"I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or exciting happens but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string." Anne Shirley
These are the happy days I wish to celebrate, and I guess I will blog about them.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Blueberry Mufffins with Almond Crumble or My Bakery Best

Never have I made a muffin that was pretty enough to look at AND yummy enough to eat until now. I was on a quest for an easy and mostly good for you breakfast that Lylah can take in the car on our way to school. Because, lets face it, I cannot manage to keep myself in order for more than 2 days in a row. So as great as waking up early and getting dressed and making breakfast for my child (and self) sounds, it's just not gonna happen. But I can sometimes muster the energy to cook in the evenings. Such was the case on Tuesday. I made amazing blueberry muffins with almond crumble on top. Even though I am breaking my own "fruit rules," I ate one, and really enjoyed it.

Here's the recipe. BLUEBERRY MUFFINS WITH ALMOND CRUMBLE
Ingredients

1 1/2 C flour
1/2 C white sugar
1/2 t salt
2 t baking powder
1/4 veg oil
1 large egg
1/2 C milk
1 1/2 C frozen Blueberries

Crumble;
1/2 C sugar
1/3 flour
1/4 C melted butter
1 t Almond Extract (or a little more)

Preheat to 400 degrees F. Line muffin cups. Combine sugar and dry ingredients in a bowl. Combine wet ingredients and mix until combined. Pour the wet into the dry and mix until just combined. Fold in the thawed, rinsed, and drained blueberries. Scoop into muffin cups and fill until almost to the top. Batter will be very thick. Top the muffins with the crumble mixture. To make the crumble: Mix all ingredients with a fork and sprinkle on top of the muffins. Bake for about 21 min. (but my oven runs hot)
See! Yummy enough to eat.

Here is my sweet Lylah singing one of our favorite preschool songs. The words are: There were 3 little muffins in the bakery shop. (You know the kind with the honey and the nuts on the top) Along came a child with a penny to pay and eh bought a muffin and he ran away.....then there were no little muffins in the bakery shop....and he said What no muffins today!!!



Silly good times. P.S. She loves them so it was a success!!!

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Pig Pen's Chair gets a makeover

Well, one could assume that after 7 solid months, I was never going to post here again...but one would be wrong.

I have a simple Before and After to share.

Please know that I love my blog and I love to share
here, but life has been a little hairy in the past few months. A lot of good and sad things have happened in the life of our family. Maybe I will post about some of those things in the near future, but for today, I will post a Before and After to wet my crafty blog feet and then see how far I get this week.

Oh, the ideas and the fun I have in my churning little mind! Oh, the bloggy pl
ans I have concocted and the posts I have worked up in my brain! You might be surprised that only a couple have to do with anything remotely related to Chick-fil-A.

I digress....

Now the Before and After:


The before is Lylah's chair at the breakfast table. It is a very old
chair I was given when Glen an I got married. It's from my mom's old stash. I have covered it about 4 times since owning it. It now is Lylah's seat and, as you can see, she has wiped paint fingers (and countless food particles) all over the seat. GROSS right?! This is all despite wearing a paint smock and being a lover of the use of napkins. Anyway, the chair has seen better days so I knew we needed a more durable cover that would be very washable. And fun couldn't hurt either.


The after is the same chair covered in a fun pink polka dot oilcloth material. The top of the seat is a few different pieces of scrapbook paper and a magazine add for a fun fabric line all cut up and pieced into the look I wanted. I then ModPodged over the paper pieces to make sure it was all secure. No more messy fingers residue! I love the look because it is so fun. Of course Lylah likes it because it has enough pink for her princess heart.You may not be able to see the detail here because my picture quality is so poor, but the little birds are holding a little cherry between their beaks and sitting on top of cute cupcakes. The little birdies are from one of the papers I used to recover Lylah's name letters for her new big girl room redo. I can't wait to show you the fun things we are cooking up for the space.

Hope you liked the Before and After. Feels good to be back in the game!!

p.s. Do you like my sweet squirrels on the kitchen table? Glen picked them out and surprised me with them. I LOVE squirrels... and acorns... and fall-ish stuff...and....