Pear and Walnut Muffins

These may be my favorite muffins ever and coming from a family that specializes in yummy muffins that's saying something. I just whipped up a batch today and so help me I've almost polished off half of them on my own! This recipe is from Cooking Light.

1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup all-purpose flour (about 4 1/2 ounces)
1/3 cup whole wheat flour (about 1 1/2 ounces)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 (8-ounce) carton plain fat-free yogurt
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups finely diced peeled pear (any kind; I use bartlett)
Cooking spray
3 tablespoons turbinado sugar (or regular sugar if that's all you have)

Preheat oven to 400°.

Place walnuts in a food processor; process until finely ground.

Lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flours and next 3 ingredients (through salt) in a medium bowl; stir well with a whisk. Stir in ground walnuts. Make a well in center of mixture.

Combine brown sugar and the next 4 ingredients (through egg) in a small bowl; add to the flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Fold in diced pear.

Spoon batter into 15 muffin cups coated with cooking spray; sprinkle batter with turbinado sugar. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Remove from pans immediately. Place on a wire rack. Serve either warm or at room temperature.

Southwestern Butternut Squash Soup

We tried this recipe out last week and it is fantastic! I love squash soup anyway and the spicy kick is amazing. It's from Cook's Illustrated.

1 medium butternut squash (about 3 pounds), peeled, seeded, and cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks
3 medium shallots , peeled and quartered
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Salt and pepper
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon lime juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1 tablespoon minced chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
Sour cream (optional)
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Toss squash, shallots, oil, 1 teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper in large bowl, then arrange in single layer in large roasting pan. Roast, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are golden brown and softened, about 45 minutes. Add ½ cup broth to pan and scrape up any browned bits with wooden spoon. Return to oven and cook until liquid has reduced and vegetables are glazed, about 5 minutes.

2. Working in 2 batches, puree squash mixture and remaining broth in blender until smooth. Transfer pureed squash mixture to large saucepan and stir in honey, lime juice, cumin, and cream. Bring soup to simmer over medium-low heat, adding ¼ cup water at a time as necessary to adjust consistency. Just prior to serving, stir in cilantro and chiles. Serve with dollop of sour cream, if desired. (Soup can be refrigerated in airtight container for 3 days.)

We didn't use the sour cream and it was great without it. Probably even better with it. I highly encourage you to try!

Eva moves

This is mostly for the grandparents. Eva really likes her car seat (when she's not strapped in it) so we keep toys in it to amuse her. Sorry the picture gets jiggley at the end; I'm trying to scoot across the floor so she can't quite get me.

My Girls

Here's a picture of Grace sporting her new outfit. Notice especially the knee high black boots. We bought them because, not only should every girl have a pair of knee high black boots, (though her mother does not) but they look especially killer with her spider-girl costume for Halloween!



I just walked in on Eva looking like this:


Seriously, how can she be old enough to be standing!

Do you think his teacher will notice?

I hope this picture is big enough for you to see what's going on. Sam's school is doing a reading challenge and the parents are supposed to sign off for every 20 minutes read. Sam decided to just cut the parent out of the whole equation.

click on the picture to see bigger... you're looking at the bottom left side of the orange paper.

We had a little talk about right and wrong after this.

ps- Sam did in fact do the reading that he signed for. He just got tired of waiting for me to sign the paper.

New Dress

Thanks so much to Aunt Whitney for this cute gingham dress! (the wet spot comes from Eva)

Trip to Utah

Yesterday we got home from a very quick and very fun trip to Utah to visit my older sister and her family. My mom and youngest sister also drove up from AZ to be with us. It was great to see everyone and I just wish we had had more time and less distractions (such as school, dogs, babies). Here's some pictures from the trip.

Grace and Eva on the trampoline. The trampoline was a great hit with my kids, especially Sam. He spent more time on the tramp then doing anything else, except maybe sleeping.

Eva also had fun on the tramp. She mostly just rolled around and put leaves in her mouth, but she enjoyed every minute of it!

The kids with Grandpa Murland at the Hill Airforce Base Aerospace museum

Jeep from WWI

Grace loved this lady in the lobby of the museum. She's wearing a dress made from parachute silk.

There were TONS of planes at the museum, both inside and out.

The cousins at the top of Ensign peak. It was so windy but the view was incredible.

Grace taking a rest on the hike up.

Eva likes her back pack.

At the SLC temple reflecting pool.

Pretty Sophie

Rob thought it would be fun to have a bubble gum bubble blowing contest. Brother-in-law Marc is incapable of blowing bubbles with gum. Here's a picture of his best try.

Sally was the clear winner. This picture is just a second too late to catch her truly awesome accomplishment.

Whitney did her best.

All told it was a great trip. We got to spend time with Great-Grandma Budge which was a treat (kicking myself that I neglected to take any pictures!) and it was fun to hang out with my mom and almost all my sisters. Thanks again Whit for taking care of us!

Cross Country

The elementary schools here in Spokane received a grant this year to run a cross country program free for all students. Sam's been working hard and having fun at the practices. He's always been a fast runner, but not a far runner so its been a challenge for him to learn to pace himself. The first meet was this last Wednesday and he did great! I was really surprised at how far the kids had to run! He did walk parts of the course, but over all pushed himself and had a great experience and a good sense of accomplishment. Here are some pictures from the meet and a little video of his finish.

Hydrating after the race

All Bundled (likes to eat zippers)

Arriving at the park with his team

Having fun while waiting for the meet to start

Go Sam Go!