Brown Bananas Save Breakfast Bucks

I am returning to teaching this fall. I'm nervous. Mainly about the mornings. As teachers, Husband and I have to be out the door early. Early is never a good time for thinking clearly.

I keep trying to think of good, easy to grab foods for breakfast. In my pre-mommy days, I would often stop by the Dunkin Donuts on the highway to grab a coffee and breakfast. Two kids later, this idea is untenable.

It's been really warm here, and for the first time in a while, the bananas went very brown before they could be eaten. That can only mean one thing...BANANA BREAD!

I love making banana bread. I love eating banana bread. I wonder if I can turn it into a decent breakfast.

BANANA MUFFINS!

Out comes my favorite Betty Crocker cookbook.

My intention was to make their banana bread recipe, but I wanted to make a double batch, and I couldn't find where we had put the white flour. My recipe went more like this (remember, this is a DOUBLE BATCH):

2 1/2 cups sugar (a little sweet for me. You can cut back if you'd like)
1 cup butter (softened)
4 eggs
6 medium bananas (if you are short 1 or 2, just substitute with 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce each)
1 cup buttermilk (I made mine from 1 cup milk + 1 Tbsp vinegar)
2 tsp vanilla
4 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt

In a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and beat well. Beat in the bananas, buttermilk and vanilla until smooth. Mix in the flour, baking soda, and salt until moistened.

At this point I filled a 12-muffin pan with half of the mixture and baked at 350 for 20 minutes (or until a toothpick or knife comes out clean).

I realized that Husband does not enjoy the idea of 'healthy' food and might get turned off by the whole wheat flour. I added a cup of chocolate chips to the second batch. He was happy.

All together, this made about 28 muffins. After we ate a few, I put the rest into big freezer bags to await our fall morning rushes. All I have to do is either thaw them by taking out a couple the night before we eat them, or pop them in the microwave that morning.

The whole wheat flour makes these really filling, and they cost me nothing, as I already had the ingredients. Compare this with spending $3-4 dollars a few times a week at Dunkin' Donuts, and I'm really saving some money.

The muffins were a little sweet for me, so next time I am going to cut back on the sugar...but let's not tell my husband that, okay?