All Love does is Win

Summer camps mean a lot of things to a lot of people and this one means a lot to me. You know those kids that wait at the mailbox for the registration brochure, attend the very first week of camp, are the last ones in their cabin to leave, and sing every new song they learned over and over on the ride home until they pass out or their parents scream "uncle?" Well, my name is Ashley, and I'm a campaholic. I've been coming to Lutherhill since I was old enough and spent 9 summers here as camper, intern, and staffer. I love this place so much I married it (well, I got married here anyway). So when I heard there was a wildfire coursing it's way through the area in September...I was not a happy camper. I had just left our farm 5 minutes down the road when the fire started but got all the way home to Austin before I heard the news. Now we all had to wait, hands tied, unable to help until the smoke cleared (despite some valiant renegade missions for news and recon).

I say "we" because camp is family and this place has been home. Family of intimate friends new and old, even some blood relatives, but all family of God. Not just in a trite/cliche way, but a "you're one of the people/we are bonded before Ai'wa" kinda way (don't get it? Go watch Avatar). Now it's round 2 of cleaning up this battered and bruised wilderness and they've asked for help. And when family needs you, you show up. Do I know how to wield a chainsaw, pull stumps, or put out hotspots? Can my two month old baby clear brush? Nope, but it's doesn't matter. Just show up and you'll figure it out together.

The day after the fire started:

Today:

Fire - 0, Love - 1

Blueberry Muffins - that happen to be healthy

I've always loved blueberry muffins but most of the time I settle for the packaged mixes.  Don't judge - you  know you do too, because they're not terrible and they're easy.  But, like many people this time of year, I have been struck with a compulsion to take care of my body and put a little more thought to the things I put in my mouth and it turns out - blueberries are good for you.  I saw something about them including that buzz-word antioxidants, even though I don't know what's so wrong with oxidants.  So last night I set out to have a healthy evening and bake some muffins from scratch.  We made some great lean pork chops and broccoli and then....I had several pieces of toffee, a couple pieces of lefse (crepe-like potato tortilla-esque things stuffed with butter and brown sugar)....and no blueberry muffins.  Then tonight we tried again with turkey tacos and....a glass of homemade raspberry chocolate port wine. But alas, I did finally get around to those blueberry muffins.  I found a good recipe from this lovely lass at Ginger Rose and gave it my best shot.  Bonus, she even provides an awesome Arcade Fire soundtrack.

First, as all people naturally do, I gathered all the necessary ingredients and posed them for glamour shots.

Bonus points to the nerd who figures out which ingredient I forgot in this picture.

Next up, put all the dry ingredients - flour (both regular and fancy schmancy organic whole wheat flour) sugar, salt, and baking powder - into a bowl and stir em up.

Pour your 1/3 cup of apple sauce into a larger 1 cup measuring cup (I actually used a two cup one to give an allowance for the giant mess I make in mixing), crack in the egg, and fill the cup up with milk until it reaches the 1 cup mark.  Then you're going to need to take a trip to Mexico, drink a fresh Margarita, and buy one of these GIANT liters of vanilla.  This bottle has literally lasted me 6 years. Add the vanilla to your liquid concoction and stir.

Add the concoction to your dry ingredients and stir until almost blended.  Here's my interpretation of "almost blended."

Gather up 1 cup of blueberries, toss them with a heaping tablespoon of flour and add them to the mix. Stir them in, but don't cream the suckers.  Roll that beautiful blueberry footage.

Of course I had responsibly preheated the oven and lined the muffin tin with cupcake liners.  I didn't have any pretty minimalist french kitchen white ones, so I just had to settle for these sassy ones.

I scooped the mix into these blue beauties and got to work on the sugary crumbly topping.  The recipe says to mix the brown sugar, butter, flour and cinnamon with your hands but I thought I'd be smart and use a fork (you know, like you think you always know the way better than mapquest).  Then I gave in and got those hands dirty.  Also, I'm not the biggest fan of the texture of oats, so I left those out of the topping and this is what we got:

Stick em in the oven for 20-25 minutes, remove, do your best to wait until cool, and devour in such a manner as to defeat the purpose of health achieved in moderation.  And here's the thing - they're actually good!  Because those of you who know me know that it may be good for you, and I may WANT to like it, but if it isn't delicious...I ain't gon be eatin it.

Enjoy!

Makes 8 large muffins
Ingredients:
Muffin Batter
3/4 cup whole wheat all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white all-purpose flour + 2 tbsp
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup applesauce

1 egg
1/3 milk (1% cuts back on the fat but delivers the same results as higher fat milk)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup fresh blueberries (do not increase amount)

Topping:
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp white all-purpose flour
2 tbsp cold butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp rolled oats (optional)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400º and line muffin tin with paper liners.

2. In a medium-large mixing bowl, stir together the whole wheat flour, white flour, sugar, salt and baking powder for the muffin batter.

3. In a 1-cup measuring cup pour in the applesauce. Crack the egg into the applesauce and top with enough milk to fill the cup. Add this into the dry ingredients along with the vanilla extract. Stir until almost just combined. Toss the blueberries with a heaping tablespoon of flour to coat and gently stir them into the batter until just combined. Do not over mix!

4. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop muffin batter into paper liners in muffin tin with the batter just reaching the top.

5. In a small bowl make the crumble topping. Using your hands, mix together the brown sugar, flour, butter, cinnamon, and rolled oats. Evenly sprinkle the topping over each muffin and bake for 20-25 minutes.

The Year In Review

The past week or so the news have been covered with "the year in review."  Looking back at headlines that already seem ancient, I am reminded how quickly we forget about things that shaped our entire lives at that moment. SO....because I needed the forced reflection....and I've been lax in posting and needed to catch my devoted audience of readers (yes. that was uber-sarcastic) up on my life....I've dug through my own pictures.

January: I went to Luther Seminary's campus for the first time as a student and met my classmates in person.  I can hardly believe I've only known them a year because they're awesome.  Also, after spending 2 weeks of my life in a Minnesota winter, I have a MUCH greater tolerance for "cold" here in Texas.

February: A big month! Can you believe it snowed in Austin, TX!?! AND it stuck to the ground long enough for everyone in the neighborhood to find their laundry baskets and go "sledding" down the drainage ditch.

Oh, and we learned we were going to have a baby!

What a witty ultrasound tech.

March:  I went to the Gulf Coast for spring break with our youth group then to the West Coast (L.A.) for the first time to visit an old friend and meet her new bebe.  Also, I learned to quilt (thanks to some very patient old ladies at the church) and got to give my first completed piece to his royal sweetness.

April: I got to spend another weekend telling youth and young adults that God loves them just the way they are at the Spiritual Pride Project

May:  The whole family went up to New York to see my lil bro graduate from college. Now he's living in the city and working on broadway (can you tell I like to brag on him?).

June:  My fellow Texan seminary student, Jen, and I made the road trip from TX to MN for two more weeks of school.  We found some amazing small town Iowa antique shops and what would any road trip be without some tunes?

I also attending a week long workshop led by the super-talented Mandy of Amand Faucett Photography and finally learned how to use all those manual functions on the camera. I also had to face the fact that I would now NEED a fancy DSLR.

and...my belly started to grow...

July: Went with the High School youth at church to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.  A great road trip with great people and a great experience.

August:  The hubster and I escaped the hustle and bustle of our lives to enjoy some quiet moments (the last ones for...a....while...) in the Rocky Mountains.

September:  It was Labor Day weekend and I had just left the family farm, forgot something OF COURSE, and so turned around to meet my parents at my aunt's house in Bastrop when one of the largest and most destructive wildfires in history started.  The next week would have us on pins and needles as the fires raged terrifyingly close to the places and people we love, but we were lucky.  With the exception of the first family homestead, everyone and everything of we were immediately connected to was kept safe.

We also ran an antiques booth at the famed Warrenton Antique show with my aunt.  WHAT!?! Here's hoping we get to do it again in April!

October:  My belly grew much rounder.

and....we welcomed Marley Rose Dellagiacoma into the world.

we made our best attempt at a Halloween outfit at 4 days old

November:  Our lives were filled with baby, family, friends, and Thanksgiving (including our own shotgun pumpkin chunkin).  Unfortunately, our hands were full and we didn't take a lot of pictures so you'll just have to imagine how awesome it was.

December:  I started a new job and moved from youth worker to office pro.  Marley gets a cousin from my cousin! First Christmases all around!

I haven't sat down to  make any resolutions or goals for this year.  I'll probably just try to reduce, reuse, and recycle last year's.  I've already missed the goal of posting this post on Foto Friday.  Here's the family on Foto Friday - enjoy the mild Texas winter on Town Lake.

And, as we all know...Foto Fridays are followed by Shotgun Saturdays

Happy New Year everyone, I hope it's a blessed one with joy overflowing!