fresh banana muffins with oats & lemon zest

You know how New Englanders always say "If you don't like the weather, just wait a minute"?  It's been like that here in Minnesota.  Rain, gloom, sun - and heavy snowflakes late afternoon yesterday.  This morning is windy and overcast and a perfect morning to make muffins and stay inside.

I settled on my old recipe for banana muffins with oats and buttermilk, cinnamon and  - wait!  Why do I have both white and brown sugar?  Forget that!  So I erased the 1/3 cup white sugar (keeping the 1/2 cup brown sugar) and really, there really wasn't a big difference.  Recipe corrected.  

These are moist (especially hot from the oven), and have lots of fiber from the oats, not too much sugar (now, anyway:), and canola oil instead of butter.  The muffins are slightly sweet, spongy and I'm sure they must be healthy - right?  I think you'll like them.

Fresh Banana muffins with oats and lemon zest

This makes 6 Texas size muffins.

Grease the muffin tins and set aside. (I used a Texas size muffin tin) 

Preheat oven to 350F.

In mixing bowl place:

2 medium ripe bananas, peeled, broken into small pieces

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1 extra-large egg

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons canola oil

1 cup buttermilk

Using your mixing paddle on your mixer, stir on low until the mixture is fairly blended.  It will be a little lumpy.

Add:

2 cups King Arthur flour (unbleached)

1/2 cup rolled oats -I use Quaker oats

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon ( or more, if you wish)

Using an ice cream scoop, fill muffin cups to 3/4ths full.

Bake for 25 minutes, or until muffin tops are springy when gently touched.

Remove to a cooling rack , let cool, then dig in!

The first of the spring baskets on the railings!

soft vanilla pudding with nutmeg

When I woke up early this morning, I did the usual - make coffee, brush teeth, do my back exercises, do my knee exercises.  It was only when I poured my coffee and took a sip that I realized my stomach was in a grumpy mood.  I set aside the coffee, and stared at Mr. Rabbit, who, being made of cast iron, never has indigestion. 

I was all set up to make a vegetable chowder of sorts but even thinking about it made me feel a little green, so I gave up on that idea instantly.

I wanted something besides peppermint tea, but the only thing I thought of was a lovely vanilla flavored pudding.  Searching for a recipe, I saw a lot of recipes that used eggs, but I've never used eggs in the puddings I've made in the past.  So, ok, eggless vanilla pudding. Eggless soft vanilla pudding, with a little shower of nutmeg and cinnamon, the way I always made it , when I was in a pudding mood.  Googling, I found a perfect recipe from the New York Times, which you can find here.  I made a half a recipe, because I was low on milk, but will certainly make the full recipe once I get to the store.  

It's as I said, a soft pudding, and I only let it sit in the fridge for half an hour, to chill - not long enough to firm up much, but I couldn't wait.  I'll be making this again - it's light but creamy and the vanilla adds a richness, along with the cinnamon and nutmeg I grated over it.

Be well!

PS/  How about those Patriots!

how Finnish fruit soup saved my winter

At last, at last - the sun is out and the snow is melting - not that we'd notice a few inches less in these drifts and snow corridors carved out from the house to the car, but that bone-chilling cold has lifted today all the way to 45 degrees.  I can't tell you the relief I felt when I suddenly thought winter is on the way out.  Now, I know we'll probably get a few more snowstorms - but the worst of winter, cross fingers, is over.

And I looked down at my almost daily bowl of Finnish Fruit soup and smiled.  Last night I made up a new pot of it, and thankfully wrote down the recipe, which has been slowly modified through this long winter: more spices (including those spicy green cardamom pods, which I split to flavor the fruits), lemon and orange peel, whole cinnamon sticks, a slice of fresh ginger root.

My fruit choices expanded to adding dried currants for the tang, and the usual pitted prunes and dried apricots and raisins.  Sometimes a few slices of fresh apples found their way into the pot as well.

I don't know why I abandoned the oatmeal with apples, but when winter moved in, in a serious way, I switched to fruit soup, using a recipe I got from a Finnish cook and baker on the Cape.  And every time I ate it , I noticed each spice, each fruit, in a different way - and in the process, forgot about the latest blizzard.

The recipe :

1 cup pitted prunes
1/2 cup dried apricots
2 tablespoons dried raisins
1 tablespoon dried currants
3 dried green cardamom pods, split 
2 cinnamon sticks
2 tablespoons thinly sliced lemon and orange peel
a thin slice of fresh ginger root

Add the above to a cooking pot and cover with cold water - just enough to cover.
Bring to a simmer, simmer for 6 minutes.
Turn off the heat and cover the pot for an hour before eating - by then, the spices and the fruits are well infused, and very delicious.  If you prefer a heavier, more syrupy juice, just simmer it a little longer - I prefer the lighter version.

Happy Monday!