This past Saturday I baked some of the most delicious muffins I’ve ever eaten.

I don’t say that to brag. The muffins were just honestly that scrumptious. Let me elaborate.

I volunteered to bake a cake for the college ministry at church. I settled on a recipe for a pumpkin spice cake that involved a yellow cake mix, some canned pumpkin, pumpkin spice, and a can of cream cheese frosting with some additional pumpkin spice. I wanted to keep it simple because I would’ve felt terrible messing up something intended for someone else!

After sticking the cake in the oven, I used the rest of the can of pumpkin to make pumpkin muffins. I had found a reduced fat, reduced sugar, wheat flour recipe and was curious to find out whether I could pull it off. I was feeling a little flustered because I didn’t have enough brown sugar (Husband to the rescue), and the kitchen was already a mess from making the cake. After I popped the muffins in the oven, I realized I had forgotten the vanilla, and was convinced they were going to be a failure.

The cake was done first. I had made two cupcakes with some of the batter so Husband and I could taste test it. Not bad.

Then I took the muffins out. I tasted one before giving one to Husband, for fear they would be such a disaster I would need to trash them. I couldn’t believe what I was tasting. I gave one to Husband, and sure enough, he was impressed, too!

Our conclusion: The healthy pumpkin muffins were significantly tastier than the pumpkin cupcakes, even sans vanilla.

This muffin success made me wonder. If I can take any muffin recipe, customize it with healthy modifications, and have them turn out tasting even better than cupcakes… And if I can create muffins in a multitude of imaginative flavors… And since I enjoy creating them and making each batch better than ever… Why not start a business similar to all of the cupcakeries, only spreading the joy of a healthier snack?

Stay tuned… I’m working on it!

Pizza is a staple of my diet. When I was growing up, our family had a weekly pizza night. Like my dad, I continue to consume pizza at least once a week lest major cravings ensue.

One of the things I missed most about my previous town when I relocated a few months ago was my favorite pizza place. Unique to the town, they made pies involving a measurably thick layer of cheese and offered a thick honey wheat crust that put the best breads to shame. They also offered honey for adding to the crust.

The first time I came to visit Husband (before he was my husband), which was our second date, he took me to a great pizza joint called The Other Place. He ordered the four-cheese option, which would have been my first choice. I still need to ask him if he knew that would be my first choice or if it would have been his first choice anyway.

Since then, we’ve also eaten at Doughy Joey’s, where I love the thick crust. We also enjoyed a wood-fired pizza at Tony’s. But I hadn’t found anything that could compare with my old favorite. Until Saturday, Oct. 22.

We had just arrived back in town from a weekend away. Game three of the World Series was scheduled for that evening. I had a vested interest in the game, because my dad and I have an annual $1 bet on the Series. Husband suggested we go to a place called Mulligan’s, a pub with brick oven pizza. I ordered the Three Cheese, Tomato and Basil pizza on the honey wheat crust with a Schlafly Pumpkin Ale.

The game ended terribly last night with the Cardinals walloping the Rangers 16-7 and taking a 2-1 lead in the Series. But my meal was a big win. The pizza was not the same style as my old favorite, but it was just as delicious. It featured fresh toppings, plenty of cheese, a delicious wheat crust, and — drum roll, please — honey for crust dipping. The beer was also probably the best I’ve ever tasted, but I’d only recommend it if you’re up for a beer that tastes like pumpkin pie. I’m sad it’s seasonal, but also excited to try Shlafly’s winter feature.

In the end, the Rangers lost the Series and I lost a dollar to my dad. But I discovered a new favorite pizza place in the process. We’ll be returning to Mulligan’s — hopefully tomorrow!

Look out! Now we’re getting fancy.

Last Thursday, we made Emeril’s Shrimp and Pasta with Chilis, Garlic, Lemon and Green Onions. It was amazing! But it was also amazingly spicy — even for my southern husband. We were both sweating after taking only a few bites, but it was so tasty we couldn’t stop eating it. Then we made it again last night.

We halved the recipe both times, but the first time I forgot to half the wine. I also only used half the butter, adding it to the pan before the shrimp, but skipping the step of adding the remainder with the wine, lemon juice and zest. It was plenty buttery, plenty lemony, and beyond plenty spicy.

The second time around, we used the specified amount of wine, used bottled lemon juice instead of fresh, omitted the lemon zest, cut back on the cayenne pepper, and added a tablespoon of half and half. It turns out the wine added quite a bit of flavor, so I plan to go back to doubling it again in the future. Next time I’d like to go back to the fresh lemon, only scale it back a little, so it’s only slightly less lemony than in the recipe. I would also cut WAY back both the cayenne and red pepper — by at least half. I didn’t care for what the added half and half did to the texture, but it was worth a try.

We recommend a glass of ice water with your pinot grigio (or the bottle will be gone before you know it) and ice cream for dessert to put out the fire.