ru and her daddy dancing

this weekend my brother-in-law got married. we thought it would be hectic and frustrating but we ended up having a really lovely weekend (it was actually pretty relaxing!). here's ru and her daddy (who made the best best man speech i've ever heard) on the dance floor!

in the spirit of getting a hobby

i tried a new recipe yesterday: Pumpkin Apple Streusel Muffins. I've been looking for something to do with my canned pumpkin! These actually turned out spectacularly. I took a recipe from all recipes and modified it slightly (used wheat flour, halved the sugar, added more pumpkin and apple and some plain yogurt, and used egg beaters instead of eggs...if i had had it on hand, i would have used applesauce in place of the oil too!). I wanted to post the recipe here because they were just sooo delicious AND gorgeous and my husband loved them. I also made 12 big muffins instead of 18 regular-sized ones and had some leftover batter that i spooned into my tiny, top-tier cake pan. it made a scrumptious little cake that we enjoyed for dinner along with some apples and cheddar and pumpernickel bread and butter. yummy. I hope you enjoy these as much as I did!

Pumpkin Apple Streusel Muffins:

• 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin (or apple) pie spice
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten (or 1/2 C egg beaters)
  
• 1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 1/2 cups peeled, cored and chopped apple
• 2 tablespoons wheat flour
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 4 teaspoons butter
• (you could add nuts to the topping too. i think i will next time)
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease 18 muffin cups or use paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, sift together 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 cups sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together eggs, pumpkin and oil. Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture; stirring just to moisten. Fold in apples. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
3. In a small bowl, mix together 2 tablespoons flour, 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle topping evenly over muffin batter.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.

i am DEFINITELY going to enter these into the fair muffin competition this year!
now i just have to think of something to make after i clean the house on saturday, before the boys from the band some over to make flyers!

yay it's baseball season!!!

...or as other people call it, spring. that means all of the good things: good hiking weather, garden planning and planting, slightly warmer weather, six flags opening, and, obviously, baseball (among other things)! we are taking ru to her first baseball game with her godfather at the end of the month and it should be awesome! actually, her godfather (dh's brother) is getting married next weekend and everyone's excited for that. ted took him on a "bachelor party" trip to the baseball hall of fame and brewery trail in cooperstown, nj last weekend. he came back with a tiny pink louisville slugger for ruby and a new two-tone brewers hat for me! not to mention some delicious apple wine and hard cider. ru and i spent a good part of the weekend with my folks going to farmer's markets and exploring dirt roads and whatnot. it was super fun.
In other news, my little one is now crawling! as i type this, she is trying to break into the video cabinet. i put off babyproofing when she was first born, figuring that it would be a while before she started getting into things. well, now i can just tack it onto my spring cleaning list! 1. move liquor cabinet out of baby's room. 2. move cleaning products up from under the sink. 3. take heavy things off of unstable surfaces. 4. cover the million electrical outlets up 5. hammer in loose nails in EVERY SINGLE CABINET. 6. generally make house more baby-friendly. hot dang this is going to be harder than i thought! i mean, i'm not neurotic about stuff like this in general because i think kids will get into most things wherever they are, but i know how klutzy i was (and still am) so if ru inherited any of that, i need to do a serious once-over of the entire house. i am so not ready to have a mobile child!
on an unrelated note, i tried on the dresses i bought last month for al's wedding (that didn't fit me at the time) and now they both fit! the numbers on the scale don't seem to be going down at all, but i feel like i definitely look a little better than i did two months ago (toning maybe?). i've been trying to hit the gym at least 3 times a week, and i'm thinking of joining jazzercize with my sis because i totally feel it the next day, and also they have babysitting and i can go with ash! i'd still like to drop about 30 lbs before i go on vacation in the end of july, and maybe 60 overall. but for right now i'm taking it day by day, and i'm excited enough that i fit in the dresses! now i just have to figure out which one to wear! maybe i'll post pictures later!