Sweet Sunday July 19, 2010

Sunday always has that double-edged sword feel to it.  I try so hard not to spend Sunday thinking about all that lies ahead of me for the coming week.  I try to spend my week being sure that I am caught up, so that I don’t have to spend all day Sunday catching up – feeling as though I am losing a whole day of my weekend.  Cleaning bathrooms, dusting, grocery shopping, folding laundry – not my favorite ways to spend one of my two days per week off.

Today, my in-laws came over for lunch.  I wanted to enjoy the time that we had over the weekend and not feel as though we were running around like crazy trying to get our lives in order and trying to get everything ready for both the day AND the week ahead - I wanted it to be enjoyable, not stressful.  I found a quick and easy recipe to make for lunch, slow cooker pulled pork.  We made baked beans and my mother and father in law brought corn on the cob.  It was all pretty tasty, and took about 10 minutes to throw together on Sunday morning.

For dessert, I tried a new cake.  I found the recipe for Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cake and thought it sounded worth a try.  Well, everyone agreed that it was delicious – even Ross who is not a dessert lover (crazy man).  We served it with a scoop of coffee ice cream, and the flavors went together really well.  Some of the reviews mentioned adding cinnamon, which I intended to do but forgot.  It would be good, but isn’t necessary – it is super tasty just like this.  In fact, I think I am going to go get another piece right now…

Lemon Poppy Seed Poundcake Muffins February 28, 2009

Way back in the summertime, my Mom had a wonderful bridal shower for me in NY.  There were tons and tons of tasty treats at that shower, but one of my favorites was the poppy seed  muffins.  They were so dense and moist - and absolutely delicious.  I love muffins because they are pretty much a cupcake, but have a bit of a better reputation as far as the health stuff goes.  I am not sure that they always deserve it, but you can have a little less guilt for eating a muffin than you can for eating a cupcake!

 

I had my Mom send me the recipe for these muffins and in the busyness of the wedding season, the recipe got tossed to the side.  Just the other day when I was going through one of my piles of papers, I came across this recipe.  I decided to make it today and I’m so glad I did.  I am sending a care package to a friend, so I made a dozen mini muffins to include in that and then 6 regular sized muffins for us.  The house smells great, and while the muffins are still too hot to test, the smell (and ok, I’m guilty, the taste of the batter) lead me to believe that they are going to be just wonderful.

 

I did make a little change to the recipe.  They were originally just plain ol’ poppy seed muffins, but I decided to add a little zing and make them lemon poppyseed muffins.  Instead of a teaspoon of vanilla extract, I added about 3/4 teaspoon pure lemon extract and about 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract.  I also used vanilla yogurt instead of plain – just because I like it better.

 

Lemon Poppy Seed Poundcake Muffins

2 cups all purpose flour

3 teaspoons poppy seeds

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

2 eggs

1 cup plain (or vanilla) yogurt

1 teaspoon pur vanilla extract (or a combination of lemon and vanilla)

 

In a small bowl, stir together flour, poppy seeds, salt and baking soda.  IN large bowl, cream together sugar and butter.  Beat in eggs, one at a time.  Beat in yogurt and vanilla until well blended.  Stir in flour mixture until mostened throughly.  Spoon batter into greased muffin tins and bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool muffins on wire rack 5 minutes before serving.

Yield:  12 muffins