{live the moment...}: Muffins and layouts... I've been productive

I must say how happy I am that the flu did not hit me that hard, compared to others I know, but it's still is no fun! I had this sinus thing off and on for almost 3 weeks now. One morning I wake up feeling great and the next day, I can't breathe through my nose, my ears are plugged and my neck and back muscles are stiff. It really is pretty annoying. But no time for the wary, right?!

Over the past several years, I have always said I want to try new recipes and just never seem to get around to it. This year, I am determined to do so. My goal is to try a new recipe every other week. Basically, every time I go to the grocery, I am going to buy ingredients to cook something new.
I had blueberries I needed to use up and thought of muffins. I have always made blueberry muffins from a box, never from scratch. So I headed Pinterest to see what I could find. I found a few things, but went with one from Our Best Bites

I did a couple things different. I did not have buttermilk so looked up a conversion and added another egg and more liquid. Here is what I made- Streusel-Topped Blueberry Muffins

First the Buttermilk Conversion

Milk (just under one cup)
1 Tablespoon white vinegar or lemon juice

Preparation:

1. Place a Tablespoon of white vinegar in a liquid measuring cup.
2. Add enough milk to bring the liquid up to the one-cup line.
3. Let stand for five minute. Then, use as much as your recipe calls for.

Recipe: (NOTE: MY ADD INS)

1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
2 3/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. table salt
1/2 c. sugar
2 tsp. grated orange
1 large egg (add another egg)
3/4 c. buttermilk (conversion)
1/3 c. canola oil
(my add: 2 Tbsp Orange Juice)
1 c. fresh or frozen blueberries
1 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. sugar
Streusel Topping
1/4 c. sugar
2 1/2 Tbsp. flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 Tbsp. butter
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly spoon the flour into measuring cups and level with with a knife and combine it in a large bowl with the baking powder, salt, sugar, and citrus peel. Make a well in the center of the mixture. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk, and oil. Add to the dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened.
**For me the batter looked too think, so I added another egg and 2 tablespoons of Orange Juice**
In a small bowl, combine the remaining flour and sugar and then toss the blueberries in this mixture until they are well-coated. Gently fold the blueberry mixture into the batter. Spoon the batter into lined muffin tins, filling 2/3 full.
To make the streusel topping, combine the 1/4 c. sugar, 2 1/2 Tbsp. flour, and cinnamon. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or two butter knives until the mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle over the batter and bake for 18 minutes or until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the muffins comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack. Makes 12 muffins (mine ended up to be 18).

I was pleased and the kids and hubby gobbled them up! I will make them again, and try with the buttermilk.

Over the past couple weeks I have also created a bit. I have been finishing up layouts I started months ago, and I mean MONTHS ago! Most of them were from classes I taught at Art Inspired, layouts without photos. I finished up 5 layouts and created one from scratch.