Blueberry, Buttermilk, Oatmeal, Chia Seed Muffins

The 2-year-old had three for breakfast. And the 5-year-old had two. Well la-ti-da.

2 cups flour
1 cup oatmeal
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup water
2 slightly full tablespoons chia seeds
1 1/4 cups buttermilk (or plain kefir, or milk)
2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
2 cups blueberries (or raspberries or blackberries)
1 1/2 cups sugar

Preheat oven to 375. Line muffin tins with papers. (Do not bother buttering and skipping papers, because the berries will cook to the sides of the pan and refuse to be extracted. Ever.)

Measure 1/2 cup water and add the chia seeds. Whisk for a second or two so that the seeds don't just sit on top of the water. Set aside.

In a great big bowl, combine the flour, oatmeal, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ginger.

Then pour in all the wet ingredients: buttermilk, butter, and chia seeds. Stir just until combined. Then add berries and sugar, all in one go. Stir again, just until combined. Do not over mix, or you will be sorry.

Using an ice cream scoop, or whatever else strikes your fancy, scoop the batter into the muffin tins. Plonk in the oven and bake 20-25 minutes. Cool a smidge and there you are.

Makes 24 standard size muffins.

I Want To Go O-Sin! (Who Doesn't, Kid?)

We went to the Oregon coast for a few days.  It was cold and grey, but it was also beautiful and far away from our front porch.

These were Leo's thoughts on the ocean (usually just after waking up in the morning ... or from his nap ... and stumbling, half-asleep, this way and that ...)

'I'm all done! Doing OK! All ready go!'

Gluten-Free Oat Scones, Which Your Children Will Eat For a Change

I am writing this down now before I forget.  Because you know that tomorrow morning I will be running around and yelling about how I lose everything, and can find absolutely nothing, and how it is terribly inconvenient when all you want to do is make breakfast in the morning and be done with it, for crying out loud.

And so, here it is -- gluten-free oat scones/biscuits.  The five year old loved them (because her mama made something not involving a chia seed, for a change), and the two year old even ate his -- and only screamed mildly, then nearly fell out his high chair a mere three times.  Not a bad breakfast, really.

1 cup brown rice flour
1 cup tapioca flour
3/4 cup oat flour
1/4 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling
1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 tablespoon, plus 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350F, and line a baking sheet with parchment.

In a mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients and mix to blend.  Then pour in the heavy cream.  (I only had 1 1/2 cups, so I added 1/2 cup plain kefir yogurt drink, or whatever it is called.)  Mix to combine.

Flour a work surface with rice flour, turn the dough out, and form into a rectangely-thing of sorts, about 1"- 1 1/2" high.  Either cut out biscuit shapes, or use a scone cutter, and place on the baking sheet, roughly 2" apart.  Sprinkle the tops with a little sugar, if you wish -- which I did wish.

Bake for 25-30 minutes and then let cool for 10 or 15 minutes.  

Macrina scoops a bit of the biscuit out of the top once baked and fills them with blackberry jam.  However, I much prefer splitting them down the middle and slathering with butter and jam.

(Recipe based on: More from Macrina by Leslie Mackie, Sasquatch Books, 2012.)

A Gracious Plenty

'Sometimes something comes along and tears your roots right out of the ground, and that's when you know you been planted too long,' he says.

I agree.

'Sometimes you been growing one thing in your garden for too many years, and then everything dies. You gotta give the soil time to replenish itself.'

'You talking to me in code?' I ask him.

'Shit no,' he says. 'I'm just talking to pass the time.' And he laughs.

-- A Gracious Plenty, by Sheri Reynolds