Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Thursday Mini-Post

*Note*

I had originally planned to do a blog about my recent Gourmet Food Tour experience, but I will be moving that blog to Tuesday. Please be sure to stop by next week to read all about it.


What is it about a rainy day that makes us want to curl up with a good book? This week, the weather has been a bit schizophrenic, blazing hot one minute and cool and drizzly the next. Inevitably, as soon as the first gust of wind hits me with the unmistakable scent of rain, my fingers itch to grab a good book and a nice cup of tea. Sitting on my screened back porch, listening to the sound of the rain hitting the trees around me and dancing on the surface of the lake, my world narrows to that perfect moment in time, content to feel utterly at peace in the absence of modern day distractions.

An ideal time to have a scrumptious baked good at one's side, don't you think? Recently, I tweaked a banana bread recipe (originally from Southern Living) to make the most divine blueberry banana crumble-top muffins. They are the perfect accompaniment to a lazy, rainy day, and a scrumptious addition to any good book :) I do hope you will try them, and let me know what you think.

When is your favorite time to read? Do you reach for a book on those rainy days? Or do you find yourself reading in bed late at night, with nothing to bother or interrupt you as a snoozing husband/dog/cat lays quietly by your side? Of course, I do both, as well as obsessively pick a book up when I am in the passenger seat of a car, waiting for muffins to bake, or soaking in the tub. Still, nothing beats the rain…

On a side note, I came across this site a while ago, and found it to be… delicious :) Check it out when you have 10 minute for a coffee break. It’s the best advertisement I’ve seen in years, lol! Click Here


Rainy Day Blueberry Banana Crumble-Top Muffins

6 Tbsp butter (about 3/4 of a stick) - softened

4 oz (half package) cream cheese - softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 cups flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 large bananas - mashed

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup frozen bluberries (you can adjust amount based on preference. Also, fresh should work too, I just haven't tried it that way yet)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cream together butter and cream cheese. Add sugar and mix until light and fluffy – at least several minutes. Add egg, beat until just blended.

In a separate bowl, combine all four dry ingredients, then gradually add to butter mixture, beating on low speed until just blended.

Fold in the bananas, vanilla, and blueberries, gently distribute to muffin tin. Sprinkle Topping over batter. Bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Crumble Topping

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup cold butter

Combine flour and sugar, and cut in cold butter using a pastry cutter or two knives until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs pea-sized or smaller. You can refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for several weeks.

12 comments:

  1. Love to read in the bath or on the beach/dock at the lake, which is one of the many reasons I've never made the shift to an e-reader.

    Being a busy mother trying to squeeze in enough time for my own writing, I've not been able to read for pleasure for a while. I'll have to rectify that situation soon...

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love to read all day on a rainy day, curled up in a chair with two cats fighting for my attention by cuddling as hard as they can. I don't get much time for that these days, LOL, so I tend to do my reading in bed, just before turning out the light. *sigh* Still, maybe someday soon we'll have a rainy day and I'll have some free time.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Heather, I can't seem to do the e-reader thing because I have a love affair with holding a real book in my hands :) I hope you can eek out more time for reading soon! I got bogged down for a while and did very little reading, and found when I picked a good book up I felt more inspired in my own writing. Thanks for stopping by!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Catherine, I find bedtime reading is usually what I end up doing, too. Here's hoping for more rainy days...and free time, of course!

    ReplyDelete
  5. My husband would probably like these. I hate blueberries but he loves them. The only fruit smoothies he makes are blueberry - so I have lots of frozen fruit around.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Beth, I have made these before and divided the batter so that half had blueberries and half don't. If you like banana bread, then you should really like these muffins :) Let me know if he likes them if you decided to try the recipe!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I can remember you being a kid and reading in the bathtub for so long I was afraid you must've drowned...to make matters worse, when I tried to check on you, you'd be so engrossed in your book (or more likely, annoyed by me) that you wouldn't answer -- so I'd have to run to mom and dad, heart racing, to tell them we had to rescue you because you must've slipped under the water. Yep, you've always loved a good book:) I love to read in the mountains or the woods where there's absolutely no distractions. Before bed in short spurts works too...

    ReplyDelete
  8. Erin, I so wish I could bake. Alas I burn water so I am a lucky girl to have found a man who loves to cook. Such a sexy combination lol.

    I love to read on my porch or in the bath. I've gotten into reading on my computer as well lately. I still love the feel and smell of a book though. But I drag my laptop out, settle onto my new sofa and open the doors and windows to let in the breeze. The beauty of being in the third story apartment is being too high up for nosy neighbors lol. I also write this way, on my sofa in front of the windows. Hubby doesn't know how I can lay with my laptop on my belly for hours but I love it!

    Great blog makes me yearn for a good book now. I may have to go shopping soon.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow, Melissa, sitting on a comfy new sofa, basking in a gentle breeze way up on the third story sounds like a wonderful place to read! How lovely to find a man who loves to cook. My hubby can do a damn fine spaghetti, but that is about the limit of his culinary skills - lol :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. I am totally in my own world when I read, Kara-lol! Kirk learned years ago to say my name when I am reading, and about a minute later I will emerge and ask if he said something :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Typically overheard on a long car trip, and by long car trip I mean anywhere outside the neighborhood:

    Me: "Hey, Erin."

    Whistle the music from final jeopardy. Twice.

    Erin: "Huh, what?"

    ReplyDelete
  12. hahahaha! Too true, Kirk, too true :)

    ReplyDelete