The launch of Recipe of the week.

I've been thinking. And that was a tiring 30 seconds. Whew! I've decided that I have many hobbies and two passions. I'm passionate about my awesome family and cooking. Really my passion is eating, but I'm working through that with my therapist. Even moreso, I love new recipes, and I love cooking healthy meals for my family.

So, I thought, maybe I should stop yapping about all that and share something of sustenance with you. So, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to post a recipe I used this week. And then I'm going to post how I actually did it. Because I thought I followed a recipe fairly verbatim. It turns out, I don't. I have something better to add, or adjust because I forgot to get something at the grocery store always.

So here's your very first ever Mom On The Rocks recipe of the week:
Betty Crocker Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins
1 cup fat-free (skim) milk
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 egg whites or 1 egg
2 cups Gold Medal® whole wheat flour
1/3 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh or canned (drained) blueberries

1. Heat oven to 400ºF. Grease bottoms only of 12 regular-size muffin cups, or place paper baking cup in each muffin cup.
2. Mix milk, applesauce, oil, vanilla and egg whites in large bowl, using fork or wire whisk. Stir in flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, using spoon, just until flour is moistened (batter will be lumpy). Gently stir in blueberries. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.
3. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately remove from pan to wire rack. Serve warm.

My version - I made this today! I used egg whites. I used EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) - I use it for all oils in any recipe and it always works. I suppose I could find some Canola, but one gigantic bottle of oil is really all I care to keep in my kitchen. It works. I think it actually makes baked goods fluffier and lighter, but can't really prove that. Mostly, it's there. So, it's easier. I did not use the Gold Medal® whole wheat flour as recommended by ol Betty. I used whatever whole wheat flour I had in my pantry. The horror, I know. It worked.

I never ever measure vanilla, it's a waste of dirtying a measuring spoon. I drop an estimate of what should be in there. I'm guessing it comes out more than the recommended dosage. I use Mexican Vanilla always. It's so good, and I think stronger and more potent. So, if I ever hear of someone going to Mexico, I beg them to get me a bottle of vanilla while there. If I'm out and no one's willing to smuggle me some vanilla, I ask my moms to grab me some at the Mexican mart down in Houston. The woman is a good woman because she's willing to get me that vanilla for me and mail it safely! Thanks, Moms.

In an effort to keep it as clean as possible -I'm trying y'all -I'm not perfect, I used organic sugar. I haven't stumbled across any Sucanat yet, but will try it as soon as I find it.

And where's the spices? I added a dash of ginger and some cinnamon. I would have added some nutmeg, but I couldn't find my spice grater thingy immediately and it was early in the morning and I'd only had one gigantic cup of coffee, so no nutmeg. I did know where my citrus grater was though. So I threw in some grated orange peel and a squeeze of the top of the orange I used to grate the peel. This ensured no seeds from the quick squeeze. I am awesome and genius. I'll remember this next time.

A cup of blueberries? What? I used a large double handful and stirred that in. It didn't seem like enough blueberries to necessitate tallying a fruit serving, and I thought it would be yummier. I like more blueberry than muffin. So, I lopped in another double handful of fresh blueberries.

When the muffins came out, I sprinkled them with more organic sugar. That's not really a clean idea, I'm aware. Still, thought it would be fun. And it proved to be so. The muffins turned out great. They were pretty fluffy and made 12 huge muffins. The kids have no clue we've changed from regular flour to whole wheat. I served the muffins with strawberries, yogurt and a glass of water. Lucy was ticked off she had to actually stir the yogurt because all the fruit was at the bottom. The horror. It's Friday, and I was on a roll from all that wholesome cooking and all, so I stirred it for her - but with rage. She ate the yogurt out of fear, I think. They both asked for second servings of the muffins. Success.

This recipe took maybe 5 more minutes than a muffin mix would take. So, I'll probably keep it in my recipe log. (i.e. - I've bookmarked it)

Let me know if you try this recipe and what you thought about it!

That's how I roll.
Song of the day: Gin and Juice - The Gourds (not for kids, just fyi) The irony of making these wholesome muffins while rocking out to this song is fun for me. Kinda like the irony of the Gourds covering a Snoop Dogg song. Right?