Happiness is Sunday morning baking two dozen triple wheat muffins

 OK I ate two.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Triple Wheat Muffins

1.5 cups wheat germ

1.5 cups all purpose wheat flour

3.0 cups wheat bran

1 T baking powder

1 t baking soda

1 t ground cinnamon

 

2.5 cups milk

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 eggs beaten

1 cup apple sauce

 

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F.

Mix dry ingredients in one bowl, wet in another.

Whisk dry into wet gradually.

Add 24 baking papers to tins.

Use a 1/3 cup measure to scoop batter into the liners.

Bake about 20-22 minutes.

Cool in the pans on the counter for 20 minutes.

Serve with butter and jam. And coffee. 

Happiness is a Neapolitan coffee pot: La cuccuma napoletana

 

Happiness is Dave's Good Seed Bread

 Especially toasted with butter and cherry jam, accompanied by scrambled eggs and coffee.

What a breakfast!

 

Happiness is a recipe which helps you cut back on toilet paper!

 For a butt-hole which is clean as a whistle, eat one of these oat flour and wheat bran muffins every morning instead of toast! You'll find yourself using far less toilet paper as a result!

Foil the kitty!

Oat Flour & Wheat Bran Muffins

1 cup oat flour (just grind up one cup whole oats in the coffee grinder)

2 cups wheat bran (I pay $1.29/lb at the health food store for a refrigerated bag of organic; super cheap!)

1.5 t baking powder

0.5 t baking soda

0.5 t ground cinnamon

 

1.25 cups milk

0.33 cup brown sugar

1 egg beaten

0.5 cup apple sauce

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1/ preheat oven to 400 F

2/ combine dry ingredients in one bowl, wet in another

3/ add the dry to the wet, whisking together

4/ line two 8-bay muffin tins with parchment baking cups

5/ spoon in the completed mixture, about 1/4 cup each

6/ bake 15-20 minutes

7/ let cool thoroughly before storing in the frig or freezer

8/ parchment peels right off once cooled

9/ rewarm in microwave and serve with butter and jam

10/ one a day will do ya

 

 

Happiness is good instant coffee when you're up early and need to be quiet because no one else is

Happiness is making the morning coffee and suddenly this song pops into your head for no good reason

Happiness is a tender Italian turkey meatball "shell" during the pandemic

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground turkey

1/2 c milk

1 egg

3/4 c Panko bread crumbs

Seasoning:

1 t salt

1/2 t granulated garlic

1/2 t dried thyme leaves

1/2 t dried oregano leaves

1/2 t whole black peppercorns, or 1/4 t ground

1 t fennel seeds

1 t crushed red pepper flakes

1 T sweet Hungarian paprika

Method:

1) Whisk together the egg and the milk in a large mixing bowl

2) Grind the seasonings in a coffee grinder until fine-ish

3) Whisk the seasonings into the egg/milk mixture

4) Add the meat to the bowl and mix together using a fork or a potato masher

5) Add the bread crumbs and mix together

6) Form "meatball shells" using a fork and a nonstick ice cream scoop, which releases them easily 

7) Heat a heavy skillet over medium heat and add enough canola oil to cover the bottom

8) Fry "shells" in batches about twelve minutes in the oil, flat side first, flipping them half way through

9) Serve with pasta "Orecchiette" if you can find them, for fun, and your favorite sauce

Happiness is being one of the lucky dogs who snagged one of these at Sam's Club this week

And I paid only $1.98, which actually reflects a recent price increase. Once in a while you've got to splurge on the creamy, fatty goodness of half-n-half in your coffee. Like during a pandemic, for example.

Milk, however, was CLEANED OUT. First time that's ever happened to me at Sam's Club.

Butter also was unavailable again at Sam's.

So far, though, I'm still able to get milk and butter either at the corner gas station, or at the grocery stores. Mind you, at those places it costs more, even a lot more, than I routinely pay at Sam's.

Meanwhile, the shelves are actually appearing better-stocked at Sam's than I've seen them in the last four weeks.

And more of the shoppers are wearing masks now, as am I. 

Happiness is Eight O'Clock Coffee

Eight O'Clock Coffee,

     Five O'Clock Gin,

Start the day early,

     End it with a grin.

Happiness is a cat with heart disease who wants to live

Here she is, all sick like, trying to catch some rays before judgment day.

Well, it's judgment day, and wouldn't you know it, she bestirred herself, rose up from the sick bed at 06:00, ate some dry food and trotted upstairs. Then she jumped to her happy place on the coffee table for a little rubdown, and then to the fountain for a good long drink like she hadn't drunk in two days. Well, she hadn't drunk in two days, nor eaten. And then she turns up in the kitchen at her feeding spot, looking at me like what's for breakfast, tender tuna or chicken? 

She's definitely turned a corner. Judgment day, postponed.

Happiness is the "US Field Artillery March"

 

John Philip Sousa unknowingly stole the song, it turns out, from Edmund L. Gruber.

My dad was with the US Army field artillery from 1943-1945, serving in France and Belgium, and trained at the Field Artillery School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. As a child I was fascinated by all things artillery and things that go "boom".

To this day I wake up singing this march to myself, silently in my head, as I make the morning coffee:

For it's high high he,

In the Field Artillery,

Shout out your numbers loud and strong!

Happiness is Lou Mitchell's Restaurant of Chicago

Go for the breakfast, stay for the coffee.

Science proves that diner coffee is weak and terrible:

But my favorite diner coffee is served at one of Chicago's oldest restaurants. The sign outside Lou Mitchell's (565 W. Jackson Blvd.), opened in 1923, reads, "Serving the world's finest coffee." I wouldn't go quite that far, but compared with most diners, Lou Mitchell's is in another league. Each sip is smooth and well-rounded, without any underlying bitterness. It's exactly the kind of coffee you want with eggs and honey-cured ham.

Why is the coffee good? According to the shop, the coffee beans are ground every morning. Instead of using regular tap water, filtered water is used. The machines are cleaned regularly. These steps sound really boring, but when it comes to making a solid cup of coffee, it's really as simple as that.

Happiness is making fun of politicians

 

Coffee, which makes the politician wise,

And see through all things with his half-shut eyes,

Sent up in vapours to the baron's brain

New stratagems, the radiant lock to gain.

-- Alexander Pope

Happiness is a gas burner trivet, to keep your little moka pot from tipping over on the stove

A simple but thoughtful gift and a daily reminder of the giver because a day without coffee this way is just, well, unthinkable!

Happiness is a gift of coffee: Every cup is a fond reminder of the giver

 

 

 

 

 

 

 This drink comforteth the brain and heart, and helpeth digestion.

-- Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

Happiness is that you're a little less likely to die sooner if you drink coffee than if you don't

From the story here:

The apparent longevity boost was seen with instant, ground and decaffeinated, results that echo U.S. research. It’s the first large study to suggest a benefit even in people with genetic glitches affecting how their bodies use caffeine.

Overall, coffee drinkers were about 10 percent to 15 percent less likely to die than abstainers during a decade of follow-up. Differences by amount of coffee consumed and genetic variations were minimal.

Happiness was shopping at Prange's in Sheboygan in the 1960s: It had EVERYTHING

Part of the Prange empire, detailed here.

Mom and I often took the bus there. She'd shop in the grocery and pay, and Prange's would deliver it later that day. Almost anything else we needed, or wanted, could be found on the floors of that store. And of course Dad always stopped in the bakery on Friday or Saturday to bring home the Sunday sour cream coffee cake.

The Christmas window displays drew in everyone starting the day after Thanksgiving.

Northeast of the store directly across the street from the parking lot was a Standard Oil gasoline station owned by family friend Norm Voigt, who did a brisk business at the pumps and in the service bay. He had a Coca Cola bottle machine cooler, into which you plunked a dime, opened the lid and slid out a shorty bottle, the cap of which you prised off with the opener on the side of it. You couldn't enjoy this without some salted peanuts from his little dispenser, either. A nickel a turn, if I remember right.

A little oyster of a world, and it was all ours.

Happiness is a morning fagel with your coffee

The fagela is something else entirely. Don't go there.

You take half a plain bagel and toast it. Meanwhile gently nuke a dried Turkish fig, about ten seconds. When the bagel is ready, cut the warm fig in quarters and spread out the gooey pieces on the bagel. Simple and delicious.

Dried figs are loaded with more dietary fiber than any other fruit, and also offer potassium, Vitamin K, calcium, magnesium and antioxidant phenols.

Happiness is a hobby, the occasional little biddle bottle, exercise and coffee

For when you want just one . . .

People with hobbies are 21% less likely to experience premature death, who drink a little 18%, who exercise 11%, who drink coffee 10%, who are slightly overweight 3%.

The story is here.

Happiness is a low-sodium cinnamon roll at coffee break, without the roll

1/ toast one slice of Koepplinger's 100% whole wheat bread
2/ slather with Really Raw Honey from Baltimore, Maryland
3/ on a large plate sprinkle the toast liberally with ground cinnamon
4/ chop one ounce of pecan halves fine and top the toast

120 mg sodium, 2 g saturated fat, 7 g protein