Slightly Healthy Banana Muffins

Hello,

We always seem to have leftover over-ripe bananas hanging around our kitchen so I thought I'd come up with a good recipe that had a few extra healthy ingredients in them.  My Dad can be picky when it comes to things like whole wheat and flax so I thought sneaking them into some muffins was a good way to get them into his diet.  I hope you enjoy them!!

Makes 12 regular-size muffins

Ingredients:
1/3 cup Almond milk (you can use regular milk as well.  The Almond Milk makes it lactose-free.)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 medium)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 Tbsp. ground flaxseed
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
extra brown sugar for sprinkling on top

1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Line 12 regular-size muffin cups with paper baking liners.

2. In a large bowl using a whisk beat milk, oil, egg and mashed bananas until well blended.  Using a wooden spoon, stir in flour, flaxseed, brown sugar, baking powder and salt all at once.  Stir just until combined.  Divide evenly among muffin cups, and sprinkle the top of each with a little brown sugar.

3. Bake 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Immediately remove muffins from pan to cooling rack.  Serve warm or cool.  (My Mom said she especially liked hers served warm with butter.)

xoxo

Quick and Easy Earth Day Dessert

Hello Knitters,

Since tomorrow is Earth Day, I thought I'd share a quick and easy dessert that you can whip up in no time. Especially if you are caught off guard by how quickly Earth Day got here :-)

Ingredients:

1 box Jell-O Instant Chocolate Pudding (4 - 1/2 cup servings size)

2 cups cold milk

1 chocolate cake, cupcakes, cake shavings from when you leveled off a cake (which is what I used, I had froze some the last time I made a cake), chocolate angel food cake, brownies, or even Oreo cookie crumbs...really just use whatever you have on hand that is chocolate that you can crumble up.

Supplies:

1 new flower pot (do not use one that previously had dirt in it)

Tin foil

Saran wrap

Silk flowers

Assembly:

1. Take a small piece of tin foil and fold it to a size that will fit in the bottom of your flower pot to plug up the drain hole.

2. Line the inside of the flower pot with Saran wrap so that it covers all of the inside.

3. Make the chocolate pudding according to the directions on the back of the box.

4. Take whatever chocolate thing you are using, and crumble it up into bite-sized chunks.

5. Put some of the chocolate crumbs in the bottom of the flower pot, about 1/3 full.

6. Add a layer of the pudding, filling the pot another 1/3.

7. Crumble up the remaining chocolate crumbs into even smaller pieces to resemble soil. Sprinkle the crumbs on top of the pudding, filling the pot almost to the top.

8. Add your silk flowers by pushing them into the pot as if you "planted" them.

9. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes or longer.

10. Serve with ice cream, a big dollop of Cool-Whip or whipped cream. Enjoy!

Note: If your flower pot happens to be on the smaller side, you will have left over pudding and cake. You can either make another flower pot cake, make individual servings using small dessert cups or even wine glasses, or layer the remaining ingredients in a small mixing bowl and use for dessert the next night (which is what I did).

I hope you all enjoy this and have a wonderful Earth Day!!