Banana Blueberry Muffins

Here's the recipe of the muffins I posted a few days ago. I made them again and Kent remarked how delicious they were. It was especially nice because I tried to make them a little less like a dessert by cutting out some of the sugar and oil. Anyway, here's my adaption of a basic recipe.

3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 TBS. honey
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 beaten eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup applesauce
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas
3/4 cup blueberries (approx)
1 cup chopped nuts (optional

In a mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and 1/2 tsp. salt. Make a well in the center. Combine egg, milk, honey, oil, applesauce and bananas; add all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy). Fold in blueberries and nuts. Lightly grease muffin cups; fill 2/3 full. Bake in a 400 degree oven about 20 minutes (mine took less time) or till golden. Remove from pans; serve warm. Makes 2 dozen.

Note: Don't use muffin papers. This muffin variety sticks!

Strawberry Smoothies

DJ and I made these this morning. YUM!! We just happened to have everything on hand and it was so refreshing.

1 pint strawberries
2 medium bananas, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces (I used frozen ones which added to the thickness!)
3 cups ice cubes, divided
1/2 cup nonfat strawberry OR plain yogurt
1/2 cup orange juice
2 Tbsp. honey

Place all ingredients except 1 1/2 cups of the ice cubes in a blender; blend on high speed until smooth (I did one ingredient at a time because my blender was wimpy), scraping down ingredients in blender occasionally. Add remaining ice; continue to blend until smooth. Makes 3 servings. (Very large servings!)

Blueberries and Bananas

While in Bemidji, we had the pleasure of picking wild blueberries for several hours. It took forever, it seemed, to even cover the bottom of our buckets. However, those sweet little morsels go a long ways! I made banana, blueberry muffins one morning and they turned out moist and yummy.

Bucca de Beppo

I'm really hoping I spelled that correctly. For some reason, it just didn't stick. Anyway, thanks to some friends of ours, Kent and I had an evening out at an incredible Italian restaurant. Yummy! From friends in Italy...they say this is truly authentic Italian cooking, the kind you'd find in Naples. It was fun to spend time together after his weekend biking and mine in Bemidji.

Camp worker

Tana has been at camp for nearly six weeks. She's been a camper as well as a worker some weeks. I keep thinking how ready I'd be to get home, but I think she's enjoying it and she's been a great worker!!!

22 weeks

This was taken a few weeks ago as I am now 25 weeks along. A couple friends and family members said I should post a picture because they never see me pregnant. I'm feeling pretty well except for some circulation problems. Thankfully, Minnesota doesn't get too hot!

My boys

DJ and Levi both experienced something new last week - for DJ it was learning to bat and for Levi...mud!