My Sunday 9/30/12

Woke up late but have been busy. I know I normally do weekly cleaning tips but I really felt like baking today. Could be because my dishwasher is finally fixed & we all know how much I hate dished. ;)

I made cherry scones, banana bread, a couple of Banana-Bran Muffins & squash for dinner. I am also making dinners for the week.

When I say squash. I am talking squash fries, squash casserole & baked squash with maple & brown sugar. All from a 2.5 lb squash. I rock. Hehehe. Quarter the squash, cutting the neck off the bottom, then halving it. You end up with 6 pieces. The top two pieces you cut into 2c of cubed pieces. The rest I cut into fries. The bottom 4 pieces bake. 4 meals from one squash.


Banana-Bran Muffins

Servings: 1 dozen muffins
Prep: 30 mins
Total: 1 hr

INGREDIENTS
2 large eggs
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup mashed ripe bananas, (2 medium)
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup unprocessed wheat bran
1/4 cup cocoanut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1c shredded carrot
1c shredded squash
1 cup whole-wheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips, (optional)
1/3 cup chopped walnuts, (optional)
1c dried fruit (soaked in almond milk for 10mins) (optional)

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat 12 muffin cups with cooking spray.
2. Whisk eggs and brown sugar in a medium bowl until smooth. Whisk in bananas, buttermilk, wheat bran, oil and vanilla. Sir in carrots & squash.
3. Whisk whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the dry ingredients; add the wet ingredients and stir with a rubber spatula until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips, if using. Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin cups (they'll be quite full). Sprinkle with walnuts, if using.
4. Bake the muffins until the tops are golden brown and spring back when touched lightly, 15 to 25 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Loosen edges and turn muffins out onto a wire rack to cool slightly before serving.
Tips:
Ingredient Notes: You can use buttermilk powder in place of fresh buttermilk. Or make "sour milk": mix 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar to 1 cup milk.
Unprocessed wheat bran is the outer layer of the wheat kernel, removed during milling. Also known as miller's bran, it can be found in the baking section. Do not substitute bran cereal in this recipe.
NUTRITION FACTS
Calories 196, Total Fat 6 g, Saturated Fat 1 g, Monounsaturated Fat 3 g, Cholesterol 36 mg, Sodium 182 mg, Carbohydrate 32 g, Fiber 4 g, Protein 5 g, Potassium 167 mg. Exchanges: Starch 2,Fat 1.
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet