Welcome to my first post on Beatrice Ryan Designs for my new page – Life and Times of EJ!
I am happy to devote this page to you full of my regular life stories and adventures…. It will be full of home ideas, recipes, aging and mature women tips for health and beauty and much more!
Join me in my fun new adventure on this page! You can always just click on the Life and Times of EJ at the top of the website to see all of the posts dedicated to this part of my blog.
Now that I am 60, I have been really focusing on my health and well being. I still love to crochet, but in recent months I have developed arthritis in my thumb joints and will be having replacement surgery in the upcoming weeks. I will keep you all posted on that, it will be a long recovery back to crocheting.
Ok… So a short story about the last few months with some fun photos, then on to a great muffin recipe to finish off the post!
As many of you who follow me know, besides running this website and designing crochet patterns… I worked full time as a Purchasing Agent for a forest products company. Last October my dad passed away after a 9 month stay in a care facility. So, in Feb. of 2023 I decided to retire… YAY! No real big plans, just focus on health and wellbeing and see where life took me!
Since Retiring I have traveled to the Northern CA coast, headed to Santa Cruz to see my youngest daughter, and later in the spring to Washington to see my oldest daughter and grandson. I had been toying with the idea to sell my condo and by a small house with a yard, but prices were high so that was on the back burner… Then I came down with a case of shingles… UGH… By May I decided since a new house looked to be later in my future, I would by my dream car… So I did!
However, the day I signed my papers my realtor called and said she had the perfect house… So I put an offer in and in 28 days the house was mine. My condo sold right away so moving was all in a rush. If you are around 60 and single… You know how this went! Fun, but exhausting!!!
The rest of the summer was settling in my new home and lots of yard work too. The back yard has a older pear tree and produced thousands of pears… So, it was canning time. Since I was canning, I decided to go all out! I canned so many cans of pears, beef stew, pork and beans, chicken soup, chipotle beef and beans, jams and jellies and more… And I had continued my sourdough bread journey.
As Fall arrived I was researching food and health. I found a ton of info that led me down the next rabbit hole… Grinding my own wheat to make fresh flour. Yes, it may seem hard or huge equipment… But no, to my surprise it is so easy and yummy…
If you want to learn more about the benefits of fresh ground wheat, I followed Bread Beckers on YouTube. Click here for one of my favorite learning videos.
That all being said, This week I started playing around with using freshly ground wheat in my sourdough breads and muffins. I still have some adjusting to do on the bread, but the Pear/Pecan Muffins turned out great today. I will post the recipe below…
If you try it, let me know what you think. I used my home grown canned pears, but you can by store bought fresh or canned if you don’t grow your own!
Pear Pecan Muffin Recipe
1 C. Honey Granules (regular sugar can be used)
1/2 C. Oil
2 Eggs
1/4 C. Sour Cream
1 Tsp Vanilla
1-3/4 C.Freshly ground soft white wheat flour (All purpose can be used but 2 C.)
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp Cardamom
1/2 Tsp Cinnamon
1-1/2 C. Diced Pears- Fresh or well drained canned
2/3 C. Chopped Pecans
Mix honey granules and oil until well blended. Add eggs, sour cream and vanilla and mixed well. Add spices, salt and baking soda until just blended. Add flour until slightly blended. Stir in pears and pecans.
Preheat oven to 350, grease muffin pan or use muffin papers (if using the USA muffin pans no grease or muffin papers are needed, they are perfectly nonstick). Add batter 2/3 full to each muffin section. Sprinkle with honey granules and cinnamon lightly and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until done. Cool in pan on cooling rack then enjoy!
That’s it… I hope you try these. The health benefits of the freshly ground flour is something I hope will continue to allow me to stay healthy as I age. Honey Granules are somewhat better for your body than white sugar… I have almost completely switched over in all of my items I added sugar too(including my daily coffee!
On a last note, I have an Amazon Storefront now with my favorite items I use. Many of the things in this post/pictures are available there, plus a lot more of my favs! For my November recommendations, Click here! or just to head to my full list of grouped products I use and LOVE… Click Here! *I may earn commission for any purchases made in my Amazon Storefront.
Below is my current groupings, I hope you check it out and follow me there too!
Stay tuned for more fun posts!
Elena
