Five Things Friday

Oh hi (!)

Sorry I left you hanging yesterday. Unfortunately when you leave editing photos to your last task of publishing a blog post and your dinosaur of a computer decides to simply refuse to cooperate and you end up spilling hot water down your pretty skirt while trying to steam it and get a run in your pantyhose the minute you run out the door to make it in time for a big meeting...sometimes the blog post doesn't make it live.

Not that any of that happened to me yesterday.

Ok, maybe it did.

Why is it that on the days when I try to take it up a notch in how I look for a big meeting do I end up as a giant hot mess?! Gah!

Anyhow, I was going to tell you about banana bread muffins yesterday...but they will have to wait until Monday. Sorry! Instead, enjoy my five things!

animal print heels

My mom talked me into buying these and I really love them. They are pretty comfortable and just give an extra oomph to any outfit, especially my standard black or gray uniform.

Oscars

Admittedly, I don't think I've seen any of the best picture noms this year...woops! Somehow time got away from me and here we are at the end of February. Either way, I still love watching the glamour and love using it as an excuse to spend a fun night on the couch eating snacks with my mom.

OPI's Holland Collection

I think I love every polish in this collection, but if I had to pick one, I'd go with Dutch Ya' Just Love OPI? So pretty. Now I have to start hunting these down...

 

banana bread muffins

I made these for you! And can't wait to share them on Monday. 4 Points+ each.

 

bright skinny jeans

ahhhh spring please get here! I really need to own a pair of these...in like 10 colors!

So that's what I'm loving this week!

What are your five things?

Oh, and if you missed anything this week, check out:

Secret Recipe Club: Mexican Layer Bake

THON A-mazingness in Pictures

Go To Breakfasts, Instagram-style!

Lemon Blueberry Breakfast Muffins

I hope that everyone had a great weekend! Sorry that I didn't get a post up yesterday, but I was enjoying a day off from...everything! On Saturday and Sunday, Shaun and I did lots of work around the apartment, including a complete makeover of our entryway coat closet. A few trips to Home Depot, a coat of BM's Stonington Gray, some new shelves, and we're in business for a sweet and spacious closet. Hurrah! But by Monday morn, I was pretty spent. Meanwhile, though I took the day off from life (and may have spent much of the afternoon catching up on Parenthood), I still managed to get myself in the kitchen to cook up a few things to share.

With a bag of blueberries in my freezer (I bought them fresh and then realized that I don't actually like them unless in the form of a baked good), I had a jonesing for some blueberry muffins. And to make these healthy, I changed out a slew of ingredients. While these aren't exactly a dessert muffin, they are perfect for breakfast or on-the-go and are guilt-free to boot. Oh and I almost forgot to tell you that they are virtually sugar free too!

Although we woke up to an inch of snow, I just had summer on the brain, so I brought out my sweet yellow baking cups which were not only cheery, but also mimicked the fresh lemon in the muffins. And I just love how the blueberries burst to make a pretty pattern seeping through. There's just something about lemon and berry that just reminds me of warm weather! Oh and I should mention that I'd never worked with whole wheat pastry flour before, but, while a bit grainy, they kept these muffins nice and light, rather than dense as regular ol' whole wheat flour would have.

Lemon Blueberry Breakfast Muffins
*Adapted heavily from Betty Crocker
1 tbsp Splenda brown sugar blend
3/4 C almond milk
1/4 C applesauce
1/4 cup honey
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 lemon, juiced and zested
1 1/2 C whole wheat pastry flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 C blueberries

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and line your muffin tin. I also like to set out all of my ingredients.

In a large mixing bowl, lightly whisk the milk (I used almond, but any of your choice will do!), Splenda, applesauce, honey, egg, vanilla, lemon juice and zest.

With a wooden spoon, stir in the flour, baking powder and salt.

Mix until just combined. Measure out and fold in the blueberries.

Fill 12 muffin cups equally, about 3/4 full.

Bake for about 15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Serve and enjoy immediately (or cool on a wire rack). These are great warm with a tiny bit of light butter and/or cinnamon sugar. Though these aren't sweet in the slightest (these are healthy muffins people!), the blueberries give a burst of juicy flavor that I simply love. For a sweeter muffin, I recommend adding more Splenda blend or even a sugar topping. And to make this more decadent, substitute whole milk and oil for the almond milk and applesauce.

So there you have it. A healthy muffin that couldn't be easier to throw together. I will undoubtedly be enjoying one of these for breakfast tomorrow! So what do you think? What foods or flavors remind you of warm weather?

Uncheery Cherry Chocolate Muffins

Happy Friday! Today I brought white chocolate chip pumpkin muffins into work to kick off this sweet holiday and have 2 parties tomorrow night. So today I'm dishing up one more spooktacular eat that will fit any Halloween soiree - cherry chocolate muffins!

Ever since my Dexter cupcakes, I've been trying to find a use for the remainder of that absolutely delectable sour cherry jam that I had used for filling the vanilla cupcakes. And since they came out so nice, I figured why not use it as filling twice! After all, what says gore like gooey cherry jam? For a Halloween twist, I went with a chocolate cake and white chocolate chips to highlight the red innards. Though I may have overfilled some of the muffins and the white chocolate chips sunk into the cake (see below for how to avoide both of these problems), it gave the muffins a bit of character and that 'eaten away' look which I think fits perfectly into the spooky scheme of things. And don't let the meager appearance fool you - these were moist and so delicious!

 

Cherry Chocolate Muffins
*Adapted from The Joy of Cooking
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 3/4 C all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 C buttermilk (I made my own*)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 C (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
1 large egg
1/2 C white chocolate chips (or chocolate chips if preferred)
1/3 C cherry jam (or more if preferred)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line your muffin tin with paper or foil liners. Melt the chocolate in your microwave (for tips on this, see this article) and let cool slightly. In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, combine the buttermilk and vanilla (I measured out the buttermilk in a measuring cup and simply added the vanilla to the cup - no reason to use up another bowl!). In another large mixing bowl (either in your stand mixer or with a hand mixer), beat the stick of softened butter until fluffy, then beat in the egg. Add the melted chocolate and mix until blended.

Then, with the mixer on low, add the flour mixture in 3 parts, alternating with the buttermilk mixture. Fold in the white chocolate chips. Note: some of my chips sunk causing an ‘eaten away’ look which works for Halloween, but might not be the most aesthetically pleasing presentation on other occasions. I recommend rolling them in a teaspoon or so of flour before folding into the batter.

Place a very small amount of batter - just enough to cover the bottom - in each baking cup. (Do not use too much! I severely overfilled some of mine and I ended up with mutant muffins!). Add a teaspoon or so of cherry jam and then cover with another scoop of batter.

Again, do not make the same mistake as me and overfill these! The overfilled ones did not set properly and fell apart when removed from the baking cup, while the muffins that I made using less batter were nothing short of decadent and divine (and in tact). Bake 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. This should make about 20-24 muffins, depending on how much you fill the cups.

The result? A chocolately, cherry gooey muffin. The sweetness of the chocolate was offset perfectly by the tart cherry jam all the while creating a gorey little treat. Perfect for Halloween, no?

So there you have it. One more Halloween treat that doesn't scream jack-o-lanterns, mummies and candy corns (not that there's anything wrong with that). And what I want to know is: are you dressing up for Halloween? What are you going as?

Psst...for more Halloween grub ideas, check out my Dexter cupcakes (recently featured as Top Killer Cupcakes for Halloween), Halloween Queso Dip and Pumpkin Spice Cake with Honey Frosting! Oh and to see me in a throwback Halloween costume, check this out!