I have officially finished “I Loved, I lost, I made Spaghetti”, and I loved it! It was so interesting to me that each of her relationships were so different but so incredibly necessary. Thinking back to all of my own heartbreaking and heart aching (more heart-aching sadly for me) it is so true how necessary each relationship was for my own growth. I also loved how Giulia’s cooking progressed throughout the book. Each of her recipes were so simple, but (maybe it was just me), her recipes at the end seemed to be much more risky…and isn’t risk a necessary ingredient for any relationship? Well, this Thanksgiving I did just that…some of my own risk taking.

Matthew and I have only been married for two years, which means we haven’t quite worked out all of our holiday kinks just yet. This Thanksgiving we decided to host a brunch with his parents (my in-laws) and to join my family for the dinner. I always get extremely anxious when preparing a meal for my in-laws. Okay, actually very anxious. I know that this anxiety is highly irriational, however I seem to think that the very food I decide to put on the table will establish my enduring love for their son. It is therefor obvious that everything must be perfect. This usually winds up with me obsessing over a menu for waaaayyyy more time than is necessary as well as a few tears and eventually me swearing I will never cook again (obviously an overdramatic lie, or else why would I be cooking the books). Using tried and true recipes has somewhat helped me abate this anxiety, kind of like a “no fail” technique. However, this year I decided on a brunch made of all recipes from Giulia’s book. It was a huge risk on my part, I was putting it out there that even if my recipe’s failed, I still adored my husband and was an awesome daughter-in-law (again irrational, I know).

I started with Nana’s Blueberry Muffins, largely because I liked the image of a Nana rolling yummy muffins through butter and sugar, but also because Kit to me was the safest boyfriend, and therefor these muffins felt safe.

Nana’s Blueberry Muffins:

Butter, softened, for greasing muffins tins

1 3/4 Cup self-rising flour

1/4 Cup Sugar

1/4 Cup milk

6 Tablespoons melted butter

1 Egg

1 Cup Blueberries

1 Tbs Butter (Optional)

1/4 Cup Sugar (Optional)

Preheat over to 400 degrees. Butter the muffin tins. Mix flour and sugar, stir in the wet ingredients, then add the blueberries. Spoon batter into muffin tins, filling each cup 3/4 of the way full. Bake 15-20 minutes, cool for ten minutes, and put on a cooling rack. While the muffins are still warm, melt 1 Tbs. of the butter and place in a saucer. Put the 1/4 C. sugar in a separate saucer. Dip the muffins into the butter than roll in the sugar. (This step is optional, but highly recommended by Giulia…and me)

I used frozen blueberries and I sifted the flour. The muffins resembled a scone and dipped in the sugar were absolutely delectable. I was not sure how these would come out because the dough seemed a bit tough to me, but I thoroughly enjoyed them. Matt ate them the day after Thanksgiving and RAVED about them. He also commented that they were a bit more scone-ish. This may have been due to my sifting of the flour.

After the Blueberry Muffins, I decided to try my luck with “Morning After Pumpkin Bread”. This one was during Ethan, who was my personal favorite…after all who doesn’t love a little committment phobe every now and then? As Ethan was attractive to Giulia in his uncommitting ways, so is pumpkin to me. Pumpkin and me usually do not get along. My pies usually spill over, my scones have been undercooked, and pumpking bread…is usually a big ol fail that ends in Matt advising me to stick with cooking pasta. But with Ethan and Giulia I decided to give it a go….and it was a HUGE success. My Mother-In-Law could not stop raving about how good it was at breakfast, and she is a pretty finicky eater. Here is the recipe:

Morning After Pumkin Bread:

1/2 Cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1 1/2 Cups Sugar

2 Large Eggs

1 Cup Canned Pumpkin

1 1/2 Cup Self-rising flour

1/2 Teaspoon each: cloves, cinnamon, ginger

1/2 Cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch loaf pan. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until blended, then add eggs and pumpkin. Sift flour with spices in another bowl, add pumpkin mixture, mix in walnuts, and pour into buttered pan. Bake until tester comes out clean, about 1 hour t10 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for 10 minutes, then use knife to release edges and flip onto cooling rack to cool completely.

My Variations: okay, so I did not have ginger…which I replaced with 1/4 Teaspoon each, nutmeg and pumpkin pie spice. I also doubled the recipe and made a second loaf with dried cranberries and walnuts…which was awesomeness defined.

Finally, I decided to throw in a semi-healthy baked good. This one is the only one I did not like, nor did anyone else I think (it was the only item left). I think it may have been my fault however. Perhaps it was my unconscious aggression towards healthy muffins (which should obviously not be healthy). I also DESPISED Lachlan, which is where these bad boys popped up, so it could be that too.

Welcome Back to the Big Apple Muffins

Butter, softened, for greasing muffin tins

2 Cups whole wheat flour (If I do these again I would use whole wheat pastry flour)

1/2 Cup Sugar

2 Tsp. Baking Powder

1/2 Tsp. cinnamon

1/2 Cup butter (1 stick), melted

1 egg, beaten

1 cup milk

2 medium apples, peeled, cored, and chopped (this is where I think I went wrong, I used a food processor (bc im lazy), and they got more, shredded, than chopped. I also only had granny smiths, and I think a gala or rome apple would have been better!)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees, grease a 12 cup muffin pan. In one large bowl, mix all dry ingredients, in another, mix all the wet ingredients. Add the wet to the dry and mix with a spoon by hand until just combined, then fold in the chopped apples. Spoon batter into muffin tins and bake for twenty minutes, cool for ten minutes.

All in All it was a great Brunch and a Fabulous Start of the day…which continued with more cooking and more food, and of course, more Giulia!