It's almost 11:30 the night before the first day of school and I'm sitting here waiting for the banana muffins I've just popped into the oven to finish baking. I'm exhausted and ready for sleep but I can't very well go to bed now. Not only would it be irresponsible to leave something baking in the oven but I have to know that they are something my kids will eat. Now I'm sure you're wondering "what kind of kid wouldn't eat a banana muffin?" And normally it wouldn't be a question in my house because they all love them. That is , of course, when I follow the recipe. Tonight I didn't do that and now I'm wondering if that was a bad idea.
It all started when I saw this Facebook post today between two friends about a healthy chocolate zucchini bread. As I read through the recipe I thought "This would be a great healthy treat to surprise the kids with for breakfast tomorrow."
Of course to surprise one's kids, one has to be able to make it without them knowing. That was obstacle #1. I had to wait until all the kids were asleep to begin my baking. So I sat down on the couch to watch a little TV and wait. Before I knew it I was drowsy and ready to head to bed. As I drug myself up the stairs I looked into the kitchen and remembered that zucchini bread. It's about 10:15 at this point and I figured still plenty of time to whip it up real quick and get to bed before too late. So I set about the task of pulling up the recipe. Well first I had to recall which friends were posting about the bread, because it didn't occur to me at the time to bookmark it or print it (that would have been too simple). Once I finally found the post I tried to pull up the link. Well unfortunately I was trying to pull it up on my not-so-smart smart phone because my husband was on the computer. This took way longer than you would think it would. Finally the recipe.
I start pulling the ingredients out of the cabinets and fridge but as I came to the most important one - the zucchini - I realized that the three zucchinis I had in the fridge were actually 3 yellow squash that apparently had been there a little too long. Crap! Now what???? Obstacle # 2.
Banana Bread! I would just quickly make-up a batch of banana muffins and be done with it. Or so I thought. Now I had to find my recipe, because there is only one recipe I will use. My mother's. It turns out right every time- perfectly moist. I keep this very special recipe that's carefully scribbled on a piece of scrap paper tucked inside a recipe book. The only problem is I'm never really sure which recipe book I last tucked it in. So a new search begins. Luckily not too long as I used the recipe just last week. Voila!
It's now 10:45 and I'm finally getting started. I begin pulling ingredients again only as I'm doing this it dawns on me that this recipe is not so healthy thus defeating the purpose of a healthy treat for the first day of school. Obstacle #3. So I start thinking about changes I can make. A little protein powder for some of the flour, cut down the sugar, coconut oil for butter, add some kale, oh and since I just realized I'm out of eggs how about some greek yogurt instead? Before long I've made something healthy that aside from the bananas is nothing like my mother's recipe (making me wonder why I spent 15 min looking for her recipe but I guess you have to start somewhere). As I finally mix all the ingredients together I'm beginning to see that this is a bit thick, not at all like a banana bread batter. So what would one do except add almond milk. No measuring, that would be silly, just a splash here and there until the consistency seems more along the right lines. Well now there's a new problem - It's green. I don't mean a little hint of green, I mean like really green. This could be an issue with my picky eaters so I better throw in some chocolate chips. And so just at 11:30 I finally get the muffins into the oven.
And to those two friends who were posting about zucchini bread today (you know who you are) - I hold you responsible if my kids are unhappy with breakfast tomorrow. Because before that post I was just planning on pancakes......
By the way the muffins are done and they are great!
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