A Healthy Classic

Dear Readers,

I don't always cook things which contain butter and cream, just most of the time.  Sometimes I actually crave healthy foods like a great salad or some wonderful fruit. 

As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received 3 full size boxes of different types of Kellogg's All Bran cereals to sample.  One of those was the classic All Bran Original cereal.  I must be honest here - not a big fan of the all bran though I'm sure my GI tract wishes I were.  The Husband got through one box but what to do with the rest, I pondered.

I went to Kellogg's website and found this recipe for the original All-Bran Muffins.  These muffins contain 160 calories apiece and provide 4 grams of the recommended 25 grams of daily fiber us gals need in our diet.  They are a bit on the high side calorie wise but with a banana or an apple, it's certainly an adequate breakfast.  I put 3/4 cups of dried cranberries in mine which will up that calorie content to some degree, but it was worth it for the tart flavor.  Enjoy!

The Original All-Bran Muffins

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups All Bran Cereal
1 1/4 cup fat free milk
1 egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cups dried raisins or cranberries (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Prepare 12 muffin tins by spraying with vegetable oil spray. 

Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, dried fruit and salt in a bowl. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine all bran cereal and milk and let stand for about 2 minutes until cereal softens.  Add egg and oil.  Beat well.  Add flour mixture and stir only until combined.  Portion evenly into the muffin pan cups.  Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes or until golden brown. 

Our First Blueberry Crop

Over the last few weeks I have been harvesting blueberries from the two bushes we planted in May. What a surprise to get at least 2 pints from them, when we thought this first year there would be no harvest all. The berries are big, plumb, blue jewels and I'm looking forward to many years of blueberries in the freezer to utilize in new recipes.An old favorite I made this morning was blueberry muffins. This is a tried and true recipe I have been using for years and it never fails to make delicious, moist muffins. I like to get the dry ingredients together the night before as well as the wet ingredients which I stick in the fridge. The following morning I just have to give it all a quick stir up, throw in the blueberries and as fast as you can say "Easy as a Sunday morning", there you have a dozen hot muffins coming out of the oven.Blueberry Muffins

(makes 1 dozen standard size muffins)

2 cups all purpose flour

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

3 tsp baking powder

1 cup milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 cup blueberries (frozen ones work best)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease 12 muffin tin cups. Sift together the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in a medium size mixing bowl. To that stir in the blueberries and coat with the dry ingredients.

Combine the milk, oil and egg together and pour into the dry ingredients. Mix until combined but do not overmix. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, fill the muffin tins. Sprinkle a small amount of granulated sugar over the top of each muffin. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool at least 5-6 minutes before removing muffins from tins.

Banana Muffins Extraordinaire

Tonight I got the baking bug at 6:15pm after I was already bathed, in my bathrobe and settled in watching Judge Judy (one of my major guilty pleasures).

As I had three nicely ripened bananas on the counter begging to be eaten from last weeks grocery expedition, I decided on banana bread. My intent was to bake something to take to work tomorrow as a treat for the office mates and my banana bread always wins them over. I shook the regular recipe up though and opted for banana muffins instead so everyone can have their own tasty mini-banana bread bites instead of whacking off slices from the communal loaf. I shook the recipe up even more and threw a cup of chocolate chips into the mix for good measure.

I think chocolate and bananas are a delightful combination. Think of the classic combos out there - chocolate covered bananas, the old camp fire standard of banana boats and would a banana split even exist without the chocolate sauce? I think not. So with that said, the recipe is as follows:

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

3 large ripe bananas, mashed

3/4 cup white sugar

1 slightly beaten egg

1/3 cup melted butter

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups flour

Preheat oven to 350 deg. Mix the mashed banana, sugar, egg and butter together in a bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl mix together baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour. Mix wet and dry ingredients together just until well incorporated. Do not overmix or you will get a tough product. Bake in oven for approx. 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Makes 18 muffins.