Wednesday, August 31, 2011

School Spirit

Blogger has a new interface! Weird!

OK, that was of no importance.

But something of importance is that the first football game is tomorrow, and I can't go. I'll be working, so that means I'll be assembling a paper that will cover the game. Rest assured that I will be wearing my new MUSS shirt while I'm hunched over in front of my dual monitors.

Go Utes!

-Meg

Monday, August 29, 2011

Apple Muffins


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At first I was quite reticent about this recipe because it involved three separate bowls and it seemed to be a lot more work.

Well if the fact that I made them on Friday and they are already half gone is any indication, then that work was worth it.

The are delicious! It's the perfect back to school recipe. They are hearty and relatively healthy. (Half of the flour is whole-wheat and there's a whole apple + apple sauce in there.)
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The recipe can found here.

I would suggest using liners or using a really new muffin tin. My muffin tin has been used all of 2 times, and the nonstick magicy stuff still works wonders. But I also used my roommate's older tin (I doubled the recipe), and those all didn't come out in one piece.

I am still getting used to my new kitchen! Slowly, but surely....

-Meg

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Happy Sunday

I'm trying to think of something entertaining to say about teaching. This is my first teaching class ever, and now I have to have all these deep thoughts about the art of educating?

What's worse is that my textbook is spending the weekend in Denver before it heads over here. So how do I write a profound 1-page essay without a text book to guide me? Well, I'll just be trying my darndest.

Frauline Maria braids usually help me think better, though. I'm trying those out again today.

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-Meg

Monday, August 22, 2011

Blueberry Bandana Muffins

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I got to use my new kitchen on Sunday to make these muffins. The recipe is from my grandma/mom. It is originally a bread recipe, but can be easily adapted to muffin form.

Make sure the bananas are mashed up and mixed into the batter as much as you can. I wished I had done that because I had huge gooey globs of banana in the muffins. It didn't taste bad, but it made it so the muffins don't travel well. It also would have helped if I used liners, since the blueberrries were kind of messy too.

This wasn't my favorite recipe ever, but it was easy. It just tasted too much like bread and not enough like muffins. And my mind--and tongue--expects them to be just plain blueberry muffins and they are not! There is banana in there which overpowers everything.

If you like banana bread, then this is a good recipe for you.
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 large (very) ripe bananas, mashed
1 1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Cream butter and sugar. Mix eggs and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in bananas and blueberries.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes.
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OK, now that I've done something completely out of my element and talked about FOOD, I'll tell you about the first day of class!

I rode my bicycle to the institute. My first class is "The Gospel and World Religions." I'm really excited because I love the instructor and it sounds really interesting.

Then I had Spanish, and I'm surprised how much I retained over the summer. Yay!

Next was my methodology class. To demonstrate what we'd learn to do by the end of the semester, the professor taught us some Italian... in Italian. It was way cool.

I finished the hot day in my non-air conditioned acting class. There are a lot of freshmen, but the professor seems really nice. I love her positive attitude.

Well, that's my first day of my last year of undergrad. Yay!

-MEG

Sunday, August 21, 2011

My crib!

I finally found my camera, and my new room is almost clean and perfect.

I made more pillows than I expected, but it was (for the most part) easy and fun to make them, so I made way more than I know what to do with!
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The sprocket pillow was made from this tutorial.
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Key to my awesome wall collage:
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A: poster from "Little Women." In high school we put this on and I was Meg.
B: A flower frame I got from Swiss days, long long ago.
C. A little painting from Fiji. My great-great uncle was a mission president there in the early 80's.
D: A Monet painting. Monet is my favorite.
E: Peter Pan. Is magical.
F: My family!
G: A picture I took of my dad and my sister Adriana at the cabin.
H: A poster from the band fun. They rock.

My awesomespice cousin Kristen helped me assemble and hang them all. (She's so good at using Command strips.)

Muffin Monday coming up tomorrow!
Oh ya, and school starts tomorrow. I probably should go, huh?
-M

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

All in Due Time


My lack of posting of late can be attributed to the absence of my camera. I don't know where I put it, but I hope I find it soon, because I need to take and post pictures of my new room in SLC! For now this iPod photo will suffice.

I am sewing a pillow. Crazy, eh?

I also need to tell my meager audience about my quarter sculpture, the musical, training for a half-marathon, a traumatizing experience at the dentist, and playing kissing rugby. All in due time, folks.

Oh, and I need to tell ya'll about the books I've been reading. Yes, the ones that aren't on my book list.

-Meg

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Old Maid Meg's Muffins and Eggs

If you follow me on Pinterest, then you probably have noticed that I have a thing for muffins. This summer I've made a few batches, and I just bought my very own muffin tin!

I found the perfect blueberry muffin recipe {here}. They looked like this:

Brittni and I delivered them to the mothers of our friends on missions. (It says, "There's muffin' better than a missionary mom.")




Then I tried Glazed Doughnut Muffins. I panicked when I realized that I didn't have any liners, but I sprayed really well and they turned out just dandy. I actually prefer it that way, and it saves the planet!
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Those were oh so heavenly. That recipe is found {here}.

I would recommend making more frosting than it calls for. I doubled the recipe and the frosting, but I maybe would have tripled the frosting. But I like frosting, so you know.

Holy whoa am I actually blogging about food? What is this world coming to? I don't know, but muffins are pretty much as awesome as cupcakes, except healthier (generally).

One of my goals for the upcoming semester is to make a different kind of muffin every week! And throughout that week I'll eat them for breakfast and share with my roommates and etc. Oh of course I'm going to tell you guys all about it!

Get ready for Muffin Mondays! Starting the August 22.

See you then!

-Meg