It's G's 30th birthday! This is one of my favorite pictures of him with N ~ I think it was taken sometime last December. To celebrate the big 3-0, I surprised him with tickets to a Charlotte Knights baseball game last Saturday while our wonderful friends and babysitters extraordinaire B and E took care of N.
Today, N and I met daddy for lunch and took a walk around uptown afterward. N kept saying "Meet Daddy!" and "Yeah, Daddy!" the whole time we were driving. He does love that daddy, and so do I! To continue the celebration tonight, we're having homemade pizza and a special surprise dessert. I'm hoping N settles down for his nap soon; he drifted off in the car on the way home and now he's up in bed talking to himself...
We baked french bread this morning with my friend and her children. N wanted to get involved with the whole process - stirring, touching, even tasting! By the time we were finished, he was thoroughly covered in flour and dough ~ what fun! Some of my favorite childhood memories are of baking with my mother and sisters...sourdough bread, cakes, cookies...and tasting as we worked was always the best part.
N has loved fruit since his first taste sometime last summer. He takes after his mother, because I could eat fresh fruit all day long...peaches, canteloupe, strawberries...you name it, I love it!
During our morning walk yesterday, we ran into a neighbor and friend from church who has several blueberry bushes in her backyard. She invited us to come and pick some, and we took her up on the offer! N "helped" pick the berries and had fun transferring them from one bucket to another. He got extremely muddy in the process, which added to the fun. We probably picked for about an hour, and I came home with about 4 cups of blueberries and a very dirty little boy. I promptly plopped him in the bathtub for a morning scrub.
Of course, I began looking for ways to use the berries, preferably in a baked form! I found two good recipes; one for cobbler and the other for muffins. The cobbler recipe was in this month's issue of Southern Living and the muffin recipe I found on allrecipes.com. I thought I would share since they both turned out so nicely! As I was baking, N kept asking to "taste berries, please" and of course I obliged.
Easy Fruit Cobbler (slightly modified from the Southern Living version)
Preheat oven to 375. Place 4 cups fresh blueberries and peeled, quartered peaches in a lightly greased 8-inch square baking dish; sprinkle with 1 Tbsp. lemon juice.
Stir together 1 large egg, 1 cup brown sugar, and 1 cup bread flour in a medium bowl until mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle over fruit.
Drizzle 6 Tbsp. melted butter over topping. Bake at 375 for 35 minutes or until lightly browned and bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream, if desired. Makes 6 servings.
Alienated Blueberry Muffins
2 cups fresh blueberries
1/4 cup all-purpose or bread flour (I used bread flour)
2 cups all-purpose or bread flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 cup margarine or butter
1 1/2 cups white sugar (I used about 1 cup since I was running low)
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup milk
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease muffin tins, or line cups with paper liners.
Sprinkle 1/4 cup flour over blueberries, and stir to coat berries thoroughly.
In a small bowl, whisk together 2 cups flour, baking powder and salt.
In a large bowl, cream margarine, and gradually mix in sugar. Beat eggs, and stir into creamed mixture along with vanilla. Stir in milk alternately with flour mixture, mixing well after each addition. Fold in berries. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter.
Bake for 25 minutes.
After all these many months of hugging N and telling him how much I love him, I am finally receiving some neck-grabbing hugs in return! N has always loved to be hugged, and he would kind of lean in to "give" a hug for the longest time.
Tonight, when I put him to bed, he was hanging on to my neck as I lowered him into the crib. This was the second "real" hug I have received from him. The first came about a week ago when I had been away from the house for about an hour. When I returned, N squealed "mama" and gave me a big bear hug.
What a precious gift to fill a mother's heart!
