Blueberry Muffins

Dad turned 76 on Friday. Can you believe he still works full time? I wonder if that is part of his secret to staying so young.

Scott took this picture on the morning of Dad's birthday while they rode an ATV throughout the old homestead property in Scott County. Then, most of the family joined him and Mom for a night of spoiling. Mom made an amazing meal of lasagna, salad, bread, and a coconut birthday cake. The plan was for Dad to continue with the birthday festivities by going to my sister Jackie's tavern in Georgia for some more spoiling today (Sunday). So unexpectedly, Mom and Dad called me yesterday to say that they wanted to split the trip up and stay with me overnight. What?!? You don't know how rare that is. Mom has stayed with me quite a few times, but not Dad.

They just left, and we had a great visit. Since Steve is still in Orlando watching Stetson play basketball, it was just me, Keely, Mom and Dad who first went to dinner last night. I took them to Mount Vernon, a restaurant at the foot of Lookout Mountain. Keely and I shared a variety of vegetables, Dad enjoyed a "Whistle Stop BLT" made with fried green tomatoes, and Mom ordered fried chicken livers. Keely about died.

Keely: "Oh, Grandma! That is disgusting! I can't believe you're actually ordering that!"

I told her later that night that it is crazy to be hatin' on something that she has never even tried. She should have at least tried one as Mom used to make them for us kids growing up, and it was one of our favorite meals!

Keely: "If I told you to try goat toes, how would you respond to that?!?!"

OK, I don't see the comparison.

Before I could even think about what to serve for breakfast the following morning, Dad said, "Now don't be making us a big breakfast. I'll just have a piece of toast with some jelly and some coffee. That's it."

Nope. Don't think so. My bread nicely coordinates with my green Longaberger basket! Now what do I do? After they went to bed, I went to my "go-to" website, Southern Plate, to see if I could find something simple, tasty, and made with basic ingredients so that I wouldn't have to make a trip to the grocery store. I ran across a recipe for blueberry muffins that seemed perfect. . . mostly because it started with Bisquick.

I never buy this stuff. But when Steve saw pancake mix on my grocery list, this is what he came home with weeks ago. I personally don't think it makes very good pancakes and certainly mine look nothing like what is on the box, so now I'm wondering what in the world am I going to do with this? Now I know. Perfect!

The muffins turned out great. However, I modified the original recipe by adding a streusel topping. Delicious! I'll definitely be making these again!

Blueberry Muffins

Muffin Ingredients:

• 2-1/4 cups Bisquick
• 1 heaping cup frozen blueberries (not thawed, can use fresh)
• 1 cup milk
• 1/3 cup sugar (I used Splenda)
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Streusel Topping:

• 3/4 cup brown sugar (I used Splenda Brown Sugar Blend)
• 3/4 cup flour 
• 1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon 
• 1/4 cup butter, softened

Directions:
Spray a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray. In a small bowl, mix blueberries with 1/4 cup of Bisquick. Set aside. (This is to prevent the blueberries from sinking to the bottom of the muffins.)
In a large bowl, place all other muffin ingredients and stir until well mixed, but still lumpy. Gently stir in blueberries. Spoon into muffin cups.

Mix all ingredients for the streusel topping until crumbly. Place on top of each muffin. Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until lightly browned on top.

Developing a Taste for Interactions

The other day, I ran across the idea of making red velvet cinnamon rolls on Pinterest. I giggled when I learned that Keely's reaction essentially matched mine:

Put "red velvet" in the title of pretty much any recipe, and we're going to try it. We've made traditional red velvet cakes from scratch, red velvet truffles, red velvet whoopie pies, red velvet pancakes, etc. Instead of using the given recipe for the cinnamon rolls above, however, my plan was to experiment with my basic recipe of cinnamon rolls that I've been making for years.

Given the fact that I'm teaching a class this week on experimental design techniques, I thought this would be the perfect time to do some experimentation myself. I was speculating that my students and co-workers would gladly be my test subjects (a.k.a. guinea pigs), and I was right! :)

There are several questions that I wanted this experiment to answer:
1. Is the red velvet dough preferred to the basic plain dough that I normally use?
2. Is a cream cheese icing better than the plain sugar glaze that I normally use?
3. Is it worth it to put chopped pecans on top or should I just leave them off?

For those of you who just want to bypass the details and simply find the answers to these questions, simply scroll to the bottom of this post. For you technical types who actually enjoy having more detail about how I conducted this experiment, keep reading. (Hey, the rest of you, stop rolling your eyes!)  :D

Here is another way of listing the several factors, or changes, that I wanted to try:

Factor:          Current Condition:        Change to Try:
A: Dough        Basic                           Red velvet
B: Icing           Plain sugar glaze        Cream cheese icing
C: Pecans      No pecans on top        Add pecans on top

I made 4 different batches of cinnamon rolls, each with differing combinations of above. Specifically, I made the following batches:

Batch 1: Basic dough with plain sugar glaze, and chopped pecans on top

Batch 2: Red velvet dough with the plain sugar glaze, but with no pecans on top

Batch 3: Basic dough with cream cheese icing, but with no pecans on top

Batch 4: Red velvet dough with cream cheese icing, and chopped pecans on top

I asked each student/co-worker who wanted to participate in this experiment (trust me . . . no twisting arms on this request) to taste a particular batch (or batches) of cinnamon rolls. Then, each was asked to provide a "likeability" score (using a 1-5 scale) by completing the following survey:

I collected 10 surveys for each batch, for a total of 40 observations. Thankfully, most participants enjoyed all 4 different batches of cinnamon rolls. Here is one of my students, Donna, getting ready for her first sample. I didn't realize until later that I caught one of my co-workers, Brian, "licking his chops" in the background! In fact, it was Brian who wrote above: "Holy cow!" :D

After analyzing the results, I learned that the dough that I used significantly affected the likeability score. This is depicted in the chart below by the very long bar that exceeds the reference line.

Even though most of the responses were very favorable, I learned that changing the dough had a negative effect on the likeability score. That is, the average likeability score from those batches where I used the red velvet dough was statistically significantly lower than the average likeability score where I used my basic dough (see first graph below). This surprised me!

Although changing the icing wasn't technically significant, the average likeability score from those batches with the cream cheese icing appears to be heading in the wrong direction, too, as shown in the second graph above. Since it isn't significant, I would keep it at the status quo condition anyways. That is, stick with the plain sugar glaze icing.

Lastly, it appears that the average likeability score is about the same, whether or not you put pecans on top. See the last graph above. So, at this point I would leave it at the status quo condition (no pecans) and save money.

Uncovering potential interactions is one of the benefits of running this type of experiment where you change multiple things simultaneously. That is, what would happen to the likeability score if you combine two of these changes? In this experiment, I found a clue where possibly the icing and the pecans interact, which was a little odd I thought.

When there were no pecans on top, the cream cheese icing was preferred over the glaze. When there were pecans on top, then the glaze icing was preferred over the cream cheese icing. Hmmmm. Since I'm planning on sticking with the glaze icing, now I wonder if I should invest in the pecans after all? It's just a clue, though. In fact, it is most likely that the significance is due to changing dough type anyways.

Bottom line: It looks like I should leave well enough alone. In other words, stick with the basic dough, stick with the plain sugar glaze icing, and don't worry about investing in pecans. I guess this particular experiment supports the old adage:

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

Red, White, and Blueberry Trifle

As mentioned in my previous post, we certainly enjoyed so many wonderful desserts at our 4th of July bash last week. Not surprisingly, most were sinful. One in particular, however, was fairly guiltless. My dear friend, Damaris, brought the Red, White, and Blueberry Trifle. Not only did it make for a beautiful presentation, but it was also popular among the family and friends who (at least occasionally) like to watch their sugar and caloric intake. Oh, but it was delicious, too!

Damaris found the recipe on the skinnytaste.com website. For any Weight Watcher folks, each 1 cup serving is only 3 points, and I promise you won't miss any of the sugar or extra calories. Mmmmmmm.

Thanks, Damaris!

Red, White, and Blueberry Trifle

Ingredients:

• 10 oz angel food cake, cut into 1-inch cubes (Damaris used a sugar-free angel food cake.)
• 2 pints strawberries, sliced
• 2 pints blueberries

For the cream filling:

• 6 tablespoons fat-free sweetened condensed milk
• 1-1/2 cups cold water
• 1 package sugar-free white chocolate instant pudding mix
• 12 oz fat-free frozen whipped topping, thawed

Directions:
Whisk the condensed milk and water in a bowl. Whisk in the pudding mix for 2 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set; fold in the whipped topping.

Arrange half of the cake in the bottom of a trifle dish or large bowl. Sprinkle evenly with a layer of blueberries. Spread half of the cream mixture over the blueberries and gently spread. Top with a layer of strawberries. Layer the remaining cake cubes on top of the strawberries, then add more blueberries and top with the remaining cream mixture. Finish with the remaining strawberries and blueberries, arranging them in a pretty pattern. Cover and refrigerate at least one 1 hour.

4th of July Bash

Each year, we tend to host a big 4th of July bash, and this year was no exception. The house was filled with 49 friends and family members, which I loved. The more, the merrier! Not surprisingly, we never have a shortage of great food. I love these types of potlucks where all of us get to benefit from being around such good cooks. I also believe that since the publication of our first family cookbook, the bar has been raised. Now, there seems to be a renewed spirit to try new, amazing recipes while we still get to enjoy the tried-and-true traditional ones. Even my Aunt Marilyn sent out a plea to her Facebook family requesting a great recipe followed by, "I need to outdo my nieces!"

I love it! . . . at least until one of her friends suggested a fruit pizza, something that I make every year. Whoa! :D

For now, I'll just try to recall all that was served, but I hope to share some new recipes in future posts.

The appetizers included shrimp dip served with a variety of crackers, hot pepper peach dip served with pretzel crackers, sausage bites with pineapple and cherries, and meatballs. Mmmmm. Even Dad said, "I can make a meal just off of this stuff!" Notice some of the randomly-spaced missing cherries below. Jackie swears that Dad was the sneaky thief! :D

The main course included the requisite grilled hamburgers and hotdogs with a variety of toppings. Lots of people were talking about the burgers because they were HUGE! I'm embarrassed to admit that when I went to our local meat packing company, I got confused about a 6 oz patty vs. an 8 oz patty. For some crazy reason, I briefly thought a 6 oz patty was going to be like a quarter-pounder. That's why I went with the larger size, not thinking that what I ended up with was half-pound burgers! Oh my. Although there was a lot of talk and giggles making fun of a statistician who apparently doesn't know math, there were no complaints!

Now the sides: cole slaw, pepper slaw, baked beans, two different kinds of pasta salad, two different kinds of layered cornbread salad, corn on the cob, pineapple casserole, confetti salad, garden vegetable salad, watermelon feta salad, macaroni and cheese, blueberry congealed salad, and sawdust salad. Whew! Hopefully, I didn't leave a dish out of this list. They were all so wonderful!

Now for the best part:  the desserts! Blackberry cobbler; chocolate cookies with butterscotch chips; fruit pizza shaped into a flag (yes, mine, not Marilyn's); red, white, and blueberry trifle; patriotic cookies; mounds cake; no-bake strawberry icebox cake; stuffed strawberries; and a bouquet of lollipops for the kids. Thank God for us living in America, and thank God for Pinterest!  :)

Although there was plenty of good eatin', we did offer many other activities:  swimming, corn hole, horseshoes, basketball, ping pong, sidewalk chalk, etc.

Mostly, though, it was a day of relaxing, chillin', and just shootin' the bull, catching up with family and friends. Can't wait for next year!

A Minnie Birthday

"Things don't change; people do." I have always loved that quote from Thoreau. I usually agree with it, but I'm not sure anymore . . . at least today. Today is Keely's 23rd birthday. One thing that hasn't changed about her is that she has always loved Minnie Mouse. In fact, that was the theme of her very first birthday party which seemed like yesterday.

More than two decades later, she asks for a Minnie Mouse birthday cake again. How do I respond to that?

"As you wish," of course.

Although I admit the decorating wasn't perfect, I do know that Keely appreciated this labor of love.

Keely, I hope this is your best birthday ever!