My (Banana) Muffin Man

I eat a lot of fruit. No joke. On any given day, I'll eat an apple, blueberries or cranberries, pineapple chunks or an orange, and I almost always eat a banana. I love bananas. So it's odd that we've had so many overripe bananas in our kitchen lately. But the last thing I was going to do was throw them into the compost. 

Healthy Buttermilk Banana Bran Muffins

Company's coming! Yes, we have coming coming again this weekend. Are we lucky or what? My momma, Ant and Little Big Brother should be here waiting for me when I get home from work tomorrow and I am sooooo excited. Actually, I'm so excited for their impending visit that I bought a whole bunch of food and needed to make room in the fridge. (The visit from the beer fairy took up quite a bit of room in the fridge, as well.) So I needed to do some fridge cleaning. Fun times.

I found some old lunch meat the husband didn't finish last week, about 1/4 cup of white beans that smelled worse than I thought they should after only being in there a couple of days and buttermilk. At least there was one thing that could be salvaged - and turned into something I think the company might enjoy.

Meatless Monday: Mushroom Stroganoff

Creamy Mushroom Stroganoff

I know, I know, I told the husband when we jumped on the Meatless Monday bandwagon it wasn't going to be pasta meal after pasta meal, and here we are two weeks in a row eating pasta for dinner Monday night. But I just couldn't help myself. I got a new cookbook for my birthday (thank you, Mama!) and this dish just looked too good to pass up. Plus, we're in the midst of a tornado warning here, and I just wanted a good ol' comforting meal. (Don't worry, I'm working off a battery, and Chance has taken cover beside my feet under the dining room table. We're good.)

Streusel-Topped Pumpkin Muffins

Pawing through the fridge this morning, home on my second snow day of the week, I was hit with one of those awful moments when you find an open container stuffed way in the back. When did I open that can of pumpkin? This never would have happened a couple of years ago. You'd never have seen pumpkin within 100 yards of my house. At least, that's how things were until the husband introduced me to pumpkin pie. See, he loves pumpkin pie, so he wanted to show me that I, too, could love pumpkin pie. Unfortunately for the husband, my love of pumpkin goes beyond pie. 

I love pumpkin. I love pumpkin and cottage cheese, pumpkin and yogurt, pumpkin smoothies, pumpkin bars, pumpkin on a spoon. Must I continue? So, I knew that open can of pumpkin wasn't leftover from Thanksgiving or anything horrible like that, but I also knew that it wasn't opened yesterday - or even the day before. But I couldn't let it just go to waste! I had to figure out how to use up all of that pumpkin. 

Streusel-Topped Pumpkin Muffins
Inspired by a Cooking Light recipe found on Food.com


Dry ingredients:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

Wet ingredients:
1 cup pumpkin
3/4 cup low-fat sour cream
1/3 cup low-fat milk
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg white

Streusel topping:
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tablespoons butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl; mix the wet ingredients in a medium bowl. Combine the wet and dry mixtures until just mixed together.

Spray a muffin pan with cooking spray and spoon the muffin mixture into the cups. Put the muffins in the preheated oven for about 8 minutes.

While the muffins begin to bake, mix the streusel topping in a small bowl: Measure the sugars and then cut in the butter until crumbs form.

Remove the muffins from the oven and spoon the streusel onto the muffins. Put the muffins back into the oven and continue baking until the muffins spring back up when touched, about 10-12 more minutes.

Remove and cool on wire racks.

I snuck a few pomegranates into the second batch!

Calories: 120, Total fat 2 g,  Total Carbs 23 g, Fiber 1 g, Protein 2.5 g