Recipe: Hearty Banana Oat Muffins

I truly love banana bread, it's kind of a comfort food staple in my house.  Funny thing is, I don't really like to eat bananas; not unless they are still slightly green, but not bitter green.   I've been using my husband's aunt's recipe for a number of years and have changed it a bit here and there and I love it.  It's buttery, moist and just plain delicious.

But, I wanted to make some banana muffins with oatmeal in them and found a few recipes on Pinterest that were similar in ingredients to what I love.  The one I settled on to try is very tasty and you'll most likely have all the ingredients in your house right now.

I'll give you a minute to gather your ingredients.

With this new recipe I added cinnamon because I love they way it compliments the bananas.

Fresh out of the oven and they are warm, soft, nice (as my 7 year old says) and belly warming.  As you can see below, Oliver didn't hesitate at all to devour one, and then asked for seconds.

Hearty Banana Oat Muffins Recipe ======> click here for printable recipe 
adapted from The Chef Next Door

Ingredients:
1 cup light brown sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 medium ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup oats
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/s tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 TBS baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 2 muffin pans with paper liners and set aside (you'll make 18 muffins).

In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat the brown sugar and butter until combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla. Next add the mashed bananas.

In a medium bowl whisk together the oats, flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Alternately add the dry ingredients and the milk to the mixer, in about two additions each.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pans and bake for 20 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the muffins comes out clean. Cool the muffins on a cooling rack before serving.

Schools out for summer!

That's right, folks, schools out for the summer!  Last year, honestly I was dreading the summer.  This year I'm actually kind of excited (we'll see how long that lasts, right?)

I'm kinda like

What art or science projects can we do during break?

Or

Or maybe

But when all these are finished, what's left?

Maybe

And all that's only in the first week of summer break.  I'm guessing after day seven I'll be like

And

Then finally

How do you plan to keep your summer sanity?

Designing Sarah's room

I am a group member of several local "sell your stuff" Facebook groups and the other day I came across a nightstand I just had to have.  The gal was selling it for only $10 and that is a deal I just can't pass up.

So then that got me thinking...the nightstand was dirty, like gunk splattered all over it (yuk!) and needed a really good cleaning.  And maybe a paint job.  But what color?

Then my brain started going into overdrive...silly brain!

What if I did this?

Is that crazy?  I think not!

My plan is to remove that top drawer altogether and making the inside more sturdy to use as a shelf.  In kid's bedrooms the furniture should not only be pretty (because...pretty) but it should be functional and withstand wear and tear that a toddler/preschooler/youngster dishes out.

So then I started thinking some more.  Uh oh.  And then I ordered fabric to go with this nightstand, which then turned into creating a design board for Sarah's room (who will soon be 2 years old - boo hoo).

See what I did there with the nightstand?  My plan is to paint it either a bright green or magenta with the shelf space (where the missing drawer was) painted a metallic gold.  This design board gives me all sorts of good feelings, like a quart of Ludafisk.

Keep checking back to see the progress of Sarah's room.

Featuring: Artwork

A friend asked me the other day about choosing artwork for her home, she has three empty frames needing 11x14 pictures and she can't find anything she likes.  That got me thinking.

Where are some great sources for purchasing artwork?

Sure, there's Amazon.com, Art.com and several others, but sometimes you want something with a little soul behind it.  You know what I mean?  You don't want some random computer generated piece of art that doesn't evoke any feeling, you want something that makes your heart happy.

So, I stumbled upon an amazing website where you can get just that.  A happy heart.

Minted.com - it's a place where artists of every kind can sell their pieces to the public.  It's awesome!  The art prints come in TONS of sizes and can come unframed or with a frame that you can choose.  How great is that?!?!  Anyhow, I'm working on putting together a design board for Sarah's room and plan to incorporate some of the artwork from Minted.com.  I've put together a sample of some pictures I really like, check them out and then find some for your home.  You won't regret it!

 sources:  1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8