Good morning! How is your week going? Mine started out crazy. I was out for a leisurely stroll with my mom and ended up saving her life. To make a long story short while we were out walking my mom slipped on the ice and when she gasped in surprise the cough drop she had in her mouth became lodged in her throat. At first she was coughing, then gasping for air, so instinctively I grabbed her from behind and after a few thrusts the cough drop flew out and she could breath again.
I won’t lie to you, I was scared to death for her and for me. I have never done the Heimlich maneuver and all I could think was “what if it doesn’t work.” God however had other plans and it did work. My mom is OK, she has some bruised ribs and said her throat still hurts but considering the alternative all is well.
I might have mentioned in the past but baking is how I relieve stress so after we made it home I whipped up a batch of these pumpkin muffins to settle my nerves.
For many pumpkin season has past but in my house pumpkin season runs from late August until the first signs of spring. After all what could be more soothing to the nerves than the scent of a favorite treat wafting from the oven?
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins with Streusel Topping
Servings 12-16
Ingredients
21/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ginger
pinch of allspice
pinch of cloves
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1/2 cup of buttermilk
1/4 cup of vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla
11/2 cup 60% chocolate chips
Topping:
1/4 cup butter
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375. Line muffin tins with paper liners or cooking spray.
Topping: Combine flour, brown sugar and butter, cut with pastry blender, or fingers until crumbly. Set aside.
In a large bowl mix flour, sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, cloves, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl mix the eggs, buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix until just combined. Add chocolate chips. Then sprinkle topping on muffins. Bake until puffed and golden between 25-35 minutes. Let cool in pan a few minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool to desired temperature.
Just out of curiosity, have you ever had to do the Heimlich on anyone? If so were you nervous or was it instinctive?
Ironically, my mom and I watched an instructive program over the weekend that featured a choking girl and precise instructions about doing the Heimlich maneuver.
I hope you have a great day!
I know I will because my mom is safe and sound. Love you mom.

Someone up there was really watching over the both of you! Never a good thing to try walking or driving on ice, particularly for those less sure of foot.
OMG how scary with your mom!!!! You are a lifesaver, thank God you knew what to do! That is really frightening, hope shes doing OK, poor thing a slip on the ice AND choking!!!
Now moving onto the muffins….Those are as beautiful as I am sure they are delicious! You make a great argument to NOT going on a diet:)
Tina, it was scary indeed. Thankfully she is ok.
The muffins were the perfect thing to sooth the nerves.
I hope that you are having a great week!
How incredibly scary, Elizabeth!! Thank goodness you were there and thought so fast. You are cute that you bake to relieve stress – I EAT to relieve stress and would have put away more than a few of those yummy muffins if that had happened to me. xoxo
Oh Elizabeth how terribly frightening it must have been. We are required to take first aid training every two years. I have never had to do the heimlich, but I have been the recipient. Bless you and your mother. I am so glad all is well. May the rest of your week be uneventful. Bonnie
Very tasty!
Not the Heimlich, but last summer four strangers and I kept a guy alive for the two minutes it took a medic to turn up after he fell to the floor like a ton of bricks. His pulse went a couple of times during those two minutes.