Banana Muffins for Everyone

Good day to you!  I hope you’re having a fantastic week so far.

And if your day is going well, uh, crappy–then remember that it’s all about perspective!  My day started really rough yesterday and I just had to humble myself and ask Greg for prayer! Soon after that, I felt like the weight of the world was off my shoulders.

Ahhhh.

If you recall a few posts ago, I promised you the recipe for my über tasty and semi-healthy banana muffins.  Yes, I am arrogant confident enough to call my own baked goods “delicious”.

[Sorry about the lighting]

These are not only a great choice for healthy eaters, but for the unhealthy eaters out there as well.

How do I know that, you ask?

Well you see, Greg wanted to take some delicious goodies to the men’s hiking event a few Saturdays ago.  Naturally, I went ahead and volunteered myself to take care of that task.  I know that these guys appreciate healthier eats, but most of them are not actually accustomed to having them in their daily diet.

Hence, this semi-healthy banana muffin was born.

*It’s aliiiiive~it’s aliiiiiive!*

Banana Muffins with Light Streusel

Makes 12 regular muffins

Ingredients for Muffins:

• 1 1/2 C white flour
• 1/3 C wheat bran (Not the cereal kind–found in bulk food section)
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 C brown sugar
• 1 packet Stevia (or substitute with 1/4 C brown sugar instead)
• 1 C sour almond milk (mix 1 TBSP lemon juice+almond/dairy milk, let sit for 10 min.)
• 1 1/2 bananas, mashed
• 1/2 banana, chopped
• 1/4 C Earth Balance, softened (or butter)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Ingredients for Streusel:

• 2 TBSP white flour
• 1/4 C rolled oats
• 1/4~1/3 C brown sugar
• 3 TBSP Earth Balance, softened
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• handful of chopped walnuts

Directions:

1.  Set your oven to 350 F degrees.  Then grab a large bowl and stir the flour, bran, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon.
2. In a separate bowl, mix the brown sugar, Stevia, egg, Earth Balance, sour milk, vanilla, and mashed bananas (not chopped ones).  Combine the wet and dry ingredients and gently mix until well incorporated, but do not over mix.  At the end of mixing, add the chopped bananas and stir just enough.
3. In another medium bowl, add the Earth Balance for the streusel and mix it with a whisk or wooden spoon so that there are chunks of it.  Afterward, add the rest of the ingredients and mix until the mixture gets clumps.  The more chunks the better!
4. Have a lined muffin pan ready and pour the muffin batter into the pan about 2/3 of the way.  Sprinkle the streusel pieces on top and bake for approximately 22-24 minutes or when the inserted toothpick comes out clean and the top is slightly browned..  It may depend on the oven, however.

These semi-healthy banana muffins were fat and tall!

When Greg took the batch with him the next morning I was really curious and almost apprehensive about the guys’ response.  The day after, I was at church and all the guys who attended the hiking study group complimented on how delicious they were!  I wasn’t sure if they were just being kind or genuine.  But it seemed like they really enjoyed them and couldn’t tell that it was low in fat and high in fiber.

Shhhhh don’t say a thing!

So there you go my friends!  Don’t knock ‘em till you try ‘em.  Hehe.

Girls’ Date

My dear and beloved friend Susan recently started her new full-time job at Forever 21′s headquarter!  Oh my goodness.  I cannot begin to describe my excitement for this new chapter in her life.  She’s their new data analyst and is one of the people who get to call the shots for markdowns and sales.  Crazy, isn’t it?!

Anyway, so since she’s earning more moolah she wanted to treat me out to dinner this week.  Hehe!  We had an amazing time catching up about life and talking about how good God has been to us.  This was all over a delicious meal at the Curry House in Cypress.

Their menu is rather extensive, so I try to stick with their traditional curry dishes since that’s what I go there for.

My choice for dinner was the vegetable curry with a creamy corn soup on the side, some fried shrimp, and a super delicious salad.

Susan opted for the Japanese Katsu with curry.

Love this girl!  We were so “in love” with each other and catching up that we loitered in the parking lot for about 30 minutes or so.  That’s what Asians do best after all!

Today’s Breakfast

This morning’s meal was a nice change!  Waffles and cheesy scrambled eggs, with iced coffee to wake myself up.

Golden kiwi and sweet blueberries have been a staple in this house.

Do you make any semi-healthy foods?  What’s your favorite?

Do you find that having girl time is encouraging and empowering?

How easy/challenging is it to make healthy foods for the people in your life?

Love,

Ellie <33

Tagged as: Curry House review, girls night out, Gloria Jean's coffee, healthy eaters, perfect snack for hiking, semi healthy banana muffins, unhealthy eaters, waffles and cheesy eggs