The Kinda-Sorta and the Not So Much

I just

love

muffins for breakfast - 

past tense

LOVED

muffins for breakfast-

I mean

you

go to

Starbucks

(or Petit  Soleil)

and

get

one

of their

amazing
 muffins

and

a 

Pumpkin Latte

and

you

are

over the top

of your

fat - sugar- calorie

allotment

for the day

BUZZ KILL!

so,

I found

this
 recipe

for 

Granola Muffins

and

made

one
batch 
kinda sorta healthy

and

one not so much

Kinda Sorta Healthy Granola Muffins

I replaced

the butter with coconut oil

the brown sugar with coconut sugar

the regular granola with Bear Naked Fit Granola

and white flour with whole wheat flour

I threw

in a few 

blueberries and raspberries

that I

had

to use up

the

Kinda Sorta Healthy Muffins 

were

good

and

after two cups of tea

really

filled up the tummy 
in 
a 
happy sorta way

the

next batch

I used

TJ's Ginger, Almond and Cashew Granola

and

butter  sugar  and  flour  

I 

am

sharing 

those

delicious

bad boys

with

all the nurses

and 

staff

at my

Dr.'s office

:)

Kinda Sorta Healthy Granola Muffins

2 c. whole wheat flour

1 c. Bear Naked Fit Granola

1 c. coconut sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 1/4 c. buttermilk

1/2 c. coconut oil (melted)

1 egg

1 tsp. real vanilla

1/2 - 1 c. fresh blueberries or raspberries (or any fresh fruit you like)

Whisk together the dry ingredients.  Set aside.  Mix the buttermilk and oil together.  Add the egg and vanilla.  Mix the dry ingredients with the wet until just incorporated.  Carefully fold in the fruit.

Bake 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes

GRANOLA MUFFINS

2 c. flour

1 c. brown sugar

1 c. your favorite granola

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon (I used ground ginger for the Ginger Almond Cashew Granola)

1 1/4 c. buttermilk

1/2 c. melted butter

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

Whisk together dry ingredients and follow the same directions as the 

above 

Kinda Sortas

(you might as we be really bad and add a cup or so of mini chocolate chips

to the batter before baking)

An Apple a Day....

...

l'automne est arrivé

yes

Autumn has arrived

when

the 

See Canyon

and

Gopher Glen

Apple Orchards

open their

gates

and

the trees

are

heavy

with

fruit

you

 know

that

autumn

truly 

has 

arrived

the trees

are

laden

with

Golden

and Granny Smith

Red Delicious

and

crisp Braeburn apples

.

See Canyon

is

north

of

the Avila Valley

and 

the

See Canyon Fruit Ranch

is

about 

1.5 miles

up See Canyon road

the

 Ranch

it is a

gloriously

lazy

place

surrounded

by 

apple orchards

and

hidden

within

the 

green willows

and oaks

of the

canyon

would be a beautiful venue for a wedding

.......

I 

visited

the fruit ranch

because

simply

fresh picked fruit

just tastes

infinitely 

better

and 

See Canyon apples

make

delicious

Harvest Apple Coffee Cakes

Bavarian Apple Tortes

Apple Streusel Muffins

and

are

the

very

 best

with 

cheeses and wines

crisp  sweet  flavorful

mmmmm

I picked

up

some

local honey

(collected on the ranch)

and

a jar

of

 Pumpkin Butter

(for pancakes)

the fruit ranch

has

squashes

and tomatoes

peppers

and 

other

fresh picked

jewels of the season

Petit Soleil guests

will

enjoy

this

bag

tomorrow

..

next

week and 

the week after
 that

I'll go
        for more

until

   the

         all

              the

                          apples are

                                gone....

Thanks!

See you soon

See Canyon Fruit Ranch

click for their blog

and

directions

Sunrise Corn Muffins

Bon Jour!

it is

a

good 

day!

here is 

a

hearty

yet

citrusy

fresh

Orange Corn Muffin

for 

breakfast

or

for

dinner

with

a

spicy

chipotle chicken chili

you need a orange

and buttermilk

and dried cranberries

the recipe

makes

about 

10 muffins

the 

cornmeal

gives the muffins

a crunch

the orange zest and cranberries

a

nice tang

Sunrise Corn Muffins

1 1/2 c. flour

1 c. sugar

3/4 c. cornmeal

1 TBS. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1 c. buttermilk

zest of 1 large orange

1/2 c. unsalted butter

3/4 c. dried cranberries

Whisk together dry ingredients and set aside.

Zest the orange and add to the 1 cup of buttermilk. Whisk in eggs.   Let steep together for 5 minutes or so.

Add the buttermilk to the dry ingredients.  Add the melted the butter to batter and fold in cranberries.

Spoon batter into greased muffin cups (add about 1 TBS. of water to each empty cup.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

…how about this - combine 1/4 c. soft butter with a bit of orange juice and honey to serve with muffins

Are

you 

Kidding?

deliciousness

...

Remembering TTT with Toulouse..

Back in the day

my little blog

was

called

Travels Tastings and Temptations

with

Toulouse

Toulouse

was my little

convertible

VW

and

we 

went on

adventures together

consequently

Toulouse

found another home

and

I 

now

drive

Reggie the randy Rover

I 

was

rereading

a few blogs

and

I thought to repost

some

..just for fun

click on what you want to read!

*Hiking about Salmon Falls for Mother's Day

*Sunset Magazine's first "Savor the Central Coast" event

*Ruby Rose

*Barns - a post on the coolest barns around SLO

*The most delicious Chocolate Zucchini Bread recipe

*Memories of Christmas

*Picking Daisies

*French Apple Cake recipe

*Shopping at Luna Rustica

*Thousand Hills Dog Resort - the perfect pet-vacation!

*Meze- deliciousness by Railroad Square

*Hiking Bishop's Peak - Yikes

*Nattelie Saia - artist extraordinaire

*Easy Tortilla Soup recipe

lots of 

Tastings Travels and Temptations

with

Toulouse 

posts

about

my obsession

with finding 

the 

BEST

Fish Tacos 

recipes

and hikes

etc etc etc

Go explore

tttwithtoulouse.blogspot.com

It's a Whale, It's a Whale, It's a Whalefish he cried"

Avila Beach

was

in

the

national news

a 

few mornings ago

a 

pod

of

Humpback Whales

were

hovering

around

Avila bay

in between

and

 around the piers

and causing quite

a

scene

 pelicans

were

everywhere

kind of felt

like

that

eerie

Hitchcock movie

"The Birds"

fish

must

be crazy

there below the

surface

pelicans dive-bombing

seals

dolphins

 and

huge

glorious

Humpback whales

slow dancing

in and out

of

 the water

awesome

magnificent

so

close to

the pier

diving

in and around

fishing boats

putting on

quite

a

 performance

for 

all

who came 

to see

….

…..

and they 

slow-danced

back

out

to sea

..

and were gone

the whales

reminded 

me 

of a song

from

1962

sung by the Limeliters

The Whale

a song

that I played

many years

later

when 

Annie and Andrew

were little

I 

cannot

even imagine

how

anyone could ever

kill

or even harm

those

magnificent

creatures

…just saying

Thank you, John Conner

for 

all the 

wonderful

photographs

A Really REALLY Good Cookie - continued……….

My

Aunt Martha

was

so

right-on

with

her

Pearl of Wisdom

ONLY

yes, only

eat a 

really really good cookie

here

(courtesy of Isabel)

is

a

Really Really Good Cookie

remember

the 

Speculaas

blog?

(it is highlighted for easy referral)

I

baked

these 
Speculaas Nutella Cookies

as

a

birthday treat

for an

old

(not OLD…..  but old)

family 

friend

that was 

born in

the Netherlands

you 
mix up
Speculaas
with
butter sugars flour….
then
s w i r l
in
Nutella

then roll

the

dough

into

balls

make a criss cross

with

the

tine

of a 

fork

bake

and

indulge

crispy

on the outside

and

perfectly 

chewy

in the inside

Here's

the

recipe:

Izzy's Speculaas Nutella Cookies

1/2 c. Speculaas spread

1/2 c. softened butter

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/4 c. flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 c. Nutella

375 degree oven

In a mixer (or with a mixer, if you like the hand kind better) combine Speculaas

and butter until well combined and pale in color

Beat in sugars, egg and vanilla.  Set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk flour, baking powder and soda and mix into Speculaas batter until just combined.

Swirl Nutella into dough.

Form into walnut sized balls and criss cross with the tines of a fork

Bake about 12 minutes until a teeny bit brown around edges.
Cool on a baking rack (if you can…  …)

This would be an amazing Christmas Cookie !!

Speculoos

Speculoos

or

Speculaas

is a

Dutch 

or

Flemmish

Cookie Butter

What is a cookie butter?

Isabel,

our 

Petit Soleil

Belgium waffle expert,

tried

desperately

to explain

"cookie butter"

to 

me and Ashley

….."it is really popular in Belgium and the Netherlands.  It looks like peanut butter, but like Nutella, but not chocolate, with cookies in it - like gingerbread"

uh?  what?

        the next day,

             Isabel brought me Speculoos

                      from Trader Joes

                                and she wrote down three recipes 

                                          for me to try

this

is

SPECULOOS

Speculoos

does

look like

peanut butter

and it

does

taste a

bit

like

gingerbread

and

the

recipe

bakes

up

into

a 

beautiful

light

fragrant

banana bread

a bit spicy

and

so

delicious

and

like Nutella,

Speculoos

would be delicious

spread

on toast

or graham cookies

or apple slices

IZZY'S SPECULOOS BANANA BREAD

3 ripe bananas

1/2 c. plain Greek yogurt

1/2 c. Speculoos

3 TBS. melted butter

2 eggs

1/2 c. sugar

1 3/4 c. flour

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

350 degrees - I loaf pan, or 3 mini loaf pans, greased (or Pam'd)

In the bowl if a mixer, combine first 5 ingredients until creamy.  Set aside.

In another bowl, mix together sugar, flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon

Slowly pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients and mix until batter forms.

Bake one hour for large loaf and 45 minutes for mini loaves

Sadly for Petit Soleil

the love for

Belgium

(and her grandpa)

has 

called

Izzy
away

…

we hope she 

will

return

to Petit

when 

she

gets back

to

Cal Poly

Thank you

Izzy

for

introducing

us

to 

Speculoos 


and for all 
the 
extra
little
special
things
you did 
for
 Petit Soleil


we will miss you!