Breakfast or Snack @ 226 - Magic Muffins

Things are pretty bleak over here, people.  I have two little people that want to play outside so bad their heads hurt.  They talk about the seasons changing in school.  They talk about how yesterday was the first day of Spring.  They bring home art projects that involve tulips and baby animals.  They beg me to take them to the park, even though they can see their breath.  The walk from the car to our backdoor seems long and we're all holding our breath by the time we turn the knob.  I've thought about starting a fire in the fireplace.

They monitor the plants that grow in our basement, below warm lights, and wonder why the same isn't happening outside.  They look out the window and with their hands to the glass, testing for warmer temperatures, but there are none.  Today, it's snowing.

I think Spring will come.  But truthfully, I'm starting to doubt its inevitability.  I want to believe that its right around the corner and surely it will come with April.  March is supposed to leave like a lamb, right?  But, all I see are grey skies, snowflakes, and restless children.  We have done nearly every Pinterest project.  We've painted and colored until the markers are dry and colorless.  We've run made-up errands just to get out of the house, thank you Target.  We've built every shape and style of fort and had dance parties till our thighs ache.  We've done copious amounts of laundry and reorganized the furniture more times than I'd like to count.

The elbows on my favorite sweater are wearing thin.

There is one thing that Becks and Reed still get excited about.  Any Kitchen Project.  So, we've made a daily activity out of it.  And, even though it's become part of our indoor routine I think a part of them looks forward to it.  In the past week, we've made granola, granola bars, 2 kinds of snack bites, hummus, shamrock cookies, three kinds of muffins, freezable protein snack-cakes, and two loaves of really good bread.  We do a kitchen project almost every morning.  Over breakfast , we comb the internet for ideas and inspiration.  It's a made-up chore because we don't really need any of these things.  But, I don't know what I'd do with my mornings without them.  An added bonus: my kids are going to know their way around a kitchen.

Magic Muffins - In an effort to make every snack we have substantial (my kids are eating a ton these days), I am tending towards flour free recipes.  [Just to avoid the question, I am not, by any means going Paleo.]  However, I refuse to eat a muffin that is as hard as a 2x4.  I don't know how these muffins work, I just know they are puffy and satisfying.  It's hard for me to walk by the freezer without grabbing one.  They're also great to throw in lunches.

1 cup of any nut butter (we have tried peanut and almond)
2-3 bananas with lots of brown spot so they are super sweet*
a handful of pitted medjool dates, only if your bananas aren't brownish
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon honey, optional
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
chocolate chips, optional

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and line a muffin tin with paper liners.  Put all ingredients into your food processor.  Blend until totally mixed.  Evenly distribute your batter in the lined pan.  Sprinkle chocolate chips on top, if using.  Bake for 13-15 minutes.  They should look puffy and lightly browned on the top. Cool on a rack and store in the freezer for up to one month or in a sealed container for up to one week.

*I have made these twice.  The first time my bananas were not as ripe as they should be so I threw in 6 or 7 pitted dates.  The next time they were super ripe so I skipped the dates and the honey and they were great.  I'm not a fan of super sweet things anyway, so the super ripe bananas were perfectly sweet enough on my second try.

Breakfast @ 226 - Banana Crunch Muffins

I had dinner ready at the Senior Citizen Hour of 4:10 p.m. yesterday.  There were a few reasons for this, none of them planned.  I knew Jason was going to be working into the night so I was preparing myself to be a One Man Band by getting all my dinner ducks in a row before I picked Reed up from school.  You know, mise en place, as they say.  

When we arrived home, I was barraged with 1,700 only slightly whiney requests for food.  The phrase , "May I please have..." was on repeat, not to mention it's less formal and more demanding cousin, "Mama, make me..."  The scene was really, very charming.  Every time the tip of my toe crossed the threshold of leaving the kitchen (to say, go do some laundry or get the mail) there was another child.  Another child, asking for more food.  At one point I was slicing an apple with one hand and dishing out snap peas with the other.  I only survived one hour before...

I started making dinner.  I know it's a drastic decision to pour a little olive oil in a pan at 3:45 in the afternoon.  But, if I hadn't done that, I would have done something worse.  Like, maybe...run away to a deserted island where no one even snacks, or eats at all.

The only backlash of this wild decision was that dinner (usually the main time-consuming event of the evening) was over at the ripe hour of 4:30.  Plates in the sink and faces wiped: Done.  Before the begging for dessert or complaints of boredom even began, I announced the post-dinner project.  "We're making muffins!"  Of course, I announced this before checking the pantry to see if we had anything with which to make a decent muffin.  Small Detail.  The kids were thrilled because our evening rituals usually include something less involved like taking a walk or reading books.  Making muffins in the evening time was a major deal.

Get your hand out of the frame, dude!

Though, in the wake of our evening chaos, I quite honestly have no idea what I made for dinner.  I do know I made some bomb-ass muffins.  And for a moment, everyone was content.  Here they are.

Banana Crunch Muffins - which should really be called Survival Muffins are adapted from these

3 super ripe bananas

1 large egg

1/3 cup coconut oil, melted

1/3 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ginger

a hearty pinch of cloves

1 1/2 cup your choice of flour (I used oat bran, white whole wheat and spelt, 1/4 cup of each and I love how they turned out)

1 tablespoon ground flax seed

1 tablespoon chia seed

1/4 cup uncooked millet

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a loaf pan or line a muffin pan.

Whip your bananas and egg together in an electric mixer, fitted with the whisk* attachment until light and pale yellow.  This can also be done with a hand mixer.  Add the oil and fully incorporate.  Add the sugar, maple syrup and vanilla and whip until uniform.  

Sprinkle the baking soda, salt and spices over the batter and mix.  

Lastly, add your flours, flax, chia and millet and with the mixer on low, mix until just incorporated.

Pour into prepared loaf pan or a lined muffin pan.  Bake loaf for 35 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.  The muffins will bake for about 18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

These stay good for a while (5 days), and really get a little better each day!  Though we won't really get to find out, we only have four left.

*The paddle attachment would also work.  But, the whisk just made the batter light and creamy, and broke up the bananas.

So thrilled he gets to eat the prop.