Pumpkin Apple Muffins

I know that it’s not the fall anymore but nothing cheers me up in the dead, cold, gray of winter like some nice warm spices. And, you know, a nice big mug of hot chocolate.

Anyway, these muffins can be made into a bread loaf as well if you just adjust the timing slightly. Either way, super tasty and not all that bad for you as far as treats go!

INGREDIENTS
2 1/2 cups flour (I prefer using spelt)
2 cups sugar (feel free to substitute here…I like real sugar over chemicals)
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups finely chopped peeled apples
TOPPING:
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter or margarine

DIRECTIONS

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt. Combine eggs, pumpkin and oil; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in apples. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. For topping, combine sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs; sprinkle 1 teaspoon over each muffin. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes or until muffins test done. Cool in pan 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Snow Day Stew

Yesterday was yet another snow day, giving us a break from drama rehearsal. Although it was doubtful I would have gone anyway because I spent most of yesterday and the day before squeezing myself in a tiny ball and willing my stomach to stop churning on itself.

Having woken up yesterday morning and thinking that I had mostly recovered, I realized that I had defrosted beef cubes and hadn’t done anything with them, which meant that I had to do something with them today or throw them out. So, not really wanting to cook because I’m still keeping myself on another day of bread and ginger ale, I threw a bunch of stuff in my crock pot.

Here’s the thing about my crock pot: it’s amazing. If I could make every dinner by just throwing ingredients in a crock pot in the morning and magically have dinner ready when I get home, I would, but I have yet to find a crock pot that can accurately make lasagna. But for stews and soups and chili and the like, it’s amazing and I love it.

I wasn’t really sure of what I wanted to make but I like making sustaining foods that I can just grab and heat up and eat later. Like chili. Or chicken salad. Or anything that requires me to only have to prepare it once and then it’s easily accessible and very bring-to-work-able. I don’t like loading it up with potatoes and other starch or carb-heavy ingredients to make it hearty. So, what I did was research a number of different stews from lots of different recipe sites and came up with my own thing:

Snow Day Stew
1 1/2-2 lbs beef cubes
1 small can tomato paste
1 beef bouillon, dissolved in 2 cups of water
1 square baker’s unsweetened chocolate
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
3 Tbsp flour (your choice of what kind- just helps thicken the broth)
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp oregano
1/2 Tbsp chili powder (you can lessen this if you don’t like spiciness)
1/2 Tbsp cumin

Throw in crock pot and cook on high for about 5 hours.

Add in:
1 green pepper (chopped)
1 red pepper (chopped)
2 celery stalks (chopped)

Cook on high for about an hour and serve.

So there you have it – hearty, filling stew that has some kick and give you a good balance of meat and veggies without relying on potatoes. James suggested that the next time I make this, I throw in some mushrooms as well. I didn’t have any but based on James’ 2 helpings last night and the fact that I think he took the rest to work with him today, it wasn’t so bad for an on-the-fly concoction.

Next time I’ll take some pics. The stomach thing really put a damper on my energy levels.

Warning: The post you are about to read is kind of none of your business…

but I’m going to rant to you anyway. So here’s the thing – in true Ani Difranco form, I am not a pretty girl. I’m not talking about aesthetics here but attitude. I don’t do those girly things that (I guess?) are expected of me. I haven’t planned my wedding since I was 5. I don’t dream day in and out about being a mother.  And I tend not to get along with women who do.

Lately it seems that I am regularly assaulted with completely asinine questions about what it is I want in life.  Apparently working my butt of to finish a master’s degree in 5 semesters doesn’t count. And why not? Oh, well you see, I have a boyfriend. And as a girl with a boyfriend in her late 20′s, I should want all of the following things:
- an engagement ring
- an engagement party
- to plan a wedding wherein inevitably one family member will have too much to drink and make everyone feel uncomfortable and another family member will complain that the chicken was dry loud enough for the entire party to hear
- to have kids by the time I’m 30
- to get to spend at least a little time being a housewife
- the amazing “fairy tale” ending that everyone is supposed to strive for

Here are the things I REALLY want:
- to finish my degree without accidentally going completely gray
- to get a job sooner rather than later so I can stop being a mooch member of society and join the rest of the adults in the adult world
- sleep
- to figure out what color I am going to paint my office when my boyfriend and I eventually actually get to move into the house he’s buying
- to find a way to prevent my skin from getting so dry this winter
- to watch an episode of ANY television show without falling asleep during the last 10 minutes
- to actually cross of everything on my “To Do” list
- to find cute yet comfortable everyday shoes that I can wear to work
- a really awesome holiday party with good friends
- the really sweet L-shaped desk from Pottery Barn that I’ve had my eye on

This doesn’t seem too problematic, but here is the part where you may want to stop reading if you find that you are faint of heart in an overly annoyingly feminine way. I am so tired of people asking when I’m going to get engaged.

I’m sorry. I know that I really suck as a member of female society. I know that all across the nation women everywhere are turning off Dr. Oz and shouting at this blog post “what is WRONG with you?!?” I don’t care.

Passed out yet?

Survive the shock?

Great. Moving right along then.

Maybe I just managed to not get that gene or something (my sister certainly has the girly gene) but I’m just not into that stuff. My relationship isn’t a game where I get to advance to the next level if I convince my boyfriend to propose. I don’t win any contest by getting married before I’m 30.

*sigh*

I actually had a near-stranger suggest that I start dropping hints to my boyfriend that we’re nearing 30 and that if we’re not engaged by the time I’m 28, I should break up with him. For the record, this near-stranger was an older woman who works at one of the schools where I’ve been doing my practicum.

I thought we were past this? Didn’t we declare those games dumb and universally decide that we could get married when we felt the time was right in our relationship, not when society tells us we should if we’re going to be the idyllic Betty Crocker type?

This is why I’m crazy picky about my female friends.

Oh and also, I’ve decided that I’m going to start responding with “That’s really not any of your business and I find it offensive” when people try to push their girly mindgames on me. I’m hoping it makes them as uncomfortable as it makes me when they suggest that I give my boyfriend an ultimatum on something I don’t even have in my field of vision at the present time.

Warning!

Despicable Me might unintentionally be the best form of birth control ever.

You are welcome.

The Help

So as it turns out, I’ve done a BUNCH of summer reading and now I feel that I should comment on some of what I’ve read.

If you haven’t yet read The Help by Kathrynn Stockett and are looking for a good, enjoyable, but quick read, this is it.

The book depicts the lives of three very different women in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960′s (1962 to be precise) where white women employed black women to raise their children but couldn’t be trusted not to steal the family silver. Told in first person, the story jumps between three different perspectives to follow Jackson’s elite and hired help during the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement. Intertwining historical fact with fiction, Stockett does a remarkable job drawing the reader in quickly and then painting a detailed view of life in Jackson.

Without giving anything away (because that would just be mean and you really *should* read this book), the seemingly separate stories slowly begin to weave together until you suddenly realize that the story being told is not at all what it seemed it would be.

Stockett’s characters have such lively, distinct voices that I felt I could almost hear them speaking. Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan is a white woman raised in Southern society, Aibileen is a maid who often quits when her charges grow too old to need her, and Minny is a smart-mouthed maid whose cooking is often the only thing that saves her job. The stark differences in each woman’s world is suddenly catapulted into the spotlight when Skeeter’s friends begin to speak frankly about politics and what they feel they should do to “protect” their town and their families.

I read this in a weekend because I couldn’t put it down.

Go. Read.