Blueberry Streusel Muffins

Growing up we made a lot of boxed blueberry muffins.  You may know them.  They look a little like this:

I was a pretty big fan of eating the streusel right out of the little pre-packaged bag it came in.  So gross and so good at the same time.

 

It wasn't until after college that I realized how easy it was to make fresh, non processed blueberry muffins.  Great little weekend breakfast.  Enjoy!

 

Blueberry Streusel Muffins

 

Blueberry Muffins

3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 large egg

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup fresh blueberries (take the time and spend the extra money for fresh and not canned.  It makes a difference)

 

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Grease bottoms of 12 medium muffin cups with shortening.  You can use paper cups as well, but if you're going to go for it, go for it and use shortening.

2. Make Streusel Topping and set aside.

3. Beat milk, oil and egg in a large bowl with a  whisk.  Stir in flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Mix until the batter is just moistened.  Fold in blueberries.  Use a 1/4 dry measuring cup to distribute batter evenly among muffin cups. 

4. Sprinkle each muffin with about 1 1/2 tablespoons of streusel and press streusel down into the muffin so it doesn't fall off while baking.

5. Bake 20-25 mintes or until golden brown.   Let stand in pan for 5-10 minutes and then place on a cooling rack.

 

Streusel Topping

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/3up packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

3 tablespoons firm butter

 

 

14 Days of Love: Days 12-14

Sorry for the delay.  Momma was a little busy double shifting it at work with Parent/Teacher Conferences.  Now that I have a moment to breathe, I can fill you in on days 12-14.

 

Day 12:

I would say that pretty much sums it up, right?  Enough said.

 

Day 13:

I wrote Grant a note to help him if say, he felt the need to do a little sum-sumin' for his wife.  It included all my sizes and my favorite places to go for "me time".

I felt like he pretty much got the message because on one of our VERY LONG conference days, these arrived...

 I know.  Pretty fab.

 

Day 14:

Finally, it was time for the big day.  Love Day.  Valentine's Day.

About a month ago, we decided we would plan a dinner with friends or to quote Grant, "The romantic stuff is overdone, let's just go have fun with our friends".  He's such a romantic folks.  I sure know how to pick 'em.  But really, I have to agree.  I am so lucky that I have such a wonderful group of girlfriends and it just so happens that all our husbands enjoy hanging out too.  Perfection.

 

Before we could go on our big night out, I gave these to the hubs.  He's a whisky coinsure and has been asking for highball glasses for quite some time.  When we went out for our anniversary we popped in Pottery Barn and he pretty much fell in love with these so I bought them as a surprise.  They are pretty fabulous. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a couple Instagrams from our night out with our besites-

 

 



14 Days of Love: Day 11

Step 1: Cut a hole in the box.  Just kidding.  Email your husband's husband buddies and coordinate a guy's night out.
Step 2: Let them pick the place.
Step 3: Call that place and pre-order and pay for some appetizers for the boys.  In this case, jalapeno poppers, potato skins, chicken fingers and nachos.  You know, dude food.  Also tell them your husband and his dude friends will be there to eat, drink and be merry and to please reserve a table close to a tv for ESPN watching.
Step 4: Leave a note for your husband.
Step 5: Award yourself wife of the year.  A surprise night with his buddies?  Priceless.

14 Days of Love: Day 10

Dark Chocolate Dipped Pretzels

 

Here's my {little ghetto} step-by-step guide to dark chocolate dipped pretzels.

 

Let me start by saying there are many ways to melt chocolate.  First, I start with a bag Nestle Toll House Dark Chocolate Morsels covered in a little bit of vegetable oil to keep it creamy.  Here's where we get a little ghettofied.  I don't microwave the chocolate to melt it.  Don't even use a double boiler.  Nope, I boil a small saucepan of water and then put a glass bowl on top.  I find that this gives you the least amount of scorching possibility and most everyone has both of these things in their kitchen.

Once your chocolate is melted you can either remove it from the saucepan or turn your heat to low to keep your chocolate from cooling while you work.  If you remove it from the heat, you can always put it back on.  Easy peasy.

 Dip your pretzels half way in.

 

Place them on a piece of waxed or parchment paper, shimmy shake some sprinkles on and let cool. 

 

 Jar them.  Bag them.  Try not to inhale them. 

 



14 Days of Love: Day 9

I found that this little lady is a little tired of crafting and baking on Day 9, so I did what any rational gal would do and went to Panera for a box of muffins for breakfast.  Those babies went fast and there was only one Cobblestone Muffin left when it was time to take the pics.  Thanks for the assist Panera.



14 Days of Love: Day 8 Part II

As recently stated on Day 7 and 1/2 of 8, I promised hubs a date night at his fave place.  That place would be the one, the only, Hereford House.  He's a sucker for the Steak Soup.  I'm a sucker for the rustic atmosphere as I am basically vegetarian.  Of course I only took pictures of my meal {that would be the sweet potatoes and asparagus} and Grant's baked potato because I am finding the more I bring my camera around the more I look like a crazy tourist or foodie.  I try to snap quickly and put the ole Canon back in my purse asap.


Happy Camper

 

 

14 Days of Love: Day 7 and 1/2 of Day 8

I think that says it all, doesn't it?

On Day 7 we took a snowy little trip to one of our absolute favorite places.  There really is no place like Lawrence, Kansas.  I once saw a shirt that said, "I Think Heaven is a lot like Lawrence" and I could not agree more.  I love all the little shops, cool restaurants and let's face it, JAYHAWKS! 

Grant's favorite bar is Jefferson's so after a little shopping we stopped in for their famous {and most delicious} fried pickles, wings for the big guy and a veggie burger for me.  I know what you're thinking and yes, they're delish.

 

 

 They light up Mass in the winter and it is quite the pretty little sight!

 

 Aaaaaaaaaaahh!  Can you hear the angels singing?

 After dinner we stopped at Hot Box Cookies.  They are open until 1:00AM and they are called Hot Box Cookies so you go ahead and put two and two together on that one.  I highly recommend the Reeses Peanut Butter Cookie.

 

 And we couldn't leave without paying homage to Mr. Naismith.

The morning of Day 8 brought two, yes TWO acts of love.

Part I

{Stay Tuned}

 

Part II

Baked Red Velvet Donuts

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cupsred velvet Cake mix
• 1/2cupbuttermilk + 2 tbsps (i made my own buttermilk)
• 2tbspsmelted butter
• For the Cream Cheese Glaze
• 4ozcream cheese softened, I used low fat
• 2tbspbutter softened
• 1/4-1/2cupmilk pour 1/4 first
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Servings: donuts

Instructions

1. Preheat Oven to 425 degrees. Beat all of your ingredients in a small bowl until combined – I used beaters and it was thick.
2. Lightly spray your donut pans with cooking spray Spoon in the batter into the donut pan or use a zipock bag to squeeze the batter more neatly.. Only fill about ⅔ the way up.
3. Bake for 5-8 minutes. I could smell them early on, so watch them. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Decorate as needed with cream cheese glaze and sprinkles if desired.

Glaze

1. Mix all ingredients together. Dip each donut into the glaze and allow to harden.

Read more at http://www.stayingclosetohome.com/valentines-day-treats-baked-red-velvet-donuts-cream-cheese-glaze.html#RRO2CBuLx0YrJvz5.99

2 1/2 cupsred velvet Cake mix

1/2cupbuttermilk + 2 tbsps (i made my own buttermilk)

2tbspsmelted butter

Read more at http://www.stayingclosetohome.com/valentines-day-treats-baked-red-velvet-donuts-cream-cheese-glaze.html#RRO2CBuLx0YrJvz5.99

Makes 6

 

Donut Batter:

 1 1/2 cups Red Velvet Cake Mix

1/4 + 1 tablespoon of Milk

2 tablespoons of Butter

1 egg {note: this is not pictured.  I decided to add this half way through}

 

Frosting:

2 oz. Softened Cream Cheese

1 tablespoon Softened Butter

1 tablespoon of Vanilla

{note: If you would like your frosting to be more like a glaze, you may add 1/4 cup of milk and dip your donuts in.  I chose to spread my frosting}

 

Preheat Oven to 425 degrees. Beat all of your ingredients in a small bowl until combined – I used beaters and it was thick.
Read more at http://www.stayingclosetohome.com/valentines-day-treats-baked-red-velvet-donuts-cream-cheese-glaze.html#RRO2CBuLx0YrJvz5.99

Preheat oven 425 degrees.

Combine donut batter in a bowl.

Spoon batter into a lightly greased donut pan.

Bake 8-10 minutes.

While donuts are baking, combine frosting ingredients.

Flip onto a cooling rack and allow to cool slightly. 

Spread frosting over the top.

Add sprinkles for a little crunch.

Try to just eat one or two.

 

 

 



14 Days of Love: Day 6

 
 
It's Strawberry Milkshake Day!  I have been searching and searching for a great milkshake/soda fountain glass for a while now and wouldn't you know it, when I stopped in at Crate and Barrel to check out their stock, they had four, yes four, left.  Destiny.  I picked those puppies up along with some striped paper straws and viola!  The perfect setup for a Day 6 surprise!

 
 

 Strawberry Milkshakes

(Makes 4)

 

3 cups frozen strawberries

2 cups milk (if you want to really go for it, use whole milk, get it girl...)

2 cups strawberry ice cream

2 cups vanilla ice cream

1 tablespoon vanilla

 

Directions:

Throw everything in your blender where the softest ingredients are on the bottom and hit the liquefy button.  I just blew your mind, huh?

 

Note: Make sure you put your liquids and soft ingredients in first or you'll be jamming a wooden spoon into your mixer for 5 minutes trying to get everything to turn milkshakey.

 

And really what milkshake would be complete without whipped cream?  I'm a big believer in making my own so all you need to do is put some heavy whipping cream in a bowl and whip it up with a hand or stand mixer.  If you don't have either and need a good forearm workout, you can always use a wire whisk.  I myself find any excuse to use my Kitchenaid, even if that means putting a tiny amount of cream in the bowl.  I plan on being buried with that beautiful thing so I try to show it how much I appreciate it as often as I can. 

Be careful not to over mix your cream. Keep an eye on it.  Once it starts to stiffen up, it will only be a few seconds before it's ready.