A-B-C Master Muffin Mix

A-B-C Muffin Master Mix

18 c. flour

5 c. sugar (or equivalent substitute)

2 1/4 c. buttermilk blend or non fat dry milk

6 T. baking powder

2 T. baking soda

2 T. salt

3 T. ground cinnamon

3 t. ground nutmeg

Stir together well, breaking up lumps.

Store in a large airtight container labeled with the date and contents; store in a cool, dry place.

Shelf life: 6-8 months.

Makes enough for about 5 batches of 24 muffins each.

If desired, sugar can be omitted then stir in 1 cup honey for every 24 muffins as you make them.

TO MAKE 24 REGULAR SIZED MUFFINS:

Preheat oven to 400*.

Coat muffin tins with an oil/lecithin mixture, grease with shortening or butter, or spray with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, beat:

4 eggs

3 t. vanilla

2 c. water

1 c. oil (or butter. This measurement is up to your tastes and desires. Some find them perfectly acceptable without any fat, but any amount of oil can be added up to one cup)

Stir in 5 1/2 c. muffin mix and any additional ingredients (listed below) just until moistened. The batter should be lumpy.

Fill muffin tins 3/4 full. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until muffins are golden brown.

Muffins freeze well.

To reheat frozen muffins, microwave on high for 30 seconds per muffin.

These two toppings would go well with almost any of the ABC muffins. Sprinkle mixture atop uncooked muffins before popping them into preheated oven:

STREUSEL TOPPING for 24 muffins:

Mix together:

1 c. sugar

1 t. cinnamon

2/3 c. flour

cut in 1/2 c. cold butter until mixture is crumbly.

CRUNCHY TOPPING for 24 muffins:

Mix together:

1 c. rolled oats

1 c. flour

1/2 c. brown sugar

2 t. ground cinnamon

cut in 1/2 cup softened butter with fork or pastry cutter until crumbly.

TYPE OF MUFFIN:

Ingredients to add to mix before baking:

APPLE MUFFINS:

3 c. raw grated apples

1 t. ground cloves

1 c. nuts or raisins

Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar mixture before baking.

APPLESAUCE MUFFINS:

Omit oil and add

1 c. applesauce

APRICOT MUFFINS:

1 c. chopped dried apricots

BANANA MUFFINS:

2 mashed bananas

1 c. walnuts (opt)

BLUEBERRY MUFFINS:

2 c. fresh or frozen rinsed blueberries

BRAN MOLASSES MUFFINS:

Use only 3 cups of muffin mix.

Stir in:

4 c. bran cereal

1/2 c. molasses

1 c. raisins

BUTTERSCOTCH MUFFINS:

2 (12 oz.) bags butterscotch chips

1 c. chopped nuts

CARROT MUFFINS:

2 c. grated carrots

1 c. raisins

1 1/2 t. allspice

CASHEW MUFFINS:

2 c. unsalted coarsely chopped cashews

CHERRY MUFFINS:

2 c. fresh or dried pitted cherries

CHOCOLATE CHIP FUDGE MUFFINS:

1 1/2 c. cocoa

1/2 c. sugar

3 c. mini chocolate chips

COCONUT MUFFINS:

3 c. toasted flaked coconut

reserve some to sprinkle on the top

CRANBERRY ORANGE MUFFINS:

2 c. chopped fresh or frozen cranberries

1 c. nuts

1/2 c. orange juice

2 T. grated orange peel

CURRANT MUFFINS:

1 1/2 c. currants

1 c. chopped nuts

DATE MUFFINS:

1 c. chopped dates

1 c. chopped nuts

EGGNOG MUFFINS

4 t. run extract

2 c. eggnog (omit water from recipe)

before baking top with mixture of:

2 T. sugar

1 t. nutmeg

1/2 t. cinnamon

FIG MUFFINS:

2 c. dried chopped figs

1 c. chopped walnuts

FRUIT MUFFINS:

2 c. dried diced fruit

GARDEN FRESH MUFFINS:

1 c. grated carrots

1 c. grated zucchini

1/2 t. ground cloves

GINGERBREAD MUFFINS:

2 T. ground ginger

1/2 c. molasses

2 c. raisins

GRANOLA MUFFINS:

reduce muffin mix to 4 cups and add:

1 1/2 c. granola

Top with additional granola before baking

GRAPENUTS MUFFINS:

reduce muffin mix to 4 cups and add:

2 1/2 c. grape nuts

1 t. allspice

HAZELNUT MUFFINS:

2 t. ground cardamom

2 c. chopped hazelnuts

INCREDIBLE CREAM CHEESE MUFFINS:

COMBINE:

2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese

1/2 c. sugar

2 eggs

Drop this mix by T. onto top of muffins before baking.

JAM MUFFINS:

1 1/2 c. jam or preserves (strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, cherry)

1 c. chopped nuts (opt)

KISSES AND HUGS MUFFINS:

1 1/2 c. cocoa

1/2 c. sugar

After filling muffin tins 3/4 full, drop one Hershey's kiss into the center of each muffin, pushing down slightly until kiss is covered. Ice cooled muffins with confectioners sugar and water glaze.

LEMON MUFFINS:

omit 1 cup water and replace with 1 cup lemon juice

4 eggs

1/2 c. chopped nuts

LEMON POPPY SEED MUFFINS:

2 packages (3.4 oz each) instant lemon pudding mix

2 T. poppy seeds

4 eggs

omit 1 cup water and replace with 1 cup lemon juice

MANDARIN MUFFINS:

1 (11oz) can mandarin oranges chopped and undrained

reduce water to 1 cup

1 1/2 c. shredded carrots

MAPLE MUFFINS:

6 T. maple syrup

reduce water to 1 1/2 cups

MARMALADE MUFFINS:

1 1/2 c. orange marmalade

1 c. chopped nuts (opt)

omit 1 cup water and replace with 1 cup orange juice

MINCEMEAT MUFFINS:

1 1/2 c. mincemeat

OATMEAL MUFFINS:

reduce muffin mix to 4 cups and add:

1 c. oats

4 eggs

up to 2 c. raisins or grated apples

ORANGE MUFFINS:

2 c. sour cream

1 c. nuts or coconut (opt)

2 cans (11 oz. each) mandarin oranges, drained

4 eggs

PEACH MUFFINS:

2 c. fresh or one large can (drained) chopped peaches

PEANUTTY MUFFINS:

3 c. peanut better chips

1/2 c. chopped peanuts

PEANUT BUTTER BANANA MUFFINS:

1 c. peanut butter

1/2 c. chopped peanuts

3 mashed bananas

PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY MUFFINS:

1 c. peanut butter

1/2 c. chopped peanuts

drop 1 T. jam into each muffin before baking.

PEAR MUFFINS:

2 c. fresh or one large can (drained) chopped pears

PECAN MUFFINS:

2 c. chopped toasted pecans

1 t. maple extract

PINEAPPLE CARROT RAISIN MUFFINS:

1 c. grated carrots

1 c. crushed pineapple, drained

1 c. raisins

1 c. walnuts, chopped (opt)

PINEAPPLE MACADAMIA MUFFINS:

1 t. ground cloves

1 large can crushed pineapple, drained

1 jar (7 oz. or about 1 cup) macadamia nuts, chopped

PLUM MUFFINS:

2 c. fresh or canned plums, chopped

PRUNE MUFFINS:

1 to 2 c. chopped prunes

1/3 c. poppy seeds

PUMPKIN MUFFINS:

2 c. or 1 can solid pack pumpkin

1 T. pumpkin pie spice

1/2 c. chopped nuts

1/2 c. raisins

RASPBERRY MUFFINS:

2 c. fresh or frozen whole, unsweetened raspberries

RUM RAISIN MUFFINS:

3 t. rum extract

before baking top wiht mix of:

2 t. sugar

1/2 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. nutmeg

SESAME SEED MUFFINS:

1 c. toasted sesame seeds

before baking top with mix of:

1/2 c. nuts

4 T. brown sugar

4 T. sesame seeds

2 T. flour

1/2 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. nutmeg

SOUR CREAM MUFFINS:

omit one cup of the water and add:

1 c. sour cream

2 c. nuts

2 t. grated lemon peel (opt)


SQUASH MUFFINS:

2 c. cooked mashed squash

1 T. pumpkin pie spice

1/2 c. chopped nuts

1/2 c. raisins


STRAWBERRY MUFFINS:

2 c. fresh or frozen strawberries, chopped

SWEET POTATO MUFFINS:

1 T. allspice

4 T. dry orange peel

2 cans (10 oz. each) sweet potatoes, mashed, well drained (about 2 1/2 cups)

TROPICAL TREAT MUFFINS:

1 c. dried mango or papaya, chopped

1 c. chopped banana chips or 2 fresh mashed bananas

1 c. macadamia nuts, chopped

1/2 c. coconut

1/2 c. sour cream

2 t. grated lemon peel

VANILLA MUFFINS:

2 packages vanilla chips

WALNUT MUFFINS:

1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts

WHEAT GERM MUFFINS:

2 2/3 c. wheat germ

4 eggs

1/2 c. extra water

before baking top muffins with mix of:

1/2 c. wheat germ

2 T. sugar

YOGURT MUFFINS:

reduce water to 1 1/2 c. and add:

2 cartons (8 oz each) yogurt, plain or flavored

ZUCCHINI MUFFINS:

2 c. grated zucchini

2 T. cinnamon

1 c. chopped nuts (opt)

This is not an original recipe but it's one we enjoy and I hope you do too!!

Happy Birthday to Me

A wonderful birthday surprise from my HearthKeepers Birthday Sister!

Thank you so much Carla!!!

I love it all, it's all just perfect for me!!

And for a belated birthday supper last night:

Matt, Jennifer and Landon came for supper and we had

drumroll

Luther Burgers!

woohoo!!!

2010.... 20-10.... Twenty Ten... Already?

The last year of the first decade of the new milennium.

Already?



How's your new year going? I made a decision to get healthier this year and I committed to walking for at least one mile every day on my treadmill. Day one... twenty minutes into my walk.... klerk... klerk...klerk... and it came to a jolting stop. -imagine me frowning and whining here- I am so frustrated. Hopefully Tony can get in contact with the service people soon.



And it's cold here. Really cold. For days and days on end. We are just not used to this anymore. Our lovely Florida warmth has spoiled us...



On a happier note.... I have been reminded over and over how blessed we are with our family and our church family. We have such wonderful friends here, such a loving church family... I am so thankful to the Lord! We also have wonderful friends who don't live here and I am blessed to have them in our lives too!!



And as soon as it warms up we've love to have any of y'all come for a visit!!

Until then, enjoy your hot chocolate :) Add marshmallows and think of me!

Our One Year Olds...

Our sweet babies... all are a year old except Sam and MaryVance (they were 9 mo). Aren't they precious? Do you note any family resemblances?

Time to get real...

Okay. Alrighty. This is real life here. This is what you see if you just show up at my house! These are not “Hurry! Someone is coming! Clean off the porches! Clean up the yard!” pictures. Use your imagination if you must. LOL


Standing on the front porch looking left (north – aren’t you impressed? I asked Caleb )



Looking straight ahead (that would be east! I love having a smart son!) (two shots)

The tractor is on loan. It started raining and it rained and rained and rained so the mowing hasn’t been finished yet. Surely it will dry up soon!


Our house. It was a dark and dreary day. We have very few of those :woohoo: Note: what appears to be a leaning column is not. It is not leaning. It is on the ground. It keeps getting bumped out of place. I’m thinking it’s not very important, right?


Standing in the front yard panning to the west


At the top of the driveway looking west into the backyard/goat yard area.


Turned 180 degrees, looking down the driveway


What’s this? This is a fire ant mound. It’s about two feet across. They are everywhere.

Where was I? I got distracted…

Oh yes, looking into the goat pen.


Meet Lucy. Ethel died.


The backyard


The back of the house. Um. Yeah. I told ya it wasn’t pretty… but it’s real. Right. Real is important. Right. ?


Look. A cat. A black and white cat. This is Biddy (she’s named for Cordelia Drexel Biddle). I asked Luke. I can’t tell them all apart. We have seven black and white cats. And two grey and white.

The side of the back yard. The movable chicken pens. We love hen fruit here!

Look! What have we here?

Proof that I am a fun mama! A big dirt area behind the back porch. Little boys love to dig. And dig and dig and dig…

See?

See my shoe there? Those are big holes. One of them was four feet deep and there was a tunnel between them.


The burn pile. You must have a burn pile if you live in the country. It’s in the rule book.


The barn. In process of being cleaned out and restored. There’s thirty years worth of someone else’s junk in there….



The south pasture, the dog yard is to the left and the barn is to the right


What is this? Who knows? Wheat or something similar? It’s from where a chicken pen used to set. We have all kinds of interesting things growing in our yard from the chickens! We used to have the chicken pens n the area in the picture just above this one… but we started losing chickens to weasels or possum or something?


More of the south pasture. It’s terribly overgrown. We have nothing to pasture there. There’s no cross-fencing so our land runs right into our neighbors land. It will be bushhogged though… when the weather dries up enough!

Well, that’s it. I hope it wasn’t too anticlimactic LOL If you ever wondered if we are just normal folk – I hope this answered your questions! We love company so come on down!!

Wanna Come to Town with Me?

Here we are at the end of the driveway. We’re going to turn left onto Ocheessee Landing Road. Daisy is our guide to the next driveway!


½ mile of dirt and then we see Shady Grove Road


See the paved road?


Yep, and we are turning left again onto Shady Grove.


Lovely road, no?


On the left is Jackson Tomato Farms… not much to see right now. They harvest two crops of tomatoes a year along with melons.


Oohh… let’s take a detour here on Arkansas and show all the nice readers a cypress pond in case they’ve never seen one before.


Here we are at the boat ramp.


It’s really very pretty in the non-winter months.


Back on the road.


Another shot of the tomato farm. They grow peppers too.


Excuse the glare, I was taking pictures while I was driving… LOL This is a hay field (hay meadow?)


Lots of cows. Cows everywhere. Yummy cows. These are Belted Galloways. Also called Oreo Cows. Wonder why?


Corn. For the cows. Nice.


We are five miles down the road and now we junction with highway 69. We are turning right here. Surprised? 


Here comes Grand Ridge. Are you ready? No blinking allowed.


You blinked, didn’t you? You almost missed the Post Office!


The Town Hall. A place of much excitement. I’m sure. There’s bound to be some excitement there. Right?


Just a few minutes down the road and we junction with hwy 90.


Barn Nanny is at this intersection. Very handy to have a feed store so close by!


On highway 90. Four lanes. Are you impressed?


Don’t be. It’s only for a couple hundred yards!


What have we here? This is one of the roads we can turn on to visit our friends, the H’s!


Approaching Marianna. Alas… see the signal light ahead?


Crossing the mighty (cough, choke, sputter) Chipola River


One of three or four strip malls. This is where Goodwill lives.


Nearing the court square area.


Fresh sweet potatoes or citrus anyone?


We’re there! Welcome to Marianna.


Here comes the downtown/court square area.


Downtown. We’re going to turn right here and swing by Tony’s office.


There it is.


Oh look! What do I see? Tis the reason for my errand!


Here comes Tony. Janean is with him. She’s coming to tell me how much she LOVES the Struffolli I sent to the office with Tony.


I love this house. It’s right across from Tony’s office.

Now let’s drive around the court square…



The court house




Oh, look! It's Philip from church. Hello Philip!




We’ve circled the square LOL and we are heading back toward home on 90.


Fussy Britches. A day care. Just kidding…

Oh, let’s take a right at the junction on 70something and go home via the interstate so you can see The Walmart.


There. Wasn’t that worth it?


There’s I 10 just ahead.


Interstate driving is boring and ugly. I took this picture for my friend Charlotte… can you see that Charlotte? What does it say?


Just a few minutes down the interstate and we are at our exit. Back onto hwy 69. We basically made a big circle.


Cotton field


We are back on Shady Grove. Our turn is just ahead.


Back on Ocheessee Landing Road


Home Sweet Home