Year 2, Day 275: Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

We have a lot of bananas at my house. Someone is eating a banana nearly every day or even multiple people in a single day. We used to buy just one bunch but it wasn't enough. In the summer, the fruit flies made it challenging to keep bananas in the house (I'm open to suggestions). We had to alternate between keeping them in the fridge (which speeds up their browning); in the cabinet (which focuses all fruit-fly attention in the cabinet, causing a disturbance whenever opened) or keeping them in zip-loc bags. None of these are fool-proof, but we're a high banana-use house as I mentioned. Fortunately for us, bananas pretty much taste the same year around and so there isn't that Strawberry-Apple-Corn problem. Because of my exposure to so many bananas, I am always eager to make something with bananas. Making something with bananas almost always means baking and making anything for kids almost always means chocolate. So there you go. My quest to find the best banana chocolate chip muffin recipe was long-standing. Book after book, web site after web site, parent after parent was queried but yesterday I found a eyebrow-raising suggestion that I tried and it's great. (I warn you, this is unsettling) The substitution of mayonnaise for eggs, butter and/or oil. In the recipe at iChef, there was a very simple recipe. (http://www.ichef.com/include/recipe_fullpage.cfm?itemid=85590&recipeid=85246) I thought— mayonnaise? In baked goods? Then it hit me—of course, mayonnaise! Just because we think of it as savory doesn't mean anything—it's made of oil, eggs, lemon juice and/or vinegar. I'd put those things in a baked good without question. And so I did. I sat Ruby on the counter with the task of mashing the bananas and pouring everything. She did a great job. Baking time was 15 minutes (they need to sit a little because they are so moist they are nearly—but not—unstable). For the first time in about six baking sessions, she actually liked what we made and didn't want me to take them to to work. Emily and I each had one, and didn't need to eat from lunch time until dinner. I thought that was in part because they were made with whole wheat and a lot of bananas. I did the math— they were about 284 calories each, with 34g of Carbs. I did not calculate the sugars or other stuff, because some of the math was honestly vexing me. But at that ratio, it's about the same as a bowl of Kashi Go Lean Crunch or 1 cup of Grape Nuts with milk. They were YUMMY. Mayonnaise. Bananas. Go figure.

Breakfast
Kashi Go Lean
Heritage Flakes
Blueberries
1 Small Banana
1 Cup Unsweetened Soy Milk
Coffee

Lunch
Robert's Turkey Crumble
Lettuce Wraps

Snack
1 (more or less) Banana-Chocolate Chip Muffin
A few bites of Magnolia's Popcorn

Dinner: Skipjacks
Lobster (minus one claw, which Emily ate)
Skimpy salad
Cole Slaw
Some of Ruby's hamburger pieces

Today I went to the gym and arrive late, around 10:42. I usually try to get there and sign up for two spots (you are supposed to limit yourself to 30 minutes max) but a lot of people were watching, so I just signed up for one— at eleven to eleven thirty. Because of this, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to finish my workout since it takes about 60 minutes to complete. For this reason, I need two segments but starting at that off hour, I would have to be in three different ones. To compensate, I tried to go a lot faster and as a result I went seven miles (a new record) in sixty-one minutes. As another plus, I didn't have a between breakfast and lunch snack today, so I thought the muffins would be OK, though I realize that eating them makes me feel bad, even though creating them makes me feel good. Ah the torment of the artist!