Friday, March 21, 2008

All Things That Are Good Friday

May God bless your Good Friday with wonderful surprises and simple joys...



Here's some personal Good Friday good news:

*No flat tire today! (Unlike yesterday, my day did NOT start with a screw in my tire, waiting for Triple A to send O'Bar Towing Company, and the Shell station on Treadaway.)

*When I walked into yoga class today (on time, properly attired, AND with my own mat), the instructor cried out, "It's an Easter miracle!" (Haven't been to yoga in ages, as you can guess...)

*It's GORGEOUS outside. May Bee and I are about to go for a walk/run.

*Tonight is Jason's birthday, and the Bushes have invited me for dinner! FREE FOOD, PEOPLE! To a single gal on a budget, saving for a home and a trip to Germany, this is a Big Deal.

*I ran into Tabby's dad at HEB yesterday, and he offered me an English movie from their vast video library. FREE VIDEO, PEOPLE! To a single gal on a budget, well...you know.

*I tried a new recipe today, and everybody loved it. It's below, in case you also have a can of pumpkin left over from Thanksgiving in your cabinet.

UPDATE: The walk was spectacular; today may have been the prettiest day of 2008 so far! Molly came along and was the Boss of the Walk, picking which way we'd go anytime we hit an intersection. The temperature was perfect, May Bee did a (fairly) good job at heeling, the breeze kept us cool, we saw a duck and a turtle on the nearby pond, and we were chased by either The World's Dumbest Chihuahua or The World's Bravest Chihuahua. Every time he'd lunge at us or get too close, May Bee would turn around like Clint Eastwood and give it the ol' skunk eye. May Bee never even barked once, so comical was the Street Fight Challenge.

(Oh, we were chased by the duck, too, but we were actually afraid of it and ran.)

Pumpkin Apple Muffins

2 1/2 C. whole wheat flour
1 C. Splenda for Baking (or 2 C. sugar)
1 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 C. Egg Beaters (or 2 eggs)
1 C. pumpkin
1/2 C. vegetable oil
2 C. chopped apple

Streusel topping:
1/4 C. sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 Tbsp. cold butter

Stir dry ingredients together; set aside. In a large bowl, mix the eggs, pumpkin and oil; add dry ingredients, stirring until just moistened. Stir in apples. Use the empty dry ingredients bowl to make the streusel topping. Fill prepared muffin tins 2/3 full and sprinkle with streusel. Bake at 350 degrees for 17-20 minutes.

Makes twelve "regulation-size" muffins and one pan of twelve mini-muffins.

Serve with coffee (morning) or decaf coffee (evening) or decaf coffee with a shot of Bailey's (winter evening)!

2 comments:

Melanie said...

Glad to hear you had a 'Good' Friday on 'Good Friday'.... :)

I can't wait to try the pumpkin-apple muffins, sounds YUMMY! :) I have some pumpkin in the freezer waiting to become a pie or muffins... or both!! Thanks!

Have a blessed Easter!!

Anonymous said...

I wrote a loonnng comment last night and, after word verification, clicked on "Publish your comment"...GONE! LOST! Somewhere out there in that great Ethernet abyss. My word verification must have been wrong! Guess it's time to get my eyes checked for new glasses!

I am sorry about your flat tire, but it could have been so much worse! I, too, had a bad commute Wednesday evening--weatherman said "rain with possibly damaging winds," and a traffic snarl caused me to change my course onto narrow, curvy country backroads. Halfway home, I looked down and saw the engine temperature needle on "HOT" and had to pull off and get out in the rain and in the dark to find the problem and then try to fix it. God was watching over me, and a couple of partial bottles of Aquafina poured into the coolant reservoir got me home safely.

I'm anxious to try your pumpkin apple muffin recipe!

I want to HUG... that... Kristy!