One Step at a Time

My parents came over today for lunch.  Afterwards, we went outside for a bit.  Here I was complaining about the cold, and thrilled that today I finally put away my sweaters for the summer (very late in the year for me), when fifteen minutes in the sun I was ready for air conditioning.  The Babe loved being outside, but she is so fair her cheeks were bright pink within minutes.  I have a new sunscreen to try out this year, but have to test it first on her.  That will be one day this week.

Later during my parents visit, we showed them her new big girl bed.  After displaying her jumping talents, she told my father that she wanted to go play in the basement with him.  They were about ready to head home, so he delicately told her it was too many stairs for him (not true thankfully).  Her response was that he should take them one step at a time.  As my mother said, she's a problem solver. 

Today being Memorial Day, we grilled for lunch and had fresh sweet corn.  We also made fresh fruit juice, and I made dessert using the leftover pulp.  If you have a juicer, we made a large pitcher of juice using 2 pineapples, 7-8 naval oranges, and 2 apples.  The following is the muffin recipe I made using the leftover fruit pulp.  I made 12 large muffins, and 12 mini muffins, but for simplicity, you can do it with 2 regular muffin tins.

Fruit (and Fibre) Muffins
3 Tbsp ground flax seed meal
1 3/4 cup fruit pulp (from juiced combination of 1 pineapple, 4 oranges and 1 apple)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare 2 muffin tins with paper liners.
2. Combine 3 tbsp Flax seed meal with 9 tbsp water.  Let sit 3-5 minutes.
3. Mix sugar, vanilla, fruit pulp and flax seed.
4. In a separate bowl, mix flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
5. Blend the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
6. Spoon out the mixture evenly into the muffin tins.
7. Bake 25-30 minutes until done.