Do You Know The Muffin Pan?

 Last week we were at Costco. The place is just massive and they sell so many good looking food items, but geez, a lot of it is pricey. One thing we really liked from past shopping trips were the spinach egg white bites. We almost bought a box, but they were $14.99. I decided instead to try making egg bites at home.

The only muffin pans I have are for larger size muffins. They're made by Bakers Secret so they're really old. Supposed to be nonstick. I remember the instructions said not to use cooking sprays on them because the propellant ruins the nonstick coating. So I used butter to coat the cups, figuring that would be fine. With cupcakes and muffins I usually use the paper liners, but I didn't for the egg bites. Big mistake!!

They looked great in the pan, but they were cemented in there and it took a lot of finessing to get them out. They were delicious, but I was left with a nightmare of a pan to clean. 

I soaked and scrubbed and I soaked again, I even tried scraping it with a plastic spoon. Eventually I gave up and tossed the pan. After much advice from my face book friends, I invested in a nice silicone muffin pan. I bought it from, you guessed it, Am@zon.

This morning, I tried again and to my delight, they came out perfect, albeit smaller because the pan is for standard size muffins/cupcakes. They rose beautifully in the oven, but of course as soon as you take them out, they fall.

One friend suggested putting the hot pan into a shallow pan of cold water to help the bites break away from the sides. I did that as a precaution, but I could already tell they were going pop out freely.

After about 5 minutes, I popped them out and there was no sticking. The instructions said not to use cooking sprays with propellant because it would damage the finish, so I didn't use anything and they still popped out effortlessly! 

I ate them with some fresh pineapple and berries and it was a delicious Sunday morning treat! 

I highly recommend the pan and it came in a nice box too.

When our daughter comes to visit this week, we are going to make these again and we'll each choose our own ingredients. It will be fun to experiment! 

New Year!

 Happy New Year to all my bloggy friends and readers! I didn't ring in the occasion in any special way. I just went to bed at my usual time knowing I'd probably wake up in the middle of the night hearing fireworks which is exactly what happened. We thought ahead and gave our dog Zoey a calming treat earlier in the evening so she was able to sleep through the night, thank goodness. 

I took down the Christmas decorations, but decided to leave the tree up and decorate it for Mardi Gras. I have been collecting masks every year from the dollar store and they ended up looking great on the tree along with some purple ribbon and decorations I had on hand. 

I wanted to keep something festive up because our daughter is coming to visit on a couple of weeks. We are really looking forward to seeing her. The visit will be very low key. We plan to just do some cozy activities like working on a jigsaw puzzle, making a fire, chatting, drinking warm beverages and eating snacks. We can't wait!

Meanwhile, on the first day of the year, we went to Gulf State Park and participated in the first walk of 2026. A lot of people showed up and it was a crystal clear day. 

When we got home, we ate some good luck foods which included lentil soup with sausage, cornbread and collard greens. 

I've been exercising every day in some shape or form. If it's not too cold or rainy, hubby and I take a 2 mile walk in the early AM before the sun comes up. If the weather is not cooperating, I do some step aerobics. Remember that from the 90's? I really enjoyed it, so I bought a step and found some videos online that I really like. If you're interested, check out Christina Dorner on YouTube. She is terrific!! I'm still holing my 10 pound weight loss, but losing that 11th pound is proving to be very difficult, so I need to up my exercise, because I really don't want to eat less than I already am at this point. 

On the 3rd day of the new year, I booked an appointment to get my hair cut. I found a salon that has a sensory safe room for people with anxiety, ADHD, autism, etc., or people like me that just don't like being on display while in the chair. I have very little hair on top, so to be exposed like that is very stressful for me. Hubby has been cutting my hair for the past couple of years, but when I found out about this private room option, I booked it. It was a good experience but the $60 price tag plus tip nearly killed me for just a simple trim. I figure I only get my hair cut about twice a year, so I sucked it up.

In the new year, I decided I would discontinue a lot of my volunteering as it was starting to feel like an overwhelming obligation and I felt a bit trapped. I gave notice at the senior center that I would no longer be helping to serve lunch after the end of the year. My last day was Dec 30th. I'm looking forward to feeling less rushed in my day and hopefully be able to participate in other things or take some interesting classes. My friend signed us up for making baskets out of pine needles and I'm really excited to learn that skill. 

I also want to start some seeds for my garden. I want lots of flowers that attract pollinators. We have a sago palm that has grown way too big, so we're going to take it down and replace it with things that have colorful flowers like zinnias and cornflowers. I can't wait until spring to get that started.

 

This is the spot where I want to plant flowers. 

Someone gave me this Indian Blanket flower plant and I love it. I hope it comes back bigger this year.

We went to Home Depot today and saw these pretty cacti. I took this photo and I thought it looked so pretty.

Wouldn't that make a great puzzle?

Happy New Year! 

Christmas 2025

 

Manny is almost 7 years old. We haven't put up a Christmas tree since we adopted him, because, well, he's crazy and destroys anything that's nice that we own. I was missing having a tree, so we bought a small 4-1/2 ft one. We paid way too much for it, but it was the last one left in this size, so we grabbed it. Knowing our little orange demon wouldn't be able to resist ruining it, we thought up a plan. 

Below is the tree in all its nakedness. I wanted it to show through the bay window, so we needed it to be elevated. Hubby had a plan to build a stand/box for it and he made it with some leftover fence boards we had. He made it so that the base of the tree fits snugly down into it and can't be tipped over.

It worked out perfectly and the crazy thing is that Manny is not even the slightest bit interested in the tree. Go figure. Maybe if it was real, it would be a different story.

 

And here's how it looks from the outside.

We put some lights outside as well, but our new neighbors across the street went full out Clark Griswold, lol.

Here is Mister basking in the light of the tree, enjoying the new window perch we bought. 

Hubby and I participated in another food pantry box filling event. This time we both worked behind the line, tossing food into the boxes as they went by. I was giving out boxes of potato flakes, the lady on my right was putting a bag of raisins in and the lady on my left was adding 3 packages of chicken breast. Hubby was behind us opening up boxes so we could keep going without stopping. The only photo we got is this one from the local news. That's me in the Santa hat. 

We also volunteered to help hang up wooden ornaments in the city council chambers this week. The ornaments were painted by students in the local schools, mostly elementary. There were about 300 of them, which apparently is the lowest amount they've ever had.  My favorites were the ones that were decoupaged. 

That's hubby on the ladder. 

Today I will be printing up some mailing labels to send a few small gifts off to friends and family. I want to do it before things get too crazy at the post office. Traffic this time of year gets worse and it makes going anywhere stressful. I feel like I'm running around all the time and I'm starting to feel a little overwhelmed.  I've decided to give up volunteering at the senior center. I've been doing it for a full year and I need a break. I want to concentrate more on me, my health, fitness and weight goals. 

I wish you all a very happy and hopefully not so stressed out holiday season. Whatever it is that you celebrate this time of year, may it be full of love and joy. Thank you for visiting my blog!