Blueberry-Banana Muffins and Mangers

Of all the decorations we have, our favorite by far, are the homemade ones that have stood the test of time in our lives.  The burlap gingerbread man from my husband's kindergarten days or the glitter covered metal baby food jar lids that my girls in preschool, transformed into beautiful ornaments.  

The one that has the most special meaning is our manger.  My husband made this many, many years ago for their family.  They had all the figurines, but needed a home.  He built this perfect nativity for them, complete with lighting, grass roof and the outer deck is on hinges, so it folds up perfectly to store in the off season.  I love having this in our family room to look at every evening.

Since Christmas is in only three days, I think it is safe to say that my baking endeavors just aren't going to happen this year.  I had all the inspiration to try out some new desserts and make some of our family standby favorites....none of them have surfaced at this point.  The only thing I have been accomplishing is muffins.  Every weekend I am craving muffins.  I love the aroma of muffins baking on Saturday morning and filling the house with their warmth. (Unfortunately, they are also filling my pants a little too much!)

I saw these muffins on my friend Toni's blog site and added some remaining blueberries I had in the refrigerator to use up.  These are so incredibly good!

Blender Banana Muffins
from my Muffin Recipe box (courtesy of A Taste of Alaska)

Sift together in a bowl:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Place in the blender and blend until smooth:
2 large ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream

*** (1) cup fresh blueberries, which I added to the recipe.

For topping:
Granola, without dried fruit

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Add blender ingredients to dry ingredients, mixing well.  Scoop batter into prepared muffin tins, filling each cup almost full. (At this point, I added a few blueberries to each of the muffins).  Top with a generous sprinkle of granola.  Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.  Makes about 18 large muffins.

One Year Ago:  Holiday Cake Cookies

Christmas Muffins and My Elves

We are of course in the throws of a whirlwind week for the entire family.  Action packed with sports practices, company parties, concession commitments, school finals and assignments and my husband's birthday tomorrow. Thank goodness though, the holiday decorating is complete and I didn't have to lift one box.

Last weekend I was receiving a verbal reprimand from my girls as to why the house had not been decorated yet, as it was way past December 1st.  I simply explained that they were now old enough to take over the duties and I was passing my torch on to them and they had full reigns to decorate as they wish.  They had plenty years of experience with helping me in the past and I shared I was fully confident that they would do a beautiful job.

On that note, I went upstairs, closed the blinds, curled up in a comfy blanket and took a nap (still trying to shake this terrible head cold).  An hour later I woke, opened up my bedroom door and saw a sea of red, green, silver garland and wreaths everywhere while listening to their favorite holiday hits.  In that one hour, they proceeded to pack up Thanksgiving, pull out all the Christmas bins from the basement and decorate away.  My little elves took over the house and I couldn't be happier.

To thank them, the next day I tried out a new muffin experiment.  I still have an abundance of pantry items from the family visit and am determined to use everything up before I do another major grocery store venture.

These taste like Christmas morning to me... a little of that cinnamon/sugar coffee cake we all grew up with and a touch of chocolate that brings back those hot coco memories.

Christmas Muffins

1 package plain yellow cake mix
1 package (3.4 ounces) vanilla instant pudding mix
3/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
3/4 cup water
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Lightly mist a regular size (12 count) muffin pan with non-stick baking spray and set aside.

Put the light brown sugar and ground cinnamon in a bowl and stir well.  Set aside.

Put the yellow cake mix, vanilla pudding mix, canola oil, water, eggs and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed for about 1 minute.  Stop and scrape the bowl sides.  Mix again on medium speed for another 2 minutes.  Pour the mini chocolate chips in the batter and fold in to get it fully mixed.

Pour approximately 1/3 cup of batter into each muffin tin until all 12 tins are full.  Spoon approximately 1 Tablespoon of the sugar/cinnamon mixture on top of each muffin.  Swirl the mixture into the batter with a toothpick so there is cinnamon/sugar in both the batter and on top.

Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 15-18 minutes.

Makes 18-20 muffins.

One Year Ago:  Zens Master Meatlovers Chili

Two Ingredient Pumpkin Muffins

I can now check one event off my list...Volleyball Season Banquet - done.  After two months of planning and preparation, it is now over and I can breathe a sigh of relief.  The next morning, I felt like I had been hit by a train... all the anticipation and work, had finally kicked my butt, but it was definitely well worth it.

Personalized Gift Bags
 for all 44 players and coaches.

Floral team centerpiece at buffet table.

Custom monogram lollipops, bubbles and mini volleyballs.

Lighted centerpieces for each table.

I needed a quick, easy breakfast for the weekend and these little beauties were perfect!  I cannot believe how easy they were and I really cannot believe (being the semi-homemade baker) that I had never heard of these two ingredient muffins.  If you go on Pinterest, you can find countless combination possibilities.

Two Ingredient Pumpkin Muffins

1 (18.25 oz) pkg yellow cake mix
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 12 cup muffin pan or line with paper liners.

In a large bowl mix together the cake mix and canned pumpkin until smooth.  Batter will be really thick.

Spoon equal amounts of batter into the prepared muffin cups.

** At this point, we sprinkled half of the muffins with mini chocolate chips and the other half with our family cinnamon/sugar blend...both additions were equally terrific.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean.

One Year Ago: Churchill Downs Signature BBQ Shrimp

Happy Mother's Day Brunch with German Pancakes

Happy Mother's Day!

Today has been an amazing day.  Started with a dozen, beautiful mixed colored roses and a giant balloon.
I have never had a giant balloon before - very sweet.

My husband and the girls made me a phenomenal breakfast...better than any brunch buffet you could order up.  The very impressive menu included freshly made fruit salad, cinnamon muffins, German pancakes, bacon, hash browns and finished it off with Eggs Benedict.  Absolutely delicious at every level.  The best part was I didn't have to cook or do any of the dishes.

After breakfast we watched Frozen in our pajamas, which was fitting since it started snowing last night and hasn't stopped.  Then it was a full relaxing day of even more movies, snuggling in blankets, 2 naps and a little bit of laundry to get the week started.  All in all, a terrific Mother's Day that couldn't have been better.

On special weekends back in California we had a favorite restaurant that served German pancakes.  I was so grateful when my grandmother gave me a recipe for the exact pancake...love these treats!!!

German Pancakes
Dedicated To All The Moms, Grandmas, Aunts, Sisters and Wives

1/2 cup all purpose or unbleached flour
2 Tbl sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
2 Tbl margarine or butter

Heat oven to 425 degrees.

Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off.  In medium bowl, combine all pancake ingredients, except butter.  Beat with a wire whisk or rotary beater until smooth.

Place butter in 9 inch pie pan; melt in oven just until butter sizzles, 2 to 4 minutes.  Remove pan from oven; tilt to coat bottom with melted butter.  Immediately pour batter into hot pan.  Bake at 425 degrees for 14 to 10 minutes or until puffed and golden brown.

Sprinkle with fresh lemon juice and powdered sugar.