First Snow and Cooking

Winter this year got off to a slow start.  It was starting to creep me out.  I like my winters to start on time and end on time.  When they start late, they tend to end late, which is very demoralizing.  We were all having a good time enjoying the nice weather, but secretly i was praying for some good old fashioned snow and bitter cold, so we could get this show on the road.

Finally my wish came true!  This past week we had a very blustery snow storm.  It snowed for about 48 hours straight, complete with fierce winds that made the snow come down sideways.  The action really got going on Thursday morning, which is when i go to a mom's Bible study.  This Bible study is truly the highlight of my week, and i didn't want to miss it.  I was all bundled up; i had my game face on; i was ready to do this thing.  I went outside to start the car, and found that the wind had taken all the snow from the driveway and piled it up in front of my door:

It was very convenient, from a clearing-off-the-driveway standpoint, but not so much from an opening-the-door standpoint.  Fortunately, it only took a few shoves, and i was out.  At that point i discovered that my garage door wouldn't open.  I don't know if it was frozen, or if snow had blown underneath it and was blocking the inside, but that sucker was not going to budge.  Bible study was a no-go.

There i was with an unscheduled free morning.  Everyone was awake, clothed, and fed; what should we do with ourselves?  I informed the BabyGirl that we would not be going to play with friends as originally planned.  Instead we would do some cooking.

"Koo-king?!?"

"Oh yes, HoneyLamb, cooking!"

The BabyGirl LOVES koo-king.  I had a muffin recipe that i'd been dying to try, but the opportunity hadn't yet presented itself.  I'm a dismal failure when it comes to baking, so it's not very often that the mood strikes.

The BabyGirl was totally on board.  We grabbed our aprons and got to it.  Our objective was to make the Weaving Influence Muffins.  It's a beautiful recipe because it doesn't have any wacky ingredients and it's extremely kid-friendly.  It's the family recipe of a friend, and it's meant to be passed down to little girls who love cooking.  It worked perfectly for us!  We had a wonderful time together, and while the BabyGirl will never remember this particular koo-king session, i get teary-eyed thinking about what a special and memorable mother-daughter time it was. 

We did exactly as Becky suggested, and divided the batter in half.  One-half was chocolate chips, and the other half was everything but the kitchen sink.  It included blueberries, dried cherries, almonds, and oats.

Here are some pictures from our adventures:

 This adorable apron was a Christmas present from Aunt Kristin

 The blueberry batch

Taking the blueberries out of the batter and eating them 

Two proud cooks