You guys! It’s Thursday night. Friday for many who will be reading this. Even though we are having a randomly gross day for August, I’m excited for the weekend. We have much work to do in the garden. Flowers to stake. Plants to re-pot. Weeds to pull. Honestly, I can’t wait to get out in the yard this weekend.

Every day the first thing I do when I get home is go to the garden in the backyard. Sometimes I do this even before going in the house or putting down all of the crap I carry with me that I probably don’t need to. I love seeing how much my tomato plants have grown that day (I swear in the summer, you can usually tell!) I’m also pretty sure that frequently checking on plants makes them grow faster.

I’m just so excited to see my garden grow! The tomatoes are climbing ever-higher. My grandmother in Minnesota sent me cucumber seeds, which I’ve never planted before, but they are going absolutely nuts. The Brussels sprouts are looking great and the lettuce did so well this year. Even the fennel, another first time planting, is doing great. We ate the first one yesterday on a pizza.

This is the best time of the year. Or maybe the second best, next to when I am swamped with more tomatoes than I could ever possibly use at once. Until then, I’ll just putter away, pulling all the little clovers that will grow back in a week, and lovingly gazing at my fennel fronds, which are a little out of control, to be honest. And I’ll need fuel.

If you’re a frequent visitor of this blog, you’ll

There’s a fine line between some cupcakes and some muffins. Maybe it’s more like a gray area. These muffins are deep into that gray area.

They are so sweet and delicious – they feel like cupcakes, even if the recipe calls them muffins. Does anyone know if there is an official distinction? Not that it matters. They both qualify as breakfast, am I right?

Here’s what you need:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
1 ⅓ cups pitted cherries, halved

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray two muffin tins with nonstick spray.

In one bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, cocoa and chocolate chips. In a second bowl, use a whisk to combine the vegetable oil, sugar, eggs and milk.

Gently fold the solids into the liquids in as few stirs as possible – try to keep it under 10. Lastly, fold in the cherries.

Spoon into the muffin cups and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean (remember, there will be melted chocolate chips and warm cherries inside. Look for undone batter, not these things).

This recipe has been adapted lightly from Sweet Pea’s Kitchen.