Banana Muffins

When I was in graduate school, I managed my stress by baking. I baked a lot of bread - white and banana. My parents were kind enough to supply hundreds of pounds of flour for me to stay sane. I bought the other ingredients. I never ate what I made though. I always gave it away. It seemed contradictory to me to eat my stress and hold onto it. I would bake loaves of bread and cinnamon-sugar the pan to a yummy outside and have flavor contrast.

I also didn't eat sugar for a semester which was incredible control for me. I broke the sugar-free phase with a death by chocolate at Cold Stone Creamery for my birthday. Wow! That was a sugar overload!

Back to bread.... My friend gave me her recipe which I adapted and changed to mine. In my recipe book I have the measurements figured for a single, double, and triple. Now instead of a stress reliever, I make banana muffins for a day that we need a quick breakfast and can grab a bag out of the freezer and go. When I make a batch it is usually with 6-8 cups of bananas so that there can be a lot in the freezer. I use canning lids to be my muffin tins and can fit 23 muffins on a sheet cake pan. I've started to add whole wheat flour to the mixture. It is 1/2 wheat and 1/2 white. I use dry navy beans when I grind my grain. I do a ration of 3 cups wheat to 1 cup navy beans to 1 cup oatmeal ground together. The grain mixture is wheat, oatmeal, and navy beans. It makes a whole protein with the wheat and beans. The oatmeal keeps the bread moist.

Banana Bread

Source: Shaulan Morgan

Single
2/3 cup margarine or shortening (I use butter)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed bananas
1/4 cup thick sour milk (add 2 tsp vinegar cup and let stand)
1 tsp vanilla (I also had 1 tsp almond flavoring)
1 tsp baking soda
3 cups flour
1 cup chocolate chips and/or nuts

Preheat oven to 350 . Grease pans with cinnamon/sugar mixture. Cream margarine and sugar. Add eggs, milk, and vanilla. Mix well. Slowly add flour and baking soda.

 
Add banana and nuts/chocolate and mix well. Divide batter evenly between loaf pans. Bake for 35-40 minutes. For muffins it is about 25 minutes.

I've also added the blueberries instead of nuts and chocolate. As with any bread watch it until it is done. Every where is different because of elevation and humidity.

We then bag the muffins 16 to a bag in gallon freezer bags when cooled. We suck the air out so that ice crystals don't form on the muffins and freezer burn. It is a great treat when you have to grab something quick and need to go or something to share with someone.