Blueberry Muffins

I got a pretty good deal for blueberries at the store last week, so we've been eating lots of them the past few days. After a few days of blueberry buttermilk pancakes, the fam was getting a bit tired of them, so I decided to make some into muffins. You know, to change things up a bit. I'm daring like that.

Making muffins is super easy! Okay, not quite as easy as opening a box of Jiffy, but it's definitely easy. And it tastes way better. And you can actually tell there are blueberries in these muffins, and not just some weird, tiny blue dots that are supposedly blueberries.

STEP AWAY FROM THE JIFFY BOXES!!!!!

I got this recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. There are all kinds of variations to this basic recipe listed in here. You can do banana muffins, cheese muffins, cranberry muffins, oatmeal muffins, poppy seed muffins......just to give you a few ideas. ;)

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 beaten egg
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup cooking oil
3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Grease your muffin tins with butter or cooking spray, or line with baking cups. Set aside. In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center of the mixture. In another mixing bowl, combine egg, milk and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to the flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy and very thick).

Gently fold in blueberries.

Pour batter into muffin tins, filling each one about 2/3 of the way full (makes 10-12 muffins).

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool in muffin tin on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove from pan and serve. With honey butter is best.

Do you tend to use pre-measured box mixes, like Jiffy? Or are you a cook-it-from-scratch kind of person?

Strawberry Peach Smoothie

I don't know about in your neck of the woods, but in mine, it's bliseteringly hot already. As in, it's been over 100 degrees for a few weeks. Yesterday as dinner time was approaching, I couldn't bring myself to turn on the stove or the oven. I used my trusty electric griddle to make BLT's, and then I remembered a recipe page I'd just clipped from one of my magazines that was full of tons of smoothies. I thought it would be perfect, and it was! Really yummy, refreshing, and my kids all thought I was giving them dessert with their dinner! ;)

When I made it, I wanted something a little thicker, more shake-like, so I added some ice. But that part is totally optional.

Ingredients:
2 cups vanilla yogurt
2 cups fresh strawberries
2 cups fresh of frozen sliced peaches
2 tablespoons sugar
ice cubes, optional

Rinse and slice your strawberries.

Put all ingredients into the blender and pulse until thoroughly mixed. Garnish with whole strawberries (cut a slit in them and stick them on the side of the glass) or sliced.

What's your weather like??