The Best Blueberry Muffin Recipe

While I feel slightly uncomfortable declaring something "The Worlds Best" when it technically hasn't won any titles, and I haven't tired every blueberry muffin in the world so I don't really know. But I do feel fairly confident in stating that this is at least in the top 10 best blueberry muffins in the world! ;)
This is the muffin you make when you have out of town guests and they're staying the night! This is the recipe you choose when your mother-in-law visits! These are the wife of the year, bonus points, extra credit Blueberry Muffins!

It's a three part recipe, first you make the batter with the blueberries, then you stir in a blue berry paste, and lastly you top with the streusel topping! Bake and you're done. 

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. You don't need your mixer for this you can definitely just use some elbow grease and a wooden spoon!  Make sure to mix in the blueberries last and just fold them in gently! 
Blueberry Muffin: 
2 cups fresh blueberries
1 1/8 cups Sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
¼ cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup 2% milk                  
3/4 cup Greek Yogurt  

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Pop some cupcake liners into a muffin tin. Drop a big spoonful of batter into each liner. 

Stir in topping: 
1/2 cup Blueberries
1 tbsp water
1 tsp Sugar

Throw a half cup of blueberries into a small pot, turn the pot on high and add the water and sugar, stirring frequently. Smoosh the blueberries with the back of a spoon in the pot. You're trying to make a wet jamy like topping.
Drop a big dollup on top of each muffin:

Then stir in a bit, we use a wooden skewer, you just want to spread it around the top a bit!

Lumpy Sugary Streusal topping: (aka. The Best Part)
4 tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp white sugar
1/2 cup flour
5 tbsp melted butter

In a bowl, mix together ingredients. It should form a big lump (add more flour if it needs it, the mixture texture should be kind of like pie dough). Break up the mixture between your fingers so it's nice and crumbly!!! Crumble all over the top of each muffin!

Bake at 375degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. If your oven runs hot, 15 should be enough, if it runs cool it might need 20 min. Keep an eye on them, if you stick a skewer in the middle and it comes out clean, they're DONE!

This recipe makes about 24 muffins! And they really are worth the extra effort! I Promise!!!! 

Bacon on Friday??

I've swapped out today's Flowers on Friday post, for Bacon 'on Friday'. I know a two recipe week might be a bit overkill but there are flowers in the picture so if you don't like bacon you can look at the flowers, but seriously . . . who doesn't like bacon???

Have you ever wondered "is there anyway to make bacon worse for your health?" Yes, Yes you can, and it tastes AWESOME.

10 Slices of Bacon (we use a thicker cut bacon but it works just as well with regular cut bacon)
1/2  cup Brown Sugar
2 tsp Dried Chili Flakes (we use 1 Tbsp, because we like it a big spicier, if you like it milder use 1 tsp)

Oven at 400 F. Baking the bacon in the oven is the best way to make bacon, no splattering grease. For this recipe it's the only way to cook the bacon, if you fry it in a pan all of the coating will come off.

Place bacon on a baking sheet, we use a wire rack on a baking sheet lined with foil, it makes clean up so much easier. If you don't have a wire rack just bake it on the sheet.

Lay out your slices of bacon, crumble your brown sugar on top of them, and sprinkle the dried chili flakes.
Bake for around 25 minutes.

Eat, then plan an entire afternoon of high intensity exercise, to work off the fact that you just ate 10 slices of bacon with sugar crumbled on top!
But really Give it a try! It's Amazing!

 Free Printable found Here.

Meal Plan Monday: Breakfast!

One aspect of my meal planning that has been seriously lacking is Breakfast! I've always glazed over breakfast, here are some of our breakfast made easy ideas.

First I LOVE to make and eat these Granola Bars it's Ina Garten's recipe and they're delicious.

Ingredients

• 2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
• 1 cup sliced almonds
• 1 cup shredded coconut, loosely packed
• 1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2/3 cup honey
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup chopped pitted dates
• 1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8 by 12-inch baking dish and line it with parchment paper.

Toss the oatmeal, almonds, and coconut together on a sheet pan and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl and stir in the wheat germ.

Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F.

Place the butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir for a minute, then pour over the toasted oatmeal mixture. Add the dates, apricots, and cranberries and stir well.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. (we use a mini loaf pan lined with parchment paper) Wet your fingers and lightly press the mixture evenly into the pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until light golden brown. Cool for at least 2 to 3 hours before cutting into squares. Serve at room temperature.

• Making an extra large batch of  pancakes on the weekend and then freezing them and re-heating them in the toaster like frozen waffles works fantastically. Freezing Waffles also works great haha
• Fresh Fruit and cottage cheese, so simple! 

• Breakfast Casserole- we make this on the weekend and it's soooo good! It works great if you have overnight guests, you can assemble it the night before and pop it into the oven when you wake up, get ready while it's cooking and eat it when your ready :)

Ingredients:

• 4 slices Bacon
• 12oz-16oz Bacon or Sausage Cooked and Drained
• 2 cups shredded Cheddar Cheese
• 6 eggs, beaten
• 2 cups milk
• 4 slices white bread
• 1tsp dried mustard (we use a tsp of regular Frenches mustard and a  dash of Cayenne).

Directions:

• Grease a 9x13 pan. Tear up 4 slices of bread and place in the bottom of the pan. Top with bacon or sausage, sprinkle shredded cheese on top. Mix eggs, milk and mustard together pour over casserole.
• Bake at 350 for 35 min :)

• Muffins are always good but maybe not everyday, Muffins are just donuts in disguise haha Muffins also freeze well, if you want to make a big batch and pull one out in the morning. Oatmeal Muffins would be okay everyday, in fact this week I'm trying out a jam filled muffin recipe, I'll let you know how it goes :)
• OATMEAL-Lee has oatmeal in the mornings and uses honey to sweeten it! Our naturopath highly recommended it as Lee has cholesterol issues in his family! Oatmeal can significantly reduce your levels of Bad Cholesterol. 
• And I never underestimate how good a bowl of rice krispies and a cut up banana can be. As far as cereal goes, a good rule of thumb is that your cereal should have less then 10grams of sugar per serving! LOVE CRUNCH is my new favorite cereal! It has 10 grams of sugar per serving and that includes the little chunks of chocolate in it . . . . YUM. It also super great in Yogurt!!