Coffee break muffins

I'm at it again!

Matt ran to pick up our coffee -- we order it from a local shop that roasts it in the city and ships it out to us in the burbs -- while I made coffee break muffins from Dorie's Baking cookbook.

The whole kitchen smelled like a donut factory (very good thing) as these muffins baked. They used 1tablespoon of espresso powder and 1 cup of freshly brewed coffee (and I made it STRONG) and some cinnamon too.

They were good but eating them with a foamed cappuccino was a little too intense even for me.

Excellent with some of my aunts strawberry jam!

Recipe Here.

Lemon non-poppyseed muffins

I had been hankering to make something else out of my Dorie baking cookbook this weekend but didn't want to leave the house. The only thing I had (almost) all the ingredients for, and that I could bake with two kids playing on the kitchen floor, were Dorie's Lemon PoppySeed muffins.

I had no poppy seeds and I didn't have enough fresh lemon juice for the icing... So I used orange extract & water instead and created the kind of icing that you find yourself using your fingers to scrape up all the bits that had dropped below the cooling rack.

This recipe is the absolute most simple and yet most delicious of muffins I have made so far in her book. It's a sour cream recipe and mixes up only using 1 bowl and a measuring cup - so no real mess either. This is what you'll want to make when you have guests for breakfast.

Recipe Here.

Claire turned 9 months old!

My baby is 9 months already!

• She nurses 3-4x/day and 1-2x/night. And takes 3 full meals of solids.
• She takes 2 good naps a day - 9:30AM and 1:30PM for 1-2 hours each.
• Her nighttime sleeping is usually 7:30PM - 7:30AM with 3 wake ups! (11PM, 1AM, 5AM)
• She still hates to be on her belly but can plateau on all fours. She even started rocking back and forth but no crawling yet.
• When she sits she does lunge forward to attempt crawling, especially when she wants a toy. She's mastered how to move her self without crawling to get what she wants.
• She can roll over so she sleeps on her belly in her sleepsack - and she does only sleep in her crib. (Where Wesley was comfortable in our bed, she fusses too much).
• She has good pincher movement and can pick up food.
• She stands amazingly well holding your hands or the couch.

Her 9 month well visit at the doctors went fine - aside from the fact that she isn't very strong (muscle tone is lower than normal) and probably won't be crawling or moving any time soon. The doctor was happy that she can stand supported against the couch so that was enough.

She weighs 20lbs 6oz (80%) and measures 27.75 inches (54%). (Link to Wesley's 9-month post)

This was by far the hardest photo shoot: she kept wanting to tear off her sticker and her nose was running and all she wanted to do was stand ... I gave up!

Colors!

I have discovered this Benjamin Moore color capture app. Take a picture and it will tell you the paint colors to find.

This is my area rug in the living room and all the color combos the app pulled! My heart loves the pomegranate!

Chair reupholster

I have more than my share of projects for 2013.

My February project was reupholstering the family room chair. Not that I would be the one doing the work -- this chair was not a job for an amateur -- and I consider finding fabric and calling someone "a project."

This was our cool yellow leather chair that our cat peed on around Halloween (the same morning that I corralled the kids in the car for music class only to find that our car battery was dead. I believe I broke down crying at some point.)

Anyway, I could have junked the chair but it was the perfect size and shape and very well-made. I couldn't have found a solid replacement without spending a lot more than a reupholster job. I special ordered this fabric which is indoor- outdoor that I hope holds up with kids playing around. And I went a bold fabric considering that you couldn't go any bolder than the yellow leather it once was.

Before & after pictures:

Scone. You are mine.

Editor note: no, I didn't make this. Courtesy of Madison's Lazy Janes bakery. From the first time I took a bite of their scones in 2001 'til the present, I have never met its equal. Thank you to my neighbor for bringing these home for us!

Madeleines

I almost named our baby girl Madeleine, and as I failed yet again to make perfect looking madeleines, I am glad I chose the name Claire.

Dorie's recipe for traditional madeleines is on the menu tonight for dessert. The recipe is fairly easy - a few ingredients, not a lot of fuss, and the biggest deal about them is to keep the batter in the fridge for 3 hours before baking. Okay. Commence baking.

I did everything per the book - my own foible is that I only have whole wheat flour in the house. No biggie.

When I checked the batter after the 3-hour chill, it was thick and foamy - the baking powder evidently. Is it supposed to be like that?? The recipe says to fill the madeleine tins to the top, but its hard to do with a foamy batter. The result is over-filled tins and huge madeleines that don't have either the small hump on the backside (the hallmark of a true Madeleine) nor crispy edges like Dorie's picture.

They taste good though, a little too cake-y. This will have to be a re-do at some point.

Recipe Here.

Gardening blog

I'm back to the garden blog! Just too much to do this year without getting it all down and frankly, I missed it too much. The kids have gotten more manageable that even if I only post 2-3 times a month, it's still worth it!

Rosemariegarden.blogspot.com

Natural oven cleaning

We renovated our kitchen in 2006 and I am embarrassed to say that we have never cleaned the oven (properly) since we bought it. Ick. I know.

Part of the problem is that oven cleaners are toxic, and I didn't have the energy to think of an alternative. I find it odd that after two kids, I have found some sort of hidden energy that I didn't have before -- one that doesn't need sleep and gets things done.

This is where the Internet is a lifesaver: a quick natural oven cleaning search led me this site. Using her method I got down and dirty with my oven and here are the results.

Now this does require a bit of muscle and its not as clean (especially the glass) as I'm sure it would be with a toxic oven cleaner, but the alternative of a safe method for my kids, the air we breathe and the food we eat trumps a spotless oven.