recipes

NOTE: WORD PRESS IS BEING A BRAT AND WON’T ALLOW ME TO UPLOAD THE PICTURE OF THE FINISHED PRODUCT.  I’LL KEEP TRYING SO CHECK BACK LATER.

On of my favorite blogs is called Farmgirl Fare.  It’s written by a girl who up and sold her bakery in California to buy a rural farm in Missouri.  Now she describes herself as a “cook, gardener, shepherd, farmhand, veg, surrogate mom, wildlife expert, midwife & undertaker.”

Farmgirl makes all sorts of great food and is happy to share her recipes with us.  This weekend I tried her recipe for Banana Bran Muffins.  I’ve never made any healthy-ish muffins but I have to tell you that, compared to the bran muffins I’ve bought at chain bakeries, these things were superb!  Here’s Farmgirl’s Organic Banana Bran Muffin recipe.

• 2 cups (3oz/86g) wheat bran
• 1 cup (oz/141g) oat bran
• 1 cup (6oz/170g) whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons (12g) baking soda
• 1 teaspoon (6g) baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon (4g) salt
• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup (5oz by weight/156g) milk
• 2/3 cup (5-1/2 oz/156g) yogurt
• 1/3 cup (2-1/4oz/65g) canola oil
• 1/3 cup (3-3/4oz/108g) molasses or cane syrup
• 1/3 cup (3-3/4oz/108g) honey
• 1 teaspoon (6g) vanilla extract (optional)
• 2-3 very ripe bananas mashed
• walnuts (optional)

Place oven rack in the middle of oven and heat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease a standard size muffin pan or line cups with paper liners.

Combine all dry ingredients in large bowl and set aside.  Combine eggs, milk, yogurt, canola oil, molasses and honey in small bowl and mix well.  Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix just until combined.  Add mashed bananas and walnuts.

Generously fill muffin cups with batter.  (I used a stainless steel ice cream scoop).  Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes.  Cool muffins in pan for 10-15 minutes, then carefully remove from pan and serve warm, or let cool on wire rack.

Enjoy them plain, drizzled with honey, or spread with peanut butter.  (I had one withe peanut butter and honey today)

I purchased all the organic flours at my local Whole Foods grocery in the bulk isle.  This worked great for me because I didn’t need to buy a huge bag that I won’t ever use.  I only purchased what I needed.

This is a great all purpose bran muffin recipe that you can use with any kind of fruit you and your family enjoy.  I’m going to try blueberry next.