Many years ago when I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do when I grew up, I met Don Vaughan. He was the photographer for our campus newspaper, and I had sort of accidentally started working for the paper, which turned out to be exactly what I needed to be doing.

Don called me to set up a time to take a photo, and we hit it off right away. We became fast friends, travelling to newspapers conventions and taking on campus administrators.

Don is the type of person who is always there when you need him — he helped me get my first “real” newspaper job, and once, helped me figure out how to fix a flat tire over the phone. He took pictures at my wedding as a gift to me, and it is one of the best presents I have ever received to be able to flip through that book of captured moments.

He and his wife Stephanie remain great friends to this day, although we don’t see each other often. But sometimes I feel like we are all sort of living parallel lives. Don is the one of the few people I know who happily spends as much time in the kitchen as I do. And during he summer, Don and Steph grow a garden that breaks my heart a little because I can’t actually curl up and sleep in it all season.

(While our garden gets overgrown with weeds, and infested with bugs and mutant zuchinni, their garden gives them really cool and interesting food like peppers I only hear about on cooking shows.)

Don and Stephanie have truly embraced the locavore movement in their Minnesota town, buying meat, eggs, dairy products, produce and even wine from farmers, growers and vintners they know.

Don’s Facebook status updates often say something like: Taking it easy tonight, so I am making a pizza with homemade whole wheat crust, local cheese from a cow I milked, vegetables we grew in the backyard, and sausage from a pig named Trevor who had a really good life until he was peacefully euthanized.

(That is a bit of an exaggeration, but it always makes me smile to see how much Don and Steph really care about their food and where it comes from.)

Stephanie says since adapting to this local diet several years ago, they are both healthier.

Suffice it to say, when I thought about starting this muffin series, I thought of the Facebook updates from Don about hearty and interesting healthy muffins that he whips up when not bringing the couple’s therapy dogs to a local prison. Really.

What follows is a quick interview with Don and his recipe for Morning Glory Muffins. It feels so funny after all these years to be interviewing him when way back in college we were always on the same side of the table, taking on the man.

Who knew all these years later we’d be comparing muffin recipes and tomato harvests? I guess it just goes to show that true friendships, like people, are always evolving:

TVNT: So Don — let’s talk muffins. How often to you bake a batch? What do you look for in a recipe?

Don: I bake muffins about once a week. Very rarely do I look for recipes. I have a base recipe that I use and then substitute ingredients based on what we have in the house and/or what sounds good.

TVNT: You mentioned starting with a whole wheat flour and flax base — why is it important to you to use those kinds of ingredients? Do you have a general cooking philosophy?

Don: We try to eat healthy and feel that whole wheat is a better choice than white flour. As for the flax, it’s a way to cut down on fat in the muffins and add another healthy ingredient. I also like what flax usually does to a recipe (heartier texture, rustic appeal).

TVNT:  What has been your craziest muffin experiment?

Don: I can’t think of one off hand, but it was probably one that I just started throwing anything and everything in it. I am known for “throwing together” some strange combinations in the kitchen. I have had a couple muffins that just didn’t come together how I wanted them to. As a result, I cut them into chunks, placed in a bowl, added milk and “POOF” – homemade cereal!

TVNT: Any tips or tricks you want to share about baking, or mixing, or anything muffin-related?

Don: Make what sounds good and don’t be afraid to try something new. We all make things that don’t turn out so well. But, one mistake might lead to another really good idea. Think outside the muffin!

TVNT: Bonus question: Blueberry or cranberry?

Don: Cranberry. At least right now. However, friends of ours own a winery and always say that we are moody drinkers. Which is true – also about food. I don’t like having the same thing over and over. We are very seasonal on what we eat. Thus, ask me this a little ways down the road and I might answer blueberry.

Morning Glory Muffins

 This is based on Earthbound Farm’s recipe. Here is a link to check out the original if you would like to take a peek.

Just to let you know, I hardly ever follow a recipe. I might use one as a base, but that is about it. I also don’t believe in exact measuring. Just a heads-up!

About 1 1/4 cups sweetener

(Usually some type of raw sugar – turbinado is what I currently have on hand. I will sometimes substitute one or a combo of the following as well: honey, agave nectar, maple syrup – just not plain white sugar. Muffin shown are approximately1 cup sugar and approx. 1/4 honey)

Approx. 2 1/4 cups or 2 BIG cups whole wheat flour

1 BIG tablespoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

A GOOD 1/2 cup or so shredded coconut

Basically a cup of chopped dates

1 BIG apple, peeled and grated (I used a honeycrisp, a MN favorite; it was developed in MN)

1 8-oz can crushed pineapple, not drained

About 2 cups grated carrots

Healthy 1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (use any nut you like; pecans work well, too)

3 eggs (I happened to use local, farm-fresh jumbos from down the road)

1 cup vegetable oil is called for (Your choice here, but I will usually cut the oil in half and then add 1 1/2 cups of flax. Adjust to your preference.)

At least 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (I use Nielsen Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Bean Paste; I like the paste WAY more than extract.)

If you wanna, I will usually sprinkle some wheat germ in when I mix the dry stuff.

 Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.

Sift or whisk together the sugar, flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and flax (if used) into a large bowl. Add the coconut, dates, apple, pineapple, carrots and nuts; stir to combine.

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs with the oil and vanilla (add any liquid sweetener here). Pour into the bowl with the dry ingredients and blend well. Depending on the amount of flax used, a liquid might need to be added to slightly smooth out the batter. I will use whatever milk I have on had at the time (whole milk Lactaid, almond milk or soy milk). Soy milk tonight! The batter should be moist but not runny.

Spoon the batter into muffin tins lined with muffin cups, filling each to the almost to brim. Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool muffins in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to finish cooling.

 Note: I did small and large muffins. The small were done around the 35 minute area. The larger took about an hour.

Don Vaughan is a photojournalist/photographer by trade. However, working with dogs takes up most of his time these days. Stephanie and Don own a Japanese mastiff that has been a therapy dog for more than 8 years. They are currently training their other dog, a Saint Bernard that they rescued, for therapy work as well. Besides working with their therapy dog, they teach a therapy dog prep class and are heavily involved with giant breed rescue.

On the food front, Don really enjoys the creation of the meal. Besides seafood, they buy all of their meat (beef, bison, chicken, pork, lamb) from local farmers and believe in grass-fed. On the veggie front, they plant a fairly large garden that provides fresh produce for them and many friends, family and neighbors.

They feel lucky to have a year-round farmers market near their home in southeast Minnesota.

*All photos in this post were taken by Don.*

To see last week’s Muffin-Up Monday recipe, click here.

“In a way Winter is the real Spring – the time when the inner things happen, the resurgence of nature.” ~ Edna O’Brien

Adding a quick link I just found! 45 Things to Do with Toddlers During the Superbowl.

An assortment of recipes, books, blog posts, or other things that inspired me this week.

Valentines with Heart

How to be an Explorer of the World (thanks B and B!)

Felt Dot Garland for Valentine’s Day

Message in a Cookie Cookie Cutters

8 Ways to Give Green Love

What is inspiring you this week? Please tell us about it in the comments below!

I heard it before I knew what was happening.

I was moo-ing. In public.

Mooooooooo! The man playing Igor Stravinsky said gesturing at me.

Moo. I responded.

Mooooooo! he said again, lifting his conductor baton higher.

Um, mooo? I tried again.

We’ll work in it! he said reassuringly.

You work on it, I thought to myself.

I had brought my kids to a school-age performance of the ballet “The Emperor and the Nightingale.” If I had wanted audience participation I would have taken them to a midnight showing of Rocky Horror.

And now I had embarrassed myself in front of several classrooms of Montessori kids.

But this was not the first time my lack of musical confidence had led to stage fright and later red cheeks. It was just the first time the public embarrassment had included animal sounds.

The whole experience, which I relive periodically in staggering flashbacks, reminded me of something I have been telling myself I want to work on.

I want to be more … musical.

Last year, a friend told me she heard a pretty well-know and very respected homeschool author and speaker at a conference. The woman insisted the talk not be recorded because she was going to tell the parents in attendance about some of the things she wished she had done differently as a homechooling mom.

The one that stood out for me when my friend relayed the story: she wishes she would have sung more.

Her children often saw her as a stressed and busy mom, she said, balancing educating her kids, a career, a home, and writing books on the side … they rarely got to see her as a mom enjoying life; humming a happy tune, as it were.

That’s me. I thought. I’m that way too.

Sheeewt.

I gave up piano lessons around age 11 when other interests took over. Our little grade school offered music class twice a week with a woman who clearly hated us all and often wondered outloud how she had gotten saddled with the one grade school in the county that had absolutely zero Fame-like talent.

Later I had mix tapes, sure, but while friends went to sweaty outdoor concerts, I openly questioned the appeal of standing just close enough to a band to have to drive home with my ears ringing, smelling like smoke …

I married a man who loves live music, and somehow loves me even if I don’t understand going to see U2 every year.

***

During my first pregnancy I read about the benefits of playing music to your baby. I had visited a friend after her son was born and recognized Bach on the CD player. Her 10-day old infant didn’t seem moved.

When my own son was born a few months later, we were given music too. I played him the CD of children singing kid classics like, ”Do You Know the Muffin Man” and he screamed until he watched a stranger buy the CD for 25 cents in our yard sale.

Owen never liked music meant for kids; neither of my children did.

They did like the classic radio station, I discovered one day. And we invested in some audiobooks for longer car rides.

Somehow, though, they have both developed a love of music, and I have felt for a while like I need to catch up. I really wanted to find a way to share music with them — just in a way that didn’t make any of us batty.

Enter Elizabeth Mitchell and Lisa Loeb.

Their CD Can You Catch the Moon has given us a perfect blend of age-appropriate songs; familiar melodies and music that I can enjoy as an adult.

Since getting that CD a few months ago, we have added more Elizabeth Mitchell to our collection, and suddenly, I am finding myself singing.

Another resource that is helping me to feel more musical are the CDs from Naturally You Can Sing. (I mean, naturally I can’t, but the CDs are helping.)

In observing Ellery’s Waldorf class offered through our homeschool co-op, I am seeing the power of music for young children, especially in helping them to make transitions.

Today, as we were getting ready to play in the snow, I found myself singing: “Thumb in the the thumb place/fingers all together/this is what we sing in mitten weather …”

I am here to say that singing is a waaaay more peaceful approach to getting kids dressed for snow-play than shouting PUSH like a labor and delivery nurse in a medical drama.

So while I am not ready to moo in public again anytime soon, I am finding that there is a definite place in our home (and car) and life for music.

I think Igor Stravinsky would be proud.

How do you bring music into your home?

You may have heard that we got a little snow here in the Midwest yesterday.

I’ve been making a real effort here the past two winters to embrace this season and the cold and snow it brings with it.

I am a fall girl — always have been. I used to think that I disliked winter but now I realize I am just not a big fan of temperature extremes in general, so in spring and fall I plant the garden and dye the eggs; decorate the house with pumpkins and put cinnamon and nutmeg in everything.

In winter and summer I find I have to try a little harder to find my rhythm – I don’t feel those seasons the same way.

But having kids is helping. Owen declared yesterday “the best day of his life” as we dug for a lost boot in 4-foot drifts.

Kids don’t worry about snow. Adults grumble about shoveling, and losing power and stock up on batteries and salt and other emergency supplies.

My children’s biggest concern was what the birds and squirrels would eat.

And so we took care of that, and then they were free to be overtaken by the excitement of a world coated in white …

I noticed something after the storm had started and the kids had fallen asleep under extra blankets: Our street (usually so busy) was ghostly quiet.

This is what it takes to slow people down, I thought.

And then I saw something else good about winter. 

Yesterday we woke up to a backyard, a city, that looked so very different. We spent most of the day outside, except when I could entice the kids to come in for grilled cheese sandwiches, soup, cocoa and snowballs — blizzard party food. 

Last year I told myself that I needed to learn to love something about winter. This year I wonder if when spring arrives, I will miss the heavy blanket of snow; the quiet; the blizzard food and all the things I am finally starting to enjoy. Knitting is coziest in the winter. Food is heartiest. Days are shortest and yet hardly feel that way.

Winter is a different way of being … but that’s starting to be OK.

Hot Cocoa and Snowballs

Cocoa

Prepare 2 mugs buy putting 1 1/2 tablespoons of chocolate chips in the bottom of each cup. In a medium saucepan bring 3 cups sweetened regular or vanilla almond milk and 2 tbsp coconut milk to a boil. Pour half of milk mixture into each cup and stir to combine. Sprinkle each mug with powdered sugar “snow.”

Snowballs

1 cup butter

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/4 cup white spelt flour (or unbleached four)

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/8 tsp salt

1/3 cup chopped pecans

In a stand-up mixer cream butter and powdered sugar. Mix in vanilla and blend thoroughly. Add flour and salt and mix until fully incorporated. Add pecans and blend again until just combined. Chill dough for 20 minutes. Roll into balls and place on parchment-lined sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. While cookies are slightly warm, roll in powdered sugar.

Yield: 2 dozen cookies 

Oh popcorn. You are cheap and filling and delicious, and without you, a movie is just some people talking at each other.

We eat a lot of popcorn around here — so much, that I recently started buying organic popcorn from our grain co-op. In five pounds bags.

What do we do with all that popcorn?

We pop it — in coconut oil. And then we top it. With all kinds of stuff. Butter sometimes, but when we are feeling creative we pull out one of these favorite popcorn preparations:

• Pizza Popcorn — Sprinkle popcorn with nutritional yeast, garlic powder and oregano.
• Wendy’s Popcorn — This lady named Wendy who I worked with in 1998 made this popcorn once, and that is kind of all I remember about her: Sprinkle popcorn with celery salt, sesame seeds and grated Parmesan cheese.
• Flax Attack — Drizzle popcorn with flax oil. Or sprinkle it with ground-up flax seeds and salt.
• Dinosaur Popcorn — Make a batch of kale chips. Crunch them up and sprinkle on popcorn. (We made this with dinosaur kale once, and I find a cool name helps anytime you try to give your kids kale.)

How’s it popping at your house?

I have a serious case of the grocery store blues.

I think it is directly related to my farmer’s market withdrawal. Around here, the farmer’s markets don’t start up until mid-May, and right now, that feels like FOREVER.

(I have this weird and persistent craving for chard. But I can only find spinach in a box.)

In our family, we put a pretty heavy emphasis on good food. We feel like it is an important place to spend our money, within the confines of our budget, of course. So we also spend a lot of our time on food — planning meals, making stuff from scratch and, of course, shopping.

But lately shopping has become a chore I dread.

I have been trying to think of ways to make shopping less miserable and have decided to give some real thought during the next few weeks to how we are spending our food dollars and if that is some way corresponds to the feeling I get while shopping at the supermarket that I want to kick things.

But until then, my shopping buddy and I are doing the best we can … although she has been asking a lot the past few weeks to add strawberries to her list.

Soon, sweet girl.

It will be soon, right?

What is your food shopping strategy? Do you have the winter shopping blues?