Sour Cream Blueberry Muffins/Bread

I've made this recipe before for Strawberries & Cream Bread.  It.  Is.  Fantastic.  I've always wanted to try it with blueberries but never got around to it.

So the other day I had some blueberries left from Costco that had a gotten a little too soft to serve by themselves.  I decided to make this bread with blueberries.  But then I looked at the list of ingredients and thought I would try to make it more healthy by cutting the sugar and butter and switching the flour.  And then I realized I didn't have enough time to bake the bread for breakfast before everyone ran out the door so I turned it into muffins instead of bread (and saved 40 minutes of baking time.)

The results of this experiment were fantastic.  Yummy!



Blueberries & Cream Muffins - adapted from this Food.com recipe

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups white whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
heaping 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
4 T. butter, softened
4 T. unsweetened applesauce
1/2 c. Turbinado raw sugar
1/4 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 cups fresh blueberries (or 1 1/ 4 cups fresh & chopped strawberries)

Preheat oven to 350.
Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl.
In a medium bowl, beat butter until creamy.
Add the applesauce and sugars and beat until well mixed.
Beat in the eggs.
Add the sour cream and vanilla and beat until well mixed.
Stir the wet mixture into the dry ingredients, just until moistened.
Fold in the blueberries.
Pour into greased muffin pan bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.  (If making this into bread, pour into greased 8x4 loaf pan and bake for 60 minutes).

Menu Plan: Week of 2/4/13

We did a pretty good job of sticking to the menu plan last week.  I wasn't feeling the greatest so there was one night when dear hubby picked up Chinese takeout on his way home instead of having me cook supper.  Otherwise, we did pretty well.

Here is what is planned for us this week:

(Homemade Chicken Nuggets)

Breakfasts:
Sour Cream Blueberry Muffins (recipe to come soon)
cereal and fruit
Eggs and toast

Lunches:
sandwiches, chips, fruit
Spaghettios (my son's FAVORITE and I allow it once a week), carrot sticks
Fish sticks, cottage cheese, orange slices
Homemade chicken nuggets (my plan is to make a huge batch of these to keep in the freezer), veggie chips, apple slices

Suppers:
Mexican Black Bean Quinoa (new recipe) for mom and dad; Classic Baked Mac and Cheese (new recipe) for the kids; carrot sticks and ranch  (I don't normally make something separate for the kids but my hubby has been on a quinoa kick lately and my kids won't touch it, so hence the mac and cheese.)

Cheddar Beef Enchiladas (from the freezer), chips and salsa, grapes

Homemade Tomato Soup (new recipe), ham and swiss melts, apple slices

Homemade Pizza, romaine salad with ranch, grapes

leftovers

This post is linked to I'm An Organizing Junkie - tons of organizing and menu planning resources!

Friday Randomness - My "Baby" is 16 months old today!

No more babies in this house.  We have a sweet and smart kindergartner, a rowdy and cute preschooler, and a very busy and active toddler.  My sweet little Kate is 16 months old today.  Running, talking, laughing, teasing.  She is so awesome.

Nearly every day, when her sister gets dressed to head out to the bus for kindergarten or when her brother is getting ready for preschool, Kate grabs her little Elmo backpack (a hand-me-down from big brother as he has since grown into a larger "big boy" Avengers backpack) and brings it to me or big sister to put it on her.  She then walks around the house with it on as is if she is going to school, too.

(Notice the lack of both socks.  She views socks as the enemy.  I'm surprised she had even one on in this picture.  Truly, socks are her number one foe.  Mittens come in a close second.)

Slow down, little girl.

Mama's not ready for you to go to school yet.

You are sweet, sassy, and somedays you are full of you-know-what...but that is what makes you YOU.

So take off the backpack, grab a sippy cup and a baby doll, and settle down for at least two more years at home with mama.

I love you, Katie-Bug.

So, you know it's cold outside when...

you are digging through the deep chest freezer in your garage and it actually feels warmer inside the freezer than outside.

I'm just sayin'.

(Update:  one day later, the actual temp outside is -13 degrees.)

Gratituesday: A Great Babysitter

Oh my, how life can change once you find a great babysitter.  Before we moved to the suburbs, we had no one close by to watch the kids so we could sneak out for a nice date night or so I could run some errands without the kids.  I didn't trust anybody.  I saw too many insane, sad stories on the news of crazy babysitters leaving the kids home alone, dealing drugs out the kids' house, etc.  No WAY was I going to EVER leave a "stranger" to watch my kids.

But once we moved to the suburbs, I met my friend's neighbor who babysat for my friend's two kids.  She was a high schooler, had her own car, and seemed really nice.  I decided I needed some sanity in my life.  I needed to take a leap of faith and trust that not every babysitter was going to leave a bag of meth on my coffee table while she hooked up with her boyfriend in the baby's nursery.

Fast forward a year and a half - our babysitter is now a senior in high school and is at our house at least twice a month, if not sometimes 1-2 times per week depending on what is going on.  She is so very dependable, reliable and responsible.  I completely trust her and she does a great job managing a 5-year-old who wants to play board games and Barbies, a 4-year-old who wants to play video games and have a Ninja sword fight, and a 1-year-old who wants to climb up on top of the fireplace and leap down head first.

I am now able to sneak out to Target by myself (which doesn't sound all that exciting, but when you can do so while leisurely sipping a Starbucks and NOT have to go up and down the toy aisles while holding a toddler's head so she doesn't suck on the sides of the cart...well, that's a big darn deal.).  My husband and I go on a date about once a month now, which is something we NEVER were able to do in St. Paul.

We are blessed to have a great babysitter who makes our lives a bit easier and a bit more fun for the kiddos.  Now...let's pray that she goes to a college very close by!

This post is linked to Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers.

Menu Plan - Week of 1/28/13

Back to menu planning!  I'm making sure I take some time out for myself from now on to sit down, sip a hot cup of coffee (we recently got a Keurig and loooooove it!), and make the menu plan for the week.     I haven't been doing this lately and it adds unnecessary stress, unnecessary takeout, unnecessary snacking, and unnecessary weight (yes, I'm still trying to work off those 5 additional holiday pounds!).

I bought tons of beautiful fruit at Costco this week.  We are blessed with a fridge overflowing with clementines, grapes, blackberries, strawberries, apples and blueberries.  Needless to say, there will be plenty of fresh fruit served with each meal!  I'm also looking forward to some warm wintertime comfort foods.  So, here's my plan for the week - and I'm excited to try a few new recipes for supper.

Breakfasts:
Overnight Cranberry Oatmeal in the slow cooker
Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Pancakes (leftovers from Sunday's big breakfast)
cereal and toast with blueberries
Pumpkin Waffles (a new family favorite - recipe to come soon!)

Lunches (for me, the 4-year-old and 1-year-old):
Tomato soup, grilled cheese, apple slices
Homemade chicken nuggets, cottage cheese, veggie chips
Spaghettios, veggie chips, clementines
Romaine salad, cottage cheese, carrots with ranch
Ham sandwiches, veggie chips, apple slices

Suppers:
One Pot Spaghetti (new recipe), garlic cheese bread, romaine salad, fresh fruit salad
Broccoli Cheese Potato Soup (new recipe), herb muffins (new recipe), fresh fruit
Slow Cooker Chili, (from the freezer), cheddar corn spoon bread (new recipe), fruit
leftovers

Extras and baking:
Blueberry Cream Bread (going to use up some of the Costco blueberries that got a bit soft)
Peanut Butter Granola


Please visit I'm an Organizing Junkie for more menu planning ideas!

Friday Favorite Finds 1/25/13

I'm linking up to Finding Joy in my Kitchen this week for Friday Favorite Finds.  Things have been busy and I haven't been menu planning like normal, which has created some unnecessary chaos around the dinner hour each night.  I'm looking forward to things slowing down a bit so I can plan our meals, snacks and treats a bit more.

Here are some yummy things I've found on the web and plan on making soon:

One Pot Spaghetti by Stacy Makes Cents - how yummy and EASY is this??

Slow Cooker Chocolate Mud Cake from Spoonful  - my daughter and I will be mixing this up tonight when she gets home from school and it should be ready in time for tonight's dessert!

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls by Laura at Heavenly Homemakers.  These are a little out of my comfort zone (rarely do I make anything bread-related that doesn't come out of a bread machine!) but these look delicious and I am going to try to make them early next week for a surprise breakfast.  

All of the above photos are courtesy of the original recipe source.

Check out Finding Joy in My Kitchen for more great (and healthy!) recipes!