Another Keeper

If there is one thing I cannot stand it is buying food, and then watching it go to waste as no one in your house ever seems to want to eat it.  I love veggies, and I love fruit, but it is so hard to buy them because I never know for certain how much will get eaten and how much will get thrown out.  Menu planning is great, and helps avoid a lot of potential waste, but as we know, sometimes life gets in the way of our plans.  If someone ends up working late, or if we get stuck in traffic, or if friends call us last minute asking us to dinner... you know the excuses!!!!

One fruit that I know will never truly go to waste is the good ole' banana.  Even if they start to go bad, I can always find a way to put bananas to good use.  Heck, there are so many banana recipes out there it is almost impossible to choose one. 

We had three bad bananas in our kitchen, and I decided it was high time to make something of them.  After deliberating between banana bread, banana cake, cupcakes, muffins, the options seemed endless... I went with muffins.  Automatic portion control.  Easy to grab-and-go with in the morning.  Practical.  Muffins seemed the obvious choice. 

The original recipe for these banana muffins actually refers to them as "Oatmeal Banana Cupcakes."  But they are definitely muffins.  And anything with the words "oatmeal," and "banana" has me hooked. 

I got the original recipe here, and made a few changes based on the comments of others who tried the recipe.  Here is what I did: 

Oatmeal Banana Cupcakes (That are actually muffins)

• 1/2 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1/2 Cup Sugar
• 4 egg whites
• 3 medium sized ripe, mashed bananas
• 1/2 Cup honey
• 2 Tbsp applesauce
• 1 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Cup quick-cooking oats
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 pinch of salt
• Cinnamon sugar

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Cream together the EVOO and sugar.  Add egg whites, bananas, honey, and applesauce.  Mix well.  
• In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients.  Stir the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture just until moistened.
• Fill paper-lined muffin cups 2/3 of the way full. 
• At this point, I chose to sprinkle (or douse) each muffin with cinnamon sugar before baking.
• I baked my muffins for 17 minutes, although the original recipe called for 18-20 minutes of baking.  

*This recipe yields 18 muffins.