Blueberry Muffins

I absolutely adore  blueberry muffins made with tiny little blueberries!
My husband's parents go pick these itty-bitty little blueberries by their house and every time we visit we get to take about a gallon of them home.  They are frozen of course, but I really can't imagine picking the dozens of gallons they must pick every summer.  However, these little treasures are perfect for baking!

Since we just went and visited them last weekend, I am back on the baking band-wagon.  We will be having fresh blueberry muffins for breakfast over the next few days!  In fact, I may make a triple batch because I need to bring "snack" to class in two weeks and these little babies freeze just fine.  I enjoy making these muffins because they are so easy!  The batter is also just a dream.  The first time I made them, I thought, wow, this is really thick batter, but now I know that is just how the recipe is! 

I found the original (terrific) recipe on a blog several years back, unfortunately, the blog is no longer around, but I did copy down the recipe at one point.  There are two changes I routinely make to this recipe:
  * I skip the crumbly sugar topping (unless it's a really special occasion) in an effort to be more healthy.
  * I almost always use whole wheat flour in place of half the white flour. 
     The muffins are a little more dense and a lot darker, but no one has every complained.

Blueberry Muffins
1 1/2 c. flour (I use 3/4 each white and wheat)
3/4 c. white sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1 egg
apx. 1/3 c. milk
1 c. blueberries (I use frozen)

Topping
1/3 c. flour
1/4 c. butter
1/2 c. sugar
(I find that if I am making smaller muffins, I sometimes run out of topping so you may want to increase this if you want generous amounts of crunchy topping.)

Blend topping ingredients together until it forms pea sized crumbles.  I find a pastery knife works well.

Directions
Heat oven to 400 degrees.
Combine all dry ingredients.  In a liquid measuring cup measure the oil, add the egg, then fill with milk to the 1 cup mark.  Stir into dry ingredients.  Do not over mix.  Add blueberries and fold in carefully.
Distribute batter into baking cups, adding topping if desired, and cook until golden brown, about 25 minutes.

Enjoy!

Delicious Breakfast

Our morning routine is the same just about every day.  As I've mentioned, my husband cooks breakfast on the weekend because I cook all week.  Despite the morning rush, he only has about 50 minutes to get out the door (I have about an hour and a half), he sits down and eats with me every morning.

We get up around 5:30 and by 5:45 he heads out to walk the dog, a lovely job that I am so glad I don't need to take care of in the morning.  While he is walking her, I start the coffee and prepare whatever I am making that day.  If I am really on top of things, the coffee pot is ready for me to simply hit on.  I was very glad when I got up this morning that I already had it ready to go.

Sunday night I cut up some ham and onions and took the green peppers out of the freezer to minimize the Monday morning work.  Today I turned those chopped yummies into a wonderful omelet served with cinnamon toast and peaches.  We had coffee to drink, I am pretty sure I couldn't function in the morning without my homemade mocha (coffee, milk, and a small scoop of cocoa mix).

Sounds gourment you say?  The five minutes I spent prepping this on Sunday allowed me to made this whole meal in less than 15 minutes.  To be exact, it took 13 minutes to get in on the table.  My husband got home about ten minutes into this process and started taking plates to the table.

I use to think that getting up and preparing breakfast was for the birds.  Now that I see how nice it is to sit down and commiserate about our early rising time together while we try to start moving in the morning.  I am also encouraged to continue doing this because I know my husband appreciates it.