Banana-Blueberry-Oat Muffins

Sometimes, in the summer, I buy too much fruit. And sometimes when I buy too much fruit, that necessitates that fruit being used in other forms rather than eaten straight...like muffins. Joe loves muffins because they're sweet and can be eaten easily. I like healthy muffins that are flavorful and light. These muffins made us both happy.

The oats bulk up the muffin to make them heartier, while the mashed banana keeps the whole-wheat flour from seeming too dense. We have a bag of these in our freezer for easy access. About two minutes in the microwave and they heat right up!

Banana-Blueberry-Oat Muffins
source: Vintage Victuals

1 1/2 cups 100% whole wheat flour

1 cup oats, rolled or quick

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 eggs

1/4 cup apple sauce

1/4 cup buttermilk or fat free sour cream

1 cup mashed ripe bananas (I used about 3 medium bananas.)

1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Line or grease the wells of a cupcake pan.

In a large bowl combine flour, oats, sugars, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Whisk until completely combined.

In a small bowl, beat together eggs, applesauce, sour cream, and bananas. Pour the liquid ingredients into the bowl containing the dry ingredients and stir until almost completely moistened. Add the blueberries and continue stirring JUST until completely moistened. Your batter should be lumpy. Don't over-mix or your muffins will be rubbery.

Fill muffin cups about 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 17-20 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Sunday Morning Blueberry Muffins

When we got the circular for our grocery store, I noticed that strawberries and blueberries had gone on-sale for probably the last time this summer, so I planned to stock up. Well, the strawberries had seen better days, and I grabbed a few pints of blueberries to use on Saturday morning.

I had starred this recipe for its ease and nutritional value. Since Joe usually eats breakfast at around 4 am this month, he's hungry by 8 or 9 am and needs a snack. A healthy yet appealing muffin is the perfect snack for him to take, and these muffins are under 200 calories a piece with less than 5 grams of fat. As you can see from the recipe, most of the moisture comes from the yogurt rather than oil.

These muffins are delicious, moist, and chock full of blueberries, great for an end-of-summer treat before I move on to pumpkin muffins. I doubled the recipe to make 12.

Sunday Morning Blueberry Muffins
source: the domestic goddess Katie over at Good Things Catered

Ingredients:
1 c. all purpose flour
1/3 c. sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
pinch salt
1 large egg
1 1/2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 c. plain lowfat yogurt
1/4 c. milk
1 c. fresh blueberries
cinnamon sugar for dusting (I omitted.)

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line 6 muffin cups.
-In medium bowl, combine flour sugar, baking powder, soda, salt and whisk to combine thoroughly.
-In large bowl, combine egg, oil. vanilla, yogurt milk and whisk to combine thoroughly.
-Fold dry ingredients into wet and stir until just combined (will be lumpy and thick.)
-Fold in blueberries and using ice cream scoop to spoon, divide batter evenly among 6 muffin cups.
-Generously sprinkle tops of muffins with cinnamon sugar.
-Place in oven and bake until toothpick inserted in center of muffin is removed clean, about 12-15 minutes.
-Remove from oven and let cool in tins for 2 minutes.
-Let cool completely on wire rack or eat immediately.

Makes 6 muffins

Blueberry Pancakes

Growing up, we usually had pancakes made from Bisquick, so I always thought that making pancakes would be hard enough to require a shortcut like Bisquick. Little did I know they are actually pretty easy.

Joe has the day off today, and I don't work until noon, so I thought I would make a special breakfast for the two of us. I had some blueberries that I needed to use and decided I would try some blueberry pancakes. I lugged out my trusty Joy of Cooking and got to work. I mixed the dry ingredients yesterday so all I had to do was add the wet ingredients. This was also the maiden voyage of our fancy new George Foreman grill. I laid the bottom plate flat and used the griddle plate. Joe is very excited about the food blog and decorated the serving plate with strawberries so the picture would look pretty.



Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 3/4 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 3 tbsp butter, melted
- 2 eggs
- (1/2 tsp vanilla extract) (I omitted this optional ingredient because I'm lazy.)
- (I added 3/4 cup of fresh blueberries)

Instructions:
- Whisk dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
- Combine milk, butter, eggs, and vanilla extract (and blueberries!) in another bowl.
- Mix the liquid ingredients quickly into the dry ingredients.
- Cook like pancakes (My words. Joy of Cooking has a two page explanation of how to cook a pancake.)

I kept the pancakes on this fancy oven-proof serving plate in a 200-degree oven until I had cooked all the batter. Joe and I loved these. We served them with Country Crock light, Lite syrup, and coffee. They were so much better than our previous discus-like pancakes that we had attempted with Bisquick. Next time I will attempt waffles with the new fancy George Foreman.

recipe from Joy of Cooking, 75th anniversary edition