Cinnamon muffin insanity

A while back I made a huge order from King Arthur flour.  In fact, it was just as we were embarking on the kitchen remodel.  Therefore, many of the things I purchased, I have yet to have the opportunity to use. 

Well, that is no longer the case for one item. 

One of the things I ordered was a bag of cinnamon baking chips.  I couldn’t wait to use these in a good batch of muffins.  But I had to wait because as soon as the kitchen was at least functional again, we had 8 am tee-ball games every Saturday morning.  Tee-ball games at 8 am are not conducive to muffin making.  Just sayin’.

Well, finally got my chance late in the season when my son’s tee-ball game was cancelled one Saturday morning due to rain the night before.  It was time to have a lazy Saturday and celebrate with some cinnamon muffins.

I had to hunt for a while before I found a recipe that I felt would be a good starting place at CooksCountry.com (where I have recently purchased a membership).  I told my man that I was toying with decreasing the amounts of cinnamon elsewhere since I was adding cinnamon chips.  I asked, “Would it be too much cinnamon?”

“Is that even possible?” was his response.

Right.

Some might say that it’s too much cinnamon, but in this house there is no such thing.

And I don’t mind telling ya.  These were goooo-ooood!

So here’s the recipe for some Insanely Cinnamon Muffins

 

 

Insanely Cinnamon Muffins

Adapted from: Cook’s Country “Coffeecake Muffins” (http://www.cookscountry.com)

Makes 12 muffins.

Be sure to use muffin-tin liners for this recipe or the cinnamon filling will stick to the pan.

Ingredients:

Streusel
8 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and chilled

Muffin batter
2 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into chunks and softened
½ cup cinnamon chips

You will also need:

Muffin “tin” liners
1 Muffin “tin”
Food processor
1 medium – large mixing bowl
1 medium mixing bowl
Whisk
Rubber/silicone spatula
Small & medium spring loaded scoops (if available)

Method:

For the streusel:
Pulse 5 tablespoons granulated sugar, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and butter in food processor until just combined. Place in a small bowl and set aside in the refrigerator while mixing the muffin batter.

Do not wash food processor.

For the muffins:
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease muffin tin with cooking spray and line with paper liners.

Whisk eggs, sour cream, and vanilla in a medium-sized bowl and set aside.

Pulse flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in food processor until thoroughly combined. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles wet sand then transfer to a large bowl.

Pour egg mixture over the flour mixture; using rubber spatula, gently fold it in a few times. Add cinnamon chips and continue to fold together until just combined. The resulting batter will be very thick. Using a small spring-loaded scoop, place 1 tablespoon of batter into each muffin cup and top with 1 tablespoon cinnamon filling. Using back of spoon (or fingers), press cinnamon filling lightly into batter, then top with remaining batter (using a heaping medium-sized spring loaded scoop). Sprinkle streusel topping evenly over batter.

Bake until muffins are light golden brown and toothpick inserted into center comes out with a few dry crumbs attached, 22 to 28 minutes. Cool muffins in tin for 30 minutes, then carefully transfer to rack to cool.

Serve.

(The muffins will keep in airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days but taste SO much better on the first day that it would surprise me if they make it past that.)

R2D2 Birthday Cake

We recently celebrated my son’s 6th birthday and if you didn’t know, he’s a little bit of a Star Wars fan.

 
Just a little.

So it only stands to reason that he would have a Star Wars birthday cake.

Well, it just so happens, that Mike was a bit of a Star Wars fan when he was a little guy as well and his mom thought he should have a Star Wars birthday cake, too.  And when she moved out of the house Mike grew up in several years ago, we came into possession of the “Empire Strikes Back” R2D2 character cake pan that she used some thirty years ago for Mike’s birthday cakes.

So now it was my turn to make an R2D2 cake for my son using that same pan.

 

 

This six year old was pretty happy!

I made a strawberry cake (from cookscountry.com) and used cream cheese icing (which is always a challenge to work with because of the relative ease with which it melts). 

Poor R2 (Artoo?).

Star Wars Pancake Mold Giveaway

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Happy Star Wars Day!

Did you even know such a thing existed?

I don’t know if you knew, but we’re pretty big Star Wars fans around here. In fact, one evening in the back yard, we were playing Star Wars (don’t ask) and I ended up in prison.

I said to Nathan, “I am part of the Imperial Senate on a diplomatic mission to Alderan.”

Without missing a beat, Nathan responded, “You are part of the Rebel Alliance and a spy. Take her away.”

Mike and I just laughed and laughed. It was priceless.

We also like pancakes.

So is it any wonder that we love these…

An older theater near us shows some classic movies periodically and we went to a showing of Return of the Jedi recently. They did a drawing for some prizes and Nathan won this set of pancake molds.

They make really cute pancakes.

We already had a set, so we wanted to give this set away to someone who would really want them.

So, in honor of Star Wars Day today, I’m giving this set of Star Wars pancake molds away here on the blog. The rules for this giveaway…

• Leave a comment on this blog post and tell me your favorite movie quote from any of the Star Wars movies. Include an email address where you can be contacted.


• Tweet about this giveaway and leave me a comment on this blog post including the link to the tweet for an extra chance to win.


• I will close comments at 10 pm Central time and will announce a winner some time tomorrow.

Good luck.

And “May the Fourth be with you.”

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Your dachshund might be spoiled if…

… she finds your clean sheets in a laundry basket to use for a bed and you just say, “Awww… aren’t you so cute.”

 

Frankie is fifteen years old.

She was recently diagnosed with congestive heart failure.

She is on a daily cocktail of medication to keep the fluid drained away from her heart and out of her lungs.

Even still, she doesn’t breathe very well.

We’re pretty sure her heart pumps blood in equal amounts in both directions.

And she’s deaf as a post.

So… I’m sure you’ll understand when I am a little more indulgent than usual.

Boy-howdy, is she spoiled rotten.

Kitchen face-lift {part fourteen} – Tick tock

All the contractors are gone and all that is left is the finish-out that we have to do. Things like:

Paint on the walls

Backsplash

Install appliances

Additional lighting

Trim

This may not look like a lot, but considering all the individual items under each of those five main points, the list is long. However, it saves us a ton of money to do it ourselves.

Do you ever watch any makeover shows? Like What Not To Wear or Extreme Makeover? Well, let’s just consider this that seemingly ever-so-long commercial break before the big reveal.

All the stuff Mike and I are doing ourselves will be at night and on the weekends so it might take a while and I won’t have a lot of time to post updates. But as soon as I feel like it’s pretty much finished, you’ll be the first to know.

Or maybe my neighbors will be as I squeal for joy.

In the meantime, I hope to start cooking again as soon as the appliances are installed. I have no idea what will be first. But I do know that all four of us are so ready to have our kitchen functioning again.
Until then…

**** Cue “Jeopardy” music ****

You can view a list of all my kitchen updates here.

Kitchen face-lift {part thirteen} – A series of unfortunate events

When we last spoke about the cabinets, we were waiting for them to be stained and finished.  Well, now they have been finished.  But there is quite the story.

Plan A:  The first guy that was supposed to stain and finish the cabinets…. how do I say this?… well, he left the country.  That’s about all we know. 

Plan B:  The sub-contractor we were going to use to do the drywall tape & bed and texture agreed to stain the cabinets and finish them.  Well, first he was delayed because of an unfortunate incident involving him being pulled over and having an outstanding warrant for a previous ticket that he thought was taken care of.  That set him back a couple of days and caused a scheduling crunch with some other jobs he had that were set to start. 

He was going to do all the wall texture first then the cabinets and was going to work through the weekend to get it all done.  In the midst of that weekend, however, he had a family emergency that set us back another day.  He finally finished the wall texture and when we were able to look at it the next morning, there were so many things that needed to be fixed that we called the general contractor out to take a look before he started on the cabinets.  I wasn’t there, but apparently the general and the sub got into quite the heated discussion (so much so that Mike left the room) and the sub walked off the job. 

On to…

Plan C:  Our general contractor was on top of the situation and brought in another sub that afternoon to take a look at what we had, what needed to be fixed and try to get us on his schedule.  A couple of days later they started work and were done with the drywall work (thankfully) before my daughter’s birthday slumber party.

The next Monday, they came in to do the cabinets.  We were pretty much gone most of the day to work and school but once Mike got home with the kids after school and smelled the fumes from the polyurethane he began to wonder if the house would be inhabitable that night.  I was with my son at t-ball practice (about 5:30 pm) when Mike called and said we definitely needed to find a hotel. 

SO that day, we had work/school, daughter’s softball practice at 4, son’s t-ball practice at 5, Mike & daughter had Bible study that night in which Mike was leading the large group for the kids AND we had to pack up stuff and dogs and find a place to sleep.  And everything was going to plan.  Except that as I was at the hotel getting Nathan ready for bed before we went and picked up Sarah at Bible study, I pulled back the sheets on the bed and saw…. a bug. 

Mike convinced me later that it was not a bed bug, but it was a bug in the bed nonetheless.  So we had to go back home, and get our own air mattress for the kids and sheets for the bed and the kids didn’t get to bed that night until probably after 10 pm. 

On a school night.

Sigh.

We didn’t even try to get to school on time the next day. 

The point is that finally, after 2 weeks with my kitchen encased in plastic and a house covered in dust, the cabinets were stained and finished. It was worth it, because this was the result.  They look great. 

And there is another little surprise with the cabinets that you’ll have to wait until later to see.

Oh the suspense… right? :)

So, lessons learned from the staining of the cabinets and our series of unfortunate events experience:

A)  Don’t plan on sleeping in your house after the cabinets have been stained.  Plan ahead and make other sleeping arrangements ahead of time.

B) Either remove everything from your refrigerator or plan on tossing out most everything after all is said and done.  Any open food will have a faint to strong polyurethane flavor to it.

C) Just go with the flow when you end up on Plan C (or D or E) for your remodeling project.  Because it’s bound to happen.  Remember:  It’s better to have it done right than done right now.

You can view a list of all my kitchen updates here.

Kitchen face-lift {part twelve} – Stone and arches

I’ve talked a lot so far in terms of the design elements being supporting actors and not the star of the show.

Well, today I’d like to introduce you to the star of the show.  Or at least part of the star.

We had a stone arch installed above where the new range will eventually go.  This arch mirrors the two arches that lead from our entryway into the living room.

The range and arch  with stone tile backsplash will hopefully be a great focal point for the room  and, in my mind, are the stars of the show. 

We’ll see how it works out when it’s all said and done.

You can view a list of all my kitchen updates here.

Disney on Ice – Toy Story 3

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Out of all the Disney/Pixar films, Toy Story is, by far, my favorite. I can still get sucked into watching any of the three movies at any time. The characters are so wonderfully written and the story so engaging.

And what mother couldn’t relate to the third of the movies on some level? I heard of so many mothers of college or near college age that were so touched by the ending and the whole premise of Andy going away to college. Personally, my favorite and most touching scene was when Andy was talking about each toy to the little girl that would be their new owner and telling what he loved about each of them. It reminds me so much of how personally God loves each of us.

But now I’m straying from the topic at hand.

The point of all this is that Disney on Ice is bringing Toy Story 3 to the American Airlines Center in Dallas, March 30th through April 3rd.

It includes memorable moments from Toy Story and Toy Story 2 to create the ultimate Toy Story experience. It is a high-energy, jam-packed adventure that will take audiences to the edge of their seats and beyond.

I have been given a family pack of 4 tickets to give away for the March 30th performance. So if you’d like a chance to win these tickets, here are the rules:

• Leave a comment on this blog post telling me your favorite scene or character from any of the 3 Toy Story movies. (Please include an email address so that I may communicate with you if you are the winner.)
• For an extra chance to win, leave another comment on this blog post and include a link to a Facebook or Twitter post about this giveaway.

The giveaway will end on Tuesday, March 22, 2011 at midnight. I will select the winner at random and will announce the winner on Wednesday, March 23, 2011 via an email to the winner.

Never fear, if you don’t win the family four pack of tickets, tickets are available for purchase. I should be receiving information about any discounts on tickets soon and will share those details on my Facebook page and on Twitter.

*Thanks to Feld Entertainment for my family’s tickets and the tickets to giveaway for this event. We are super excited about it!

Kitchen face-lift {part eleven} – Counter tops

There were already granite counter tops in this kitchen before we started our little remodel.  In fact, we thought we were going to keep them.  But it wasn’t a color that I was particularly fond of and would not have picked it out if given the choice.  So once the decision was made to get new counters, a whole world of possibilities opened up to us. 

We knew we still wanted the natural stone of granite rather than the engineered “Silestone” type products.  So that narrowed the field a little.  And we had put Baltic Brown granite in our previous house and liked it, so we knew that was a possibility and that it would likely be our choice this time as well.

But then, we went to the granite showroom and saw so many beautiful pieces of granite.  Just beautiful.

You know, all it takes is a walk through a granite showroom for you to see the incredible creativity of God.  Only the Lord could put some of those colors and patterns together and have them look as beautiful as they did.  It’s amazing.

So we went in to the granite showroom with a pretty good idea  of what we would pick and came out asking for quotes on several different pieces.  One in particular, called Volcano Satin, was a beautiful piece with the huge vein of color running through it and a wonderful textured finish.  It was incredible.  And expensive.

In the end, cooler heads prevailed and we went with our original choice of Baltic Brown.  Not only because of the more reasonable price tag, but because the way our counter tops were, we felt like we wouldn’t have a sufficient large area to showcase the beauty of the Volcano granite.  And, like the floors we had to recognize that the counter top was not the showpiece of the room. 

The floor and counter tops are supporting actors in our kitchen, not the star.

The counter top now provides a raised bar area that we did not have before and we are all really excited about that.

I walked in to the kitchen to take a picture for this blog post and almost cleared everything off of the counter tops.  But it made me so happy to see the room look inhabited again, that I left everything just as it was.  Chicken Express cup of tea and all.

*happy sigh*

Monster Jam? Yes!

There are some places that I would have never seen myself going or even wanting to go about 6 years ago.  And in case you don’t understand the significance of 6 years ago, that may have something to do with when my son was born.

Yes, there are many things I never expected to want to do before that little man came into my life.  One of those things is a monster truck rally.

And yet, I am finding myself a little excited about the prospect of taking this little man who loves to run his monster trucks into one another to the Cowboys’ Stadium this Saturday for Monster Jam.

 

Here is some information that I did not know and thought you might find interesting:

Approximately 12 feet tall and about 12 feet wide, monster trucks are custom-designed machines that sit atop 66-inch-tall tires and weigh a minimum of 10,000 pounds. Built for short, high-powered bursts of speed, monster trucks generate 1,500 to 2,000 horsepower and are capable of speeds of up to 100 miles per hour. Monster trucks can fly up to125 to 130 feet (a distance greater than 14 cars side by side) and up to 35 feet in the air.

Monster Jam, sanctioned by the United States Hot Rod Association®, is the most popular monster truck tour, performing to over 4 million fans annually at the most prestigious arenas and stadiums throughout the world. Monster Jam® shows consist of three main fan-favorite elements – the pit party, racing and freestyle. The pit party gives all fans a chance to meet the stars of Monster Jam up-close while taking pictures and getting autographs.

The MetroPCS Party in the Pits on Saturday, February 26 from 2:30PM to 5:30PM give fans the opportunity to get a view of the trucks up close and meet the drivers of the massive monster trucks.

Here are some details about Monster Jam tickets.

• Kids' SEATS are half-price.  Did you get that? HALF PRICE!
• There are several discount offers. Visit  http://www.monsterjam.com/Tickets/2011/02/26/Arlington,_TX/ for more information.
• The Pit Party is free when patrons pick up a Pit Pass from Metro PCS locations....participating locations can be found at the weblink above (where the discounts are).  Patrons can only get into the Pit Party with a valid event ticket and a Pit Pass....the Pit Party is inside the stadium on the track.

I have also been informed that monster truck superstar Tom Meents and his  truck Maximum Destruction will be at Metro PCS (at Wal-Mart shopping center), 1714 Precinct Line, Suite 500, Hurst, TX 76054.  He will be there Friday, February 25 from 2-6PM. It’s a great opportunity for families to be able to meet the drivers, get autographs and get photos.  The event is free and open to the public! Tom will be competing in the Monster Jam on Saturday, February 26, 7PM.  This is the first time he has competed in Dallas/Fort Worth.

Now I get to give away a couple of goodies.  I hate that I don’t have tickets to give away this time, but I do have some fun things for that monster truck fan in your life.

I have one adult Monster Jam ball cap and one Monster Mutt puffy monster truck plush toy to give away this week.

So here are the details on the giveaway.  Leave a comment on this blog post and tell me if you have ever been to a Monster Jam before and if so, one thing I need to be prepared for.

For an additional chance to win, come and find me at the event on Friday at the Hurst Metro PCS store.  Hand me a piece of paper with your name and email address on it and I can add it to the drawing.  I will be at the event at the Metro PCS between 4:30 – 5:30 pm. 

I will close the comments and choose a winner on Friday night the 25th after 6 pm.

Good luck and I hope to meet some of you on Friday.  And I hope you can come to Monster Jam on Saturday.  I can’t wait to see my little man’s face when we tell him where we are going.

 

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