How about an apple muffin?

If you can stand another apple recipe, try this one for apple muffins. It's the best I've found -- especially now that I've tweaked it to my own liking.

3 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and diced
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil (or use 1/2 applesauce instead of the oil)
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp grated nutmet
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup milk (I use half-and-half)
1 large egg, lightly beaten, at room temperature
1/2 c chopped walnuts

Macerate the apples for 45 minutes. (Translation: toss the apples, sugar and oil or applesauce together and let it sit.)

Preheat the oven to 350. Test your oven temperature; some ovens can be as hot as 400 and still bake these perfectly. Mine works best at 350.

Whisk the dry ingredients together.

Using a wooden spoon, stir the milk and egg into the apple mixture until smooth. Then stir in the dry ingredients just until moistened. Add the nuts.

Fill regular or oversized muffin tins three-quarters full. I sprinkle a few chopped walnuts on top before baking. If using regular sized tins, bake for 20-25 minutes. If using oversized tins, bake for 30-35 minutes. These muffins don't get very brown, so test them with your finger or with a toothpick. Be careful not to burn them on the bottom.

Cool on wire racks. And enjoy!

Apples and cranberries make this recipe great

Today's recipe is for apple cranberry bread. You can use dried cranberries or fresh/frozen. Either work well. The fresh cranberries pack more punch.

Apple Cranberry Bread
2 cups peeled chopped apple (I prefer Granny Smith or Honey Crisp)
3/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp oil
1 egg
1-1/2 cups flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon (I use at least twice this much; I love cinnamon)
1 cup cranberries
1/2 cup walnuts

Preheat over to 350. Grease a standard loaf pan.

Combine apples, sugar and oil. (If you let this sit for about 30 minutes, the apples will be more tender in the batter and more flavorful in the bread.)

Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add to apple mixture, mixing just until dry ingredients are moist. Stir in cranberries and walnuts. Spread batter in pan.

Bake for one hour. Makes one loaf.

If it's fall, it must be apple season

Around these parts, we wait all year for locally grown apples. From Nebraska City to Mondamin (Iowa), from Omaha to Hamburg, you can find the best apples on the planet right here. Right now.

So to kick off apple season, how about a few apple recipes. Here's one for today.

Apple Doodles
2/3 cup butter-flavored shortening
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2-1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup finely diced peeled tart apple
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine the dry ingredients. Sir half into the creamed mixture. Stir in the apples and walnuts. Stir in remaining flour mixture.

Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls 3 in. apart onto lightly greased baking sheets. Bake at 375 for 13-15 min or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack.

It's a dog's life

Sitting on the back porch, watching the world go by. Barking now and again when a neighbor dog walks by. Playing ball, playing tag, chewing on sticks. A fresh drink always close by; someone to open the back door on command.

People stopping by to say hello. BFF dogs coming over. Sure, there's a perimeter that requires patrolling, and there might be a person or two that seem a tad unreliable and who might induce a warning bark. Small price to pay for the joys of a fenced-in backyard.

This is my dogs' life. What could be better than that?

Let's promote small businesses in Midtown

At our meeting last night, several members of the Joslyn Castle Neighborhood Association's board of directors commented that what we need in Midtown Omaha is more retail. The conversation was sparked by talking about a proposed pharmacy just a few blocks away -- and the consensus that with 18+ pharmacies already in the neighborhood, we probably don't need another. But we do need retail.

As a small business owner, I think what we need are retail stores that are locally owned. All we need to do to see an example of how these small businesses can drive an economy is to look at Omaha's Old Market. While there are a couple of chain restaurants in the Old Market, there aren't any chain retail stores (at least, I don't think there are). These small businesses -- and the combination of shopping, dining and entertainment -- help boost the entire city's economy. What could that combination do for Midtown?

We have a number of small businesses in Midtown, of course, but they are primarily service-oriented. Even at the new Midtown Crossing development, most of the commercial space is devoted to service businesses.

What would it take to draw retail to Midtown? How can we encourage small and locally owned retail operations in our neighborhood?

I know the people who stay with us at The Cornerstone would frequent those businesses, just like they frequent our neighborhood restaurants and bars. While that wouldn't be enough business to support a retail store, I think the trend here is clear. People who are attracted to this type of neighborhood clearly want to spend their money as close to home as possible.

There are lots of groups being formed under the banner of a "Buy Local" campaign. So far, I haven't seen any of them do anything significant to encourage small businesses to open their doors and then grow. What can they do to encourage this type of business? What can the city do?

The money is here. Now bring us a way to spend it close to home.

Should we welcome big box stores in midtown Omaha?

A major nationwide pharmacy chain store wants to open in the historic Dundee neighborhood of Omaha. This particular chain is trying to establish a footprint in the Omaha market, and apparently this particular property is of extreme interest, the "why" of which is unclear.

Neighbors are opposed for a number of reasons: First, the company would need to tear down existing buildings and four homes to build its store and attendant parking lot. Second, the store would be right on 49th & Dodge, where there is no left turn when approaching from the west; the location is at the crest of a hill, making ingress and egress extremely dangerous onto or off of Dodge Street. Third, there are already 18 pharmacies within a 2-mile radius of this property, some of which are small and locally owned.

But the biggest opposition is to this type of economic development in a historic neighborhood. Neighbors and neighborhood associations are arguing that historic neighborhoods should have economic development in fitting with the character of the existing neighborhood. Like much of the rest of Dundee, that development would include locally owned shops and restaurants, not big bix stores or nationwide chains.

Last week the Omaha City Council, in a four to three vote, rejected the development. Now one of the councilmen is changing his mind and calling for a revote (as if such a word actually existed). He claims that not letting this store build on this location is tantamount to saying that Omaha "is not open for business." The facts notwithstanding, he somehow believes this one decision will set a precedent that the city council will follow.

And well they should, even if I don't believe they will. We should not welcome a big box store on every corner of the city. We should not be open only to big business, as is pretty much the case right now. We should, instead, provide incentives and financial support to small and locally owned businesses, where the bulk of the money spent would stay right here in Omaha.

For me, the question is less whether the city is open for business but rather what the price is for a councilman's vote. Clearly that vote is for sale. I wonder what the pricetag is.

We know the price the neighborhood will pay.

But is it good business?

Everybody likes a deal, no question about that. And there are lots of online deals to be had, whether through coupons or via sites like Groupon or Living Social. But are those deep discounts good for the business owner?

My questions to you, dear readers, are these:

1. Have you ever purchased a coupon from Groupon or Living Social?
2. Was it for a restaurant/coffee shop, or was it for a service or hotel room?
3. If you've purchased and used a coupon, have you then returned to that business and paid full price for the item you previously received at a discount?

Because herein lies the rub. If we offer discounts through Living Social, the company insists that we offer our rooms for 50 percent off the regular price. Then of the money that users pay, Living Social keeps an additional 35 percent.

Not being a math whiz, I got out my handy calculator to see what this means in dollars and cents. Here's what I found out. If someone buys a gift certificate (as they call them) for $50, for a room that typically sells for $100, then what I keep from that purchase is $32.50. From that, I have to cover our utilities, mortgage payment, insurance, laundry, housekeeping and, oh yeah, breakfast.

Maybe that makes sense, IF that purchaser then becomes a repeat customer. But does that happen, or do the purchasers then go on to the next deal of the day?

Your thoughts?

In search of justice, if not for all, then at least for one

Imagine a young man, a boy really, whose father is killed. And no one is prosecuted. Imagine that several years later, when he is 13, his mother is brutally murdered. And for more than four years, no one is prosecuted.

Imagine that young man at 17 in the courtroom, wearing a uniform from the youth detention center, testifying about events on the weekend of his mother's death.

Imagine what he must think about our justice system. Imagine how lost he must feel in a world without care or compassion for his plight. Imagine how he might feel more powerful in a gang than in a high school classroom.

For this young man, we pray that his mother's killer will be convicted, that he might see that this world holds some justice, even for those who are of color, even for those unable to stand up for themselves, even for a woman desperate to escape an abusive relationship.

For you, Cameron, we pray.