Cold season

Being sick blows! No boxing, no gym, no Shutter. I did watch a ridiculous amount of Food Network though.

It's nice to finally be able to get paid days off, but I'm not looking forward to the work that will be waiting for me after missing just one day. I would take another day off, but that would give me too much anxiety. We have a tiny staff, so each of us has a lot of responsibilities. I already received two calls today from my boss because she had some questions.

I made some feel-better soup last night, inspired by my stuffy nose and a pile of vegetables that needed to be used up before the next CSA box. It contains 2 kinds of fingerling potatoes, sweet potato, kale, carrots, leeks, onions, garlic, cabbage, and alphabet pasta.



I also broke open a pomelo that had been sitting around for a while. It looks much better than it tasted, because it was kind of dry.



Today, out of boredom, I baked another batch of raspberry coconut muffins, this time with whole wheat pastry flour. (And yes, the first batch was already gone in less than 48 hours.) I think I prefer the cake-like taste of the all-purpose, but these are still pretty good, and probably a little bit better for me.



I've eaten nothing but soup and muffins all day. And some french fries I discovered in the freezer. That's healthy, right?

Raspberry coconut muffins

Tart raspberries are a nice change from the classic blueberry, while a subtle dose of coconut adds a smoothness to the crumb and a crunch to the sweet topping. These aren't exactly healthy and belong in the "muffins as an excuse to eat cake for breakfast" category, but who cares!



Raspberry coconut muffins
2 c. all-purpose flour
2 tbs. cornstarch
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. soy milk
1/2 c. coconut milk
1/3 c. unrefined cane sugar
1/3 c. canola oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. lemon juice
1 c. raspberries

Topping
1/4 c. all-purpose flour
3 tbs. unrefined cane sugar
3 tbs. desiccated coconut (unsweetened)
1 tbs. canola oil

Preheat oven to 400F and lightly oil a 12-cup muffin tin.

In a small bowl, use a fork or your fingers to crumble together the topping ingredients and set aside.

Sift together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, whisk together the milks, sugar, oil, extract, and lemon juice. Add the dry mixture and stir until combined. Gently fold in the raspberries.

Spoon the batter into your prepared tin, and sprinkle each muffin with the topping, patting it down slightly.

Bake for about 20 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.