Half Whole Wheat Banana Cake Muffins

Have you ever heard of something that is half whole wheat? And that is both cake and a muffin at the same time? Me neither. Until now. These are so good, they’ll knock your socks off! I was inspired to make these for two reasons – 1) I had two completely brown, sad, and huge bananas on my counter (they were so pitiful and self-loathing, that they wouldn’t even hang on my banana hanger anymore), and 2) my oldest son had a craving for banana cake after a classmate brought some in his school lunchbox and who am I to mess with his cake-filled dreams.

 

These came out so moist and soft, and with a tender crumb, just like cake should be (unless it’s wedding cake. I adore and crave a dense wedding cake.). I used both whole wheat flour and cake flour. I love when healthy and delicious collide.

They are full of cozy, homey banana flavor and spiced with warm cinnamon.

If given the opportunity, I would have eaten the whole pan.

Fortunately enough for me and my waistline, I was not afforded that opportunity.

I also made a few mini muffins, perfect for little hands.

I hope you make these sweet little things and find them to be as easy and delicious as I did.

Half Whole Wheat Banana Cake Muffins

Recipe makes 12 standard muffins, 12 mini muffins, and a little extra for a tasting (I used a mini spring form)

Recipe adapted from: “Banana Upside Down Mini Muffins”, Weelicious Lunches

2 large ripe bananas (or about 3 medium)

3/4 C buttermilk (I made mine with cashew milk and vinegar)

1 large egg

3 T oil (I used peanut, you can use canola, vegetable, or coconut)

1 t vanilla

1 C whole wheat flour

1 C cake flour

1/3 C packed brown sugar

1 t baking powder

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

Preheat the oven to 375F. Place cupcake wrappers in a cupcake tin.

In a large bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. Add the buttermilk, egg, oil, and vanilla, and whisk together.

In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, brown sugar, baking powder and soda, and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and mix until just combined.

Pour into the cupcake wrappers, about 3/4 full.

Bake for 12 minutes. Allow them to cool for a few minutes before removing them from the tins.

These are truly bananas! Try them.

Kristin

Three Thursday Lunches

Tomorrow is school for both of my boys…AND I get to work in the Co-op with my older son. I love these special times we get to share together. I packed three lunches for tomorrow.

For my Smalls:

I packed a crust-less PB&J sandwich, red grapes, a banana, Trader Joe’s honey wheat pretzels, a few yogurt raisins, and half an oatmeal cream pie. Sadly, this meal is a bit monochromatic, but still enjoyable.

For my Bigs:

I packed another crustless PB&J, red grapes, honey wheat pretzels, a mandarin orange, the other half to Smalls’ oatmeal cream pie, and some yogurt raisins.

And for me:

I packed red grapes, cherry tomatoes, one small cucumber (cut on the bias, because they feel fancy), a mandarin orange, some Trader Joe’s sesame sticks, a piece of chili-rubbed dried mango, some trail mix, and a few dark chocolate sea salt almonds. I love all the color.

Happy Thursday,

Kristin

Ho Ho Ho Boy!

It’s not even Thanksgiving, and I’m already doing Christmas lunches! It’s so exciting. And my Bigs is beyond excited for Christmas! We normally wait until the week of Thanksgiving to decorate and put up our tree, but he’s been so excited that we bumped it up a week. We’ll be doing it at the end of this week. He can’t wait. I can’t either. Tomorrow is going to be the coldest day we’ve had this season, so far. It feels more like the holidays!

So, to celebrate ALL of that, I made Bigs a fun Christmas lunch.

I made a ham, cheese, and mayo sandwich, which I cut into two tiny Christmas trees (Bigs ate the crusts for a pre-karate snack today). I “decorated” the trees with food-safe green spray and used my Food Writers for extra detailing. I also packed raisins, plantain chips (not the sweet kind), a mandarin orange, a banana (also decorated like a tree), goldfish cookies and red, white, and green chocolate covered sunflower seeds for dessert.

Ho ho ho!

Blessings!

Kristin

The Three Little Lunches

Tomorrow is my Co-op day. I love those days where I get to be a Helper Parent in my Bigs’ class. It’s so fun. I love seeing him do his VPK thing, I love spending extra time with him, and I love sitting on the teeny chairs next to him and his friends while eating lunch.

Here is what I packed Bigs:

I made a vanilla bean cream cheese and apple cranberry butter (from Trader Joe’s) sandwich. I also packed some dried cranberries, a few banana chips, some freeze dried apples, assorted raisins, seasoned corn, a few mini sausage links, a few pretzels, a banana, and a couple of teeny chocolate pieces.

For me:

I made the same sandwich for me as I did for Bigs. That cranberry apple butter is to die for. I also packed the same dried fruit, and added a Gala apple (my favorite).

And for my Smalls, who has Mom’s Morning Out:

He has a PB&J, pretzels, banana chips, dried cranberries, assorted raisins, and three itty bitty chocolate pieces.

Hope you have a great night! I better rest up! Spending the day with a boatload of 4 and 5 year olds kicks my bum bum! Hats off to teachers!

Blessings,

Kristin

Spooky Teeth Lunch

For Bigs’ lunch today, I packed [yes, another] Mummy Hot Dog, seasoned corn, popcorn, cantaloupe and pineapple, an organic yogurt squeezy thing, and some spooky teeth for dessert. These were so easy and will (I hope) make a cute impression. I cut apples to look like lips (they will need some kind of citrus juice on them so they don’t brown), spread peanut butter, and place marshmallow “teeth” on them. Easy peasy. These would be a cute Halloween snack, too!

For my Smalls, I packed a PB&J, pretzels, dried fruit, and a banana.

The boys are ready for Halloween tomorrow and cannot wait to go trick or treating.

Have a blessed Thursday!

Kristin

A Book Fair & Two Bitty Lunches

Books. Real live books. The crisp pages. The smell. The rows and rows of newly stacked adventures, waiting to be read. I love books! I am SO thankful that has passed down to my boys. They love books too. We love checking books out at the library and buying books too. This week, at my boys’ school, the Scholastic Book Fair is in town. That was my FAVORITE week growing up. I still have all my old books. Such treasures. I bought the boys some books for Christmas (while they weren’t looking) and we let them each pick out a book tonight. Bigs picked a book called, Creepy Carrots and Smalls picked out a book about a school bus (about which he’s obsessed). Such fun!

Here are their lunches for tomorrow – Smalls:

I packed a PB&J, cut into four squares. He’s also got some animal crackers, golden raisins, and a banana. I’d been packing him grapes for weeks now, just to open his lunchbox at the end of the day to find them still there. #Imslow #nomoregrapes

For my Bigs:

Bigs also has a PB&J, cut into four squares. I also packed pretzels, green grapes, an organic yogurt squeezy thing, and a Halloween cookie.

Blessings to you!

Kristin

Halloween School Lunch

Halloween is almost here! What are your little ones going to be? We are not doing anything scary. We don’t do scary in our house. We like cute and coooool. I love doing fun lunches for my Bigs (and Smalls!) this time of year. I feel like the holiday season gets my creativity flowing more than usual (the usual being about as as flowy as molasses).

Here is tomorrow’s lunch I packed for my Bigs:

I warmed up some frozen pizza rolls I made a month or so ago (he’ll eat them cold). I also packed seasoned corn, green grapes (or googly eyes, if you’re creative!), granola, black and orange chocolate covered sunflower seeds (found at Ross), a ghost banana (sharpie!), and a ghost cookie for dessert (pre-fab from Aldi, baked at home).

Boo! 🙂

Have a blessed day!

Kristin

 

A Pretty Good Day (and lunch)

Today was a good day (do you Ice Cube’s song in your head now? I do…don’t make me rap it, because I will). My Bigs had school and I took my Smalls to a sweet pumpkin patch. He (mostly) listened to a story about pumpkins and proudly picked out his very own, teeny, little, adorable, curly-stemmed pumpkin. We ate burritos and tacos afterwards. Yes, it was a good day. My Bigs had a good day too! And all of us had a great nap after school. I even made a good dinner – gluten-free baked chicken cutlets, smashed garlic mini potatoes, and fruit salad.

Here’s to a good day tomorrow, too – we are on a roll.

Here is the lunch I packed for my Bigs:

My hands typed “Ham & Cheese” at the top of this picture, but they meant to type “Chicken & Cheese”. Oooooops! I would lose my head if it weren’t attached, my attention to detail is declining with age! I’m not even going to fix it (I deleted the original!!). Oh well. Ain’t nobody got time to worry about that. I packed a chicken, cheese, and mayo sandwich on whole wheat, some organic TJ’s peanut butter crackers, fruit salad (bananas, plums, pineapple, apple, grapes), carrots with ranch dressings for dipping, and a teeny homemade pumpkin chocolate chip brownie cut into pieces.

I hope he enjoys it!

Blessings!

Kristin

“A person who respects the Lord will have security. And his children will be protected. Respect for the Lord gives life. It is like a fountain of water that can save people from death.” – Proverbs 14:26

Torrential Tuesday

It’s already Wednesday…well, tomorrow it will be. And the flood warnings will have been called off, finally. It’s been raining torrential cats and dogs each afternoon. Where I go jogging normally is completely underwater. I am hoping the rains will subside and the cooler weather will move in. That *may* be wishful thinking. All this rainy weather has, however, made it look more fallish out. Even wintry. If I squint. Our house is decorated for Halloween. My boys had such a great time putting up all our stuff. I mean, my Bigs had a great time putting up all our stuff. My Smalls had a great time ripping and throwing all our stuff. I love this time of year. It really puts me in the mood to cook meals you’d typically eat this season. Tonight, we are having ham, roasted broccoli, and sweet potatoes. Yum.

My boys’ lunches have that fall time feel, as well. I do declare, this is my favorite time of year!

For my Bigs, I packed a ham and cheese on whole wheat (with mayo), seasoned corn, “pumpkin pie” yogurt (I mix canned pumpkin with vanilla yogurt and sprinkle with cinnamon), a teeny apple, one soft pumpkin ginger cookie, and a few chocolate covered sunflower seeds (Trader Joe’s). Fun!

While my Bigs is in school, we’ll be meeting up with a friend. I like to pack lunches for the boys when we do that. It saves time and money.

I need LOTS of snacks to keep my Smalls busy while us adults are trying to maintain a conversation. I packed a peanut butter and pumpkin butter (Trader Joe’s) sandwich, some Inner Peas snacks (TJ’s), one soft pumpkin ginger cookie, a few chocolate covered sunflower seeds (TJ’s), some applesauce,  a banana, and a pumpkin cereal bar (TJ’s).

Hoping your Hump Day is a good one!

Kristin

The Ghostess with the Mostess

My unfortunate run of cooking this week has been hit AND miss today. Dinner was a just okay. I made chicken. Nothing special. What is wrong with me?! If only I had the same passion about cooking as I do baking!

I gotta get back on track with cooking dinners that are both complete AND edible, so my family doesn’t starve.

I did make something really yummy earlier today, that I served with tonight’s chicken. I also was hoping to put it in my Bigs’ lunchbox tomorrow, but alas, he did not care for them.

Vegetable Macaroni and Cheese Muffins:

http://www.produceforkids.com/meal-planning/mac-n-cheese-muffins

My Bigs can sniff out a green vegetable like a hound dog. These “muffins” had broccoli, carrots, and onions in them. A trifecta of deliciousness, if you ask me. I was really hoping Bigs would love them and want to enjoy one for lunch tomorrow. Oh well. My Smalls enjoyed them. He doesn’t love noodles, but he’s crazy about savory food…broccoli in particular. He ate about a pound of broccoli today. And enjoyed the noodles because of the broccoli. I even convinced him (no convincing needed, actually) to eat broccoli as his prize for going twosies in the potty. Funny kid.

Anywho, because Bigs did not like these, I had to come up with another lunch.

I made a turkey, cheddar, and mayo sandwich. I shaped it like a ghost and added candy eyes. I also packed seasoned corn, plum slices, a honey zucchini muffin, two TJ’s ginger cookies, and some dried blueberries.

I made the muffins on Monday. They are delicious – whole wheat, honey, zucchini. What’s not to love?

Another great recipe from 100 Days of Real Food. Although I think I didn’t grate my zucchini small enough, my Bigs doesn’t seem to mind these. Maybe because I call them “Army Men Muffins”. I never thought I’d be the parent to HIDE vegetables.

Here’s the recipe:

http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2010/06/25/recipe-zucchini-bread/

My Smalls has school tomorrow too (and his “school” pictures, so cute!!). I made him a special lunch:

I turned a PB&J into a pumpkin shape and used my Food Writers to add some details. I also packed banana chips, two ginger cookies, and some dried blueberries. I hope he knows what his sandwich is!

Blessings,

Kristin