Seven for 50 - A Nancy Drew Mystery and a Recipe of my Own Creation

It was what I like to call "butt-ass cold" all week.  Sub-zero temps which always makes me grateful for my home and my job letting me work from said home, and ever thankful for a hubby who does not mind going out in the cold to grocery shop or get the mail.  I have not been outside since the 3rd.  It again made walking difficult - I had 2 days of boring walks in the house but mostly sat on my behind.

On Wednesday, E brought in the mail including a package addressed to me.  Packages have become very common in the past 12 months but this one I did not remember ordering, nor was I expecting anything from anyone (though in the past 3 months I have gotten at least 2 unexpected packages from work - a blanket and then a happy light).  Opening it I found a t-shirt (excuse the photo quality - blame the photographer not the camera nor the subject):

Mystery t-shirt arrived in the mail

I asked E if he had ordered it.  He had not.  I shook the shirt out and re-examined the packaging no less than 3 times looking for a card or a clue.  The return address simply said "Helen" (no last name) and listed an address in Brooklyn, NY.  Last I checked, I don't know anyone in NY and Helen from knitting is probably close to 80, lives near me, and doesn't know when my birthday is, let alone what year I was born.  I was still at work so I asked one of my co-worker friends if she knew anything about it - nope, not her, nor our other friend at work.  Meanwhile, E is looking online to trace where the package came from - label printed in FL, went through El Paso TX.  He thought maybe a couple of my managers had colluded on it.  I checked with my mom and sister - it was not either of them.  Well, only about 196 other people to check with, though admittedly some are more likely than others.  Who else knows it is my birthday?  Only everyone I am friends with IRL or on FB, and anyone who reads this blog, right?  I felt like Nancy Drew, minus the blue convertible or Titian hair.  Later that evening, I got a message from a friend who used to work with me saying she sent me a little something to commemorate my upcoming milestone. Aha!  She was in the top 5 people I suspected and would have gotten around to questioning her eventually (in the past I have also received an anatomical heart of gold and some fuzzy cat socks from her).  Mystery solved, I gave myself a Scooby snack (because Nancy Drew never got snacks for solving her many mysteries).

No new recipes tried this week (one planned for Valentine's Day dessert, though), and no hats turned in (check for those next week).  I finished one book, started 2 more.  No scrapbook pages done and as I said before, very little walking.  I'll share this recipe that I had lurking in my drafts from last fall.

 Eating:

I wanted to try a new recipe and was not finding one for exactly what I had in mind.  I had a recipe that had the idea (apple bread) that I wanted but it had chunks of apple, which I did not want.  Another was for muffins, but I wanted mini-loaves.  Here was one for mini-loaves but it was banana, not apple. I also was looking for a nice cinnamon sugar crunch on top and within.  Armed with 4 different recipes, and through a bit of trial and error, I came up with this.  The name is, of course, a little wordplay, which you know I love almost as much as I love food and reading. The resulting bread is moist and apple-y, with cinnamon crunchy goodness on top and even more inside.  

Cinna-Mini Apple Loaves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Generously spray 4 mini loaf pans (I have a 4-loaves-in-one stoneware mini loaf pan from Pampered Chef, which I don't think they make anymore.  Any mini loaf pans will work - mine were each about 5"x3"x2")

Mix together and set aside:
1/2 C. packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Blend (I used my stand mixer.  A hand mixer or whisk would work too):
2 eggs
1/2 C white sugar

Add and mix just until combined:
1/2 C (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1/2 C milk
2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine together and then stir into liquids above:

1 1/2 C flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Stir in, just until combined:

1 C peeled, cored and grated apple (I like Haralson but any firm baking apple will do)

Scoop about 2/3 of batter evenly into 4 mini loaf pans.  Sprinkle 2/3 of brown sugar/cinnamon over loaves.  Top with remaining batter (smooth slightly to even out loaves) and then top with remaining brown sugar/cinnamon.  Use a knife to drag and swirl batter (not too much - 2-3 passes on each loaf will do).

Bake 30-35 minutes, until toothpick inserted comes out clean or tops spring back to touch.
Cool in pan about 5 minutes.  Remove from pans and cool on rack. 

 
Store covered.  I also wrapped a couple of loaves individually in wax paper and in zipper bags for the freezer.  I'll see how those do when we take them out. (I baked these in September, and when we ate one the end of January, it was still good - especially after 10 seconds in the microwave and with a little butter.)  

Book Six

It only took me about a day to re-read this childhood book - Stuart Little by E. B. White.  You may remember from last week my review of Charlotte's Web and how I was looking forward to reading more from White.  Stuart Little is not my favorite of his, but it is still a decent little story.  Stuart is a mouse who is the son of Mr. and Mrs. White.  He is a dapper dresser and has all kinds of fun adventures, from sailing a boat, to getting hauled away in a garbage truck, to driving off in a miniature working gasoline car built by his friend the dentist.  The book itself didn't have a real plot line, more like a series of short stories, and we are left wondering what will happen to Stuart at the end of the book, but the imaginative details make the book.  Some of my favorites: his ice skates are made of paper clips, and the description of how he turns on the water to brush his teeth in the morning. The illustrations in my copy of the book (a Christmas gift in 1975) are by Garth Williams who also illustrated the Little House series, and other childhood favorites - Bedtime for Frances by Russell Hoban,  Baby Animals and Baby Farm Animals (both of which he was writer and illustrator for).  His illustrations are intricately detailed and feel gentle and loving to me.

Fifty for 50 Tally

Books completed – 6 (5 more in progress)

Recipes tried – 6

Blog posts published– 7

Miles walked in February – 11.1

                Miles walked year-to-date –54.87

Scrap book pages completed –6

Hats donated – 6

Hours volunteered – 0

Until we read and eat again,

Hallie