Lemon Blueberry Muffin and Star Island

Friday is here and a big storm is brewing.  Exactly what we need around here….pffft.  I am not a big fan of snow storms, but I am definitely not a fan of them on the weekend.  Let’s try and get cheered up with a wholesome muffin recipe.

I adapted a recipe from eatingwell.com on the baking day as the kids like muffins and I thought it would be something quick and easy to make.  All be it, they were very easy to make, I didn’t find they had a lot of flavor at all and I am not sure why. 

All the ingredients were fresh but I just found they were BLAH.  The texture was a little tough as well which may be attributed to me possibly over mixing the batter but I don’t even think I did that.

Let me know your thoughts as to why these muffins were just not “ZESTY”.  Don’t worry though, I ate them all but it just felt like I was eating air.

Ingredients

1 lemon
1/2 Cup sugar
1 Cup nonfat buttermilk, (I just added a tablespoon of lemon juice to skim milk for the same effect)
1 Tbsp. Canola oil
3 Tbsp. Unsweetened apple sauce
1 Egg
1 Tsp. vanilla extract
1 Cup white whole-wheat flour, or whole-wheat pastry flour (see Shopping Tip)
1 Cup all-purpose flour
2 Tsp. baking powder
1 Tsp. baking soda
1/4 Tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen (not thawed) blueberries

Method

Preheat oven to 400°F. Coat 12 large (1/2-cup) muffin cups with cooking spray or line with paper liners.
Use a vegetable peeler to remove the zest from the lemon in long strips. Combine the zest and sugar in a food processor; pulse until the zest is very finely chopped into the sugar.
Add buttermilk, oil, applesauce, egg and vanilla and pulse until blended.
Combine whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Add the buttermilk mixture and fold until almost blended.
Gently fold in blueberries. Divide the batter among the muffin cups.
Bake the muffins until the edges and tops are golden, 20 to 25 minutes.
Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
Serve warm.
ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: Make ahead tip – Wrap each in plastic and freeze in a freezer bag for up to 1 month. To reheat, remove plastic, wrap muffin in a paper towel and microwave on High for 30 to 60 seconds.

Orlando Update

Remember a couple of weeks ago that I mentioned we were going to Disney world and I posted a accommodation question for you asking for guidance and suggestions.  Well I received numerous emails and comments ( which I am very grateful for ) but one of the emails stood out to say the least.  I received an email from Danica over at Danicasdaily.com that went a little something like this:

HI Z,

You are going to Disneyworld ~ FUN!!!!  I have a few suggestions for your for places to stay in Orlando and an idea for you/your family.  We own several time shares that are AWESOME and definitely better to stay at when you have a family.  They are more like condos with full kitchens, bedrooms, great pools and fun activities kids/adults on site too.  I could go on for days on why we LOVE our time shares so if you have any questions, just ask away.

I had a proposition though….Since you know I LOVE the work you did on Friends For Weight Loss and I have been wanting to revamp Danicasdaily.com since my search sucks, want to do a swap?  I can give you one of our Time Shares if you give Danicasdaily.com a makeover??  What do you think?

She continued in the email by providing us numerous resort options and locations and letting us pick the destination.  Both Mrs Zesty and I could not believe our eyes as we read the email and we were very grateful.  We spent the rest of the evening looking at the resorts ( emailing questions) and we finally decided on STAR ISLAND RESORT.  Have a look below at some of the pictures from the resort as we are super excited to get there and have fun.

To wrap up, all 4 of us are very thankful for both Danica and Jay’s enormous generosity.  Have a super Friday and I will see you all at the first of the week.

Take care

zesty