowed at least three times since the first day of Spring and been mostly crappy and cold otherwise.
Do you find it funny to torture innocent Spring loving people? That's right, Spring is my favourite season or at least it used to be. I'm half expecting the leaves to start turning orange and fall off right before we're condemned to a dark snowy prison again. Is Summer even coming? Will I ever get to swim and suntan and eat popsicles on the back step again without shivering?
I'd better.
Now I understand you're very busy controlling the weather all over the world but do you think it would be too much trouble to pay a little more attention to my corner of Canada? I don't ask for much, just maybe a smidgen more sunshine and a teensy bit less snow. I'll even make a deal with you. If you give me Spring I promise to complain a little bit less next Winter. I know how whiny I can be. That's reasonable right?
I think so.
I expect the weather to be different from here on out otherwise I swear I'll relentlessly pollute the ozone or something. No I'm kidding. I wouldn't do that, but maybe I'd stop using reusable bags and start using those horrible plastic ones when I do my grocery shopping. Remind me again, they take how many eons to decompose? Yeah, you wouldn't like that would you? I don't have to as long as you cooperate. Nobody has to get hurt.
I'm glad we had this little chat. I hope we can continue to be friends.
Sincerely your biggest fan,
Lindsey
Ok, now less crazy and more muffins!
Holy Muffins Batman!
This muffin has attitude. Just look at them sitting there all unassuming, all casual, all cute. Then you put one in your mouth and it's like, BAM! Flavour town!
You remember the original Batman series right? Of course you do. Silly me. So you would obviously recall those hilarious fight sound animations. If not, here are some examples to jog your memory...
Thwaak!
Zowee!
Blam!
Awwk!
Biff!
Oooff!
Bloop!
Yeah, you remember now. Aren't onomatopoeias fun? These muffins remind me of Batman and Robin, Lemon and Ginger. The dynamic duo. The caped crusaders. Fighting crime and taste bud boredom across the fine city of Gotham.
(Insert Adam West voice over here) To the kitchen! We haven't one moment to lose!
Take that taste bud! Aiiieee!
And that! Gliipp!
And now, to finish you off! (My favourite move) Ker-sploosh!
The thought of Batman in my kitchen is giving me the giggles so here is your recipe.
The Price of Great Muffins.
So I just burnt my nose. Seems odd right? It get's weirder. I burnt the inside of my nose. I was a little too anxious about inhaling the intoxicating scent of a fresh batch of Lemon Blueberry Streusel Muffins that when I opened the oven to check on them I got a face full of 350 degree air.
That's normal right? They smelled so good I burnt my nose. It was worth it though. So worth it.
I was first intrigued by this recipe when I found that it included lemon. Who doesn't like the combination of lemon and blueberry? No one, that's who. Then I wanted to add cinnamon to the streusel recipe because, let's face it, cinnamon is just awesome. I was worried about how the lemon and cinnamon flavours would mingle. You might be too. Don't let them scare you, they're just muffins. Delicious, delicious muffins. Nothing to fear here except an unhealthy compulsion to eat every last crumb. I double dog dare you.
Apples and Oranges.
There are many things in life that I can do, but I really shouldn't. I can eat a stick of butter, but I shouldn't. I can hold my hand over a burning hot stove element, but I shouldn't. I can avoid doing laundry for a month, but I shouldn't. And as I stood over a fresh batch of these amazingly delicious Apple Yogurt Muffins with Cinnamon Streusel I knew I was capable of eating the entire dozen in one sitting, but I also knew I shouldn't.
The thing that really made me fall in love with these muffins is the combination of apple and orange. I get it, the apple is pomaceous and the orange is citrus, but that doesn't mean they can't make a tasty marriage. You may not be able to compare apples and oranges, but you can darn well eat them! So that's what I did and oh my god was it good.
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