Delish

Tried out the Retsel mill today; big improvement over the old one! With my old mill, I struggled to grind a cup of flour. With the Retsel, I ground about 3 cups and, while it was a bit of a workout, it still wasn't as much effort as 1 cup with the old one. I'm sold!

I used some of the flour to make muffins. I've made this recipe before (the whole wheat variation), and they're quite tasty. But in rummaging around in the frig I came across some applesauce I really should use up, so this is what I made:

Whole Wheat Applesauce Muffins
(makes 12 muffins)

2 Tbl oil
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup applesauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbl baking powder
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour

Beat the egg, then mix in oil, milk, applesauce, and brown sugar. Add the remaining ingredients and stir just until everything is moistened and well mixed (you don't want to overbeat muffins; they'll toughen up).

Pour into muffin tin (greased or lined with paper cups) or silicone muffin cups (as I did). Bake at 400 F for about 20 minutes.

I tried one as soon as they were cool enough (that's why there are only 11 in the pic), and boy, are they yummy! For the whole wheat flour, I used hard white wheat. I'd like to try soft wheat, if I can find it, and see how these would be with all whole wheat flour (instead half whole wheat, half white). I used chunky applesauce, so there are nice moist little bits of apple here and there. I meant to add cinnamon, but I forgot. Maybe I'll try that next time.

Yesterday I turned the heel on the CIC sock, but didn't do much more, because I was engrossed in a book. A while back, I was poking around Amazon.com, and saw a mention of a TV movie coming out soon with Tom Selleck playing a police chief named Jesse Stone. And, what's this? This isn't the first such movie? Tom Selleck has played this character before? How did I miss this? Who is this Jesse Stone character, anyway?

So, I learned there are several books featuring Jesse Stone, police chief of Paradise, Massachusetts. Sounded interesting, so I hit paperbackswap.com and snagged the first book in the series, Night Passage by Robert B. Parker. I am loving this book! Strong but flawed protagonist (as the best heroes are), suspense, intrigue...I'm really hooked. And the character seems tailor-made for Tom Selleck; before I was a quarter of the way into the book, I put Stone Cold (Tom's first Jesse Stone movie) on my NetFlix list. Can hardly wait to get it.

Can you guess whodunit, Hilfy? No, don't tell me, I want to find out on my own.