Works-For-Me-Wednesday, Another great hike and Midnight Madness Muffins

Here's a little idea I came up with because I ran out of my Dove Leave In Conditioner. I put a tablespoon or so of conditioner in the bottle, then I filled the bottle with water, shook it up and Viola! It worked great! I couldn't tell the difference! My daughter uses it in her naturally curly to help keep the frizz down and the tangles out! I don't even buy it anymore, I just keep refilling my bottle. It Works For Me! Pop on over to We Are That Family and find some other ideas!



We decided to go on a hike Sunday after church. It was around 3pm and a gorgeous day! Did I tell you that we live in an old adobe house that was built in 1883? The walls in our home are a foot thick, so with the swamp cooler going and the ceiling fans on it stays nice and cool. I didn't realize that it was around 102 degrees out! We wound up this old dirt road in and out of the trees going up hill in the heat, but the kids and the dog we good sports. I told them this was the best trail, nice and shady and cool, and it would be worth it!

This is the trail head. My friends and I went on this trail last week. It doesn't have a name, but we found thimble berries on the trail, so we named it Thimble berry Trail! It's over by Rattlesnake Ridge. I haven't been on that one, I think it has something to do with the name.....

Doesn't it look like a jungle? You can't really see the trail in some places! We were going downhill through a little canyon. Can you see all the ferns? And this is Utah, a desert state!


We never noticed how hot out it was once we were on the trail, it was so nice and cool! There were lots of dragon flies.

It smelled really good too, nice and woodsy!



I always seem to end up with a bouquet of wildflowers on a hike!



The trail opened up onto a couple of meadows.



Chauncey hung the flowers up to dry.







The kids loved these muffins! Dark rich chocolate with melted chocolate chips oozing out and dark chocolate frosting on top. They said it was like eating a cupcake for breakfast! I did serve them with eggs, sausage and fruit, so it was an all chocolate breakfast. But, it was a great way to start the day! I will definitely be making these again!


Midnight Madness Muffins

2/3 cup cocoa powder, I used Hershey's Dark
6 tablespoons hot water
1/2 cup yogurt
1/2 oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cup flour
1 1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 or so tablespoons milk

In a bowl whisk the cocoa and the powdered sugar. Mix in the milk, vanilla and butter with a mixer until smooth.

Heat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 12 cup muffin tin.

In a small bowl mix hot water and cocoa powder until smooth.

In a large mixing bowl measure all the dry ingredients and whisk with a wire whisk. Add the cocoa mixture, eggs, oil, yogurt and vanilla. Mix with a rubber spatula in a folding method until it is all mixed. Add the chocolate chips and scoop into muffin tins. I had enough batter to make to extra muffins in custard cups.

Bake for 25 minutes and let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then drizzle with glaze.

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