Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Rise & Shine Coffee Oatmeal Muffins




Lately, my teenage daughter has been enjoying these muffins for breakfast and (frequent LOL) snacks throughout the day. We homeschool, so grazing during the day is happily welcomed. You might notice that the plate of coffee oatmeal muffins is short of a dozen...I had to take the photo fast, as the number was diminishing rapidly as soon as they came out of the oven!

We tinkered with this recipe several times and now find them to be just 'perfect'...healthy enough to feel good about eating, and tasty enough that we don't think we'll ever get tired of them!

Rise & Shine Coffee Oatmeal Muffins

3 heaping Tablespoons of instant coffee powder (we use decaf)
1 cup hot brewed coffee or hot water
1/4 cup dry powdered milk
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1/4 cup butter
2 eggs
2/3 cups sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vinegar
1/3 cup sourdough starter (can omit this if you don't have starter)
1 1/3 cups white flour
2/3 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cups oatmeal
1 cup chocolate chips

Dissolve the milk and coffee powders in hot coffee or hot water. Beat together the eggs, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, vinegar, yogurt, butter, oatmeal, and sourdough starter. Add the coffee mixture. Mix well, and mix in the flours and chocolate chips.

Fill paper cupcake liners in standard size muffin pan about 2/3 full. Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes. Makes about 20-22 muffins.

We have made these as peanut butter oatmeal muffins also, by exchanging peanut butter for the yogurt, and omitting the coffee and sourdough starter. Those were wonderful also, but not as addictively yummy as these : )

Progress on the Summer in the Country Blanket




I am really enjoying the "Summer in the Country" KAL (Knit ALong) from Firefly. It is fun to see the bands of seed stitch meandering over and under the cable pattern. As you can see by the photo, I am nearly finished with the second cone of cotton yarn, so there are about 1380 yards of yarn in this blanket already! I think it is going to take about 3 1/2 cones as it is only about 32 inches long so far. I used Peaches and Cream article 930 yarn in baby blue color. I'm SO sad to see Pisgah mills close down. Theirs is the softest, smoothest, strongest cotton I have ever worked with. Luckily, I bought nearly a ton of their yarn a couple of months ago ; )



There is still plenty of time to join this KAL if you are interested. Firefly's patterns are always easy to follow and turn out so lovely! I think I am going to make one more of these blankets for one of my sisters, probably in this same blue color as that is her favorite. I will alter the next one to omit one cable and one section of lattice work, though. Mine is about 68 inches wide, which would probably be heavier and just bigger than my sister would enjoy.

The pudgy gray cat in the photos is trying to chew on my KnitPicks Harmony needle tip! Rascal is her name. She certainly lives up to her name : )

Max Lucado answers life's toughest questions




Max on Life: Answers and Insights to Your Most Important Questions is Max Lucado's newest book. This book is different from any of the other Max Lucado books I have read. He has taken many topics that believers (and non-believers) have questions about, and written a devotional in question and answer style. The book makes it very conversational and non judgmental for the reader to acknowledge that they may have had those very questions, and not ever had anyone to ask or to discuss them with. Each question and answer are complete on one page, or not much beyond one page.

For the most part, I found his answers to mesh soundly with my own doctrine and thinking, so that I would recommend this book to friends and family. I would not, however, give the book to a teenager or younger as the answers he offers to questions on sex and marriage are quite graphic. He uses humor to great advantage in many of the answers, driving home some points as nothing else might do. His statement in answer to how to select the right mate, “If you are a child of God and you marry a child of the Devil, you’re going to have trouble with your Father-in-law.” is a perfect example, and one that is going to stay with me for a very long time.

There are well thought out and very helpful answers to many of the toughest questions, regarding death, finances, children who do not seem to serve the Lord, and every aspect of the 'cares of this world'. The topics are well indexed, making it very easy to use in situations of immediate need, such as comforting or counseling others. I highly recommend the book. I think those who look hard enough will find aspects that do not mesh with their theology in certain ways, such as evolution (he speaks of millions of years) and seeming to believe that it is inevitable that many marriages will end in divorce, but given the encompassing scope of topics covered and the carefulness to base answers on scripture, I do highly recommend the book to any adult reader. I am very happy to have this resource on my bookshelf!


Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 : "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising