Muffin episode #6 - Peach Raspberry Almond

What a beautiful but windy day! Hubby left this morning to spend a few days in Miami.

We had a healthy breakfast (well, I did, Julian had pancakes), Muesli from Ikea with milk and fresh raspberries and blueberries.

Then Julian and I packed the Peach Raspberry Almond muffins I baked late last night and a scrumptious fruit salad and headed over to Lake Thonotosassa.

Say THAT 3 times in a row :) I always have trouble prounouncing Thonotosassa!

I love fruit salad... it's so quick and easy to make, and I typycally like to throw in as many different fruits

as I can. So it's not your typical fruit salad with just grapes, strawberries, apples, etc.

Today I used mango, bananas, grapes, apples, pears, blueberries, strawberries and mandarin oranges.

I always keep the dressing simple but my secret ingredient is honey! Just toss some orange juice and honey together, pour over the salad, stir lightly and you have the greatest light dressing for your fruit salad.

Our friends recently moved from around the corner (well 5 minute car ride away) to a new home and we hadn't seen each other since around Thanksgiving.

Their property isn't located directly by the lake, but they were lucky to buy a home where you can see the lake, and have direct access to it through 2 common areas that seperate them from the lake.

We had a nice picnic right by the lake, then Julian and I joined my friend and his son at the dock with some fishing poles. Julian has never been fishing but he usually loves feeding all the fish at the Thai Temple.

My friend is just an amateur fisher... so we had fishing poles and dog food LOL Julian was more than happy to throw in the dog food to get the fish to come by and eat. Then we threw the fishing line out (dog food attached) and he was actually pretty patient waiting and chatting away.

No fish caught  (my friend texted me a picture of a couple of fish caught later after we left).

So we just enjoyed the muffins - another awesome recipe!

Julian finally was brave enough to move away from my side and venture out to play outside a little bit with the other 3 boys, 5 years, 4 years and one just his age.

I did have a guilty mommy moment though... suddenly my friend's husband carried in my crying baby... he was running around in the yard with the bigger boys and they left him behind :( He was yelling "Hey guys... wait, wait!!!" but they were too fast for him :( I know he'll be fine but I hate having to see him experience these little life lessons and see how sad he was that the boys didn't wait for him.

He is always so concerned about everyone, always making sure we wait for everyone before going somewhere. I think he'll be much better at dealing with this once he goes to school and starts playing with more kids his age. Still... the mom in me just wanted to protect him!

Poor baby was so clingy to me all afternoon, he wanted me to hold him and cried when he thought I was going to go somewhere without him asking "Stay mommy... no leave!"... hearbreaking!

Here is the recipe for the Peach Raspberry Almond Muffins:

Makes 16 Muffins

Preheat oven to 350F

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1 tsp finely grated orange zest

1tsp vanilla extract

3 eggs

1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

1 1/2 cups diced peeled ripe peaches (I did not peel mine)

1/2 cup slivered almonds

How to make them:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.

2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat sugar, butter, cream cheese, orange zest and vanilla until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until well blended. Beat in orange juice until blended.

3. With the mixer on low speed, beat the flour mixture into the gg mixture until just blended. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in peaches.

4. Divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle with slivered almonds.

5. Bake in preheated oven for 25 - 30 minutes or until tops are golden and toothpick inserted the center comes out clean. Let cool in pans on a wire rack for 3 minutes, then transfer to the rack to cool.