Margy's Multigrain Muffins

I'm not a big breakfast person (unless we go out), and that isn't healthy (either way).

I'm trying to do better. We have a fresh fruit bowl every other day and healthy muffins go nicely with that for a well rounded morning meal.

I researched bran muffins online, and came up with my own multigrain version.

Margy's Multigrain Muffins

2 eggs
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
2 tablespoons molasses
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 orange zested and juiced

Lightly beat eggs.  Add brown sugar and blend.  Add milk, oil, molasses, vanilla, orange juice and zest.

1/2 cup wheat flour
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup oat bran
1/2 cup wheat bran
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup ground flax
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Mix dry ingredients and blend into wet ingredients.

1 apple with skin, grated
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Stir in grated apple, soaked cranberries, and chopped pecans to the muffin mix.


Coat muffin pans with cooking spray. Fill 3/4 full for expansion.  Bake f20 minutes at 350 degrees, or until lightly brown.  Remove from pans while still warm with knife. Makes 21 medium muffins.  Freeze extras.  Warm in a toaster oven for an easy breakfast.

What are some of your favourite easy breakfast foods? -- Margy

BC Ferries in the Fog

This time of year you don't know when you'll get a sunny day. You look at the weatherman's forecast and it says sunny. But if it's after a rainy spell, it just might mean fog instead.

Leaving Earl's Cove on the Sunshine Coast

After all, this is known as Foguary around these parts.

Good thing they have excellent navigation instruments on BC Ferries. Otherwise we would get stuck en-route. -- Margy

"Artemis" by Andy Weir

I'm best known for reading and reviewing books about Coastal British Columbia and off-the-grid living. But once in a while I break the mold and read science fiction (Wayne's favourite).

Several years ago we read The Martian by Andy Weir. At the time Weir was an upcoming independent self-published Kindle author, but was quickly picked up by a traditional publisher (Crown, 2014) and his book was transformed into a blockbuster movie.

The most recent novel by Andy Weir is Artemis (Crown, 2017). The setting is earth's moon in the not too distant future. Space exploration has resulted in a permanent colony near the Apollo 11 landing site at the Sea of Tranquility where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first touched down in 1969. Tourism is a large part of the moon's economy. Mining is another.

Jasmine (Jazz) is an entrepreneurial delivery person trying to break into the Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Guild to offer high paying tourist trips on the lunar surface to the historic landing site. She fails her test, but has learned the specialized skills needed for surviving outside of the colony's protective structures.

Jazz was born on the moon and has transformed her delivery job into a profitable smuggling operation.

Links she has forged with the colony's business and political leaders draws her into a scheme that could either get her deported to earth (a sentence almost worse than death) or the savior of the fragile colony.

It was a fun, thrill packed read, especially on my Kindle with it's built-in light. That's the best way to read at the cabin during long, dark winter nights. Artemis is also available in hardcover, paperback and audible versions.

Do you read science fiction? What are some of your favourite books? -- Margy