From scratch: Reflection about Grandma J's Blueberry Muffins

Getting in touch with Grandma J

So far the baking/cooking New Year's Resolutions are in full swing. I think the cold weather has really allowed me to spend some time in the kitchen and be creative; it has been great to make some food and treat myself to homemade goodness. I don't think Jay minds it at all either :)

It's also been great to be doing something connected to my grandmother, the grandmother I'd say I had the least opportunity to get close to, because she was the first to go of my four grandparents (so I was younger when it happened).

When I cook/bake, now I often catch myself talking to Grandma aloud and in my head. When I am adapting her recipes, it has been good for me to engage with her in this way. I think it has helped with my baking skills, to be honest. I also feel after the Date Cookie Disaster of 2010, my dedication to keeping at it no matter the outcome, has made my Grandma proud of me. I think that's why last night, despite my absentmindedness, the blueberry muffins that I made "came out" alright.



Making mistakes

This time everything was written down correctly and with detail (thank you Grandma!), however, I forgot to mix the baking soda, baking powder and salt with the flour, and I forgot to add the vanilla when I should have...what was I thinking? I wasn't really. I was thinking that it was going to be a miracle if they would rise evenly, but I added all the stuff at the very end in its liquidy state, and while they are kinda puny looking muffins, they still taste quite amazing for a first attempt with lots of mistakes!

Because of its somewhat success, I wanted to come on here and give thanks to my Grandma for watching over me and for her wonderful recipes :) I learned I will need to pay more attention when I am cooking, and I reflected on why I am here attempting to go through her recipes.

Finding the inspiration to go on

I'm not quite sure where the deep inspiration came from for me to be so into the process of cooking/baking, but I think a lot of it stems from my recent nutrition course in my program and my want to get away entirely from processed foods. However, I have really wanted to put myself into "the process" of making the food and feel more connected to my food choices.

I attended a Meditation class last Saturday and was reminded about the importance of putting time and effort into the things we care about--from meditation to relationships to other practices like cooking.

The teacher was saying, you can't just take a meditation class and learn the principles and think that you are an expert. Just like you can't take a cooking class and expect to be a chef the next day. You need to put time into the practice in order to become proficient in it. You must meditate daily, before you find yourself acquiring the amazing achievements science has found meditation brings. You need to cook everyday to become a great cook.

So it is this principle of giving time to what's important that I am trying to make space for in my life, and I'm excited to see what outcomes lie ahead if I continue to pursue my interests in this way.

Check-in Question
What is it that you would like to develop in your life? Are you putting time into it? Are you building on your experiences? Are you working at it everyday?

Try making a list of things that are important to you be it people, places, skills, etc. and reflect on what you are doing to make these things a priority. What's stopping you from it? How can you make small steps to overcome these blockages?

Thanks for your thoughts, but just give us the recipe...
Grandma J's blueberry muffins (my twist on it is in parenthesis)



1 cup sugar
1/2 cup margerine (1 stick unsalted butter)
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk (1/2 cup milk with 1/2 cup whole fat yogurt)
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt (sea salt)
1 tsp vanilla
1-1/2 cup blueberries
(cinnamon)

1. Cream together sugar and butter. Add eggs over and beat well.
2. In a separate bowl mix flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together.
3. Put vanilla in the buttermilk (yogurt/milk).
4. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk (milk/yogurt/vanilla mixture).
5. Fold in the berries.
6. Put in lined muffin tins (or lightly oil your muffin pan) 2/3 full. (For me it made 15 muffins).
7. Sprinkle a little cinnamon over the top if it suites you (my addition).
8. Bake at 375 degrees in the oven for 30 minutes (I only needed to do 28 minutes).
9. Enjoy!

My how "time flies" and my latest baking endeavors

Happy belated New Year everybody!

Time flies, huh?

I really must say that this year I have felt life move so very quickly, it's almost amazing and depressing all at once. (Here I ask myself, did I take enough breaths in between the movement?) At the same time I do feel at home with where I am at post- 2010, even though I do not always know exactly where that might be at any given point in time :)

Brief 2010 recap: I got engaged to a fine man, I finished 3 semesters of 4 semesters of grad school, woot woot, I started my yogi schooling, I fell in love with plants all over again and the list goes on...I'll spare you the rest of the details.

What I came on here to say was that I have a list of 40 New Years Resolutions this year. I know, I am trying to cut back a bit here. Forty is a little excessive, no? I won't judge myself for it. I keep one of these lists going at all times anyway, not just for New Year's but it's always fun to "start fresh" and reconsider one's priorities. New Year's happens to be one of those holidays that gets people thinking about their lives, so I'm a fan.

Don't worry, I didn't come on here to tell you about all 40 things I wrote about, either, I just wanted to share one, mainly because I have pictures.

#19 Bake Grandma J's recipes, work on recipe book.

Picture of Grandma J's well-used recipe cards that I am working on...


To explain more about this project, my Grandma J was a woman dedicated to making the bestest baked goodies and she had quite a few recipes up her sleeve. Well, my family has had her recipe box sitting on a shelf, and I noticed it was getting dusty so I decided this year I wanted to pick a bunch of them and try on Grandma's shoes.

So far I have tried four of her recipes. I made her pecan pie successfully for my Dad's birthday three years ago and last year (Dec.) I decided to tackle my dad's favorite Christmas cookie recipe for Christmas.

This experience is now referred to as "The Date Christmas Cookie Disaster of 2010." Yes, I'm being dramatic, the cookies still tasted okay but let's just say that my dad's sister (who was often in charge of typing up Grandma J's recipes had forgotten to include an ingredient on her recipe card). Oops. I won't fully blame her because it was kinda funny looking back on it and I didn't have much guidance, I probably did a million things wrong, but I learned another lesson.

I learned that my grandma's vague descriptions leave me with a lot of questions. Sometimes I wish I could just call her up and ask her what she meant. Sometimes I regret not talking about these kinds of things with her when she was alive, but at the same time, I was 10 years younger and had no desire to be in the kitchen especially if it meant that I'd be doing the dishes.

Relative to this project I'm doing, this realization has required me to do my own research and brainstorming before commencing the baking/cooking. Now when attempting one of her recipes, I look online at similar recipes to make sure I'm on the right track with directions.

So far on the year I have made her banana bread- which was a hit, and tonight I just made her Mexican Wedding Cake--the cake, not the cookie.





While some of her ingredients are old school and not so healthy, I have tried to stick as closely to what she used because I want to keep with tradition, which brings me to another point.

Tradition is so important to me, and I think a lot of Americans have lost their family traditions and culture as time flies by and the days of early immigration fade from our nation's memories. Some of the last traditions to stay alive in our melting pot country happen to be recipes. This thinking brought me to the reason why I wanted to reconnect with Grandma J through her recipes.

Originally the plan was for me to record all of her recipes down into my recipe book. But after I thought about it, I decided it made more sense to try the recipe first. I wanted to try them out because I needed to decide for myself if it was a recipe I really want to pass onto my family. Instead of just mindlessly copying words, I felt by baking it and making my own tweaks, I could add my story to the line of tradition and ingredients, making me a part of it, too.

Here are the pictures of tonight's project. I have not frosted the cake yet, I think I'll wait until morning. If it tastes lovely I may post the recipe, otherwise I challenge you to dig up some family recipes of your own and add your flavor to it. Tweak it or leave it :) If your family doesn't bake or did not record the recipes, don't fret, if you want to change that part of your history, then maybe now would be a good time to start your own book.

The frosting--I didn't quite get all the powdered sugar mixed...let's just say some of the frosting ended up on the floor so the ratio was eyeballed.


The cake--after the mexican wedding, the frosting and cake will become one :) But for now, I'm off to bed.