Fall used to be my favorite season. That was back when I lived in Georgia and fall was a nice time with LOTS of fallen leaves and pleasant temps in the 60’s and 70’s. Then I went to college in the Northeast and experienced a Boston fall and real cold and decided that I didn’t like ANY cold season anymore. Give me 110 degrees in the direct sun any day. So while I know people are getting excited for fall and putting up decorations and fall recipes, there’s still a week left of summer and I want to celebrate it. First thing this morning I got showered and dressed for a special summer destination.
I haven’t been to a Williamsburg Farmers’ Market since we’ve been back for the school year! Outdoor markets are one of my favorite things about warm weather! The market was hoppin’ as usual and full of beautiful goods.
There was even entertainment!
I was looking for fruit to buy but never found any! The apple stand was all sold out. 🙁 But I didn’t walk away empty handed.
I got a chocolate chip scone and a chai pumpkin spice latte from my favorite coffee shop by the market. I swore not to eat anything pumpkin flavored until the first day of fall, but the barista insisted that I must try it. He was right, it was incredible.
There’s nothing like being outside when the weather is this perfect!
After the market I headed home for some quality time in the kitchen. Yesterday (after a very long working day) I told Jason that today “All I’m going to do is cook with the windows open.” And that’s what I did. Cooking is so much better with fresh air and sunshine! I worked on a couple recipes to take this summer out with a bang. The first thing I made is something that Jason has been begging for for a long time.
Nothing says summer like blueberry muffins! These are made with whole wheat and use frozen blueberries so that you can make them any time of year.
Anytime Blueberry Muffins
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Keywords: bake quick bread
Ingredients (12 muffins)
- 1 c. blueberries + 2 T. flour
- 1/4 c. melted coconut oil
- 2/3 c. sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/4 c. milk
- 1 t. vanilla extract
- 1/2 c. applesauce
- 1/4 t. lemon extract
- 1/4 c. greek yogurt
- 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
- 3/4 c. white whole wheat flour
- 1 1/2 t. baking powder
- 1/2 t. baking soda
- 2 T. vanilla pudding mix
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
Rinse the frozen berries under cool water until the water underneath runs mostly clear. Place the berries between a couple paper towels and gently blot.
Put the berries in a small bowl with the 2 T. of flour and toss the berries gently by shaking the bowl around to coat the berries in flour. Set aside.
In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar, coconut oil, extracts, greek yogurt, egg, milk, and applesauce until very smooth.
Add in the flour, pudding mix, baking powder, and baking soda and mix just until well combined.
Gently fold in the blueberries.
Insert liners into the cups of a muffin pan and spray the pan with non-stick spray.
Scoop an equal amount of batter into all 12 muffin cups.
Bake in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
Remove the muffins from the tin and let them finish cooling on a rack.
There will be more summer recipes to come before this week is over!
After I made the muffins and some other fun stuff, Jason had the great idea of going to get some Indian food for lunch. Obviously I didn’t say no.
The Indian restaurant near us has a great lunch buffet. We don’t eat enough Indian food! As usual, the naan was my favorite part of the meal.
To make a LONG story very short, we ended up heading nextdoor to Big Lots and getting a new sofa on a whim! It was on clearance. I drove a large rental truck. The door had to be removed from our house to fit the sofa inside. I might have sprained my wrist. But we now have a real SOFA!
It’s a HUGE upgrade from the crappy Walmart futon we’ve been dealing with for the last couple of years. Great ending to a jam packed day.
Thanks for reading!
-Lauren