Strawberry Muffins

Fresh Strawberry Season is Here! (But really only for those people that live near a farm and can afford a $6 pint of strawberries...)

I do not live near a farm or have a big enough yard to grow strawberries and quite frankly, I would rather use the $6. for gas money....  But I do intend to celebrate strawberry season anyway!!

This is a picture of my regular, not farm fresh,  berries.   I recently purchased an extra large container from the local warehouse store and had to think fast about how to use the berries up! So far, I have made a delicious strawberry salad with mint from my garden.....some berry cup desserts with freshly whipped cream and now........the muffins.  

I would normally, at this point,  go on to list all of the health benefits and wonder the strawberry beholds. However, I am afraid that the amount of sugar and white flour I have added to the recipe will counteract any vitamins that may have once been in the muffin. 

 But they are delicious so who cares about vitamins!!

The recipe is simple:

• 1/4 C. Canola Oil
• 1/2 C. Milk
• 1 Egg
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
• 2 Tsp. Baking Powder
• 1/2 C. White sugar
• 1 & 3/4 C. White Flour
• 1 C. Strawberries (warehouse or farm fresh will do)
• 1/2 Tsp. Cinnamon
• 1/2 Tsp. Vanilla

Topping: Sugar, Coconut & Cinnamon

Mix together the dry and wet ingredients in separate bowls.   Add the strawberries to the dry ingredients to coat.  Add the wet ingredients in and just mix until blended (never over mix muffins). 

I mixed together the topping ingredients and sprinkled them over the muffins before I put them in the oven but you can leave this step out if you are trying to be healthy this week.

I put these muffins into my high powered oven at 325. If you have a normal oven, you will probably cook them at 375.  They took about 25 minutes to cook!

 They Look delicious!! And they taste like a fresh strawberry field!!

 

Even this creamer cow enjoyed them!

 Just a peek inside!

 Be sure to make enough for everyone and enjoy!

Daily Bloom Meditation

 My mind feels light and free from stress , my thoughts are like the clouds simply passing through the sky. 

Waking up to a simple guided meditation can help to get you centered for the day.   Even a few minutes of your time with a Guided meditation Video can release the tension and anxiety that the day brings.  Remembering that your thoughts are just like the clouds passing in the sky and they come and go can help to alleviate worry and disease in the mind.  Don't let the day get away from you without being able to be present and enjoy it.

Today I will breathe, be present and enjoy the moments as they come and go.

Wishing You Well Today and Always.

Daily Bloom-Quote-Thanksgiving

"Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse"
Henry Van Dyke

Daily Bloom-Quotes

"We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures."   

Thornton Wilder

Daily Bloom-Quotes-Thanksgiving

"Stand up, on this Thanksgiving Day, stand upon your feet.  Believe in man.  Soberly and with clear eyes, believe in your own time and place.  There is not, and there never has been a better time, or a better place to live in. "

Phillips Brooks

 

Daily Bloom-Quotes-Thankgiving

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.  It turns what we have into enough, and more.  It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.  It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.  Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.  

Melody Beattie

Daily Bloom Meditation-Self Confidence

"Self-Confidence is the key to the universe."

-Carrol Wrackley 

As the days come and go and the holidays season approaches, it is easy to get caught up in what I like to call "the woods".  The woods is a metaphorical place that we go when we let out self confidence dwindle.  We take one negative thought or occurrence and run away with it.  Into the dark woods we go without a sane thought in our minds! It is easy to let our thoughts spiral down into the darkness when we are under a lot of stress.  We don't have our usual strength to fight the negative thoughts off when we are already in a state of distress.  

We can recognize these self-defeating thoughts and battle them before we get lost in "the woods."  When I notice myself thinking negatively there are a few things that I can do to get that jolt of self-confidence I need to continue:

1. Tell a friend! Friends always understand our crazy thoughts and they will be able to tell us that whatever negative thoughts we have aren't true.

2. Help someone! Lending a hand to others through volunteering or simply holding the door for someone helps us to escape our own mind for enough time to hopefully jar us out of our self-defeating state.

3. Practice telling yourself positive affirmations! Tell yourself the opposite of what you might be thinking.  If you think that you are never going to be good enough, combat that by telling yourself that you are already more than good enough!

These simple steps that only take a few seconds can help to save you from minutes, hours and even days alone in the "the woods." Do yourself one of these small favors today to keep your self-confidence soaring!

Today I will remind my self that I am more than good enough!

Wishing You Well Today and Always.