Getting an MS in Baking- Old School Muffins

Until now I've been BS-ing my way through baking but no more!  I'm taking on a challenge to really learn the science behind baked goods by baking my way through Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for More Food.

The book takes you through the 6 major baking methods, roughly from easiest to the most difficult.  This week I started with the first recipe in the muffin method section, titled appropriately: Old School Muffins (recipe from a non-Alton site).

Honestly, the recipe is one of the least important parts of the project.  The goal is not just to dump some stuff together and call it baking.  The goal is to do things right.

First you have to weigh your dry ingredients- at least the flour.

Then sift all the dry ingredients together.  Brown recommends doing this in the food processor.  I recommend making sure you know all the safety lock features on your food processor before you get to this part so you don't have to pause for 20 minutes while your frustrated husband tries to figure out why the darn thing isn't working.

Then mix together the wet ingredients.

Add bits and pieces to the dry (I chose cinnamon, raisins and walnuts).

And the wet goes into the dry until just incorporated (lumps = okay).

Dish into muffin tins and bake.

Here's how the first batch turned out:

And for the real test, did the crumb of my muffins look like muffin (on the left) vs. cupcake (on the right)?

Answer: I have no idea!  You be the judge:

Daniel said he thought they were very muffin-like and not cupcake like, but he knows enough to flatter me when it comes to baking.

What did I think?  I thought the recipe was very quick and easy even with the added weighing and processing.  I loved dumping the wet into the dry because it kept the mixer from getting sticky, making clean-up quicker.  Not sure that the next recipe will be, but I felt successful with this one, and I'm ready for a new challenge.

The future is in my hands

in the form of my beautiful new planner.

This is a myAgenda Planner, made by the momAgenda company.  I first saw one of their planners in a little stationary/gift store in Sheboygan.  Unfortunately they only had one planner left, and it was a momAgendga for 2009-2010.  Fortunately, when I Googled them after we got back home, I found that they had non-mom products that had all the features I'd liked about the one in the store.

First of all, it's thick, but not too big lengthxwidth-wise.  The cover feels sturdy, and I don't think the fabric will rip too easily.  There are pages with things I don't care about- like birthstones reminders and a mini address book I know I'll never use- but that is one of the few minor drawbacks.

The planner has both a month view (which I tend to use less frequently)

And a week by week format that I know I will use a lot.

What I love is that it is sectioned off into regions that you can title yourself.  My current planner has good space for writing, but the lines are all done by time, which I basically ignore.  I might get tired of having to write in the categories week to week (which I'm tentatively thinking of having as MIT's- most important tasks of the day, my workout, the meal plan, any chores/errands/appointments scheduled for that day, and other important events- Birthdays etc.), but on the other hand, if my initial system doesn't work, I can revise.

I also like that Saturday and Sunday get a full share of planner space.

And there are two markers- one for the month view and one for the week view.

There's some other questionably useful information and space like a holiday/birthday calendar section.

Notes on restaurants, etc

Some planning sections

And blank pages for random jottings

Sadly this little guy will sit in the kitchen catch-all basket until July 26 when he (She?  It is a sparkly purple planner after all) will be put into action.

If you like this sort of thing, check out Sarah's give-away!

Week in Review- The Niagara Edition

We watched the old Marilyn Monroe movie, Niagara, last night.  It was billed as sexy and suspenseful (it was neither), but it was entertaining to figure out what was going to happen next 15 minutes before it happened.  I guess that's what I get for taking movie recommendations from my 70-year-old boss.  

  

This was a pretty easy week all things considered.  I was recovering from the race and easing back in to strength training after two weeks off.  Here's the breakdown:

Su- Madison 1/2 Marathon 

M- 5mi easy (untimed)

T- Strength training- easy on the legs

W- 6mi easy (57:40)

R- 6mi easy (56:51), yoga

F- Strength training- incorporating some plyometrics to work on leg strength for hill running

S- 12 mi (1:54:42)- I purposely picked a hilly course and was happy to sustain a 9:33 overall average pace

I'm kind of in a funky place again this week because Saturday I'm running the Bellin 10k in Green Bay with some friends so I'll probably do a speed workout tomorrow or Tuesday but otherwise be back in "mini-taper" mode on Friday.  After that, I start 16 weeks of full-on training for the Lakefront Marathon in October.  Exciting stuff.

What's up

This is another quick one.  I need to digest just enough so I can head out the door and beat the weather.  It's supposed to rain ALL DAY starting at 8am.  I want to at least get 1/2 way through my run before that happens. I'm hoping for 12 miles, but 10 would be okay, too.

Good luck to Linda from Mom Running From Cancer who is running her first race- The Madison Race for the Cure- since her comeback from a stress fracture!

What's up in EarlyRunner Land?

• I started piano lessons again with a new teacher, who I think I'm really going to like.  We're working on scales, The Joy of First Classics, and some music theory.  My goal for this fall is to learn to play Christmas Music.  
• We went to a new restaurant called Cooper's Tavern, which was recommended by a coworker.  The food was tasty, and we enjoyed walking up and down State St. afterward.  Downtown is so nice when there are no undergrads around ;).
• Since it's going to rain, I'm planning on cooking up a storm this weekend a la Eat, Drink and Be Vegan.  I'm conquering one of my cooking fears- phyllo dough- and making spinach and white bean phyllo roll-ups.          

Well, I guess I better run- literally and figuratively.  Don't want to get (too) soaked.  Have a great Saturday, all.

Quickie

Not much going on right now so rather than writing a rambling post, I'm going to try to catch up on a little Google Reader-ing before heading out for 6mi this morning.  I'm planning all sorts of exciting posts about more Eat Drink and Be Vegan recipes and my new My Agenda planner that I just got in the mail yesterday, but those will probably have to wait for the weekend.

Catch ya' later.

Back to life, back to reality

Yesterday was my first day of work in more than two weeks.  At first it felt almost strange to go, but I had an easy day in front of me with enough to keep me occupied but not so much I was stressed.  A lot of other people are stressed because of our upcoming oversight committee meeting, but for the most part that doesn't involve me, and it keeps those above me in the chain of command too busy to find too much for me to do.


I'm back to normal workouts, too.  I ran 5 miles easy Monday and did my first strength training workout in 2 weeks yesterday.  I felt like I'd lost some fitness there, but I know it will come back in time.  I mostly focused on upper body since my legs were still pretty sore from the race, but legs are going to be a big priority this summer. I think I mentioned it in my race report, but I tend to get passed a lot running up hills and pass running down them.  This isn't a horrible thing except it's easy to get boxed in on the downhill and not be able to make up time. I want to work on my leg strength so I can power up the hills as well as down them.


Finally, I'm back to cooking and eating healthy food.  I checked out Eat, Drink and Be Vegan from the library after seeing recipes from it featured on a few different blogs (Forgive me; it's 5:34am and I can't remember exactly who it was.) in my ongoing attempt to have us eat vegetables that aren't salad.


Monday night I made the cocoa coconut chili with a side of cornbread, and red leaf salad from our garden (data not shown).

I liked this recipe because I like "sweet" chili.  I didn't get a particularly strong coconut taste, but it definitely had a different flavor than any other chili I've tried.  The recipe also made a vat of chili, and I had enough left over for lunches all this week.

Last night I made pinto bean and avocado enchiladas.  The filling was made with pinto beans, mushrooms, cashews and avocado so I was hoping it would taste a little unique, but honestly it tasted like nondescript "Mexican" filling from all the spices.  Definitely not bad, though.  I would say it was tastier than the chicken enchiladas I normally make, and again, the recipe made a truckload.  All these plus some extra filling.

Here's the innards of one:

Well, it's time for me to get it in gear and run before it rains.  Happy Wednesday!  

Madison Half Marathon Race Recap

First off, congratulations to Jamie who beat the heat to run an awesome marathon!

As for me, the only thing I have to say about the race is that it was hot.  Way hot.  I watched the 1:55 pace leader drop out of the race hot.

I got downtown about 6:15 am and had no trouble finding a place to park.  I took a bathroom break and walked around to see the finish line and the starting line for the marathon.  By then it was time to line up for the 1/2 start at 7:20.  I lined up a little bit in front of the 1:50 pace group and was ready to go.  The first few miles were great.  Flat or slightly down hill and basically shady.  My mile splits were:

8:02, 8:19, 8:10

Miles 4-7 had some rolling hills, including Observatory Hill during mile 4.  Note to race planners:  Runners are not sad if you don't plan the course to go up Observatory.  I slowed down a bit, but my pacing wasn't too bad.  It was hot but not horribly so. Splits were:

8:31, 8:24, 8:36, 8:34

I saw Linda cheering during mile 7, and it gave me a huge boost.

Miles 8-13.1 were not fun.  I'm pretty sure I saw the girl running in front of me in that picture receiving medical care by the side of the course later on.  It was hot.  I got angry at the world at mile 8.  We started running past houses and people sprayed us with hoses and sprinklers.  This improved my disposition.  My mile splits were:

8:54, 9:13, 9:58, 9:51, 9:30, 10:03.

I just fell apart.

Strangely I'm not that upset about the whole thing.  I got passed too much at the end, but I passed a lot of other people- some who were probably walking the whole way back.  I didn't quit as much as I would have liked to at mile 8.  I need to work on running uphill.  My finish time was 1:58:22, which is more than 10 minutes off my goal, but under the circumstances I think it was an okay time.  Other than the hill thing I don't think there was anything wrong with my pacing or preparation.  I just wasn't prepared for the heat.

But there will be other races other days.  I'm getting back into my normal workout schedule running 5mi easy yesterday, and I'm back in the gym for weights today.  And back to work.  Have a great Tuesday, all!