Cornmeal Craisin Sunflower Seed Muffins -- we heart breakfast

It's been a while since the last update. A LOT has happened. D and I just signed a new lease last Friday for an awesome/spacious loft downtown. I can't wait to move into that space with 20-fee-high ceiling and the two skylights. The best of all? We are finally going to get a nice kitchen -- a kitchen island, a real pantry, and a DISHWASHER!!! We have also just put a down payment for a walnut top/maple base coffee table, which converts into a huge dining table for dinner parties. I can't wait to move in, seriously, the walk-in closet is bigger than our current kitchen, with a motion sensor! What a life!

Besides all the excitement, we've been working working working. Lab stuff has been demanding as usual, and I tried to pack in as many as recruiting events/fun social gathering as possible. I attended a political conference about Mexico with D last weekend, which totally opened my eyes. (The only conferences I had been to were full of science/math geeks.)  I was shocked at how poetic and enjoyable the opening speech could be. One of the side benefits of attending events was free food. As a result, our grocery bill for February was only $260, for the two of us! Granted we ate out several times, but still, less than $5/person/DAY!

The down side of attending all those activities was we were constantly on the run. Hot breakfast became a luxury and D had lived on pre-made breakfast muffins and cookies a lot. Though I tried to cook every night, it was hard to remember taking pictures for blogging cuz we were usually so hungry that we didn't even bother to plate dinner -- we devoured everything in the pan as soon as it's cooked! I was going to write about some awesome breakfast cookies, but realized that we usually run out of those within two days that I had NO pictures. Lesson learned. Today, before it's too late, I managed to photograph some tasty muffins. Yay, finally I can blog about SOMETHING.

Here's the ONLY shot of the muffins. Have you noticed that they are heart-shaped?

Cornmeal Craisin Sunflower Seed Muffins

makes 10

• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 dried cranberries (or a mixture of dried fruit)
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup olive oil (or coconut oil)
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds (or a mixture of chopped nuts)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a mixing bowl, mix together cornmeal, whole wheat flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder
3. Slowly add in egg, milk and oil, while beating
4. Fold in dried cranberries and sunflower seeds.
5. Fill the lined muffin pans with the batter and bake for about 20 minutes (or until lightly browned).