Ree's Mom's Muffins

May 3, 2013

The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond, always has wonderful recipes that frequently include all sorts of goodness that is best in moderation (butter, sugar, bacon...). Then last month I was catching up on blog posts and came across this recipe on Ree's blog - I was floored to discover the list of ingredients did not include butter or oil and had a reasonable amount of sugar. Then it made sense... it was her mom's recipe! I rarely bake and have a long history of mediocre and failed baking attempts - mostly because baking requires following a recipe when you don't understand the mechanics of making it work. I usually start out with good intentions, but in the end my creativity overrides and the results are less than favorable for anyone with any sort of taste.

But... I saw this recipe and had no desire to get 'creative'. These are healthy, very easy to make and simply delicious!

As you can see, there are quite a few ingredients - I accidentally left the oats out of the above photo, but I did omit the nasty raisins in the actual muffins so it evens out. Ree shares her feelings on bananas in her recipe post and my feeling on raisins are just about the same. The raisins did make the photo because I was going to make 2 batches - 1 with raisins for hubby and 1 without - but I forgot a banana at the store and wasn't going back to work for that, so I only made one batch. More that you wanted or needed to know, right?

So... Here we are with all the ingredients and there are the oats!

Look at that! I would say we have baking success!!! They are seriously yummy and I'm making another batch this weekend. They were great for a grab-and-go breakfast or a quick snack. One wrapped muffin resided in my purse for a couple days just in case I ended up somewhere and was starving - yes, I'm weird like that and always have food, water and knitting at my disposal.

So even though these aren't my mom's muffins, I'm sure my mom would approve and maybe she'll even make a batch when she reads this. I hope you try them, too!

Cheers!

If the hat fits...

April 25, 2013

I haven't always been a Yarnista. Believe it or not, I've done more than play with sticks & string professionally, so it's always exciting when my yarny side gets to hang out with my teacher side! The earliest memory of sharing my knowledge with others was in 2nd Grade when the teacher had me help another student with our writing lessons - English wasn't his first language and Spanish wasn't mine, but we bumbled through it and it was great fun for me.

I learned early on that teaching others isn't always easy with the unique personalities and individual learning styles. Later in my professional career in management and training, I discovered that working with adult learners was a whole new experience and I welcomed the challenge for the simple joy of seeing a face light up when the 'a-ha moment' arrives – what an amazing reward for spending a little time with someone!

I do teach classes at Firefly Fibers from time-to-time, but it's a gig where I fill in and pull from my Mary Poppins bag of knitting knowledge where needed. As the business end of things continues to become more manageable, I've been easing back into teaching and I love being back in the classroom!

Today, I’m happy to officially share that I will be making regular appearances in the classroom starting with the next class schedule - I am so excited! As I said, I never had a reason to put the teaching hat on more than once in awhile, but Sarah - my dear friend, fellow knitter and an instructor at the shop - is retiring from teaching knitting so my knitting instruction hat is on!

If you're wondering what this theoretical instruction hat looks like, this is my trademark hat and I assume it's probably a close representation:

Raveled: Cloudy Day

Pattern: Cloudy Day by Never Not Knitting

Yarn: Sport Weight by Blue Sky Alpacas

Back to the matter at hand... A question that has come up over the last couple weeks is: What's changing? Well, nothing really. I've always been involved in every step of the class planning process with the shop instructors: brainstorming, scheduling, project selection, techniques, layout, sample knitting and everything in between. Things will look pretty much the same; it will just be my face in the classroom. *smile*

So... with my teaching hat firmly on my head, I'm nose deep in class ideas, class sample knitting (secret projects for now, of course) and some really fabulous techniques.

I'm really excited to share the next class schedule in a few weeks! If you're excited too, be sure to 'like' AlisaTheYarnista on Facebook for peeks/teasers, along with other sorts of yarny and general goodness!

Cheers, Happy Knitting and Happy Learning!

An Annual Event

April 23, 2013

Each and every year it happens... if we're lucky. I'm talking about birthdays. Up until my early 20's, I remember knowing exactly how old I was in years and months. Then came 30 which wasn't a big deal at all, I actually welcomed it, but then it was a few years later that it started - age forgetfulness. I used to wonder how this could happen to anyone... you know, you ask how old someone is and they have to stop, think, reply and then question their response? Well, now the shoe is on the other foot and I can barely remember how old I am. Maybe my head is too full of life, or I'm just not waiting for the next 'big' or 'meaningful' age? Whatever it is, I usually remember that I am having a birthday and I'm lucky that my loved ones remember and want to make me feel special just because I was born.

My birthday was last month, but things get spread out and that's almost better because it makes it last longer. I celebrated the weekend before my birthday with my hubby, sister-in-law, mother-in-law and her boyfriend. My mother-in-law's birthday is the day before mine, so we jointly celebrate and it's always a lot of fun.

This year, my sister-in-law got each of us orchids. Isn't it pretty? I'm really hoping that I can keep this one alive - which reminds me that I forgot to water it this last weekend. Oops, I'll do that when I get home.

This gift is interesting... You know those people that are ridiculously good at gift giving? They never go overboard, yet they always seem to come up with the perfect gift that means so much and makes you nervous to give them gifts? Yup, that's my dear cousin and this is what she sent me:

I visited my family in Colorado last summer and my cousin introduced me to Lush products. I stayed with her during my visit and she gifted me the silver tin in the back with an amazing chocolate and marigold massage bar. I fell in love!

Then for my birthday a package arrived with:

Left: Rehab Shampoo in the 3.3oz size. I'm giving you the size because I've been using it for a month and it's still about 2/3 full. It smells great and goes a long way!
Center: Wiccy Magic Muscles massage bar that does work magic on sore muscles.
Right: Butterball Bath Bomb that smells deliciously of vanilla and they say it contains chunks of cocoa butter that melt in the bath water to moisturize - I have yet to try this one, but it sounds heavenly!

Pretty awesome gift, right? We're only a few months apart so my turn is right around the corner. Eek!

Then came along hubby surprising me. He was helping me at the store a few weeks back while I was teaching a class and I ran up to the front counter for something and saw that he was printing tickets for a show. He wanted to surprise me, and surprise he did! Last weekend we made our way to the big city of Milwaukee for a night out.

He knows I love the band Green Day and knew I wanted to see the broadway musical version of American Idiot, so he made an executive decision and got us tickets for my birthday. Thanks, babe! This was a night I will never forget.