Goin' to the Zoo + Blueberry Muffin with Streusel Topping Recipe

We all had Monday off in observation of President's birthday, and what a glorious day it was. It seemed like spring was busting out all over the place. Kohlton and Ellie decided that it was a great day to visit the Denver Zoo.

I love the feathers on this kingfisher bird.

While the kids waited for me to pick them up, they hung out with the geese. They are so used to people that they let Kohlton pet them, in exchange for food, of course.

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Blueberry Muffins with Streusel Topping

Makes 12 muffins

Batter -
2 1/4 cup flour
1 cup Sugar
3/4 tea. Salt
1 TBL Baking Powder
1/2 cup Veg. Oil (I use Canola Oil)
1 Egg, large
1/2 cup Buttermilk
1 1/2 cup Blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Streusel Topping -
3 TBL Flour
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1 TBL Butter
1 tea. Cinnamon, ground

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Place 12 cupcake papers in your cupcake/muffin pan.

In the bowl for your mixer combine flour, sugar, salt and baking poser. Stir to combine. Add in the oil, egg and buttermilk. Mix until just combined. Fold in the blueberries gently. Divide the batter between the muffin papers.

Combine the ingredients for the streusel topping in another bowl. Use a fork to mash the butter and combine the ingredients well. Spoon this on top of the batter in the muffin papers.

Bake (I'm casual about this, I will have to actually time it next time I make these. I think it takes about 20-30 minutes).

A Day Spent at the Zoo

We recently won a family membership to the Denver Zoo as part of what we bid on at an auction for AVS. It had been many years since I had been and Larr could not remember his last visit, so we spent the day there on Sunday. We went with the family that provided the pass for the auction.

Artic Fox

Camels


I love the elephants. During the summer the zoo staff used to have the elephants paint pictures that would then be sold in the zoo gift shop. It was fun to see. I wonder if they are still doing that. I wonder if the elephant enjoyed it.

The hyenas were very cool. I left that exhibit with the music from "Lion King" in my head.


The small mongoose that is looking up appeared to be very popular. Several of the other mongooses wanted to snuggle with her. Was it desire for companionship or warmth, or both?

At the end of the day the mountain goat was in a talkative mood. He would bleat and wait for you to respond, then he would return with his own comment. We went on like that for a while.

These monkeys were very cute, almost cartoon like.

One of these monkeys really seemed to like Ethan.

The tigers were in a playful mood. One of them hid behind a rock and wiggled the way our cat, Toby, does when he wants to ambush his brother. None of the other tigers came close enough to play so he eventually went over the gang and pounced on one there.

It was a great way to send an entire day.