Jenny's big sale

This week, I'm helping out a great friend of mine, Jenny Sorenson, by working at a bake sale. She is an amazing person, with an incredible life story. To talk about her and what she has taught me about life, faith, love, and perseverance would require about 10 more blog posts in a row!

Jenny is a quadriplegic and uses a ventilator to help her breathe. She gets around in a big "sip-n-puff" wheelchair (I'm not sure if that's the technical name for it, but that's what I call it). She has been paralyzed for a little over 2 years. Jenny is married and has 3 beautiful girls! The Sorensons live in our neighborhood and they are some of our closest friends.

To read about her story and see pictures of what her life has been like, check out her Caring Bridge site here: www.caringbridge.org/visit/jennysorenson

Well, for the past month, Jenny has been planning a GIANT yard sale and a bake sale. It's been so fun to have such a big goal to work towards. A lot of people have been able to volunteer their time, yard sale items, and baked goods to make this great event possible. She is hosting it at her house for the next 2 days and today was the 1st day.

She is selling tons of stuff, but one of my favorite items (and it's something I'll have to buy later on) are the homemade greeting cards Jenny made herself! She has painted a bunch of blank greeting cards using her mouth stick. Basically, a paint brush gets inserted in the end of the stick, Jenny holds the stick in her mouth, and then she can just paint to her heart's content...and her cards are wonderful!

There are videos of her painting on her Caring Bridge site under Journal. The links are in the most recent journal entry.

She has striped cards, solid color cards, abstract cards...just lots of cards...and you can special order some too! Jenny never stops amazing me.

Some of my other favorite items are right off the bake sale table, so it's a good thing I'm pregnant! There are a LOT of yummy things to try...all sorts of brownies, cookies, muffins, breads, pies, bars, scones, party mixes, gourmet popcorns...it really is a pregnant woman's dream! And, guess who is in charge of the bake sale?! Me! Ha!:)

All of the proceeds from the bake sale are going to the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation for Spinal Cord Research. It's a wonderful charity and they do a lot to help sick and injured people.

For the bake sale, I whipped up a few things and I wanted to share with y'all the recipe I used for Apple-Raisin Muffins. I got the recipe from Wade's mom and I LOVE IT! Wade really likes them too...he ate all the ones I was setting aside for my breakfast this morning. Oh well. I guess I'll just buy some at the bake sale!

Also, if you want to come by this big sale and live in the area, just let me know! I can tell you how to get here...

Here is the recipe and a picture...Warning: this made 85 mini muffins! If you're not making these for a bake sale or small army, you may want to cut the measurements in half...

Apple Raisin Muffins

2 c. water

2 c. sugar

2 c. grated Granny Smith apples (About 4 apples; Just use a box cheese grater and grate the apples on the big grate side. This took me about 15 minutes, but I'm slow...)

2 c. raisins

2 sticks of margarine

2 tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. grated nutmeg (I used 2 tsp. ground nutmeg and they taste great)

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

Put the above ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. (Just stir it up every now and then, so the margarine sticks will melt)

Once it boils, remove the pan from the heat and let cool. (This took about 1 hour)

In a large bowl, mix the following:

1 c. chopped walnuts

2 tsp. baking sold

3 1/2 c. all purpose flour

Add the cooled apple-raisin mixture to the bowl and stir to combine.

Fill greased mini muffin tins to the top. (The muffins do not rise very much at all)

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

Here's the yummy you-can-lick-the-spoon-because-there-aren't-any-eggs-in-it batter!

All done!