My mind on my muffins and my muffins on my mind

I grew up being entirely in love with Saturday morning cartoons & of course Strawberry Shortcake. I'll NEVER forget how my SS doll smelled. In my younger years she was an awesome cartoon I could only catch on the weekends and as I grew into a (totally insufferable) teenager she became a fashion icon with her striped tights floppy hat and over sized dress. I've seen lots of *sad faces* all over the internet about Strawberry's "make over" & I'm a little pouty too. She's all skinny and flirty - it makes me feel.. wrong.
So let's leave this unpleasantness behind us and move on to a more creative & modern version of Strawberry Shortcake & Her Berry Best Friends...
**Miss Muffy and the Muff Mob!**
They bake. They rap. They have a hooptie & a serious case of potty mouth.



Muffy & her posse were originally created in 1995 by Bullseyeart, a web animation company that did lots of work with MTV. Fun Fact: Pharcyde had a hand in creating making Miss Muffy's awesome rap songs - which are ALL about baking! I spent my Sunday baking muffins and revisiting these fabulous cartoons. I had her music video for "Lubin da hole with sco" on while my muffins were in the oven and Pharcyde was witty enough to include the sound of an oven timer into the beat, so I kept thinking my muffins were ready.. that silly Pharcyde! Bullseye has since disbanded & if you go looking for them you will find Josh Kimberg's new cartoon site Magic Butter which has some new eye candy (some of which can be offensive) and all of his old classics, including Miss Muffy & The Muff Mob.
While I was poking around doing research for this post I found Josh also created the website for the My Little Pony Project! If you are an 80's child & you happened to miss this while it was going on last year you will want to spend your lunch hour fawning over the gallery of these celebrity designed pony's!


Ok - I was serious when I said I baked muffins (I am eatting one right now) and they are so delicious and nutritious. I want to share them with you, but since it is unlikely that you will be popping over to my place later for tea and muffins I'll just give you the recipe and you can whip them up for you and yours.

*Recipe can easily be made vegan by using soy butter (I used Willow Run) & Ener G egg replacer.



Butternut Squash & Cinnamon Muffins with Bananas AND Zucchini!! This sh*t is good for you.

Ingredients
1 banana, mashed w/ a fork
1 cup cooked butternut squash - mashed up using whatever you like
1 small zucchini - grated
2 eggs
1 stick of butta
1/2 cup white sugar
3 Tablespoon canola or vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup white flour

Optional Topping (screw the calories - go ahead & make the topping):
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup brown sugar

Directions
1. First off Get your oven going at 350F.
2.You wanna mix up all your we ingredients first. Throw the banana, butternut squash, zucchini, eggs, butter (room temp), sugar, and oil into a bowl and mix until well blended.
3. In separate mixing bowl, combine salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, wheat flour and white flour.
4. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until batter forms - this is going to be a sticky one ladies and gentlemen!
5. Pour into greased baking cups or muffin tins, and sprinkle with brown sugar-cinnamon topping (if you are feeling awesome). Makes 24 regular size muffins, 48 mini muffins, or 12 regular muffins and 24 mini muffins.
6. Bake at 350. Regular muffins for 16-18 minutes. Mini muffins for 13-15 minutes.

Ok so there's your healthy dose of Animation & Muffins for the day!
Now go forth and do good things today! That's what I'm gonna do!

Model Citizen and The Sassy Minx!

Hey Kitties!
Recently UK's one & only Sassy Minx posted a little interview with me about what's going on with Model Citizen. Yay! Who's flattered? It's me! I love Lisa's blog & I just KNOW you'll love it too!


She gives great interview - if you slip over to the sassy minx to check it out you will learn what a Model Citizen soundtrack might sound like, what my motto for life is & find out who I find most inspiring these days.

Tell me - who's at the top of your role model list for 2010?

xo!
Bonnie Rue

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...

The new year has just begun & I've already discovered a few NEW favorite things that I MUST share with you!

NUMBER 1 is LUSH's Cosmetic Warrior Mask. No, it's not vegan (there are eggs in it), but YES it is amazing. I don't mean amazing like that movie you saw 5 times in the theater or that new pair of boots you bought yourself for your birthday. No no, this stuff is a bona fide miracle that you rub all over your face. I've had acne for as long as I can remember & after using this lovely mask once a day for a week, my face has NEVER been clearer. My pores have NEVER been smaller. I know what you are thinking - If I love it so much why don't I marry it? Well I would! But the courts would not recognize our union and anyway we really need to focus on getting gay marriage legalized first don't ya think?
**Unfortunately you can not order it on their website. You have to pick it up at a LUSH storefront. So find a LUSH near you & run don't walk.

NUMBER 2 Speaking of gay marriage... Nicole J. Georges' 2010 Queer Animal Odyssey Calendar puts the biggest smile on my face & helps me keep track of all my goings on. It's filled with illustrations of animals who appear on the list of 1500 species that display homosexual behavior (i.e. sea lions, koalas, elephants, cows & more). I suggest you get yours today before the year starts to slip away from you.. and don't feel weird about loving this calendar, it's totally natural.

3. Nut Cheese!
Yeah, I know it sounds silly and disgusting, but trust me - it's something you want to put in your mouth. I've been a fan of "sun cheese" (yummy-ness made from sunflower seeds) but I recently made a batch of cashew cheese and it's vegan and effing tasty!
Want to try the nut cheese? I know you do!

Here's the recipe (pulled off the whole foods website)
Ingredients:

1 cup cashew butter
1/4 cup almond milk
2 tablespoons tahini
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon white pepper

And - here's what ya do:
Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth and combined. Alternately, mix them in a large bowl using the back of a wooden spoon to mash them together. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

good for sandwiches, just dip veggies in it or add a little more almond milk and use it as a sauce for pasta. It's total yum!

2010 Let the fun begin!

Happy New Year Everyone! I hope you were all dancing around with sparklers & making out with a hottie when the ball dropped. 2009 was a real flaming bag of crap of a year. No, it wasn't all bad, but the boat was rocked, no doubt about it. I'm feeling pretty optimistic about 2010 though. How about you? Do you feel like a page has been turned & the bulk of the unpleasantness is over? Here's to hoping!


After my last post I ditched town for a while & went to hunker down with family in an attempt to get out of my funk. It worked! I feel Rah-Rah-Ready to take on the new year!

Resolutions? You bet!

1. Cut the crap. Sure, this sounds vague and a touch overwhelming because there is so much crap in life, but I've got a plan. I've set up a daily schedule so that I will have time for all the things I give a shit about rather than trying to fit them in around all the bs that I have to do. This schedule is my ticket getting what I want out of this life. So for 2010 the mantra playing non stop in my head is Hagrid giving Harry instructions for getting on the train for Hogwarts his first year "stick to your ticket". More time for creativity - less time running around with my head up my butt trying to make it all work.

2. In the spirit of cutting the crap, I'll be spending less time with the people who turn out to be the devil on my shoulder & much much more time with people who want to make & do things. Yay Things!

3. Less TV & more music! Hulu (like so many other things that are bad for you) is awesome. But I'm breaking up with it. Our relationship has become unmanageable & at times codependent. I've decided that I will pop into my local record store every tuesday so I can check out what has just been released and pick up some more ear candy for my collection. This is an excellent plan because every Tuesday at Waterloo Records they have a Vinyl Happy Hour - all records 10% off. Hell Yes!
* Psst! There is a vinyl revival going on! With indie labels selling records that come with a free mp3 download of the album & turntables that will digitize your record collections becoming widely available it looks like records won't just be for hipsters, geeks & dj's anymore <3

4. Juice! Yep, I got a juicer for xmas & I'm more excited than a virgin on prom night! A magical world of sweet & sour & salubrious concoctions await! Don't worry, I'll share some of my recipes with you, because sharing is caring & that's what we're all about here at Good Girls & Geeks ;)... now if only I could juice a cupcake.. nah, they're perfect the way they are.

5. TRAVEL MORE! I do not get out of Austin, TX as much as I should!

Five is more than enough - right? What are your new years resolutions? Going to lay off the sauce? Read more? Learn a new language? Do tell!

xo!
Bonnie Rue