Happy November Weekend

Saturday was a great day! We slept in after the Halloween party and the Ryan suggested a trip to the gluten-free bakery. Who was I to disagree!? After a stop at Madwoman Bakery, where I got sticky buns, lemon poppyseed muffins, an apple cinnamon scone and some pretzels, we trekked to Isles Bun and Coffee so Ryan could get some puppy dog tails (cinnamon twist donuts). We also made a stop at Whole Foods for some frozen almond scones. I love having them around for when I need a baked good! :)



The rest of the day we spent cleaning, watching football, and napping. Ryan had to stop into work for a while on Saturday evening so I tagged along and then we made a stop at Super Target for some groceries. It was an early night.

Sunday we attended our first Young Couples Sunday school class. It was world misions week so we had speakers from Ghana and Campus Crusade. Then we went to the contemporary service. We treated ourselves to lunch at Chipotle on the way home.

My friend Ashley came over on Sunday afternoon for a baking extravaganza. We both love to bake and its much more fun to do it together. We tried two new recipes - both winners! After finishing baking we took a long walk - the weather was unbelievably perfect yesterday - 60's and sunny! We were both hot by the time we got back to the house.

Ryan spent his afternoon blowing, raking and bagging all the leaves in the front yard. We have one stubborn tree that refuses to drop its leaves so there will be at least one more raking weekend before the snow flies.


Deliciousness!!!


Pumpkin Cornmeal Muffins
1/2 Cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 Cup light brown sugar
1/2 Cup milk
4 eggs
1 15-ounce can solid pumpkin
1 1/2 Cups whole wheat flour (I substituted my GF flour blend)
1 Cup yellow cornmeal
2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt (I actually forgot this - oops!)
1/4 tsp ground cloves (we replaced the cinnamon and cloves with a pumpkin pie spice blend)

Heat oven to 350* F. Spray muffin tin or use paper liners. In a large bowl, with an electic mixer on Med/High, beat the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low, add the remaining ingredients, and beat for 3 minutes or just until smooth. Spoon batter into muffin tins. Bake 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack. (the recipe says it yields 12 muffins but we got 17)


Banana Apricot Muffins
3 Tbsp butter, melted and cooled
1/4 Cup honey
2 eggs, beaten
2 medium ripe bananas, mashed with a fork
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3 Cups almond flour
3/4 Cup walnuts, chopped
3/4 Cup chopped dried apricots (we left these out)


Preheat oven to 325*. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners or butter the muffin tin thoroughly. Mix butter, honey, eggs, and bananas together in a large bowl. Stir in baking soda and salt. Stir in almond flour, walnuts and apricots until just combined. Spoon batter into muffin cups. Bake 25-35 minutes, until muffins are firm and a toothpick comes out clean.