Strawberry-Orange Muffins

They make me happy.

I found the recipe on this blog. Man are there some delicious looking recipes there!

Strawberry Orange Muffins

adapted from Williams-Sonoma, Baking

2 1/4 c all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c sugar
1/2 c water
1/2 c sour cream
1/3 c vegetable oil
1 egg
1 Tbs fresh orange zest
1 c thinly sliced fresh strawberries
1/3 c strawberry jam

Place sliced strawberries in a thin layer on a few sheets of paper towels to absorb juice. Pat the tops with another paper towel.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a muffin pan with non-stick spray.

Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. Whisk sugar, water, sour cream, oil, egg, and orange zest in another bowl. Stir in the strawberries. Add this to the dry ingredients and stir until just blended. Do not overmix.

Place a spoonful of batter into each muffin cup. Add a tsp of jam in each cup, then cover with remaining batter. Bake for about 15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes, then remove muffins and cool on a rack.

They were easy to make and easy to half (Jeff doesn't like muffins. Isn't that crazy?!? I'm not sure I know the man I married. *shakes head*).

And they make me happy because they're like the surprise muffins Mom made when we were little with the little dollop of jam in them.

j'adore

It's utterly absurd how happy this picture makes me.

It's from this site. They have some really cool wallpapers in widescreen. For us who get annoyed at having all of our desktop backgrounds stretched. :)

Until Tuesday, my little letter eater! Then you will be able to replace the Mardi Gras doubloons with your sweet little glasses and letter snarfing nose.

To the very concerned Grandmother

Mitzie is not being starved.

She is still being fed two meals a day even if it takes 30 minutes to wrangle her into her room to eat.

Your grandkitty is fine.

You even heard her chirp for you on the phone tonight.

That was an "I'm a happy monsta!" chirp with lots of energy behind it.

Not a lethargic "Help me Grandma! They're staaaarving me here!"

I promise.

Would a starving kitten have leapt a solid six feet into the air the other day, kicked off of another wall, then slid down the door jamb?

I think not.

Mitzie has been difficult lately.

The kitten doesn't want to go into her room when it's time to be fed. We've tried various methods of luring her in. Treats no longer work. Hiding behind the door no longer works. Letting Summit go in first and then having her follow Sum in no longer works. Scooping her up really quick while she's contemplating running and hiding rarely works. Corralling her between Jeff and I doesn't work. Telling her to go to her room won't work.

So tonight, Jeff chased her around the apartment. I looked up from my flash cards because he wasn't telling her to go into her room anymore. He was on his hands and knees under the dining room table trying to catch her. I nearly died when she decided that wouldn't work anymore either.

She jumped on the top of the table and tried to escape. Jeff is sneaky fast though and managed to nab her while she was on the table contemplating where to run. And we'll probably be able to get her in her room for food for at least one or two more nights with this method.

Any suggestions aside from catching her in a bug net or tranquilizing her? We're running out of ideas, people! The kitten will soon starve because I refuse to let her rule over me and allow her to eat raw food on the carpet. *shudder*