Banana Honey Muffins

I adapted this recipe from one on AllRecipes.com, and changed it quite a bit. I made these once before and used the original recipe and they were just not as tasty. I will post some pictures later on, but wanted to type out the recipe before I forgot. These muffins are high in fiber and really packed with nutrition. I prefer to use 4 bananas, but you can always use 3. I also make these extra large by only making 6, but you can make them smaller by making 10-12 muffins.

Here is the original recipe if you would like to compare.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
  
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 4 bananas, mashed
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened or melted
  
• 1 tsp milled flax seed
• 2 tsp water
• 2-3 tablespoons of wildflower honey (eyeball it)
  

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease 6 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.
2. In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and baking powder. In another bowl, beat together bananas, and melted butter. In another small bowl, mix together the milled flax seed and the water. Stir the flax mixture into the banana mixture, this replaces one egg and adds nutritional value to the recipe as well as some grainy goodness. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Stir in the honey and mix together. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until a fork pressed into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
   

Nutritional Information:
1 muffin
Calories, 223; Fat, 3.4 g; Saturated fat, 1.2 g; Carbs, 46.2 g; Fiber, 5.6g; Sugars, 14.8g; Protein, 4.9 g; Cholesterol, 5g, Sodium, 292; Calcium 56; Iron 0.9; Vitamin A, 114; Vitamin C, 7.4.

Tar Heel Born, Tar Heel Bred...

This past weekend was great! Rachael came into town from DC...for the UNC v. Duke game on Saturday, and obviously we Tar Heels kicked some major Blue Devil booty. We watched the game at Ham's in Chapel Hill, and as far as yummy goes, there was definitely not a shortage.

In the course of about six hours, the four of us managed to consume....

• One order or Thumbs and Toes (boneless buffalo chicken wings)
• One order of Ultimate Nachos
• One order of homemade potato chips with ranch dressing
  
• One order of french fries
• One order of Spinach Dip with Pita Chips
• And we helped Matt with his bacon cheeseburger and fries

I can haz cheeseburger?
So, needless to say I did not do much cooking this weekend.

Sunday night I did make a big pot of what was supposed to be a Mexican chicken soup. It turned out to be more like, spicy chicken vegetable soup, and it wasn't bad. But I think I am going to wait to post a recipe about this one until I try it again.

Tonight is supposed to be the second installment of our Tuesday Night Supper Club, but I think poor Lisa is a tad bit sick today, so we may have to postpone. :( Which wouldn't be such a bad thing because I need to get my self into the gym tonight...I think my lifting is starting to pay off! Getting excited to get into tip top b-suit shape for our Dominican Republic trip over Memorial Day weekend.

In other yummy-related news, I think I am going to try these Banana Crumb Muffins tomorrow morning....
Banana Crumb Muffins
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 bananas, mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter

***Although, I will subsitute white sugar for Splenda, and probably only use about 1/2 cup, and use wheat flour instead of all-purpose.***

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease 10 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.
2. In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
3. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

I will let you know how these work out tomorrow!
<3

Here I go again...

A Blog About All Things Yummy? What does that even mean?

Well I started this blog as a way to share recipes and cooking tips with friends and family, after reading some really great blogs such as www.pinchmysalt.com and bakerella.blogspot.com.

I don't claim to be a professional chef, or even a great cook--but I am getting better every day and the important thing is that I love to do it!

I have always loved to cook, ever since my grandmother taught me how to make omelets and biscuits and gravy....("I taught her everything she knows about cooking!") but I must say, I try and cook things a bit healthier these days. :)

I love health food--and you could call me a health food nut--so I definitely try to incorporate that into all that I cook. Whether that means sneaking veggies in where they usually aren't, substituting healthy versions of cheese or dairy products...or even going meatless. But don't worry...I am def not a vegetarian, although I don't eat too much meat these days.

It is really hard to eat healthy on a budget, and to stick to your diet while you're traveling so I would also like to use this as a way to offer tips that I might have, and tips that you guys might have.

I have to credit most of my healthy-ness (sp??!) right now to www.myfooddiary.com. This online food diary showed me that although I was eating a salad, that high fat ranch dressing and bacon crumbles basically made it as bad for me as a burger and fries...since I started using this diary last year, I have trimmed down and learned what I could and couldn't eat if I wanted to be healthy. I would recommend this to anyone who is starting out with a diet plan, because diets don't work! You have to truly change your habits....I think Rachael, Meredith and moms would agree that MFD has worked for us quite well.

Anyways enough with the awkward intros....on to the food :)