Recipe: Blackberry Muffins

I got this recipe off the Internet years ago.  I don't remember where I got it, but I've altered it significantly with the use of healthier ingredients than originally called for.  Although we've tried many other types of muffins since then, these are still our family favorite.

This isn't the best picture, and they probably aren't the world's prettiest muffin anyway.  But they are tasty. 


Blackberry Muffins

Oven Temp: 400 F
Prep. Time: 15 min.
Yield: 12 muffins
Cook Time: 20 - 25 min.

Ingredients:

• 1 egg   
• 1/2 C. milk 
• 1/4 C. oil (olive or coconut) or butter
• 1/2 t. salt
• 2 t. baking powder
• 1/2 C. sugar (or a little less) or healthier sub. (we use at least part Sucanat or Rapadura often, have used honey at times)
• 1½ C. whole wheat flour
• 1 C. blackberries, fresh or frozen (I usually use a bit more than called for, and frozen)

Instructions:
1.   Beat egg in bowl.
2.   Stir in milk and oil.
3.   Add dry ingredients slowly until just combined -- don't over-mix.
4.   Gently stir in blackberries.
5.   Spoon batter into muffin cups or greased muffin tin.
6.   Bake 20-25 min at 400 F or until test done.

Note:  The original info says it makes 12 muffins, but to make that many they would have to be smaller than we usually make them.  It's been a long time since we made just a single batch of these, but I recently made six times the recipe, and it yielded 55 muffins -- a little more than 9 muffins per batch. We didn't eat them all at one sitting. ;-) 
I also often reduce the heat to as low as 350, because supposedly it's better healthwise, but I'm not strict about that.  I don't know that it makes much difference in how they turn out taste-wise, but of course they will take a bit longer to cook.


Follow this link for more of my recipes.

This post is linked to Real Food Wednesday, hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.  Check it out for more real food recipes and ideas.

Snacks and Appetizers We Like

The Four Moms are having a linky for snacks and appetizers for a crowd.  Since many people would probably consider our family of eight a small crowd, I'm listing snacks we've used at various times, some for larger crowds, but many for just us.
These are many of the snacks and appetizers we like.  We also love using fairly healthy snacky stuff as a fast and fun meal, especially for a quick lunch, or when Daddy's out of town.

• Yogurt dough crackers... or you can use the dough to make your own homemade "poptarts."  Yogurt dough can be used for many different things and is pretty easy to work with.  You can find a recipe for yogurt dough in the book Nourishing Traditions, but it's basically the same as the recipe at Heavenly Homemakers on the poptarts link above.
• Cheese and crackers (one of my children's favorites)
• Nuts (caution w/littles of course)
• Nut butter on bread or crackers
• Fruit
• Apples slices with peanut butter as dip
• "Concoction"=my husband's name for peanut butter and honey mixed together, a favorite snack of his, which the children also like.
• Celery w/peanut butter or cream cheese
• Hard-cooked eggs
• Granola or granola bars (preferably homemade but we do buy sometimes)
• Trail mix
• Popcorn
• Cheese quesadillas (or other kind, but cheese is usually quickest)
• Honey quesadillas, yummy sweet treat
• Bread w/butter or other spread
• Muffins -- our favorite are these blackberry muffins
• Scones
• Cookies :)
• Frozen peas
• Frozen blueberries
• Frozen grapes (careful of choking w/littles of course)
• Frozen bananas (half works well) on a stick 
• Yogurt or cottage cheese

• 

  Smoothies in the making

  Smoothies
• Homemade popsicles -- smoothies work well for making
• Banana, zucchini or other "quick" bread
• Raisins or other dried fruit
• Fruit leather
• Waffles or pancakes cooked ahead and either frozen or refrigerated, served cold or warmed up in toaster or toaster oven.
• Applesauce
• Custard -- my grandma always used to make this for us when we visited her house and I always thought of it as a sweet special treat, but it's really pretty good for you.
• Homemade "jello" made from unflavored gelatin (we use Knox) and juice is far healthier and just as easy as brand-name.
• Cheese Ball
• Spinach-Artichoke Dip -- I'll try to link the recipe we've used for this later.
• Bean Dip -- spread refried beans, mixed w/some spices and/or taco sauce, in the bottom of a casserole dish, then spread sour cream over them and top with shredded cheese, and olives or whatever else you want. 
• This Cream Cheese Salsa Dip, hugely popular and super-duper easy to make.  Thanks again to Laura at Heavenly Homemakers!
• We happened to try this Carribbean Quesadilla recipe this week, which John and I thought was pretty good, though we might change the ratio of the ingredients a little on a repeat.  The children didn't care for it, though, and said they'd rather try something w/chicken, bacon and cheddar another time (maybe Ranch dressing they wouldn't mind?)
• Cinnamon rolls can be snacks, right?  ha, I was just looking for another photo (I thought we had a photo or two of making the poptarts linked to above) and ended up finding ones I wasn't looking for instead, including this one of some cinnamon rolls the children made a while back.  Now I want some. :-P

Visit one or more of the 4 Moms to see more snack and appetizer ideas!

Dreaming of Books

I made a list of 20 books I'd love to read in 2012.  These are books I just *want* to read, not including multiple things, such as: the Bible, jotting down things from some I've already read into a commonplace book, or pre-reading and read-alouds for/with the children (although I plan to do all those things too). 

I'll be pretty pleased if I finish any 12 from this list -- a nice-sounding goal to go w/the year -- but even that will likely be difficult for me.  I am not a fast reader, these aren't light books for the most part, and with the other reading I do, this kind of reading has been greatly minimized of late.  Plus, I haven't even started a single one of them and January is cruising right along!  Realistically, this list probably represents multiple years' worth of reading for me, perhaps even if I read nothing else but these.  But I can always dream. :)

Here's my list, not necessarily in any kind of order.


20 Books I Want To Read in 2012:

1. The Path to Power.    I've read a good deal of this but never finished.  Caro is an excellent author and an interesting man.  One of my favorite people has me excited about this again, partly b/c Caro's long-anticipated next book is set to come out in May.
2. Means of Ascent.    See above, except for the part about having read part of it.  This is the second volume of Caro's biographical masterpiece, The Years of Lyndon Johnson.
3. Master of the Senate.     Volume 3. 
4. The Passage of Power.    Volume 4, set to come out in May.  This is going to be a lot of reading about LBJ for me to do in one year, and I'm not sure I'll really have the tolerance for it that closely spaced.  LBJ isn't my favorite character.  So we'll see.
5. The Underground History of American Education by Gatto.  I've been casually wanting to read this for years, and my desire has only grown in that time.  I read part of it online, and shortly afterward mentioned it to someone else, who went on to read it and recommend it back to me, haha. 
6. Anthem.    I want to read another book by Ayn Rand.  This one is relatively short, plus it's the only one on the Ambleside reading list (year 11), so I'm killing two birds w/one stone with it.  (I know, I said this list is aside from children's pre-read books, but the point is that I'm not reading them *solely* for a pre-read but b/c I *want* to read them, and if any happen to be on the AO lists somewhere that's just a bonus) 
7. Bio of Ayn Rand -- not sure which one yet.    I want to know more about her, about why she was so opposed to religion, for instance -- and she just seems interesting.
8. Here I Stand by Bainton.     A biography of Martin Luther.  I've been wanting to read this for some time also, to varying degrees.  Have read bits of it.
9. Education of a Wandering Man.    Recommended by a couple people, and it sounds interesting.
10. The Thread That Runs So True by Jesse Stuart.    Recommended by someone I respect, and again, sounds interesting. 
11. Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman.     I rather feel like I've read this already b/c my husband read and really enjoyed it, and shared extensive excerpts w/me as he read it.  Thus far, that's kept me from actually reading it myself, ha.  But I'm sure it's worth reading. 
12. Jane Eyre.     Highly recommended by more than one person, a classic, I've wanted to read for a while, and it's on the Ambleside list for year 10.
13. The Great Gatsby.      I was supposed to read this in high school and I think I mostly browsed it for content for my papers -- just didn't interest me at all at the time.  But I'd like to revisit it, and again it's on Ambleside (year 11).
14. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.     Another I've wanted to read for some time, also on Ambleside (year 10 again).
15. Know Your Fats by Mary Enig.     Been wanting to read this to help me understand nutrition better.
16. How to Read a Book.     This is on the Ambleside list also (years 7-10) and until I previewed an older version of it I was hoping it could perhaps help me read faster (I have an insane amount of prereading I'd like to do).  Alas, it appears that if anything its method may only slow me down, but it still looks like a worthwhile read and it interests me, so on the list it goes. 
17. Nutrition and Physical Degeneration.     Also about nutrition, Weston A. Price's classic work.
18. George Washington bio.        I'm not sure which one.  I'll probably have plenty of time to decide before I get to it, though.
19. John Adams by McCullough.      I've started this one too and just haven't finished it.  I decided there were some great quotes I wanted to write down, but didn't get to doing that, or to reading on in the book.  So I just need to pick it back up again.  I know I'll enjoy it.
20. Unbroken by  Laura Hillenbrand.     Recommended by a friend and it sounds interesting. 

Right now, I'm reading the Duggars' book A Love That Multiplies.  No, you didn't miss it, it's not on the list!  When I made the list I was still hoping against the odds that I'd be able to squeeze it into 2011 somehow.  Plus, at the time I wasn't sure it fit the list very well b/c I wasn't that excited about it.   I'm enjoying it now, so at the moment it may even fit better than a couple books I did include.  Funny how that happens -- or is it just me?  Anyway, I obviously didn't get it done in 2011, but now I don't want to revamp my list or make it 21 books long, ha.

  

Which one will I read first, when I'm finally ready?  As the year began I thought I might start with The Path to Power, but now I might want something that's a quicker read since it's taking me so long to even get started.  And my mood is different.  Maybe Jekyll and Hyde. ;)  We'll see.

What books do you hope to read in 2012?

Disclosure:  This post contains affiliate links. 

Top 11 in 2011

Happy New Year! 

This was fun last year, so I'm doing it again.  Here are The Mommy Earth top 11 posts most-visited in 2011 (this does not include the main page or the tab pages at the top of the site). 

1.  10 Big Reasons to Stay Home With Your Children
2.  Nature Study:  Wild Berries and More
3.  Book Review:  Wheel on the School
4.  The Nightmare Begins
5.  In Praise of Living Books
6.  Book Review:  Thomas Jefferson Education
7.  Recipe: Custard and Other Egg and/or Milk-Using Ideas
8.  Nature Study:  Praying Mantis Oothecae
9.  Nature Study:  Black Swallowtail Caterpillars and Butterflies
10.  What's In Our Atmosphere
11.  Time Management
 
As for the pages/tabs at the top, the most popular was the Large Families tab, which was interesting to me.  It was a new page last year, but is sorely in need of updating already.  I still enjoy the 4 Moms, when I get to reading them, and I've found other large family resources too that I'd like to add there eventually.  

There's a lot I'd like to do here, but I still have several higher priorities too (imagine that).  Even more than I did most of last year, since we were blessed with the birth of a son in September. :)  So 2012 will very likely be another year when the blog frequently gets neglected for long periods without notice.  But I'll enjoy doing what I get around to, and appreciate the patience of my readers.  I hope you all are having a wonderful year so far!

I'll leave you with a picture of baby Abraham taken on New Year's Eve, at almost 4 months old. 

He is such a precious blessing. :)

Memory Moments, December 20

Okay, I wrote the following yesterday and then didn't get it posted b/c I thought there was perhaps something else I was trying to remember to write down.  So of course it got postponed and I didn't get back to it.  Without more delay, then:

Sometimes I scribble down things to remember, or even type them up quickly into a document, but I'm terrible at keeping them in any kind of accessible order to look back on most of the time.  So this time I'm going to try quickly noting a few things here. 

• Peter was just showing me some of the tricks he can do w/the aid of the couch, skidding over the arm, etc.  As he looked up from one move, he looked so much like my brother Clint... sigh.  Clint was really hard on my parents' sectional -- used it learning to do flips! :)
• Liberty wanted to listen to some music yesterday.  She assumed the position she seems to think one needs to assume to listen to music at the stereo, which looks somewhat like above (that pic was taken in September), except that she usually holds the book upright.  It's really cute.  But the story I wanted to record... Someone had put on some classical music for her to listen to.  She sat there a little while patiently with her little book, but then chimed up in her sweet wee voice the disappointment, "This song will not talk!"  So we changed the music for her.  :)
• Then, a bit later, at the end of the song "Frère Jacques" she asked something like, "Why does de lady say dat, 'Ding, Ding, Dong?'"
• She also asks, "Can I have a shrink?" when she wants a drink.  Haha!  She's been doing that for some time -- just don't want to forget.
• She also says "ruff, ruhth" for the sound a dog makes lately.  You kinda have to hear it but it's super cute.
• Zion's things to be thankful for tonight included "that Mom can make cookies."  :)

May 2011 Part 7 -- Enjoying God's Creation

It's been some time since I posted anything about nature studies.  Of course there are always plenty of opportunities to enjoy and investigate God's creation informally, with or without photos.  But here are a couple things we saw in May that I did happen to get photos of.

Below is a cool-looking snail, found at my parents' place on Mother's Day.  I haven't discovered what kind it is.  Feel free to share if you know.  Likely it's the same kind pictured in a previous post, but this is a better photo of it).

And here is an ornate box turtle (Terrapene ornata ornata), also discovered at my parents' house, at the end of the month. 

I don't think he really cared for having his picture taken (or she, as the case may be...).

We tried to feed him watermelon rind, but he wanted none of it. 

He was determined to escape, eager to be on his way. 

 But he had important things to show the children about himself first.  I made this photo bigger so hopefully you can see how the shell is closed up.

I enjoyed taking photos of him, even if he did look a little grumpy.

Free at last! :)

Here is a site with more information on turtles of Missouri, if you're interested.

You can also see some of the other things from God's creation that we've looked at, linked under the Nature tab.

May 2011 Photos Part 6 -- Celebration and Swinging

At the end of May we celebrated two birthdays -- Liberty's and mine. We got to hang out with Grandpa and Grandma again.

Just look at that smile!  :)

The two candles are for little Miss Two, and the three are for me.  I'm really a little older than that. ;)

John sneakily took pictures of me pregnant.  I didn't eat the whole pie. ;)  I'm glad I'm not carrying a big baby in my belly anymore! 

Presents from Grandpa and Grandma... a doll with accessories!

Peter has taken a lot of interest in the piano lately.  It's only increased since May. 

She loooves babies.

Someone was a little sleepy.

Precious.

Not too sleepy to take a ride in the wagon.

Grandpa had also fixed up the old swinging place for the grandkids.  The weather was just beautiful, so we all gathered around while the children played.

Stick... one of the five best toys of all time.

The neighbors have sheep and goats.

In this photo Tirzah and Liberty were looking at a turtle the children found.

The swing was a lot of fun.  Sadly, the swing limb fell not long after we'd been there.  So there's no more tree swing at Grandpa and Grandma's, at least for now.  That tree swing had so many memories for me.

This relatively small loss is another tiny drop in a sea, the waves of which rise and fall and lap on the shores of my mind... reminding...  change is inevitable...  you can't cling to anything... home, the past, family... all passing away... there's no place like home... but this world isn't it...

"Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away" (Luke 21:33).