A Peek at Our Living Room

This past weekend I took the time to restyle our bookcase.  It had been done, minorly, before but we'd since accumulated some new books, an unfortunate trophy (a fantasy football related mishap that must be displayed until a new "winner" is chosen), and a few other odds and ends.  The bookcase was starting to look a bit thrown together.  So I decided to try styling it by color and see how it looked.  I'm really happy with the results.   

My photography skills are still a bit lacking so please excuse the poor photos.  And the abundance of space on some of the shelves.  Someday they'll be filled with fun treasures.  All in good time.

Our DVDs used to be in plain view and looked a little out of place.  I purchased these DVD storage boxes to hide them in instead.  I also picked up a few magazine files while I was at it.  Everything is still easily accessible but out of sight when we don't need them.

Lastly, I finally got to hang my butterfly print from our trip to Maine.  I love it!  My boy likes to pick favorite butterflies from the print and ask what their names are.  Everybody's happy.

Would you ever style your bookcase by color?  There's an argument that it makes titles more difficult to find but I think its worth it for the overall appearance (we honestly don't go searching for titles too often and when we do, we know what the cover looks like).  What about you?

Baking Day: Blueberry Lavender Muffins

I have a confession to make: I eat breakfast for dinner all. the. time.  Perhaps as often as once a week.  I love all things breakfast (I'm talking real breakfast here, not a bowl of frosted flakes) and it's just so easy to throw together and tastes so delicious that I find myself cooking Brinner all the time.  This week was no different.  On the menu: blueberry muffins.

I'm warning you in advance: these things are highly addicting.  You won't be able to eat just one.  I've adapted the recipe slightly from one found in Gourmet.

Blueberry Lavender Muffins

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour


• 3/4 cup lavender sugar


• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder


• 3/4 teaspoon salt


• 3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
  
  


• 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk


• 1 egg plus 1 yolk


• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla


• 2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen


• TOPPING:


• 
  
  • 3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, diced
  
  
  • 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  
  
  • 3 1/2 tablespoons lavender sugar
  
  
  
  

Preheat oven to 375*F.  Prepare muffin pans.

Prepare topping:

• Using your finger tips, rub 3 tablespoons diced cold unsalted butter into 1/2 cup all purpose flour and 3 1/2 tablespoons lavender sugar until pea-sized crumbs form.  Set aside.

Prepare muffins:

• Whisk together flour, lavender sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.  Set aside.


• In a separate bowl, mix melted butter, milk, egg, yolk and vanilla.  Pour wet ingredients into reserved dry ingredients and stir just until combined (don't over mix).  


• Fold in blueberries.


• Divide evenly among 10 muffin cups.  Sprinkle with crumb topping.


• Bake until golden and a toothpick comes out clean, 18-20 minutes.


• Cool 15 minutes before removing from pans. 

{images by me}

Lavender Sugar

Thanks to a little wild lavender bush growing in my front yard, I was able to dry my own batch of lavender this year.  It smells heavenly and I can't wait to try all the things I'll be able to do with it.  My first project was lavender sugar, which is so simple to do.  Blend 1 Tbs. dried lavender buds in a blender until powdery and mix with 2 cups of fine granulated sugar (Caster or Baker's sugar works best).  Or put it all in the blender together for something a little more like powdered sugar in consistency, like I did.

It's a beautiful, thoughtful and inexpensive gift idea.  You can substitute lavender sugar for regular sugar in countless recipes, like sugar cookies, or serve it sprinkled over a bowl of fresh berries.  If you'd like to try cooking with whole lavender buds, there are recipes like Lavender
Spritzer to try.  Personally, I think my powdered sugar variety will
make some amazing Mexican Wedding Cookies.

{images by me}