AWARDS

Thank You Melanie!



Thank You Chriesi!



Thank You Gabi!



Thank you Steph and Carrie!


Thank you Tea Lady!



Thank you Cristine!

Cheese Muffins & Awards

There are several "new" awards making their way around the blogs right now and I am so very happy to have received two more of them. When I get these awards it really makes my day and makes me feel really, really wonderful. Then, I remember, I am supposed to pass them on. I am breaking the rules a bit this time because I just can't decide anymore on who to pass these on to when I love so many, many blogs. 

So, if someone wants to smack me for this, so be it, but I'm doing it anyway. I think that it takes so much time, energy and motivation to share your creations and life online - so, 

(1) if you are listed in my sidebar - grab an award because I think you are brilliant and I love you! 

(2) if you are on my bloglines (ie, all the TWD members) grab and award because you inspire me with your dedication and passion for baking/blogging and 

(3) if I have commented on your blog it means you inspired me to type how your post made me feel (which, since I am most often only left one hand to type with while holding a very wiggly baby takes some motivation from me).

So, I think that you all are amazing and I dearly love you for being a part of this food blogging community and for letting me be a part of it as well.  Hugs to you all! 

Just so you don't leave here today without a recipe, here is the link to these wonderful, cheesey muffins recently featured in PW's dairy contest. They were really simple to make with ingredients that are most often on hand at our house, so they made an easy week-night addition to dinner.

Special thank you's to the lovely ladies who awarded me! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Thank You Tea Lady!

Thank you Cristine!

Old Fashioned Doughnuts with Cream Cheese Glaze

Oh, hi there! I may have led you to believe that my name is Holly. Let me tell you a little secret though - recently it was changed, involuntarily of course to Ms. M. Slacker - the M. standing for Major of course.

OK, so obviously my name wasn't changed - I've just felt that way. Ever since we were cleared to leave the house, back at the end of May, I've had a hard time staying home. Then, every time I find time to write a post, I have another deadline for an event. (Excuses, excuses, blah, blah, blah).

My point is that, though I have been remiss and slow in letting you know that dear, sweet and so creative Gabi of The Feast Within awarded me with this fabulous Yummy Blog Award back in June, it in no way reflects on how thrilled I was to receive it! Thank you a million times over Gabs!

I have the pleasure of passing this on to some of my favorite bloggers whose yumminess knows no bounds. Because, there are so many incredible bloggers out there, well, I kind of hate to choose - but, here are only three of my favorites who always inspire me:

Steph of Stephanie's Kitchen
Carrie of Carrie's Kitchen Creations
Shari of Whisk: a food blog

Not only did I get the Yummy award above, but darlings Steph and Carrie (mentioned above) both awarded me with this seriously cute Yum-Yum blog award! Oh girls, you so know how to brighten my day! Thank you both so much! This means I can choose more lovelies to send this on to, so, here goes three more faves for me:

Kim at Scrumptious Photography
Lynne at And Then I Do The Dishes
Lindsey of Cafe Johnsonia

I'm sure that by now you are wondering "what is with the doughnuts?" OK, well, maybe you aren't wondering - but I'll tell you anyway. You see while I was growing up, it was always a big treat at home or at school to get doughnuts when you had done something good or as a reward. Now, of course since these lovely ladies all deserve a treat I have to share this doughnut recipe that I found with you!

These doughnuts are slightly more luxuriant and special than your regular, run of the mill, glazed yeast doughnuts. The doughnut itself is very lightly spiced with some cinnamon and nutmeg and the glaze I chose to put on them has cream cheese in it - my own little twist. If you are looking for a satifying doughnut recipe, well look no further!

Old-Fashioned Yeast-Raised Doughnuts with Cream Cheese Glaze
(Adapted from recipe courtesy Jean Anderson, Cooking Live, Episode: Doughnut Delight)

1/4 cup butter or margarine
2/3 cup scalded milk
2/3 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees F)
2 packets active dry yeast
3/4 cup sugar
5 cups sifted flour (approximately)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

Vegetable shortening or cooking oil, for deep fat frying

Melt butter in milk and cool to lukewarm. Place water in a warm large mixing bowl, sprinkle in yeast, and stir until dissolved; add milk mixture and sugar. By hand, beat 2 1/2 cups flour in until smooth; mix in eggs, salt, and spices. Mix in remaining flour, adding a little extra, if needed, to form a soft but manageable dough. Knead lightly 1 minute on a floured pastry cloth; shape into a ball, place in a greased large bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm, draft-free spot until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Punch dough down, roll 1/2-inch thick on pastry cloth, using a floured, stockinette-covered rolling pin (ok, so mine was just floured). Cut with a floured doughnut cutter and place 1 1/2-inches apart on un-greased baking sheets. Reroll and cut scraps. Cover with cloth and let double in bulk.

Meanwhile, begin heating fat in a deep fat fryer. When doughnuts have risen and fat has reached 375 degrees F, ease 4 doughnuts into fat, 1 at a time. Fry about 2 minutes until golden brown all over, using tongs to turn. Drain on paper toweling.

Note: Never fry more than 4 doughnuts at a time and keep fat as near to 375 degrees F as possible; if too hot, doughnuts will brown before they cook inside.

While doughnuts are warm, roll in topping.

Cream Cheese Glaze:
1/4 cup whole milk
3 oz cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 to 3 cups confectioners' sugar

Combine milk, cream cheese, vanilla and 2 cups of powdered sugar in a mixing bowl, beat well and add as much of the remaining powdered sugar as necessary to make a thick, almost frosting like consistency. Put all the mixture into a small saucepan over low heat - allow mixture to warm and melt into a glaze. Whisk slowly to keep well combined. Remove the glaze from the heat and set over a bowl of warm water. Dip doughnuts into the glaze, one at a time, and set on a draining rack placed in a half sheet pan for 5 minutes before serving.

Raspberry Lime Muffins for Mom, Awards and a Giveaway!

Happy Mother's Day! I bring you today muffins for mom - the mom in this case being me, but I would serve them to the mother's I love without any hesitation. As my DH said this morning "these are a keeper." High praise from him indeed. You see, years ago, he would just say, "yeah, it's good" and leave it at that. Since he was basically my only usual audience for trying new things out on, I pretty much harassed him until he would give me more "constructive" criticism. So, now if I make something and he doesn't like it, I know he will tell me. About the only thing he doesn't like lately though is chocolate. Too bad for him, but more for me!

CELEBRATE! Rather than share any long, involved stories about the mothers that I love on this day though I just want to keep it simple and short and sweet so that you can just think about your own mom and the women in your life that are important to you, whether they are mothers or not. Why? Because, though I think it is great that there is a day to celebrate mom (hey, I'm no fool, I like any holiday that gives me the chance for gifts) I happen to know many nurturing, loving, incredible "phemomenal" women who are, just by sheer technicality, not mother's in the conventional sense of the word. I like to think of mothers as all women - young, old and inbetween. Afterall, I think that the nurturing instinct that is in all women is to be celebrated.

AWARDS: I've been saving up this day to make a special post with some awards to some very special bloggers who have touched my life and inspired me this winter. Today, I celebrate these amazing women and equally amazing and funny guys, and invite you all to celebrate them with me. There are so many others that are not on this list, simply because they have already received these awards or because I could only choose a few or because, bottom-line I haven't found them yet.

You see, a while back, Chriesi from Almond Corner and Melanie from My Kitchen Cafe were both kind enough to award this little blog I started with awards. Chriesi gave PheMom an 'E' award for being an Excellent blog and Melanie gave it a Blogging with Purpose Award. Very cool. Very, very cool. Why? Because, when I started this, I remember thinking that I was going to do it, even if no one wanted to read it, but oh, I really hoped that it would be entertaining for more than just me. Afterall, I started this New Year's Eve because I was lonely and bored and 2 1/2 months into what has become our 7 months of seclusion. As I write this, I am still waiting for the go ahead from the NICU where Cole was born last October (7 weeks early). All they keep saying is "after Mother's Day." Ironic much? Yeah, I thought so too.

So, I now have the privelege and pleasure of introducing my choices. As I mentioned, there were so many that I wanted to give this award to (as evidenced by the really long list of my favorite blogs I've found or had time to add to the list on the sidebar of this blog)!

HOW IT WORKS: Now, I know there are rules for the 'E' Award somewhere, but I am now typing one handed with the baby sleeping on my other arm, so this is whatcha' get. I will let these lovely folks know that I've awarded them with much love in my heart and that they can do the same to 10 others - here, my rules forward digress. I know for a fact that some of the "loved ones" below don't particularly care for meme's and that is totally fine with me. I know their hearts are in the right place and that is more than enough. (You, yes, you, you know who you are - you don't have to worry about passing this on - just know you are loved and that I just wanted to letcha know). Should you want to pass it on, then by all means, nab the badge from here and spread the love by commenting to your choices that you are awarding them an 'E.'

Without further ado, I am passing the 'E' Award for Excellent Blogs on to:
Stephanie at Dispensing Happiness
Kate at The Clean Plate Club
Melanie at My Kitchen Cafe
Tempered Woman
Gabi at The Feast Within
Blake of Blake Makes
Aran at Cannelle et Vanille
Manggy at No Special Effects
Maggie at Dog Hill Kitchen
Stephanie of A Whisk and Spoon

Now, for the Blogging with Purpose here are my "nominations."

Blogging with a Purpose:
Barbara at Winos and Foodies
Joy the Baker
Bron Marshall
Helen at Tartlette
Libby at The Allergic Kid

Award-winners, here's what you can do if you would like to nominate any other blogs:
1. nominate 5 blogs which haven't had this award before
2. each of the blogs must have a purpose
3.the nominated blogs should link back to this page
4. the logo from the award can be put on their blog and to link back to this blog!

Easy enough, huh?

THE GIVEAWAY: Now, if you've made it this far, to show my gratitude and appreciation for being here, all you have to do to have a chance at winning a $25 gift card to Sur la Table is to leave a comment here telling me why you love reading blogs. I know why I do, but I think it is fun to find out what appeals to others! I also want to thank you all for coming here and commenting - you will never know how much it means to me that you are here! So, comment away through May 15th and then I'll use a random number generator to choose the winner.

So, now, I'll give you the recipe (finally, I know). I simply adapted the recipe for Orange Berry Muffins in BFMHTY by Dorie Greenspan. In case you still don't have this book (and seriously, if you don't, what are you waiting for?!) I've noted the changes for the original below as well (see how nice I can be).

Raspberry Lime Muffins
(Adapted from Orange Berry Muffins - Source: Dorie Greenspan “Baking: From My Home to Yours”)
Ingredients:
Grated zest and juice of 3 limes (1 orange)
About 3/4 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
3 Tablespoons honey
1 stick (8 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/3 cup sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup raspberries (blueberries) - fresh, preferably, or frozen (not thawed)
Decorating sugar, for topping (optional) (I used "raw" turbinado sugar)
Additional - 1/3 cup sliced almonds, for topping (optional)

Getting Ready:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups. Alternatively, use a silicone muffin pan, which needs neither greasing nor paper cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.
Pour the lime (orange) juice into a large glass measuring cup or a bowl and pour in enough buttermilk to make 1 cup. Whisk in the eggs, honey and melted butter.

In a large bowl, rub the sugar and lime (orange) zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of orange strong. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don’t worry about being thorough - the batter will be lumpy and bubbly, and that’s just the way it should be. Stir in the raspberries (blueberries). Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

Bake for 22 to 25 minutes. If you want to top the muffins with decorating sugar and almonds, sprinkle on the sugar after the muffins have baked for 10 minutes (I actually just sprinkled both of them on before going into the oven). When fully baked, the tops of the muffins will be golden and springy to the touch and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins will come out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.