buttermilk spice muffins!

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this morning was an earrrly one over here! i’ve never been much of a morning person, but these days i wake up to TWO cuties which is such an added bonus, AND today i was up early enough to make husband some muffins before he had to leave for work & i love doing things like that.

i am busy this week working on site design for my mom’s two vintage stores & getting all of the social media in order for them. very exciting! also, my nana made a special trip to town to meet abel. his very first great grandmother meeting! lastly, and this one make my heart go pitter-patter… our friends the sanfords are stopping through to stay with us on their way to California. they get here tonight & i could not be more excited to spend some time with them! soooo, that’s where i’ve been this week! hope you’ve had a great one! until next time, enjoy a muffin recipe!

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Ingredients
Muffin Batter:
1 cup Sugar
½ cup Butter or margarine
3 Eggs
2-½ cups Flour
2 tsp. Baking soda
1 tsp. Nutmeg
½ tsp. Cinnamon
¾ cup + 1 tbsp. Buttermilk

Nut Topping:
½ cup Sugar
1 cup Walnuts (finely chopped)
½ tsp. Cinnamon
½ tsp. Nutmeg

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375°. In a mixing bowl, cream the sugar and the butter together with an electric mixer. When they are thoroughly mixed, add eggs and beat one more minute.
  2. Sift the flour into a separate bowl, together with the baking soda, nutmeg and the cinnamon.
  3. Add the flour and the buttermilk to the first mixture, mix at low speed until smooth. To avoid lumps in the batter, add the wet and dry ingredients alternately, in small amounts.
  4. Make the nut topping: Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl.
  5. Grease muffin tins with butter or margarine. You can also use paper baking cups. Fill each cup 3/4 full of batter. Add a full, rounded tablespoon of nut topping on top of each muffin cup of batter. Bake immediately or the topping will sink to the bottom of the muffin.
  6. Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown. A toothpick inserted in the middle of the muffin should come out dry. Home ovens heat differently from commercial ovens so you may need to adjust the temperature or the baking time accordingly.
  7. Recipe yields 12 standard-size muffins, or six Mimi's-size muffins. If using the jumbo muffin pans, reduce the oven temperature by 25° and increase the baking time 5-10 minutes.

original recipe found here!

spring fever!

happy monday!
i hope you had a wonderful weekend!! we sure did! it snowed buckets yesterday & was cold & snowy the days before that too! i had been waiting for some real snow around here, & can now be okay about moving into spring & not feel like we were totally jipped in the winter weather department! so, yay! that being said, i am now starting to feel excited for the season change & all things bright & beautiful (didn’t mean to owl city reference there, but let’s go with it). mostly, i can’t wait to lay a blanket in the grass with my little guy & watch him discover life & cloud watch! anyhow… i came across these GORGEOUS flowers while giving minutes of my life to pinterest, and just looking at them made me happy :) thought it might make you happy too!
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here's to my first month being a mama!

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good, ness! have i really been a mama to this sweet little angel for an entire month?! it honestly feels like i had him just yesterday... & at the exact same time, feels like we've had him forever.
you know what i mean?
gosh, this month has been the best of our lives! our little guy has seriously been a dream. i would advise anyone considering having a baby to ignore anything negative that "they" say and to DO IT. aside from marrying chris, having a baby has been the best decision i have made in my 24 years of life. i can say without any hesitation that being a mother is what i was made for. yes, God made me for a lot of different reasons. to be and do many different things... being chris' wife & abel's mama though are hands down my favorite roles & where i feel like i just fit.
perfectly.
anything i was anxious about has proven to be SO much smaller in real life than i had built it up to be in my head! from pregnancy, to delivery, to life with a baby. i would do it all again tomorrow & i pray that we are given the opportunity & are blessed with more salvaggione kiddos one day.
i have learned so much this past month.
things like...
how important communicating with your husband is. that has saved our lives. chris has been the dream husband & daddy, and being able to tell him exactly what i need or how i'm feeling, and him doing the same has been a HUGE factor in what has made this experience so wonderful. i've learned that it is A-OKAY to accept help from others when they offer. there is nothing to prove, & doing everything on your own those first weeks is a lot people. calling your mom every day & asking, "is it normal if..." is okay too. she's a much better source than google, & if she's as great as mine, you'll feel so much more at peace & have some great chats in the meantime. when "they" say "sleep when they sleep"... if you're anything like me, you won't. babies are so sweet when they sleep, you'll sit there & stare at them, & when you aren't doing that, you'll be rushing around trying to get things marked off of your to-do list. i've learned to work quickly when you have two hands... you don't know how long you have them to yourself or how long it'll be until the next time they aren't holding your precious babe-kin again. i've learned how to do lots of things with one hand, and sometimes even with the left. i've learned that it's okay to just let things go undone sometimes & just sit & hold my baby.
i've learned a lot about love too, the mama kind...
i already loved my life so much before. i loved my sweet sweet husband & our pets. our little house & our big families. my little pregnant belly & all the little details that made up each day. since abel was born though, & i've been by his side pretty much 24/7 this past month, my heart has just gotten bigger & i love him with a different kind of love. an unending, no conditions, can't believe i grew you in my belly kind of love that just gets better every day.
... & i love that.
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crepes.

& a happy wednesday to YOU!
yesterday i was feeling all domestic & wanted to make something delicious that i had never tried before. so, for husbands lunch break, we had crepes! homemade by me!
they were so yumm to say the least! we had ours with a peanut butter & chocolate dip since its all we had at the house... (grocery shopping day is finally here though people, & you can bet we will be getting some strawbabies & nutella, oooweeee) anyhow, these were SO stinkin easy & delish that i wanted to share the recipe with you! 
happy crepe making!
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RECIPE
1 cup flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 1/3 cup milk
1 tbsp vanilla
3 eggs
3 tbsp melted butter

1. In a large bowl combine the flour sugar and salt.
2. In a large measuring cup combine the milk, vanilla, eggs and melted butter. Mix with a fork to break up the eggs.
3. While whisking rapidly, slowly pour the milk and egg mixture into the dry ingredients. Whisk until very well combined. I keep the whisk in the bowl and continue to mix the batter occasionally as I make the crepes.
4. Heat an 8" non-stick skillet to medium heat. coat pan with butter. Pour ¼ cup of batter into pan and tilt pan so that batter covers pan in a thin layer. Cook until the edges start to lightly brown, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Flip over and cook for a few more seconds until done. I sprinkle about a teaspoon of sugar over each crepe and roll them up & place them on a plate in the oven at 175 degrees to keep them warm until they are ready to serve.

original recipe found here (i nixed the salt, always do)
& having a little helper at your feet never hurts!
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