Mini Banana Muffins: Recipe

MINI BANANA MUFFINS


Whenever I have bananas gone brown, I make banana bread, but I don't always feel like making a whole loaf. Luckily, I found this recipe for mini banana muffins from Dianasaur Dishes and it's so super tasty, fast to make, and actually pretty healthy! I only made some slight modifications (outlined in the notes) but otherwise make it per the original instructions. Try it for breakfast sometime!

Ingredients:
• 3 brown bananas
• 1/4 c sugar
• 1 egg
• 3 Tb melted butter
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1 c flour
• additional softened butter or shortening

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Peel and mash the bananas in a medium size bowl. Add sugar, egg, and butter and mix well.

Whisk baking soda, powder, salt, and flour together and add to banana mixture. Mix well.

Use the softened butter or shortening to grease the cups of a mini muffin tin. Fill each cup nearly full with batter and bake 13-15 minutes – rotating pan halfway through baking – until just golden.

Turn the muffins out onto a cooling rack.

Notes:
• The original recipe only calls for 2 bananas, but I like to use 3.
• I also added the whisking step; the original recipe just opted to add each dry ingredient individually into the wet before mixing it all together.
• Feel free to add some spices or chopped nuts if you prefer!
• Rotating the pan during baking helps compensate for any hot spots in your oven and gives the most even results.
• If cooking in batches and reusing a pan, let the pan cool completely and re-grease it before each batch.
• If you are only making half a batch or your batter doesn't quite fill all the muffin cups, put an equal amount of water in the remaining cups for even baking.
• If your bananas aren't quite brown yet, put them in a closed paper bag with an apple to speed up the browning process.

Oven Roasted Vegetables: Recipe

I have no idea if anyone would even care about the recipes for the food I've been photographing, but I figure I could throw one or two in here as they seem relevant. So...

OVEN ROASTED VEGETABLES


This is one of my favorite go-to recipes for a fast, healthy meal. It's super simple, not too messy, and endlessly customizable. I'm including below just the version of the recipe I made tonight, but I've tried this countless other ways (as described in the notes) and it's always delicious!

Ingredients:
• 6 small red potatoes
• 1/2 yellow bell pepper
• 2 medium carrots
• 3 Tb olive oil or melted butter
• kosher salt
• pepper
• paprika
• parsley
• herbs de provence

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a small rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper; pour half the oil or butter into the bottom of the pan and spread evenly around (I just use the vegetables themselves to push around any pooled oil or butter).

Chop potatoes in quarters; slice bell pepper and carrots into 1/2 – 1 inch pieces. Spread the vegetables on the pan in an even layer, making sure to put cut sides down. Brush the rest of the oil or butter on the tops of the vegetables with a pastry brush. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and paprika. I improvised and threw a bit of parsley and herbs de provence on there too – have fun with it!

Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until potatoes and carrots are browned and fork-tender. Serves 2 as a meal, 4 as a side-dish.

Notes:
• You can use really any vegetables in this, like zucchini, mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, etc.
• If you need to bump up the protein, slice up some breakfast sausage links into 1/2 inch chunks and throw them in with the rest before baking.
• Get creative with the spices!
• You can also modify this recipe for larger or smaller batches, as needed.

Recipes!!!

Pardon this interruption to our regularly scheduled meal cataloging, but I just spent way too long making this and I think it's relevant enough to post here.

Now that I'm making more food I found that I need a better way to organize my recipes. As it is, I just have a folder of bookmarks on my computer and an open computer takes up way too much counter space in an already too-small kitchen. So when we went out shopping this afternoon, I tried to find some good recipe systems, but I either found something too complicated, too simple, or too expensive. The best deal I found was $6 for 25 really ugly recipe cards which is just preposterous!

Ultimately, we came home empty handed but I was determined to make what I wanted myself and voilà! Recipe cards :D


I you want, you can download them to use yourself. I made two versions: one for printing directly on 4x6 notecards – front and back – and another for a regular 8.5x11 size paper (you cut and fold into a 4x6 size that also conveniently stands up on its own).

• 4x6 Version (Googledoc)
• 8.5x11 Version (Googledoc)

Now all I have to do is pick up a 3-ring photo album with 4x6 size clear plastic slots and I'm ready to cook :)

Let me know what you think!! I'd be more than happy to make another version, too, if you have suggestions.