There are some great food references in my novel, Water Lily. So much of my life and personal memories revolve around food and meals shared with family and friends. This is true for so many of us. The meals mentioned in my novel are based upon real recipes from my family.

I thought it would be fun to share the recipes with you! I don’t know about you, but I love finding new and yummy creations.

Every week I’ll add a new one, giving a bit of personal information about the source of the recipe and how it plays into Lily’s life in the novel.

I hope you try these recipes for yourself. Let me know if you do. I’d love to hear from you =)

**Recipe: Blueberry Lemon Muffins with Lemon Glaze**

If you’ve read Water Lily, you know where these tasty morsels come into the story:

A sweet warm scent greeted me as I reached the first step. I peeked into the kitchen. Two-dozen blueberry muffins cooled on wire racks, their lemon glaze oozing down paper liners. My mom baked when she was upset—the only plus side to her wrath. 

Lily’s mom, Aurelie, isn’t exactly the warm fuzzy kind that’s for sure. Now, my own mother used to make these delicious muffins, but she was NOTHING like the bristly Aurelie. My mom baked a lot, to celebrate life events, to cheer up a person’s day, or for the simple reason that it gave her joy. Her specialty was bundt cakes, but she could make a mean muffin, too!

Enjoy!

**Blueberry Lemon Muffins with Lemon Glaze**

2 cups All purpose flour

½ cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

4 tsp of real grated lemon peel (zest)

1 egg

¾ cup of milk

¼ cup of real lemon juice

¼ cup canola oil

1 tsp vanilla

1 ½ cups of blueberries (I use frozen)

Glaze: 1 cup of powdered sugar plus fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 400 F. Line muffin tin with 12 paper liners or, if not using liners, grease the tin well.

Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl: flour, sugar, baking powder, salt

Combine the wet ingredients in a separate bowl: 2 tsp of Lemon Zest (save the other 2 tsp for the glaze), egg, milk and lemon juice, canola oil, vanilla

Add the wet ingredients to the dry. Fold in blueberries.

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick poked into the center comes out clean.

Cool muffins on a wire rack, but place paper towels underneath because this step gets messy, at least for me!

In a small bowl, add powdered sugar and add one to two teaspoons of lemon juice at a time. Keep adding until you get the thickness you prefer. Me, I like a runny glaze, so I add lots of lemon juice. Drizzle over the muffins while they are still warm.