Banana Peanut Butter Oatmeal Muffins

ENOUGH LAMB... let's do another breakfast item. I had a really nasty looking black banana hanging around the kitchen, and I couldn't bear to throw it out, and it was breakfast time, so I googled "banana muffin" and after a bit of searching, settled on this easy recipe.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour 1 cup quick-cook oatmeal

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 tablespoons molasses

1 cup mashed banana

6 tablespoons peanut butter (preferred creamy) 1 cup half milk/half 1/2 & 1/2 (the real recipe called for Buttermilk, but didn't have that, so I improvised - as all good cooks would)

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and lightly grease 2 12-cup muffin tins. I thought I'd be lazy and use paper muffin wraps, but after-the-fact, I'd just spray Pam on the muffin pans... live and learn.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, oatmeal, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a medium bowl, whisk together vegetable oil, brown sugar, eggs, molasses, mashed banana, peanut butter and milk (combo) until very smooth - making sure eggs are fully incorporated (and if you use chunky peanut butter - it's all smoothed together).

Incorporate the "wet" mixture into the flour mixture and stir until mixed - eliminating flour streaks, but not over "mixing" the two. Basically - mix it good, but don't over mix.

Divide mix into the muffin tin/cups, filling each just about to the top of the pan/cup.

Bake 16 - 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the top of the muffin springs back when lightly pressed.

Remove muffins from the tin and cool on a wire rack. (I used two types of muffin wraps - foil and paper. The foil wrapped muffins just jumped out of the wrap; the paper wrapped muffins needed to cool a bit to unwrap without tearing the muffin apart - and who wants to tear a muffin apart?)

ENJOY - maybe smothered in butter and served with a big side of bacon !

Ginger Curry Rice

I was shocked to realize that it's been nearly a month since I shared Al's yummy Marinated Lamb recipe with you, and I feel obligated to round out the meal with the Ginger Curry Rice that was served with the meal. I'm not sure when else you'd use this rice recipe, but I'm ready to bring closure to my "lamb phase" for now, and it wouldn't be complete without this side dish.

Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons Butter
2 Cups chopped Onion

1/2 Cup chopped Celery

1/2 Cup chopped fresh Ginger

2 Tablespoons Curry Powder

2 Teaspoons chopped Garlic
1/2 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

4 Cups Chicken Stock
2 cups rice*

*I used a 16 ounce package of Trader Joe's "Brown Rice Medley" as my base ("a delicious blend of long grain brown rice, black barley & daikon radish seeds"), but if you don't have a Trader Joe's nearby, any 2 cups of rice will do - well, not the quick cook kind.

Chop the onion, celery and garlic - set aside. Take your fresh ginger root (yes, I also got this at Trader Joe's) and slice/peel off the outer covering, and any parts similar to "potato eyes" - I don't know what they're called, but when you peel the ginger, you'll know what I'm talking about. Set the chopped ginger aside as well.

In your favorite large sauce pan (or dutch oven), heat the butter and cook the onion, celery, ginger, garlic, curry powder and cayenne pepper until tender and a bit translucent.

Add chicken stock and bring to a boil; add rice, stir well, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 30 -35 minutes, or until rice is tender (follow the simmer time listed on your rice package - white rice will cook quicker, brown rice slower). Remove from heat and uncover - fluff - and serve with that yummy lamb!

And next blog will NOT be about lamb... unless I'm inundated with requests for more lamb. You dear readers will be the deciding factor.