Blueberry Streusel Muffins

Since it has been so cold and snowy lately and the holidays are over I felt like I needed something warm and fun to have as a treat. I found this recipe this summer, and was craving blueberries and I love it! I used it again today and it is the perfect thing on a cold snowy day!

Blueberry Streusel Muffins
1/4 c butter softened*
1/3 c sugar
1 egg beaten
2- 1/3 c flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk*
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-1/2 c fresh or frozen blueberries

STREUSEL:
1/2 c sugar
1/3 c flour
1/4 c cold butter

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add egg; mix well. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; add to the creamed mixture alternately with milk. Stir in vanilla. Fold in blueberries. Fill 12 greased muffin cups two-thirds full. Combine streusel ingredients until crumbly; sprinkle over batter. Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes or until browned I find that 25 minutes works perfect for my oven.

* I used Butter Flavored Shortening for butter and soy milk for milk, and it turned out perfect!

These are great enjoy! But be warned the streusel is hot so when taking them out to cool be careful.

Grace

This is basically, hilarious. Sit back and enjoy. . . . if only my husband could be as graceful!

BabyCenter Store Closing!

Hey girls!

The Babcenter.com store is closing. They are still keeping the site up and using it for advice, friendshipping, etc., but the store is closing. As of January 6 they will no longer sell items. This means. . . . SALES! Also, they will be honoring their 30 day return policy. So you have til February 5th to return items. Check it out!

Dairy free Pumpkin Pie!

When the holidays come around I am always on the look out for traditional recipes that I can eat (which means no milk or milk products). So I have been wanting to eat pumpkin pie it has been years since I have had it. So this holiday I was determined to get a recipe. I found one at this website:mykidsallergies.blogspot.com/2007/10/pumpkin-pie-recipe-dairy-free-nut-free.html I tried it out and it worked great!! Micah loved it too, he thought it tasted the same! So give it a try!

The pumpkin filling was based on the pumpkin pie recipe from the Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook, and I've copied it below.

16 ounce can pumpkin (I used a 15 ounce can of pumpkin)
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
3 slightly beaten eggs
2/3 cup rice milk (substituted for the original 2/3 cup evaporated milk and 1/2 cup milk)

1. Put the pie crust into a pie dish. Put into oven to bake for 10 minutes or so, just to brown the crust.

2. Combine pumpkin, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg. Add eggs. Beat until just combined. Gradually stir in rice milk.

3. Pour filling into pie crust.

4. Bake in 375 degree oven for 40 minutes. (The original recipe says 50 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. That was about 40 minutes for me, but my oven is wierd.) If you're worried about over-browning the crust, cover the edge of the pie with foil for the first 25 minutes of the baking time.

5. Cool on a wire rack. Refrigerate within 2 hours, cover for longer storage.

Calendar Ideas

So a freind of mine who got me hooked on digital scrapbooking a couple years ago told me about this website, where you can get calendars, to use in digital scrapbooking. The great thing about them is that you can use them for anything. And it is only $2.99. I made several calendrs last christmas for gifts and this year I am going to make one for everyone in my family (Aubrey pretend like you didn't read that). They are way easy, on her website her idea is that they are big enough to fit in a cd case, but I change the size of mine and have them be a 4x6 regular picture size so it's alot cheaper! There are different styles of the calendars and I like the transparant ones, so you can scrapbook behind the calendar.
Here is the link: www.heatheranndesings.com
when you get to the website, click on shop, then calendars, then choose year, and then you will be too all the different calendar options.
So here is a cheap gift idea that is still cute!

I'm Not Ashamed!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Christmas Gift ideas?

So tis the season to start being on the lookout for Christmas gifts. And if anyone is like me, I am on a budget and want to find good gifts, cheap, but that mean something. So I am asking all of us to be on the lookout, when we hear of good deals on the internet or an easy, cheap craft Post it! I am asking for all your help, my mind needs help coming up with ideas!!

Design Mom

I just wanted to let you all in on an INSPIRATION source I discovered recently. It's a blog entitled "Design Mom," and it's wonderful! The editor/creater says "I'm Gabrielle Blair. I'm a designer/art director and mother of five in New York. I post on where design and motherhood intersect." I really enjoy "stalking" her blog as it always has fun, creative, inspiring, or touching things to learn about. A mother of five in New York??? That alone has "Super Mom" written all over it. Check it out, and enjoy!

http://www.designmom.com/

Note: The above image comes from http://www.designmom.com/ ... tempting, no?

Eye Opener

Without getting too political (I can get heated) I thought this video was an eye opener. This video is about 6 minutes, but it's extremely interesting. You may think the vote in California doesn't really matter, but as parents: Yes it DOES.

Win a handbag!

There is a site called www.handbagplanet.com that basically rules. I love the look of their bags! To celebrate their launch, they're giving away a free handbag every hour for 24 hours, I know- right on! So click on the link and sign up! So easy! Do it, I hope I win (but really, my chances are slim to none- and I never win anything, let's face it!), and get your name in there too! If you win, could I borrow your bag?!