Egg-Free, Dairy-Free, Soy-Free Muffins

I'm always experimenting with new muffin recipes for my kids. I finally found the perfect recipe. These were so good! Try them and let me know what you think!


1 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons powdered egg replacer (EnerG brand is what I used)
4 tablespoons of water
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup and 2 tablespoons of applesauce
about 1 to 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (or other fruit of your choice)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Insert muffin liners into twelve muffin cups (or grease well). Beat egg replacer and water until foamy. Add applesauce, oil, sugar, and vanilla to egg replacer mixture and mix well. Mix flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl. Add dry ingredients to wet, and mix gently until completely wet (you don't want it powdery, but you don't want to over beat it either). Divide the batter evenly in the muffin tin. Press six or seven blueberries into each muffin. Bake for 27 to 30 minutes until toothpick inserted into the muffins comes out clean.

"Via" at Four

This birthday brought a few changes: no more diapers at night (You are skeptical about this one. "Why?" you have asked many times. I haven't found the best answer to motivate you yet) and four books at bedtime now (you like this one).

You are becoming so bright and capable. Just tonight we were making sugar cookies to decorate. You asked to roll it and cut the cookies yourself. Of course, at first I was hovering like a helicopter mom. Finally I left you to yourself and you filled the cookie sheet with neatly cut-out hearts all by yourself! I was impressed. Sugar cookie dough is not easy to do. When the dough ripped you found my cake frosting tool to help repair it and started all over again. I admire your persistence and quick thinking.

Art all day, every day. For your birthday you got a large Tupperware bin filled with scrapbooking paper, art supplies, glue, paint, scissors, embellishments, stickers--all the fixins'. You literally spend hours every day creating with your "treasures." No surface is left "plain" or "ordinary" (in your words).

Yesterday I needed a kitchen counter free of your constant project-paper mess for a few hours. It was as if I was depriving you of oxygen or something. Every thirty minutes you pleaded, "Mom, can I do my art set now!??"

You love to create. What a gift.

How to best describe your personality at this stage?
Active
Fun
funny
creative
outgoing
confidant
sharp

We love you Woogie-Boo!!

Miss Olivia is 4

I tried working with fondant for the first time. It wasn't too bad, except for the frosting colors I selected. I was thinking more along the lines of a soft baby pink, pastel yellow; instead the tiniest smidgen of coloring gave me BRIGHT pink and yellow!

The night before her actual birthday all the local cousins, aunts, and uncles, as well as Grandma and Grandpa Benson, came over to celebrate. Olivia's eyes lit up every time someone else rang the doorbell and came inside. She was so excited to have the whole family there just for her. It was neat to see her be queen for a night.

The next evening we went out to Gandalfo's as a family for Olivia's very favorite meal: plain turkey sandwich on white bread, barbecue potato chips, and "spicy soda". She opened more gifts at the restaurant, and after, the plan was to go to Build-A-Bear at the mall to let her design her own stuffed animal, but she was enticed by a mini-train ride that takes you all over the mall and went for that instead.

I loved being able to celebrate Olivia's birthday; she is the light of our lives!