Blueberry Muffins made with Yogurt

I love, love, love blueberry muffins - but almost every recipe I see calls for a stick of butter or a cup of oil.  Now that I am over 40 and have to make an effort not to gain weight, I just can't bring myself to make those old recipes any more.

I did find this recipe that uses yogurt in place of almost all the fat.  It makes the texture a lot like pound cake AND it provides a couple grams of protein, which is always a plus in our house since we don't eat meat all that often.

I pretty much always double this recipe.  When I double it I end up with 18 regular (not super sized) muffins and 12 mini muffins for the kiddos.

For a single batch (12 muffins) you need:

2c Flour  
1/3 c Sugar
1 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Baking soda  
1/4 tsp Salt  
1/4 c Orange juice  
1 tbs Vegetable oil  
1 tsp Vanilla extract  
1 cup lowfat vanilla yogurt
1 Egg
1 c Fresh blueberries (or frozen ones that are defrosted - that's what I always use)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl.

Combine all the wet ingredients (NOT THE BLUEBERRIES) in a separate bowl

Make a well in dry ingredients, add wet and combine just until moistened (it will be a thick batter)

Gently fold in blueberries.

Pour into sprayed muffin tins.  Top with a little raw sugar if you want.

Bake for 18 minutes (for big ones) or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Remove for pan immediately and cool on wire rack.

Per Muffins Info:

Calories: 139

Fat: 1.8g

Protein: 3.5g

Carbs: 27.2g

Weekend Project

Painting the frog face 

  This weekend Doug decided to make a little Adirondack chair for the boys.  Of course, he'll have to make three so they don't fight over who gets to sit in it -- but this weekend was the first attempt.

The amazing thing is that he actually managed to get the entire thing done in one weekend!  This never would have happened a year ago, so maybe we'll survive after all :-)

AND, not only did he get it built, he got it painted.  I expected it to just get painted a solid color - but he decided to paint it like a green frog.

This was pretty fitting considering Reece's favorite 'snuggy' right now is a Melissa and Doug pull along big green (wooden) hoppy frog.  He insists on having it in his lap when he reads, in his bed when he naps, and he tries to gives it pacies.  If not very snuggable, it is very cute.  (OK, it's a bit weird, too - but cute.)

Highland Horse Farm

OK, so there are no pictures of horses to go with the title of today's post - but that's ok.  We were at Highland Horse Farm on Sunday and the boys got to putter around the farm free-range style.

We started with visiting the goats (Grayson was thrilled to pet them and feed them leaves) and several VERY large pigs.  (Gabe kept telling us to 'watch out for the poop!')  Then we went up to the top of the property where they got to pet bunnies, play on the pirate ship, and wander in the cow pasture and harass the cows. (and yes, Reece picked up a fresh new cow patty)

They also got farm tours on the Kabotas by two older kids - older being 7/8 years old.  This was probably the highlight of the day.  The boys were absolutely amazed that other "kids" were getting to drive these things around by themselves.  They took us all over the farm and told us about the different things to see/do. 

At one point, Grayson got behind the wheel and promptly told me "lets rock and roll!"  Apparently, this is what Patty says to them as they leave school in the afternoon.  We made a video to send to her:

Snakes and other fun stuff

The boys love to go look for the snakes that live up in the garden rock wall.  This weekend was a little dreary, but apparently it was just right for the snakes to come out.  They found one in the garden and one in the front flower bed.  And despite his fear of snakes, Doug caught them BOTH so the boys could look at them up close.  Now they know that the snake sticks out his tongue and that snake poop really, really stinks!

Gabe wanted to kiss the snake, but Doug convinced him this probable was not the best idea.  He did, however, like touching it and seeing how smooth it felt.  Grayson really liked the way its' tongue darted out - and Reece thought the whole thing was a riot.

I'm so glad our boys are growing up outside, enjoying nature and learning new things about the world around them everyday.  I think (hope) it is setting the stage for a life long love of learning.  It makes us odd man out amongst a lot of folks that our kids don't watch a lot of TV, play video games, or go to movies -- but I think this is really the way kids should grow up. 

Walk around the yard

Everything is blooming really early this year and it has kind of messed up our purposeful color combination and staggered bloom time plantings.  So right now lots of things are in full bloom - even though they shouldn't be for about 3 weeks!  It looks great right now - but is probably going to be pretty barren in a few weeks.  So I walked around and snapped a few pictures of things that were open.  It had rained over night and many still had droplets on them, which made them look pretty cool.

Now if I could just the web page to put them on the way I wanted to - I'd be all set.

Rainy Day

It has been raining most of the weekend and the kids are going absolutely stir crazy.  This, of course, leads to melt downs, tantrums, and general destruction of the house.  At one point the boys wanted to go outside and play so badly that we simply had to give in and let it happen - even though it was rainy and 48 degrees.  We warned them it would be cold, that they needed a jacket, and shoes. 

No luck.  Out they all bolted half dressed and full of energy.  This little outing lasted about 15 minutes before they all returned shivering and requesting dry clothes and warm snugs under a blanket.  But while they were out Doug snapped this picture of Reece - mowing the pavement - in the rain - in his jammies - barefoot.  Apparently, we are "that " kind of parents...

The Easter Egg Store

Today the boys decided to play "Easter Egg Store."  They worked together to get the wagon where they wanted it, then flipped it over.  Then Reece and Gabe retrieved the little chairs and brought them to wagon - where Gabe was selling and sharpening the eggs on the wheels.  (?? I don't know, this is what he kept telling me.)  When they ran out of eggs, they picked more.  Apparently, my kids have Easter eggs growing on our maple tree - because that is where they went to get them.

Sunday Morning

I'm still slowly introducing ideas from Play at Home Mom to my kiddos.  The glass beads were such a success that we moved on to the colored plastic tiles.  I don't have the chance to set up the cool invitations that PAHM does, but I kind of set it up on the fly.  We cleared the table off together and then I pulled out the bag of tiles, some white bowls, and some animals.  I just put it all out on the table and let them have their fun.  They were a little more 'prepared' for the free play this time.  They dumped them out, named the colors and shapes they saw.  Then the cool stuff started - all on their own they started holding them up and looking through them.  They were excited every time they did it - now you're green! now you're red! now you're blue! and so on.  Then they started holding up two at a time.  (yellow and blue - you look green!) Very cool to watch it unfold.
Grayson was the first to declare a plan.  He told me he was going to make a road.  He started lining up the tiles.  Then Gabe grabbed a dish, filled it and said he was feeding his lion.

Reece and I had some one on one time later where we worked with the pegged blocks.  He seemed to like to put them on randomly, but then pull them off and make sure the block matched the peg.  

Sunday Afternoon

Snack Time!

Sometimes all it takes to make them happy is popcorn :)

Let me poke you... (Sunday afternoon)

On the way home from the band concert on Sunday Grayson just could not stay awake.  He was completely out cold.  Reece took this opportunity to stick his finger in Grayson's mouth and then, when admonished, he resorted to giving him gentle "pat-pats".

I wish there was a way I could get a picture of the entire back seat.  Reece is in the middle wide awake and his two big brothers are completely zonked on either side of him. 

Sunday Morning - well, afternoon...

Getting ready to go outside.  Can you tell we have entered into the phase where Gabe wants to pick out his own clothes? 

Sunday Morning : Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins

This Sunday I decided to do a little baking (not like me) so we would have some quick easy snacks this week as we start planning to make that 10 hour drive to SC again.  After much internet searching, I had some ideas and some starting points.  I was trying to make these not too sweet and without a stick of butter - which apparently makes me the odd man out - because that seemed to be the theme of most of the recipes I found! 

It took three batches before I was completely happy with the results, but these are pretty darn good - and I don't feel guilty eating them. 

1 cup unbleached, all purpose flour
1 cup wholewheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp allspice
1 cup canned, solid pack pumpkin
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water / juice -- see instructions
2 large eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup dried cranberries
a juicy orange

Some raw sugar from sprinkling the tops.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners and give them a little spray of oil.

Put the dried cranberries in a small bowl and zest the orange into the bowl with them (I used a microplane to keep it really fine), then squeeze the juice of the orange over the cranberries. Let sit while you do everything else.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Put aside.

Mix together the pumpkin, sugar, eggs and oil until smooth.

Now back to the cranberries - drain the cranberries over a measuring cup and keep 1/4 c of the juice.  If you don't have 1/4 cup - just top it off with water.  Stir this liquid into the pumpkin liquid.  Any extra juice should be discarded.

Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and stir until the batter is just combined, then stir in the drained cranberries.
 
Spoon the batter into the paper liners, filling each one almost to the top. Sprinkle the top of each with some raw sugar and bake on the center rack of the oven for 20 – 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Set to cool on a wire rack.

This made 12 regular muffins and about 9 mini muffins.  My muffin tins are over 30 years old, so they are a bit smaller than the monster size muffins you get now - but I think if you had the newer/bigger size tins it would make a dozen.

Sunday Morning

This Sunday morning activity - Play Doh. 

I'm not sure why Gabe insists on making weird faces when-ever he sees a camera.  Not sure if this is a "boy thing", an "age thing," or maybe it's just a "Gabe thing.

This continues to be a hit in our house - even though I am a complete OCD Mommy when it comes to it and make them sit locked in their chairs!

Sunday Morning...

I totally stole this idea from one of my dear twin mommy friends.  What a great, simple idea.  The boys were getting a little antsy so I pulled the colander out of the pot draw (see previous post about my pot head children) and swiped a handful of pipe cleaners from the stash I have to clean sippie cup straws and the coffee machine's milk hose.

I showed them how to put both ends of the pipe cleaner in random holes and walked away.  This entertained them for about 20-30 minutes!  And added bonus, it really turned out to be a great OT type activity for Grayson.  He had to really concentrate on getting the ends of the pipe cleaner lined up and then in the tiny holes.

Sunday morning...

Some Sunday mornings are super busy, others pretty lazy. The kids were up early this morning and doing what they do -- that would be getting into everything, playing, laughing, running around, while stopping by every so often so crawl up in a lap for a hug or a big smile. I was cleaning up the kitchen after breakfast when I noticed it had gotten pretty quiet around the corner, so I tiptoed around the edge to see what was going on. (Quiet in a house with three boys is usually something to be concerned about, trust me.)

When I got to the living room I saw Gabe asleep in the chair on Doug - and Doug asleep, too. Grayson working all the latches on the coffee table. (No worries, Reece was accounted for - he was upstairs taking a nap.) So this was one of those GOOD quiet days. Well, at least the morning...the rest of the day remains to be seen!