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.





Buttermilk Banana Bran Muffins
Makes 10 muffins: 116 calories, .6 g fat, 28 g carbs, 3.6 g fiber, 3.2 g protein, as calculated by Food.com

Dry ingredients:
1 cup All-Bran flakes
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Wet ingredients:
1/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons raw honey
1 tablespoon real maple syrup
2 egg whites
1 1/4 cup mashed bananas (about 3 small bananas)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl and the wet ingredients in a medium bowl. 

Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. (It won't be pretty, but that's OK.)

Fill 10 muffin cups. (As you can see, I lightly sprayed my muffin pan and used liners. Next time, though, I think I'll skip the liners. The spray just made the liners all wet. What was I thinking?!)

Cook the muffins for 25-35 minutes until lightly brown and cooked through. (Mine cooked for 27 minutes; I think I could have let them go a little longer, but they were still good.)

The muffins came out of the oven smelling fabulous, but the husband wasn't willing to try one. He thought they sounded a bit too healthy and told me maybe tomorrow. I tried one; I think they're OK. I'd say for just about 100 calories, you couldn't ask for much more. Next time, though, I think I'll throw in a little vanilla. They do need a little more sweetness, but I've had worse. So, yes, I'll still be serving these to Little Big Brother, who has requested we find him a gym to hit while he's visiting. (Seriously?) These should be right up his alley.

I'm ready for company! Now if only my kitchen was as ready as me.

i keep asking the husband when we're going to get a wife  who likes to clean.