Oatmeal Muffins

~ Emily ~ 6 Comments

Oatmeal Muffins

Betty Crocker was a common fixture in our kitchen growing up. Her brownie recipe was perpetually open and had batter splotches instead of a bookmark. The other recipe I could flip to easily in that cookbook {because of the broken-in spine} was oatmeal muffins. Oatmeal Muffins showed up with many meals, but it was guaranteed to be on the table whenever mom made macaroni and cheese.

Everyone needs a tasty, basic muffin recipe in their baking arsenal. This was ours and this should be yours.

If the buttery outer crust and tender insides don’t win you over immediately, you won’t be able to resist the simple ingredients and throw together process of these Oatmeal Muffins.

Oatmeal MuffinI went through a phase in high school where I’d bake a batch of oatmeal muffins in jumbo muffin tins and have a briefly warmed muffin with a tall glass of milk for breakfast every day. Every forkful felt nourishing and rich without weighing me down with sweetness.

You can serve these craggy muffins with any meal and with virtually any condiment {jams, PB, honey, Nutella, cream cheese… you get the point}.

Oatmeal Muffin Upclose

Even though oatmeal muffins are simply perfect by themselves, they are also a great blank canvas for sweet and savory mix-ins. Can’t you just imagine mini chocolate chips and lightly toasted coconut  lending a touch of Mounds bar charm to these muffins? Or, a healthy mound of grated parmesan and cracked black pepper enhancing the earthy oat flavor?

Oatmeal Muffins 2

Despite the copious amounts of time I’ve made this recipe, I’m still shocked that the lumpy, slightly runny batter turns into these glorious muffins. Small chunks of shortening melt into the muffin, transforming humble oats into soft buttery bites.

Just like my mom’s best meal, whenever I make macaroni and cheese, oatmeal muffins are a non-negotiable part of dinner. You’ll also love these with soup in the winter and salads in the summer.

Oatmeal Muffins Split

Oatmeal Muffins  {adapted from Betty Crocker’s Cookbook}

  • 1 cup old fashioned oats
  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup mix-ins (optional)
  • 1/3 cup shortening
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Stir together oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and mix-ins in a bowl and set aside.

Beat Crisco, brown sugar, and egg together with an electric mixer. Add dry ingredients to shortening mixture, alternating with buttermilk, until just combined.

Fill lightly greased muffin tins with batter, 3/4 full. Bake 20-25 minutes until just golden brown. Remove from muffin tins immediately and cool on wire racks.

Store in airtight container.

Don’t miss the rest of the recipes from My Mom’s Best Meal!

The Problem With Judas

~ Emily ~ 4 Comments

Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people made their plans how to have Jesus executed. So they bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate the governor. When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.” “What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.” So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.

{Matthew 27:1-5}

Judas believed that Jesus was who He said He was.

But Judas was a manipulator – the ultimate manipulator.

When Jesus didn’t act like Judas thought a Messiah should act – storming in to take His throne – he tried to force his Master’s hand.

Judas worked to create a situation that would force Jesus to take His rightful place as king.

What better way to do that than betray Him to the authorities. It was the perfect set-up. When faced with certain death, or at least imprisonment – Jesus would have to unleash His full power.

Right?

Again, Jesus didn’t meet his expectations.

He didn’t fight.  He didn’t resist.  He didn’t upset the government.

Jesus displayed more power and might in His meekness and humility than any king. With the ultimate sacrifice, Jesus proved He was the Messiah.

And Judas’ mistake was exposed with a sickening reality.

His Lord had died and he had a hand in killing Him.

Judas missed the mark with his manipulating and then missed the mark again by ending his own misery with death.

Overcome with guilt and grief, Judas hurried his own death and missed the glorious resurrection of Jesus.

Judas missed Jesus taking the ultimate throne.

The problem with Judas is he wanted Jesus to fit into a Judas-made Jesus box.

The Problem with JudasI can be a Judas. I have constructed plenty of Emily-made Jesus boxes.

When God doesn’t act the way I want, I try to manipulate Him. I use my own planning powers to make things happen the way I think they should happen.

Invariably, I regret my decision and purger myself for missing the mark again.

But Christ didn’t die for me to manipulate or for me to feel guilty. Jesus died so I could live in relationship with Him.

As Easter approaches, the time when we celebrate that glorious sacrifice and resurrection, I want to deconstruct boxes instead of building more.

I want to accept the grace so freely given and be content in the way Jesus chooses to shape my life.

May we celebrate what the Lord does and not what we think He should do.

Losing It & Rest {FMF}

~ Emily ~ 15 Comments

I feel like rest is something I can never check off my to-do list, which is semi-infuriating. It’s not like washing the dishes or buying someone a birthday gift. Rest isn’t really quantifiable or tangible. But it is oh so necessary.

Physical rest, emotional rest, spiritual rest – it’s all encompassing.  I’m not skilled in having a balanced amount of rest in these areas. Traveling for work wears me out physically but is generally a great opportunity to spend quality time in prayer and scripture. I usually come home and feel like a tired plop who justs wants to veg out and do nothing.

Like many other things in my life, I probably over analyze rest and try to fit it in my perfectionist box. God asks us to rest but He doesn’t necessarily provide a manual. I like instructions, but I guess that’s part of resting – being still without an agenda.

Rest is an ongoing cycle and I’d like to find the rhythm.

Five Minute Friday

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I’m reviewing a really great young adult novel on Kindred Grace today. Losing It by Erin Fry tackles some tough topics {death, illness, obesity, and friendship} with valuable insight into the mind of teenagers.

You can find the review here.

 

Praying For Protection

~ Emily ~ 4 Comments

Praying For ProtectionEvery time I leave for a work trip, I am reminded of a powerful passage in Francis Chan’s book Crazy Love {which is a phenomenal read} about what and why we pray for certain things – like safety.

I was convicted when I read it years ago and am convicted by the echo of his words today.

Haven’t we all prayed the following prayer? “Lord, we pray for safety as we travel. We ask that no one gets hurt on this trip. Please keep everyone safe until we return, and bring us back safely. In Jesus name we pray, amen.” The exact wording may vary a bit, but that is the standard prayer we recite before leaving on mission trips, retreats, vacations, and business trips.

We are consumed by safety. Obsessed with it, actually. Now, I’m not saying it is wrong to pray for God’s protection, but I am questioning how we’ve made safety our highest priority. We’ve elevated safety to the neglect of whatever would accomplish His purposes in our lives and in the world.

Francis Chan | Crazy Love | 133

This makes my mind reel with questions. What’s my motivation for praying for protection? Isn’t God bigger than my safety? Is safety what we are on Earth for? Don’t I trust God with His plans for my life, even if it includes harm? {or an untimely death, which is the underlying factor in my safety anxiety.} I wrestle with those questions every time I perceive my circumstances to be dangerous.

One hint of turbulence and I’m praying for God’s hands to surround that hunk of metal zooming through the clouds at 30,000 feet. When I take a wrong turn and wind up where lone females {especially ones that look confused and lost} shouldn’t be, I pray for a shield around my car.

Praying for protection isn’t inherently wrong. God asks that we bring everything to Him as a  prayerful sacrifice, but we are also asked to trust and not try to manipulate God through our prayers. (<— tweet this)

Right after I breathe frightened entreaties, I am hit with Francis’ words that never seem to leave the back of my mind.

People who are obsessed with Jesus aren’t consumed with their personal safety and comfort above all else. Obsessed people care more about God’s kingdom coming to this earth than their own lives being shielded from pain or distress.

Francis Chan | Crazy Love | 133

God’s plan is sovereign. Prayer is a way we partner with God, which leads to opened eyes and hearts to the wonderful ways He works in our lives and in the world around us. We pray so we can acknowledge God’s work not so we can take control of our circumstances. (<— tweet this)

God loves when we bring our troubles, joys, successes, and failures to His feet, but He wants us to offer them as pieces of our hearts and accept whatever may come.

When I am scared for my life, whether the threat is real or imagined, I’m often praying to rid myself of the undesirable circumstances, not for peace and courage to meet the circumstances with God as my strength. My fear is born from a lack of trust and confidence in God’s provision and perfect plan.

Francis Chan

I was in Orlando last week and had convinced myself one night that I was sure to be murdered in my hotel room {in my defense, someone had mistakenly tried to open my door rather forcefully around 11 pm which is what started this train of thought}.

Following the unsettling event, my sweet husband suggested {via Facetime} that I read Psalm 27. The Psalms are my safe zone, my spiritual third place, and I was reminded again why I find such comfort in the Psalms as I read over David’s words. David is an emotive and volatile personality who cries out to God in every sort of emotional state. I can relate…

Unlike me, David generally has a god grasp of God’s place in his life’s purpose and plan. David knows that God is eternal and He views His children with an eternal perspective. God answers prayers and gives protection with the eternal in mind, while I am often stuck in the present. (<— tweet this)

I’m familiar with Psalm 27, especially the beginning and the end. {The Lord is my light and my salvation: Whom shall I fear?…Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall stregthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!} What I found in the middle, however, showed David’s grasp of God’s sovereignty in the midst of his fear.

For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock.

Psalm 27:5

David trusts that God will protect him in times of trouble, but He doesn’t limit that protection to his earthly home. I love that David doesn’t specify where the protection takes place. Whether he is hidden in God’s physical tabernacle on earth or in His heavenly dwelling, David knows that he will be taken care of.

Safety comes in all shapes and sizes – in God’s world, it doesn’t always look like the safety we expect the police to provide. The next time I’m boarding an airplane or sending my husband off on a ministry trip, I want my prayers to be more “Your will be done” and less “safety first”.

Mom’s Applesauce

~ Emily ~ 1 Comment

Mom's Homemade Applesauce | Primitive RoadsWe subscribed to Taste of Home for a short stint when I was in Jr. High. I spent endless hours reading every single word of those magazines. Pouring over pages full of delicious, not so health conscious recipes was the beginning of my cookbook obsession, I think.

Homemade Applesauce | Primitive RoadsMy favorite column in Taste of Home was, and is still, My Mom’s Best Meal. Readers share the recipes that showcase their mom’s best home cooked meal. There’s heritage and story, flavor and tradition in each column’s tribute to a mom and her best meal. The selected recipes speak of time around the table, of hospitality and love.

Mom's Homemade Applesauce | Primitive RoadsThough I no longer get a Taste of Home in my mailbox every month, I’ve often considered what I would choose for my mom’s best meal. My mom is a phenomenal cook/baker/entertainer so I have plenty of options. However, I keep returning to one meal – comfort food at its best – that was a staple in our home growing up.

My Mom’s Best Meal

In the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing my mom’s best meal, one recipe at a time. I’m starting today with my mom’s applesauce.

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More often than not, a jar of Mott’s Cinnamon Applesauce graced our table. It was an especially good accompaniment to pork chops and rice pilaf (another favorite meal of mine). It was a huge treat when mom made applesauce from scratch.

When my mom explained the process, I was shocked to find out how easy it was to make your own applesauce. The hardest part is peeling the apples and that’s more time consuming than difficult. The time is a small price to pay for the fresh, pure taste of homemade applesauce.

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Mom's Applesauce | Primitive Roads

Now, this isn’t a condiment like the Crockpot Apple Butter I shared in December, which you can spread on anything. Homemade applesauce is chunky and fresh compared to a concentrated, thick apple butter. This is a perfect side dish for any meal and when you make it yourself, you can feel good about feeding it to your family – from babies to grandparents.

Mom’s Homemade Applesauce

  • 8 apples, Golden Delicious are a good choice
  • 1 cup water
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Peel apples and cut into large chunks. Place apples in a large saucepan with water. Bring to boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat, cover pan and simmer gently for 20 minutes, or until apples are tender, stirring once or twice.

Remove from heat. Drain off approximately 3/4 cup of liquid and set aside. Mash apples with a potato masher. Stir in brown sugar and cinnamon.

Reserved liquid, additional brown sugar or cinnamon may be added to sauce to achieve desired taste/texture.

Chill.

Yield: about 4 cups

NOTE: I generally end up adding all the reserved liquid back because it seems to reabsorb as it chills. You can serve it at any temperature, but I prefer cold applesauce. The water can be replaced with apple juice (Martinelli’s is best!) for extra flavor.