Do you know the Muffin Man?

Saturday was a baking day for me. I made Best Ever Muffins. (That's the title.) I got the recipe from my hometown church's cookbook. Shout to Holy Family Catholic Church in Emmetsburg! The recipe is fairly simple. I had been wanting to make muffins for quite awhile so we'd have something different to eat in the morning. Lately my breakfast has consisted of a mandarin orange and string cheese. While that's nutritious, it gets a little boring. Muffins are usually healthy and quick. These muffins were ridiculously easy to make:

Best Ever Muffins (courtesy of Diana Parisi)

1 3/4 C flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 C sugar

3/4 tsp salt

1 well beaten egg

3/4 C milk

1/3 C oil or applesauce (I used oil because I didn't have a

pplesauce.)

Sift dry ingredients in a bowl. Beat egg; add milk. Pour

this mixture into bowl of dry ingredients. Stir quickly only until dry ingredients are moistened. DO NOT overmix. Bake at 400 degree preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. May add chocolate chips, fruit, etc. For variations, about 1/2 to 3/4 C each.

Easy, right? I used my Kitchen Aid mixer to sift the dry ingredients together. I also added blueberry craisins after mixing the dry and wet ingredients together. This recipe literally came together within 10 minutes and the best part is: it's delicious! It made about a dozen muffins, which for us is perfect. We each had one yesterday. I kept out two for tomorrow's breakfast and put the rest in the freezer. The crust is crunchy but the inside is very fluffy and light. And the blueberry craisins were a nice addition. Side note: I bought craisins, cherry craisins and blueberry craisins all for this recipe. I was that sure it would be good.

I also made bread with my bread maker.

I had planned to make whole wheat bread using the recipe from the bread maker's manual. No one tell my mom I didn't use her recipe. I will eventually but I'm still learning. And no one tell her that I bought bread flour by mistake. Friday I was standing in the baking aisle looking for whole wheat flour. I wanted the Gold Medal brand because I've used it before and it's usually not expensive. I saw Gold Medal all purpose flour and better for bread flour. There was another brand of whole wheat flour but it was over a dollar more than the Gold Medal flour. I didn't want to pay a lot for the flour. I checked the ingredients on the Better for Bread flour and it says: Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin (A B Vitamin), Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Folic Acid (A B Vitamin). I saw wheat flour and my brain stopped right there. I thought Gold Medal had changed the title of their whole wheat flour because there wasn't any on the shelf. I didn't figure out that I bought the wrong flour until yesterday. But I do plan on making bread quite a bit so the flour will still be used. On the side of the flour, it says that it can be used cup for cup for whole wheat and all purpose flour in recipes so I went ahead with the whole wheat recipe. And you know what? The bread still tastes good. It doesn't take like whole wheat bread; it doesn't take like white bread. But it's good. It's a little darker than your average white bread because it contains molasses.

I also wanted to make granola. My older sister sent me the recipe and it looks good. But I forgot about it. I might make it this afternoon or I might save it for next weekend.