When I came downstairs Jake was already up. He was happily curled up on the couch under a blanket watching some sort of sports program. I had printed out the recipe last night, but I neglected to actually read the ingredient list. After I fed the dogs I started to go over the list. Oops! I don’t have any sour cream. It was 7:45 am; the store should be open by the time I get there. I whipped back upstairs to throw on some clothes. It wouldn’t do to show up at Food Lion in my pjs.
Hubby was still fast asleep when I went back downstairs. I told Jake I was going to go get a few things at the store. It would not take me very long and everybody else was still upstairs. I lowered the volume on the TV so he could hear the dogs. All three were still outside. Crunch and John are able to let themselves inside, but Rally, at the age of 13, no longer does stairs. There are three little steps to get up onto the deck. She waits at the bottom and gives a couple of barks to tell us when she is ready to come up. She is very reasonable and patient. Then it was off to the store.
I was very happy to see a half dozen cars in the parking lot, the store was indeed open. I marched inside; I was a woman on a mission. First I swung up to produce to get yet more bananas and watermelon. Lately the kids have been inhaling all the fruit in the house. Rebecca will often stand at the open fridge gazing upon the strawberries and watermelon. Then I headed over to the baking aisle to get some white chocolate chips for an unrelated baking project. Finally I hit the dairy department where I got more butter (I had enough, but it was on sale!) and the all important sour cream. As the cashier was ringing up my purchases she asked if I was heading off to church. Huh? Ok I did have on a decent blouse and a skirt, but why on earth would I be buying sour cream and butter just before heading off to church? This is Virginia in June and it was already well over 70 degrees outside. My butter would be a sad little puddle and the sour cream would be waaaay beyond just sour if I were to go to church and not straight home.
When I got home I saw that Larry and Nate were downstairs with Jake. Max and Rebecca were also up, but they were busy playing upstairs. I plopped my bags on the counter and started in on the muffins. Jake at Nate were both eager to help me make them. After a moments thought I came up with some age appropriate jobs for them. I set them up at the kitchen table. Nate would hull the strawberries with a straw and then pass them down to Jake. Jake would then dice the strawberries and put them in a bowl. I had a nice little prep line. I feel like a real chef!
dicing&hulling
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar.
The only modification that I did to Jordana’s recipe was to use quick oats instead of whole wheat flour. The batter smelled wonderful after I added the lemon zest. I love the combination of lemons and strawberries. After the strawberries were added I had enough batter for two dozen muffins. Here is picture of some of them. (They are outside because I didn't feel like dealing with my kitchen table, we were still eating.)
muffins
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar.
Larry and I loved them, Jake liked them very much, Max and Rebecca thought they were alright and Nate disliked them. We ended up eating a dozen for breakfast. I will definitely make them again. Next time I will have my sous chef do a finer dice of the strawberries. The strawberry chunks were a little too big. It wasn’t Jake’s fault, he did an excellent job and cut them pretty much to my specifications. I think I might also cut back a bit on the sugar. The muffins were a little on the sweet side. The remaining dozen went with us to the piano recital. There is always a little nosh afterwards with treats provided by the parents.
I have made other things that combined strawberries and lemons. There is a very simple tart I make with lemon curd and strawberries. All I do is make a graham cracker crust, bake it, and fill the crust with a mixture of lemon curd (1 jar) and cream cheese (8 oz). Then I smooth the top of the filling and cover it with sliced strawberries. Chill and eat. It is a very pretty and very delicious dessert.
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