***** Dutch Apple Cheese Muffins *****

2 cups AP flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 TBS baking powder (yes, a full tablespoon)
1 tsp salt
8 oz cheddar cheese, chunked up or grated 
8 TBS butter (one stick), sliced into about 8 pieces
3/4 cup milk
1 large egg
2-3 Granny Smith apples, cored, peeled and sliced into half-moons 

 Mix dry ingredients in food processor and add cheese and butter; mix til cheese and butter have been incorporated into the dry ingredients and it looks nice and crumbly. Add milk and egg and mix just until combined. Spoon into greased muffin tin, press about 3-4 apple slices into each muffin, and bake for 15 min at 375F. Do NOT use paper muffin cups! (Then add glaze and bake for another 10 minutes, as below.)

Glaze: 

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
juice of one lemon (about 2TBS; substitute water if you have no lemon)
2 TBS butter

Melt glaze ingredients together over low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 5-6 minutes. The glaze will darken and bubble  a bit and will thicken if you let it cool for a minute or 2 before using.

Remove muffins from oven and drizzle glaze over them, using a spatula  to lift up the muffin edges and get the glaze to drizzle down into the sides of the muffins in the tin (this is why you don’t use paper muffin cups). Place muffins back into oven for 10 more minutes. Remove and let cool in tin for 10 minutes more before removing.

*****

I usually make up a few mixes of the dry ingredients and put them in Ziploc bags to make a batch even easier. And eating and sharing these muffins definitely Works For Me! For more WFMW posts, go to We are THAT Family.

(Lovely photo from Big Bold Beautiful Food.)

The problem is more than just annoying — after a year of an average of 5 hours of sleep, falling even farther off the sleep train is making me incredibly sluggish and far more depressed than I’d normally be at this stage of pregnancy. (The good news is that my morning sickness is getting manageable, so at least there’s that…) Edited to add: Um, when I say “far more depressed” I should give an example: Last week after about 3-4 hours of sleep a night and no napping to catch up, I was actually feeling borderline suicidal. All I could think was what a huge burden I am and how much better my husband and kids would be without me. In the cold light of day I know that’s not true, but at the time, things were looking awfully dark.

Sometimes I’m able to take a short nap in the afternoon, but my sleep debt is pretty big, so it doesn’t make a huge difference these days. My 14-month old is teething heavily, so she’s waking up a lot at night too. (We give her ibuprofen for the pain but as usual her urine gets really acidic when she’s teething so it irritates her little bottom terribly, even with Desitin slathered all over.)

Any suggestions on helping me catch some Zs? 

Answer more WFMW dilemmas this week at We are THAT Family.

But doggone it. Pregnancy makes green veggies smell like the foulest thing known to man — and I say this with 2 kids in diapers in the house. 

So my bright idea is to let someone else cook the veggies! Luckily we have some fab Thai and Indian restaurants near our neighborhood, with a Lebanese cafe even closer that does vegetable dishes even better than their meat entrees. So now I’m loading up on mutter paneer, aloo saag, various Thai curries, and a plethora of mezza plates: roasted cauliflower, roasted swiss chard with lemon, and more. 

Piggybacking on my local chefs and ordering in the sides works for me! (For more Works For Me Wednesday Ideas, consult Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer.)

(I actually wrote this post last week but couldn’t get it up on the Mr. Linky list. I hope you don’t mind reading it today!)

My lack of sleep and the brain fog that accompanies pregnancy means that getting up in the morning is doable, but I often find myself peering into the fridge for several minutes looking for breakfast inspiration. None forthcoming, I’ll slump over a bowl of cereal. Good for about 20 minutes, til my blood sugar spikes and crashes. Coffee can help the energy issue but who wants to self-medicate with caffeine every single day?

In an attempt to get the monkey off my back improve my morning eating habits, I figured out something to help me get moving in the morning: a list of breakfast foods that are easy to make and hot (I’m a southern girl and need my hot breakfasts). To wit:

- Egg, veggie, and cheese “muffins” (bake the ingredients in greased muffin cups; good for portion control)
- Cherry-cinnamon baked oatmeal — my fave recipe is here. I use pecans, and they float to the top and get caramelized NOMNOMNOM.
- Dutch Apple Cheese Muffins — a $1000 grand prize recipe winner from Cooks Country magazine! Filled with protein and fiber and incredibly addictive. You can find a recipe here; I use plain granulated sugar for what she’s calling “Pioneer sugar”, and it’s easy to cut about 1/4 of the butter if you want to lighten the recipe a little.
- Steel-cut oatmeal– I make this with half milk and half water to boost the calcium. It takes about 30 minutes and I add nuts and dried fruit to add protein and fiber. I can’t go back to rolled oats after eating this for a year!
- Toasted bagel or english muffin with turkey and cheese or PBJ

A little breakfast meal-planning goes a long way when mornings are hectic or if you’re like me and they just don’t find you at your mental sharpest. So put a list on the fridge to help you figure it all out. It works for me! For more WFMW ideas, visit Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer.
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