Ok, so never again will I draft a blog entry in Flickr - just poured my heart out, only to have it give me a "D'oh!" message and tell me to try again later.
I'll try to keep it to the point. Baking is unnatural for me. I am cook by nature. I like, and to a degree, need the freedom to play, improvise, substitute for what I don't have and change my game plan altogether. Baking does not afford one this luxury. It's more of a disciplined art, which makes it, well, a lot of WORK. However, something that requires so much effort is also that much greater an expression of love and gratitude for whomever your recipients are. For this and other reasons, I resolve to bake more. And I did. This morning. With my 2-year-old.
Jacob has this Learning Tower (I love it - sometimes) that allows him to get right in the middle of the action. When I want him to help me in the kitchen, I pull the Learning Tower up to the sink and we rock out. He has a habit of turning on the faucet full-blast and pouring water every which way. This really, really tests my patience. However, in keeping with my resolutions to be a better mom, I included him in today's baking adventure. He loves to pour, spill and mix - so I would measure out dry and wet ingredients, and help him pour them all into mixing bowls. This was a good exercise for me - I was tested, many times, to keep my perspective, maintain my good humor and patience...SMILE. And also, embrace the chaos. My shining moment of accomplishment was when we were loading the finished (phew!) batter into the muffin tin. I handed him a metal spoon, then switched it out for a wooden spoon, thinking that metal will damage the teflon coating. One potential disaster avoided. It turned out to be pointless because the wooden spoon never made it to the tin - Jacob took a nice-sized glob of orange, lumpy batter and dumped it into his Learning Tower, right on his little bare foot. Splat!
Here was my first moment of glory - I LAUGHED. Thank you, God, for letting me see the humor in this moment!! I let out a great, big belly laugh which in turn made Jacob laugh! Then the dog came over and helped with the mess, which made it funnier. Jacob gladly helped mop up the remaining batter with a sponge. That kept him busy long enough for me to finish loading the tin and put it in the oven. Sixteen and a half minutes later came my second moment of glory - the muffins were PERFECT! No burnt bottoms!!
I am including the recipe at the end of this posting, but I have just a bit more to say about my little journey of personal growth. It's HARD. I realize that I'm approaching "broken record" territory - but I have to say that I am challenged constantly by my beautiful, adorable, 2-year-old caveman to refrain from reacting when my buttons are pushed. I remind myself that this behavior has nothing to do with ME - the kid is doing exactly what he should be doing - which is exploring and testing the limits of his world. I want more than ANYTHING to be the kind of mom who exudes grace, humor and gentleness throughout these challenging moments! I know women like this, and they are my heroes. I strive every day to be more like them. I have so much more work to get to that point, but I can and will get there. I will do it for my family, for my friends, and most importantly for myself. One muffin at a time. :)
This recipe was adapted from the "Applesauce Multigrain Muffins" recipe found on the label of Country Choice Organic Multi Grain Hot Cereal. Since the product is organic, the original recipe calls for all ingredients to be organic, as well. I use as many organic ingredients as I have on hand, but it's your choice.
Another reason why I love this recipe is that I successfully substituted Jacob's carrot-apple baby food for unsweetened applesauce. I am so not a "baker."
Jen's Carrot Apple Muffins
1 Cup Country Choice Organic Multigrain Hot Cereal (uncooked)
1.5 Cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
0.5 tsp. baking soda
0.5 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 packages Trader Joe's Apple Carrot fruit sauce Crushers OR 1 Cup unsweetened applesauce
0.5 Cup fat-free or low-fat milk
0.5 Cup brown sugar
0.25 Cups sunflower or canola oil
1 egg
1. Preheat the oven to 400F degrees. Line twelve-muffin tin with baking cups or lightly oil bottoms of cups.
2. Combine dry ingredients - oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon.
3. In a separate bowl, combine "wet" ingredients - applesauce or fruit sauce, milk, brown sugar, oil and egg.
4. Combine wet and dry ingredients and stir just until the dry ingredients are moistened.
5. Spoon batter into muffin tin and bake for 18-20 minutes.*
6. Test with a knife, and if the knife is clean, remove from the oven and transfer muffins out of the tin to a basket too cool. Serve soon after baking or freeze for later!
* My oven usually runs 20 degrees too hot, so I have to start checking them after 15 minutes. They were perfectly done today in 16.5 minutes!
