RASPBERRY LEMON MUFFINS

With freezing rain and ice coming this weekend,  it

seemed like a good time to bake some muffins.

The lavender shawl on the back right

 of the sofa was handwoven for me

 from my daughter in law as a Christmas

 gift.  She has a loom and is enjoying 

learning to make things.

As you can see, I set us a table up by the window which overlooks the back yard so we can enjoy the view.  We have been told it will be raining later and then turn into what

 they call here an "ice storm". This is new to me so we shall see but I can tell you
the market was absolutely crazy as

 people were stocking up on food.

I got some raspberries when I was at the market that were perfect for the muffins.

  Here is the recipe below - first turn

 your oven on at 375 degrees and

grease a large sized muffin tin that holds

 12.  I sprayed with cooking spray and did not use the papers and they came out fine.

Ingredients:  2 cups regular flour,
1/2 cup sugar, 2 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 
16 oz lemon yogurt, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 3 eggs,
 grated lemon rind from 1 lemon, 
16 oz pkg of fresh raspberries and
additional 2 Tb flour to coat 
them.

Crumble topping ingredients: 2 Tb flour, 
3 Tb sugar
and 1 Tb chopped butter

This recipe originally came from at 2003 
Southern Living Magazine.  Mix all the dry ingredients,
oil and lemon rind and add eggs.  Now, 
stir in the yogurt.  In a small bowl, 
coat the raspberries (chopped half) with 2 Tb of flour
 and then stir them into the batter.  Put spoonfuls in
the muffin tin filling 2/3 full or slightly more.  The
 crumble mix goes on top and this should be about 12 muffins.
Bake 20-25 minutes (mine took 22 min)

DEVONSHIRE by Johnson Brothers

Now that the New Year has begun,  I thought it  would be fun to change up my kitchen armoire with my Devonshire transferware.  I know it doesn't look like an armoire now but it used to have doors on it and looks nothing like it's former self.

I got my first pieces of this pattern back in the early 90's in Houston, Texas.  Later, I found some in Colorado and see it every once in a while.  I am still looking for a teapot but not at the $300-400 price I saw at replacements.

Here is the armoire as I call it:

That's a Sadler teapot on the cake stand.

I hope your New Year is off to a great start!

2016 YEAR IN REVIEW

Let's take a look back in time:

January 2016

We moved to Missouri in 2016 but this

 photo was taken January 4th while

 still in Colorado.  On the 29th we

 planned to close on our Missouri

 home so my husband  drove the first

 truck load from Colorado to Missouri

 and I drove one of our cars.

February

After staying in Missouri for a week we

headed back to Colorado to pack up more

items and finish getting our home ready to

put it up for sale. It was weird having

furniture set up in 2 houses.  We decided

to leave this deer mount in Colorado:

March:

Time rolled by as we continued to pack

 and my husband did most of that - he 

is a good packer.  We had professionals

 load both of our truck loads and so we 

were ready to leave Colorado on March

 17 and our house went on the market

 that day.   We left early and drove 

straight through and the next day we

started unloading.  It was so weird 

having green grass and seeing this Forsythia in bloom on the 

side of the house.

I loved the new location for my armoire right

in the kitchen.  It was chipped up a bit

but my husband said "hey, it doesn't matter,

it's shabby chic - remember"!

April: 

During this entire summer I worked 

very hard digging and working 

on flower gardens.  It was hard

on the knees for sure!

May:

I had to admit that starting from scratch

with gardening was really a challenge.

June:

In June I set up what

I called a sunset tea on

my front walk.

July:

Yes, I was finally getting some

flowers for bouquets too!

On this day in August (below)I set

up a "Tea In The Garden" but later

we dug up that wisteria and moved

the trelis to the other side of the yard.

August:

September:

This month brought the arrival of a

fence for our yard - at least the sides

and later we had them do the back too.

October:

We added an arbor to our yard in October!

November was a time for wonderful

smells in the kitchen and Lynn Bean's

Orange Cranberry Bread

December was finally here and

It was time to share our nativity

for Christmas in Missouri:

Well - now I caught that up 

so I need to do 2017!

LEMON POUND CAKE for "Friends Sharing Tea"

There is something so satisfying about a  pound cake and the ingredients are usually right in the pantry and refrigerator.  So I baked one this week!

Now that Christmas is put away, we have more time to sit and have tea and do "not too much".

I have been growing some Paperwhite Narcissus but just moved them to the basement as the sweet smell was
taking over and my Hubby has allergies.

The Paperwhites will love it down there amongst the teapots:

As you can see, we had green grass
 on Wednesday before the snow
when I took this photo.

Sometimes I have trouble getting pound cakes out of the pan without sticking but on Wednesday I turned the cake pan over on the platter and then I used a meat mallet to tap the warm pan and it
 dropped right out.
→Here is the recipe.

BIRDS OF SNOW

This morning we woke up to a little snow in Missouri

 - this of course is nothing like Colorado and

 why would I even mention it?  The snow plow

 has been by at least three times.  Can you imagine that? 

 Never on the sides streets in Colorado

 even with three feet of snow.

I have been watching the birds come to the feeders 

and spotted nine female cardinals in the

pussy willow out front.  Only one male.

 This picture - taken through the window

as they all were:

Staying in today!