I LOVE Muffins

I love love love muffins. Problem is, I'm no good at actually making them. However, over the past few months, I've managed to combine two recipes that make some pretty darn good 'uns. It's a basic recipe that you can make and then use add-ins to your own taste. I almost always have craisins and pecans on hand so those are the ones I usually make. Try it next weekend and let me know how they turn out...

The trick to these muffins is to use buttermilk and to soak the oats in it ahead of time. Add the egg, sugar and melted butter.

Sift the dry ingredients together then add them to the wet ingredients.

Any time I use nuts in baking, I toast them first.

Gently fold in your "add-ins"

Best Ever Muffins

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup oats

Allow oats to soak in buttermilk for 30-60 mins.

1 egg, room temp

1/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 stick melted butter

1 cup + 2 Tbsp flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp soda

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Add egg, sugar and melted butter to oatmeal mixture. Sift together dry ingredients and then add to the rest until moistened. Fold in your add-ins and bake 375 for 10-12 min.

Makes 12 muffins.

Add-ins:

• 1 cup raspberries, 1/2 cup semi sweet choc chips
• 3/4 cup apples, 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 3/4 cup white choc chips, 1 cup blueberries
• 1/2 cup toasted coconut, 3/4 cup peanut butter chips
• 1 cup diced rhubarb, 1/2 tsp cardamom
• 3/4 cup dates, 1/2 cup pistachios
• 3/4 cup golden raisins, 3/4 cup shredded carrots

Main Course Mainstay

I've actually forgotten just how many times we have had this recipe over the course of the winter. It's so good, it just never seems to get old. And despite us putting only one animal in the freezer this year, we have found that when it's an elk, it's like having an entire cow in there! Lazy as we were, we cut most of it into stew meat and roasts, both of which will work well in this recipe. So get out your, deer, elk or beef roast/stew meat and try it out. It's guaranteed to bring you back to everything that is comforting, warming and in all honesty, the best of home cooking.

Beef Bourguignon Soup

(And NO, I can't actually say the name even after 4 years of highschool French. GO figure. We'll have to head to France next year. I'll be complaining about that! Let me tell you.)

2 lb roast, cut in 1" pieces or stew meat

4 Tbsp flour

Olive oil to sear meat, or some bacon grease from a couple slices of bacon

8 oz button mushrooms

3 carrots, sliced in 1/2"

3 shallots, sliced (substitute leeks or just a yellow onion if you need to)

2 celery stalks, chopped

1 Tbsp tomato paste

3 Thyme sprigs, or more (I use half of one of those things you buy at the store. Fresh is key though. And don't bother chopping Thyme. It's for the birds. Just throw the whole sprigs in there. The leaves will cook off and the little twigs are easy enough to fish out before you serve it.)

2 bay leaves

1 cup red wine (Trader Joe's Baby! Don't leave this out!)

8 cups beef stock (this is a soup so you will want something tasty. It should be a good quality)

Turn your crock pot on high.

Season the flour with salt and pepper and then toss the meat to coat. Sear meat in a cast iron pan or pot in either bacon grease or olive oil in batches and throw into your crock pot.

Next, without cleaning the pan, add a bit more olive oil and saute the carrots, onion and celery. Throw into the crock pot.

Saute the mushrooms for maybe 4 minutes then pour in the wine. Let it reduce for maybe 6 min. You guessed it, throw it all into the crock pot.

Add the rest of the ingredients to the crock pot and cook on high until the meat starts to fall apart.

Serve it over rice or some cooked egg noodles. Add crusty bread and a glass of the 'ol red and you've got yourself a full and happy belly.

McBrayer creatives...

My whole life as an artist has been devoted to the visual arts, mainly painting. And in the past years I have found that crafting and sewing, even if it's just something practical, has become a really good outlet for me. As you may imagine, paints, large jars of water, paper that needs to remain pristine until painted on and small people don't exactly mix well, when they all need their space, and the same space I might add.

Interestingly enough about a year ago I realized I had some things I needed to say. And not being one of words, I allowed myself to be convinced that it just wasn't my medium. I have struggled so much over when, where, how and with what do I allow the burning desire to "create" to run free. So on one of our camping trips last summer, in God's great wilderness of creation, more specifically, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, I found a scrap piece of paper in the car door and allowed it to be my canvas for the first time. I began jotting down some lyrics to a song. With the help of Justin, I managed to compose"Higher Ground" and, later, "Tivoli." Who knew?!? Not exactly your top 10 on the radio but something that has fed my creativity for sure.

Even more out of the ordinary, and yet still in the creative spirit, I was recently invited to play and sing in a developing band, (which is more like a few people that just want a more committed group to jam with). So...I sing my heart out once a week with people I barely know and whom are ridiculously more talented than myself. Crazy and very much out of my comfort zone but it feeds my soul in a way only I could know.

So if you are burning with some creative energy, read this post, reflect and then allow yourself to be encouraged to make the move by prioritizing some time for you to create.

It's a baby belly!

Baby Boy Merritt and me at 16 weeks. Okay... I realize it's not much, but he's definitely starting to... ummm... affect the way my clothes fit!! My pants that fit just right are now uncomfortable to keep buttoned throughout the day. So I'm going shopping tomorrow in Atlanta with 3 other pregnant friends to get some maternity clothes.

Profile shot. Do you see his puckered lips and little nose?

A quick rundown on the pregnancy thus far. I have felt REALLY good, no sickness, no tiredness throughout the day... although I do sleep about 9-10 hours a night now as opposed to my previous 7-8. And I LOVE the new change, I love going to bed early! I have been able to eat anything I liked before and haven't had any real cravings or aversions. I've been able to go walking and Joel got me a prenatal workout DVD hosted by a former Olympic swimmer, so it's pretty serious and will have you sore the next day. I like it! We went on 12/30 for our gender ultrasound and he was SO active. He was kicking and turning and crossing and uncrossing his legs. After showing us his boy parts, he even crossed his legs and covered his parts with both of his hands. Guess he'd had enough! Joel and I are both really excited about having a boy. A quail hunting buddy for him and I'm just so used to my brothers, that I think this will be an easier transition for me. And I started to feel the "butterflies" this week. It's all so amazing!

Baby having hello!

It seems like I'm surrounded by pregnancy in my life! Outside of LeeAnn and Ann in our family, an immediate co-worker of mine is pregnant after 4 years of trying, including invetro that didn't take. She was given a 2% chance of conceiving on her own and she did!! All pregnancies are miracles, but it's especially exciting being able to go through it with her. We were pleasantly surprised with our news and she's been waiting for a long time for this. But it's nice to have each other to go through it together. Two other girls in my small group are pregnant. A girl who started at the bank with me in the MA program, Crystal, is pregnant with a boy AND is due the EXACT same day as me! Joel's two closest cousins' wives are also pregnant. And I could go on... but it feels like I've joined a club or something! Admittedly, I didn't always care for pregnancy or baby talk before I was pregnant. But I always knew that someday, when I was pregnant, I'd be more than happy to join in. And I am!


So I've read that during your second trimester, you usually feel your best and have the most energy so it's the ideal time to get all your planning done. Registry, nursery, decorating, organizing and more. We haven't done any of that yet. Partially because we wanted to know what we were having first and also because we are SO busy. But I've googled some nursery ideas and this morning, Joel and I had what seems like our first Saturday morning at home together in a long time. Oh how I LOVE a morning at home to wake up on your own time and make coffee and breakfast together. I have a new soup recipe in the crockpot (Italian sausage and barley... yum!) and will make Aunt Kay's cornbread in a few minutes. But I had a chance to mention a paint color for the nursery (blue) and Joel asked if we could have a bird dog themed nursery!! Oh my! We already live in rural Alabama, I don't know if I'm ready for guns and camo and hunting stuff in my son's room. So I agreed to maybe an animal theme that included dogs, but I don't know that I'll be looking at Cabela's or Real Tree for the crib bedding!


I feel like I could go on and on! About my midwife that I love, weight gain (I'm doing good according to her, better than she did over the holidays!), work plans, etc. But I'll save you your time and eyes for now! But let me know if I've left something out that you want to know more about!

Thank Goodness for Snow!

It snowed here for the past two days and it was so fun to not have anywhere to go or anything to do but to enjoy it. So we spent the days building an Oafy G snowman and building sledding jumps. It's a good bit of work to get everyone bundled up but it is so worth it. Patrick and Aeneas both stayed out for over an hour and had to be coaxed to come back in. Check it out.

Oafy G needed a friend so he wouldn't be lonely!

Here is Aeneas's launch.

And here is Patrick launching!

Peanut Butter Granola Balls and Home made Play-Dough

I was looking for the recipe for play-dough tonight and found this little snack recipe. It 's warm gooey deliciousness will have the ol' hubby making repeat trips for spoonfuls as you put them into the candy liners.

Peanut Butter Granola Bars

1/3 cup honey

1/4 cup peanut butter

2 Tbsp butter

1 cup rice cereal

1 cup oatmeal

1/4 cup dried fruit (I used craisins!)

Melt the honey and butters in the microwave stirring along the way until fully melted and combined. Stir in the remaining ingredients and mix well. Scoop in to mini muffin liners or candy liners and refrigerate. Yum!

And while I'm at it, here's the Play-Dough recipe. It's so great, soft, smells good, the kids don't actually LIKE to eat it and it's fun to make with them!

Home-Made Play Dough

2 cups flour

3/4 cup salt

4 tsp cream of tartar

2 cups boiling water

3 Tbsp oil

1 pkg kool-aid

Mix all the dry ingredients, then pour the water and oil over the top, mixing as you go. Mix in the kool-aid for instant color with a yummy scent. (You can use food coloring if you want instead.)

Family Traditions

At Patrick's school this week, we got to give a presentation to the class about our family traditions. Once I sat down to think about it, I realized just how many traditions we actually have.

Aeneas, Patrick and I created a poster and then Aeneas and Patrick did a wonderful job sharing with the class what sorts of things we do around the holidays each year. Each of the little presents had pictures of a particular tradition; hiking through the woods to find a tree, sleeping under the Christmas tree the night it goes up, Santa coming on Christmas morning, calling everyone on Christmas day to wish them a Merry Christmas, having a birthday party for Jesus and of course the annual fondu feast!

I made chocolate fondu and Justin passed out the goodies. We had the kids dip marshmallows and bananas into it. Everyone loved it (we caught a couple teachers taking a little taste). The class left school wound up and chocolate faced! I am sure the parents were so thrilled.

Merry Christmas Ms. Cash's Kindergarten Class!