-ing & a recipe

For me, the intimidating part about writing two thoughtful and, hopefully, thought-provoking posts (here and here) is that at some point there's a post that just normal. So, we're back to normal posts for a while at least. Here's what I've been doing this week:

Traveling:  On Monday and Tuesday of this week, me and three other chaperones took our 60ish member freshman class on a college tour. We visited two colleges, Texas A&M and Baylor. This means that I was around freshman boys non-stop for 36 hours, minus sleeping hours. What I learned? Boarding school for the freshman year is an option if we have boys.

Packing:  A couple of weeks ago at church, we grabbed two boxes for Operation Christmas Child. I love this ministry. It makes my heart to happy to pack boxes of goodies for kids who otherwise wouldn't receive anything. This year, I discovered that my dollar goes much further when I shop the post back-to-school sales. Things go on crazy clearance! I found the cutest chevron journal and striped socks, plus more. I'm convinced that the girls who receive these boxes will be thrilled.

Cooking:  As planned in this post, I cooked out of my new book, Practical Paleo. I made Blueberry  Lemon Muffins. I was a little hesitant since I'd never baked with coconut flour, but they are so good! And my house smells fabulous. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 6 eggs
• 1/2 cup butter or coconut oil, melted
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup grade B maple syrup
• 1 lemon, zest & juice
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup fresh blueberries

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk all wet ingredients together. Sift in dry ingredients and then stir until well blended. Gently fold in blueberries. Fill muffin tins half full. Makes 12 muffins.

**Modifications: 1) I didn't have a lemon, so I skipped this ingredient. 2) I used 2 teaspoons of vanilla. Because if some is good, more is better. 3) My blueberries were frozen, so instead of folding them in, I scooped the batter into the tin, and then poked the blueberries into the batter. Otherwise, they all freeze in a big clump in the bowl. 4) The recipe says to cook 35-40 minutes. Mine took about 20 minutes. Pull them out when they start browning and a toothpick comes out clean.

Folding:  Clothes. Towels. Sheets. (Actually, not sheets. I prefer to throw them into the drawer where they're stored, half-folded, half-wadded. It works.) I'm so behind on folding. I blame travelling. Or television.

So, that's what I'm doing this week. What about you?