Wow, I cannot believe it has been a week since we have finished with Giulia. I am sooooo looking forward to possibly meeting her and of seeing all of these SHA Yes Bookery-Cookery girls. I am starting to feel that this blog is not only following the many books I am sure we will read and the recipes that follow, but the formation of some really wonderful friendships. I thank Giulia for kicking us off. The past month has been filled with “I loved, I lost, I made Spaghetti”, but it has also been filled with an outpour of behind the scenes emails, excitement that at author actually followed us on twitter, and a comfortable chat about the going-ons of life, that I have truly come to look forward to. I hope Giulia will continue to follow us on this Journey.

One of the things I really appreciated about Giulia was her abandon in her cooking and eating. I loved her story of eating her Victory Breakfast after a great night of drinking and dating. In my own life, my weight has fluctuated so incredibly much that I swear, if I look at a Victory Breakfast I would gain ten pounds. As I look back on my own relationship, I would say they are directly proportionate to the size of my backside! There was boyfriend number 1, where I was so focused on staying slim, so I would not have to focus the lack of love for my significant other. Then there was the break up by the no calling ex which usually put on 20 pounds at a time (x 4 breaks up….yes that is a lot of weight!). As I have gotten older I have tried to not focus on the size of my hips or the calories in my dish, but on how my body feels and nourishing myself. Let me tell you, it is very difficult to do when the two voices in your head are arguing over belgian waffles or egg whites at the diner! But Giulia made and ate what she loved, not once mentioning her self worth by the size of her pants. It was so refreshing and her outlook inspired me to try and enjoy the time I spend eating and who I spend eating it with….rather than spending my time deciding between the pasta and the salmon (where we all know the pasta will inevitably win). I do like to keep my life healthy, but part of that is moderation, and I think Giulia mastered that in a way not many women do. To that end, I decided to revisit her blueberry muffins, which were such a big hit in my house. They were so delicious full fat but I thought I could try and make them a bit healthier for those of us who want to save our calories for that pasta. Here is the recipe (original) and my adjustments in caps.

Nana’s Blueberry Muffins:

Butter, softened, for greasing muffins tins        (PAM)

1 3/4 Cup self-rising flour                                       (1 1/4 C. SELF RISING FLOUR, UNSIFTED 1/2 C. WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR) (I have found that whole wheat in blueberry muffins just stinks in general, so i only substituted a little)

1/4 Cup Sugar   (I left this alone because I personally do not feel that artificial sweeteners are any healthier than sugar. I tried to keep this recipe focused on non-processed healthy stuff rather than low fat)

1/4 Cup milk         (I also kept the full fat milk, because I cut out the butter, but I do believe that fat free half and half would work great if you are very fat concious. The 1/4 C. milk really gives minimal fat to the recipe)

6 Tablespoons melted butter  (6 TBS. 1% VANILLA YOGURT)

1 Egg                                             (3 EGG WHITES)

1 Cup Blueberries

PINCH OF NUTMEG

1 Tbs Butter (Optional)                 (SPRINKLE TURBINADO SUGAR ON TOPS INSTEAD OF BUTTER AND SUGAR)

1/4 Cup Sugar (Optional)

Preheat over to 400 degrees. Butter the muffin tins. Mix flour and sugar and nutmeg, stir in the wet ingredients, then add the blueberries. Spoon batter into muffin tins, filling each cup 3/4 of the way full. sprinkle with sugar in the raw (turbinado dugar) Bake 15-20 minutes, cool for ten minutes, and put on a cooling rack.

RESULTS: These were very light. They were totally not as good as the sconish original muffins. I had really liked the lumpy kind of top on the her blueberry muffins, which was absent sans fat. It kind of gave it a crumb cake appeal. I left some of the fat it these so the flavor itself was great. It did not have that artificial taste. These are great to go during the week, or on a weekend morning where you don’t feel like splurging. Matt also really liked them. He said they were sweet enough and light enough that you could enjoy with a cup of coffee without making you sugar groggy. They did have a bit of that “low fat” sponginess, but I thought it was worth it!

Now on to those gnocchi!