One of my favorite things about having this blog is when people make my recipes. Sometimes people leave me comments telling me about their experience, including who they made the recipe for and why (like this one yesterday). Sometimes I see people make notes about my recipe on Pinterest. And sometimes, my family makes one of my recipes and then serves the finished product to me. But, no matter who you are or why you decided to try out a TCL recipe, know this – I really think that’s one of the coolest things ever. It’s always an honor to me when anyone takes the time to try out one of my recipes.
I know this may seem weird since I post recipes all the time, but I don’t ever really expect people to make any of the recipes I post. I hope for them to, but unless I see a comment about it, I just assume no one did. But here’s the thing, if I can share a recipe and even one person finds some sort of happiness or any ounce of helpfulness from it, I consider that a win. In fact, reading comments with success stories about my recipes makes me so happy. It’s like blog fuel – it keeps me going.
My sister actually did something cool recently – she adapted one of my recipes into something new. It actually happened somewhat by accident. She said she was trying to make my Green Monster Muffins, when she went to get the spinach out of the refrigerator and discovered that there was none. Doh! Apparently, my parents almost always have spinach in the house, so she assumed it would be there. When she realized it wasn’t there, she found a quick back-up – acorn squash. Not sure how the acorn squash was selected, but apparently, it worked!The result was apparently a big hit with my family, and she made them again for me to try when I was in town this past weekend.
In addition to subbing out the spinach with acorn squash, she made a couple other adjustments in types and amounts of ingredients. Plus, she changed the nut topping to slightly more streusel-like mixture. The adapted muffin was definitely a winner.
Acorn Squash Muffins with Sweet Walnut Topping {Recipe}
(by my sister, adapted from my Green Monster Muffins)
When my sister was midway through making a batch of my Green Monster muffins and realized there was no spinach in the house, she made a substitution using acorn squash instead. These delicious muffins are the result, and they offer another way to sneak a little bit of veggies into anyone’s breakfast or snack. 
PS: The ingredient list looks long, but these are really easy to make. I think the most difficult part is processing the acorn squash to get it grated!
Yields: 12 muffins
*Vegan options below*
Muffin Ingredients:
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 cup all purpose (unbleached) flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg (or use vegan substitute, like a flaxseed egg – 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed mixed with 3 tablespoons water – let sit for about 10 minutes)
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 single serving applesauce (or 1/2 cup), preferably no-sugar added
- 1 cup finely grated acorn squash, no skin (about 1/2 an acorn squash processed in food processor)
- 1/4 cup milk (we used skim) (or use vegan substitute, like soy, rice, hemp milk, etc.)
- 3 tablespoons canola oil (or other oil of choice)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 – 1 teaspoon lemon zest
Sweet Walnut Topping Ingredients (optional):
- 1 tablespoon melted butter (or use vegan substitute, like Earth Balance)
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
Directions:
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F and prepare a 12 cup muffin tin with non-stick spray.
- Add whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt into a medium bowl and whisk together.
- Whisk to beat egg and sugar together till light (I did this by hand for just a couple minutes).
- Whisk in applesauce, acorn squash, milk, canola oil, vanilla extract, and lemon zest.
- Pour dry ingredient mixture into the wet ingredient mixture, and stir gently just to combine – careful to not over-mix.
- Pour muffin batter into muffin tin cups – about 3/4 full each. If using walnuts topping, mix butter, brown sugar and walnuts together and evenly sprinkle walnut mixture on top of each muffin.
- Bake for 18-22 minutes until centers set or a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
- Cool at least 10-15 minutes, or until safe to eat, before serving.
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Thanks Sis. Happy baking! And thank you again to everyone who’s ever tried a TCL recipe. You guys keep me inspired to keep cooking, baking, and blogging.
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Thank you for reading!
I’m already ready to go back to Asheville. We had so much fun and enjoyed so many great eats! You can check out my Asheville posts by clicking here to go to the first one. Then, look for the “Next” link at the bottom of the post, after the comments, and click on that link to view the next post, etc. Or, click here to go to my last post, and check out the list of links to the others.
Now, onto the rest of my vacay week…
We headed to my family’s house after leaving Asheville. It’s about one hour away, so it seemed to make sense to stay in the area and spend Easter with them. I’m still in seek-relaxation mode, so all I really wanted to do was spend some QT with the fam, rest, and enjoy tasty eats. That was easy enough…
Dad made his famous breakfast potatoes the first morning while mom was at work.
My mom actually ended up working two 12-hour shifts while we were there, so we decided to keep things extra low-key for Easter dinner. We had plans to cook a big turkey, but my parents forgot to take it out early enough to let it defrost. It ended up working out okay, because I think everyone was pretty tired for various reasons. Hubby and my dad ended up purchasing two already-cooked rotisserie chickens from the grocery store.
While they were out shopping, mom and I harvested almost all the leaves of this swiss chard plant from their garden.
We had a big bowl full, but I knew they’d shrink down.
I sauteed them with olive oil, garlic, chicken broth, salt, and pepper.
The Easter spread – rotisserie chicken, saffron rice, steamed green beans, sauteed swiss chard, and cranberry sauce.
The next morning, I woke up to a treat. Sis was baking. Not only was she baking (trust me, anything she makes is delish), but she was baking something extra-cool (to me, at least). She recently told me she’d adapted my Green Monster Muffin recipe to something new – Acorn Squash Muffins. These were exactly what was going in the oven as I walked downstairs to pour my morning cuppa joe.
I wish we had a way to share smells through computers, because these smelled wonderful. Fresh-baked muffins are a frequent occurrence at my parents’ house and really smell like home to me.
{The breakfast spread}
Sis wrote down her adapted recipe for me, so I’ll share it on the blog sometime if you’re interested.
And our last meal of the trip – teriyaki shrimp, zucchini with onions, steamed rice with a drizzle of soy sauce, and my sis’ famous miso soup. I really wish I had this for lunch again today!
As you can see, the food of the long weekend was stellar. As for relaxation, hubby and I watched the whole first season of Game of Thrones, plus we got to see the first episode of the new season. Sometimes there’s just nothing like totally vegging out in front of the TV. We also managed to eat BBQ at my favorite joint in town, play disc golf, sleep in, and visit my favorite G-Vegas coffee shop.
Reader question: How was your weekend? Did you celebrate Easter? Did you do anything special?
Ahh, and so we arrive at the last day of our B&B vacation in Asheville.
Catching up? Here are my previous Asheville posts:
It was a beautiful morning at the B&B. I didn’t feel like I was quite ready to go. Like I hadn’t spent as many lazy afternoons reading on the porch, lounging on the couch, or sipping wine outdoors as I wanted. But, it was time to pack up.
We headed to the front porch of the B&B for breakfast al fresco. We started with fresh watermelon.
Next, we had orange muffins.
And lastly – cranberry-nut pancakes with a mini quiche.
The quiche was like a baby version of that mile-high one I had at the other Asheville restaurant.
Sis enjoyed breakfast, but she had plans for a second. She’d heard about the French toast at Books & Breadboard and decided it was her mission to try it before we left. Since today was our last day in town, we had plans to head over to Books & Breadboard before they stopped serving breakfast at 11am.
The staff (like 5 or 6 people!) remembered us from our trip a couple days before and gave us such a warm welcome. 
I had no plans of ordering another breakfast since I was still full from the first one. I just hoped to get a bite of hers. I ordered some mint tea with honey to sip on.
Sis happily ordered the French toast and shared a slice with me when it came out all propped up and gorgeously displayed on a bamboo cutting board.
I must say, I know I’ve used the word “best” a lot when I talk about this restaurant, but this really may have been the best French toast I’ve ever had. The inside wasn’t undercooked – it was nice and firm. The outside was just-crispy. But the flavor was what really won me over – orange-scented with a bite of cinnamon. I’m definitely going to try re-creating this one sometime.
I decided I should try ordering something one last time, but I just got a chicken salad sandwich on pumpernickel for the road.
Here are a couple more photos of our B&B that I snapped over the trip.
My favorite spot of the B&B was definitely this long, open porch. Gorgeous!
Hopefully, we get to return to Asheville soon to revisit some of our new, fave spots and discover others!
Have you been to Asheville? What are your must-sees (restaurants, activities, tourist sites, shops, etc.)?
Wednesday’s photos were awkward in numbers. I debated on whether I should break them into two posts or three, but 38 photos in one post seemed excessive, so three it is!
If you’re catching up, here are my previous Asheville posts:
We had another tasty breakfast at the B&B, starting with a baked apple topped with a dollop of vanilla yogurt and cinnamon. I’m going to have to try re-create this one for the blog sometime – it was really good!
Here’s hubby trying to swipe all of the blueberry muffins.
And we had tomato quiche for the main event with sausage and potato. It was a great, filling start to the day.
My dad really wanted to see the Grove Park Inn, so we took a quick trip over for a peek.
Grove Park reminded me of a mountain-themed Disney resort. It was huge and had tons of themed decorations around.
Mom really wanted to take us to the terrace to check out the view.
She had a dinner here once after a work conference and remembered how gorgeous the view was. Just look at it!
Dad gave us pennies to make wishes into the waterfalls and pools behind the main building.
I had considered staying at the Grove Park Inn when I was researching places for Asheville, and though it was pet-friendly, I was looking for something a little smaller and personable. Has anyone stayed here? I bet it’s really nice!
After our trip to Grove Park, we headed to Biltmore Village for lunch.
Of all the places I researched and had heard about when I asked others for recommendations, The Corner Kitchen came up over and over again. I was really excited to try it.
The inside was small-ish, but very bright, open, and airy. It was very refreshing.
I liked the fresh flowers on the table.
Hubby had the crab and corn chowder and shared a bite. It was really good (as was the biscuit, which I also got to taste).
I had the chicken pot pie. Probably not the best choice for lunch (pot pie makes me think dinner for some reason), but I really wanted to try it, and I knew we wouldn’t have time to go back for dinner this trip.
The filling was really, really creamy and had a slight orange tinge to it. My dad thought maybe it was from tomatoes? I thought it was really tasty, as was the side salad that came with it.
Sis had the sorbet with blueberries. I got to try a bite of this one, too, and it was really good and had an excellent after-taste that was almost better than the original bite!
Overall, I really liked The Corner Kitchen. I’d definitely like to come back here for dinner next time we’re in town…and possibly for lunch to try their lavender chicken salad. That one sounded really interesting. Oh, and they do a souffle dessert, but it’s only available at dinner – I’d really like to try that sometime, too!
After lunch, I headed out to downtown Asheville with my sister for shopping. More on that next time!
Reader question: have you been to Asheville before? Where did you stay and would you recommend it? Has anyone out there tried the Grove Park Inn?
