PUMPKIN SPICE MUFFINS...Food for the Soul

PUMPKIN SPICE MUFFINS

Along with probably a ga-jillion other people in the world,
I LOVE FALL!
When September comes I start counting the days until I can officially kick-start the arrival of autumn.

What is it they say?

Maybe it's because I can finally say adios to Oklahoma's hot summer days, or perhaps it's seeing the children return to learning, walking to and from school again, book-bags in hand.

PECANS MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Yesterday morning, like I have many times since her passing, I pulled out my mother's Woman's Home Companion Cook Book and began flipping through the tattered pages before me.  I love so many of things about this old book~but mostly I love knowing it was once in my mother's hands...

I skimmed the pages as I wanted to bake something to celebrate the changing of the seasons, something more than the apple spice muffins my mom made during my growing-up years...

Sadly, the only thing I really found was a recipe for a pumpkin cake!  NO MUFFINS!

The cake didn't sound too appealing, so I found a recipe online that was more in line with what I was looking for!

PUMPKIN SPICE MUFFINS

3 1/2 cups flour
2 2/3 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin spice
1 Tablespoon orange zest
1 cup milk
2 cups  mashed pumpkin
2 slightly beaten eggs
2/3 cups melted shortening
1/4 scant cup molasses
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup golden raisins

Mix dry ingredients together and set aside.
Mix wet ingredients and add to the dry.
Add one cup chopped pecans and one cup
golden raisins.  Stir well.

Fill greased/floured large muffin tins about 2/3 full.
Sprinkle top with 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes until muffins are firm to the touch.

Let cool.  Remove from tin.

Serve with honey butter and ENJOY!

BROWN SUGAR CRUMBLY

My mother loved to bake!  She loved spending holiday time with her family and she would have loved the big Labor Day party planned at our nephew's home tomorrow.  Lots of swimming, great food, and a gentle nod to the last days of summer.

 MY MOM ABOUT 1938

Recently my mom's younger sister sent me the photo above (my momma is the child in the photo above and my auntie is the toddler in my grandmother's arms).  I love it so much.  My mom would be so happy to know we have carried on without her...even though her passing brought us all many tears.  I try and celebrate her life every chance I get...and yesterday was no different.  Sweet memories of her in the kitchen and tender reminders of what she will always mean to me.

Today is Sunday...thoughts of faith...love...hope.

I have a long-time prayer that passes my lips every single day.  Over twenty years now.
In God's time I will see it answered.

Love to you...

Rebecca

(P.S.  My blog is page protected and that was done a LONG TIME AGO!  Mr. AGPMan is TRYING to figure out how to remove it so you can easily copy photos or recipes!  More soon!)
    

~JOY, FRIENDSHIP and RASPBERRY MUFFINS~

 ~BIG FAT RASPBERRY MUFFINS~

All day Sunday and well into the late evening I must admit to you that I was a bit out-of-sorts.  Grief will do that to you I guess.  I suppose that should be expected when you hear the kind of sad news we were given yesterday morning.  Still...as I worked my way into the light of a new day I found my heart reflecting over the past eighteen years and how the goodness of God and His endless blessings in my life always prevail.  A single but comforting thought kept pressing into my heart and for whatever the reason I just couldn't get away from it...

"...weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~Psalm 30: 4-5~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

~GIFTS FROM MY KITCHEN

I read once that we cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed.  It's said that finding a true friend is like filling a vessel drop by drop until, like a series of kindnesses to the heart, there is at last one which makes it flow over.  Today my heart is running over for even through sorrow and loss, goodness and love remains.

~REMEMBERING TEA with THEE~

When I know ahead of time of a visiting friend, I make Raspberry Muffins in the kitchen of my La Chaumière de Briarwood.  Miss Marion and I indulged in both chamomile tea and in these yummy little confections at least three dozen times during the eighteen plus years we spent as neighbors.  Out of love and gratitude and in the spirit of friendship I decided to bake up a final batch of our favorite treats to honor my amazing, longtime friend...

Around eleven A.M. I walked across the street to extend my sympathies to Miss Marion's hubby and family.  As usual the door swung wide, and warm smiling faces welcomed me in.  I realized in an instant that although sadness was indeed in the air, Miss Marion's family refused to view her passing as anything less than an opportunity to see God...

Incredibly, they had chosen JOY!

After visiting for a few minutes, I returned back home and immediately set about preparing myself a cup of chamomile tea.  I pulled a simple white plate from my cupboard and on it placed the one lone Raspberry Muffin I had originally set aside for a 'future' special day.

"Today is special enough!"  I thought....

"Yes it is!"  

Today I choose JOY!

~~*~~

Thank you for your precious comments yesterday.

(You bless me!)

Love to you...