Clean Banana Oat Muffins

I have been messing around with banana everything this year. I found that you can buy 3-6 pounds of bananas at the grocery store for next to nothing. They have to be eaten within a day or so, perfect for baking! The browner the banana the sweeter it is, therefore it tastes amazing when baked!!!

I love love love a good loaf of banana bread or a nice banana nut muffin. I can eat the whole loaf or the whole pan, whatever. I tried subbing the oil for applesauce, and it was ok, a little dense but ok. I tried reducing the sugar while still using applesauce, again it was dense. It just wasn't the right texture for me.

Well after surfing around on Pinterest (what did I ever do before pinterest???) I found a good looking recipe using greek yogurt (instead of oil) and oatmeal (instead of flour!). My interest was peeked.
Jason and I have been trying to move towards an organic lifestyle and I just happened to have some organic oatmeal and organic yogurt on hand, WOOT!

So I gave the recipe a try. It was good, it was still dense though. I know a lot of people do not mind this. My kids and my husband devoured them so I am guessing they don't mind!

I still had a ton of bananas so I decided to make another batch and freeze them for the kiddos. I ground up the oatmeal and went to put the greek yogurt in when I realized "oops, I have no more greek yogurt!". I already promised the kids some banana muffins so I have to improvise. I am glad I did because I finally found the right texture FOR ME! Too bad the kids loved them just as much as I did and I sitting here typing and wishing I had one, they are all gone!!!!

So the recipe I found originally was from this blog, which I love by the way!!! and like I said, her recipe was good, just too dense for this momma. As I just copied and pasted this I realized that I left out the eggs, that was so not on purpose. I wonder if I remake these with the greek yogurt and omit the eggs, I will get the same less dense effect? I am not really a baker though, just a lover of sweets with a strong desire to eat clean.

Here are my modifications:

Ingredients


2 /1/2 cup oats (old fashioned kind, not quick cooking)

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

2 packets stevia sweetener

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

a bunch of cinnamon (I have no idea how much, I just dumped a bunch in until I liked the color)

3 very ripe bananas

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray tin with non-stick cooking spray- do not skip this step, they will stick. When you are baking with oatmeal instead of flour, they will stick, trust me.   

2. Put the oatmeal in a blender or food processor and grind up.

3. Dump the oatmeal in a bowl with the rest of the ingredients, mix up.

4. Add batter to your muffin tin.

5. In a small bowl mix some cinnamon, a tiny bit (maybe a tsp) of sugar and a tiny bit of oatmeal. Sprinkle mix on top of muffins and bake for about 14 minutes in a mini muffin pan or 20ish minutes in a regular muffin pan (or until toothpick comes out clean).

Pull them out and enjoy! Seriously I ate them for dinner.

October

October is always a favorite month of mine. There is always so much going on and I just LOVE IT. There are so many reasons to love October.....

The weather changing is something I look forward to every year. I wish it would stay like this though. Highs in the 60's and lows in the 30's is PERFECT weather.

My amazing husband was born in this month too, that makes it all that much better. Today is his birthday! Happy Birthday to the one and only love of my life. I would be lost without him. I love my husband more and more everyday. I thank God for him always but the month of October makes me thank God a few extra  times!

I also love Halloween. I love going to the pumpkin patch, carving pumpkins, getting the kids all dressed up and of course the candy!!!!

And my newest reason for loving October?? The last week of October is International EB Awareness Week. The week is October 25-31, 2010. 
The main objectives of International EB Awareness Week, and the Walk a Mile in My Shoes campaign, is to boost awareness among policy-makers and society at large about EB and its impact on the lives of patients and patient families.  As the month progresses I plan to post a lot about EB. I hope that new people come to read about it and I pray that some people learn some things. I am so new to the EB world and the only thing I really have to offer is my experiences so far and my BIG MOUTH! I knew having a big mouth would pay off someday!!!!