A Shady Place on a Hot Summer's Day

  A Shady Place on a Hot Summer's Day 

After a very , very busy Spring of maintenance to the outside of the house and the garden I am finally winding down and able today to find a shady place on the front porch to stop for a while and enjoy the fruits of my labour 

I still have a few things to do but have to wait for my Husband Danny on the up coming weekends to help me with some heavy carrying 

So lovely to be able to blog and connect with you all again ...I just sat for a while with my several cups of tea out of my lovely Lenox Blue Meadow teapot and cup 'n' saucer and thought of what the Summer may bring ...the garden is just a wash with gorgeous flowers and drenched with fresh green foliage ...but the days are getting really hot ...it's 99ºf / 38ºc at the moment and it's hard to stay out in the garden for too long ....it's one of my favorite things to do ...to look at nature around me in the very quiet peaceful neighborhood we are lucky enough to live in, very rarely seeing a car go by 

Last week I made some sugar free treats for myself , being a type 2 diabetic I rarely have any treats ...this recipe turned out just great ...
I have posted it below ..the regular recipe and my sugar free converted one ...very easy and simple to make ..very little washing up to do and they turn out really great 
A crunchy outside with a super dense inside holding the blueberries and chocolate chips perfectly 
I packed them with chocolate chips or blueberries ...they are a delight to eat 
They are great for freezing too 

Chocolate Chip or Blueberry Muffins for regular or diabetic diets

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) butter
1 cup granulated sugar ( Powdered Sweetener such as Splenda or Equal)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (Optional)
2 eggs
1/2 cup (4 ounces) milk
2 cups (8 1/2 ounces) white whole wheat flour or all-purpose (plain) flour 
2 cups (12 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips (Sugar Free Chocolate Chips for Sugar free cakes) or Fresh or Frozen Blueberries ...I did both


INSTRUCTIONS:
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1. Preheat oven to 350°F/180ºc/ Gas Mark 4
2. Lightly grease a 12 cup muffin pan or line with paper liners. (I like to spray non-stick spray on either pan or paper liners)
3. In a large mixing bowl beat the butter, sugar, baking powder, salt, vanilla until fluffy.
4. Beat in eggs, then stir in the milk. Mix in the flour just until combined, then the chocolate chips or blueberries (fresh or frozen)
5. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. I like to use an ice-cream scoop for even sized cakes
6. Bake the muffins for 30 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of one comes out without crumbs clinging to it 
7. You can wait for them to cool then I open froze them and then packed them in to freezer zip lock bags 
8. To defrost I just pop in the microwave for 15 seconds at high for a delicious treat 

Best go inside now as the cats have already gone in to get out of the heat of the day only to ask to be let out as soon as the evening comes and the temperatures start to drop a little 

I hope your Summer is going to be great to you 

Have Fun 

Happy Days 

Janet