Fig and Whole Wheat Muffins (dairy free)

  

 I love breakfast food but I hate getting up first thing in the morning and having to cook something fast so I can take Nathan to work. Thankfully my wonderful husband typically crawls out of bed 30 minutes before I do and makes breakfast so all I have to do is drag my pregnant sell out of bed and walk down the stairs...sometimes I don't even have to do that. Breakfast in bed is glorious.

I try once a week or every other week to make a batch of muffins so that we can have something already made and ready to go in the mornings. I made a decent batch of fig preserves last summer and for some reason we've had a hard time finishing it off. I still have about 3 or 4 small jars left. I wanted to used them in a whole wheat muffin. The consistency of these are not like your typical muffin due to the lack of butter and all whole wheat flour. They are super easy and I really liked them.

Fig and Whole Wheat Muffins

1/2 cup oil

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup fig preserves

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup raisins or dried cranberries.

Mix ingredients in order that they are listed. Stir together just until combined. You don't want the batter to become tough. Spoon into greased muffin tins and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. 

DIY Laundry Detergent

I've been wanting to make my own laundry detergent for a while. Last week we finally ran out of the huge plastic jug of the cheapest liquid detergent from the store. I purchased what I needed for about $7 and made it last Saturday.

The measurements that I found online from various sources were:

2 cups borax
2 cups washing soda
1 shaved bar of Fels-Naptha

I used my hand grater for the soap

It takes about 2 Tbsp. per load of clothes.

I love the way the clothes smell and it's so easy to make. I still have enough borax and soda to make at least 2 more batches. This first batch will last a couple of months. So for less than $10 I will have soap for at least 6 months!

21 Weeks

We had the our 20 week ultrasound on Monday. I scheduled it first thing in the morning so Nathan was able to go with me. Everything looked great!

Grilled Vegetable Cousous Salad

I made this salad about three weeks ago and unfortunately for you I didn't write down any sort of guess on measurements. The great thing is that you can pretty grill your veggies of choice, throw in some cheese and herbs and your done.

I grilled:
red peppers
yellow squash
zucchini
Vidalia onion
chicken

I then chopped everything up in to a medium dice and put it in a large bowl.
I cooked a 10 oz. box of Near East brand plain couscous and after it cooled added it to me veggies and chicken. I then add some feta cheese. Goat cheese would be yummy too.


I didn't have any fresh basil so I used some dried that I had on hand.
I made a simple dressing with balsamic vinegar, minced garlic, salt, pepper, and Dijon mustard.

Toss it all together and your done! An all in one meal that doesn't require you to turn on the oven on those super hot days.