Marlo Approved Banana Nut Muffins

Two bananas on my counter this morning were walking the plank to the trash can. They were by no means rotting, just heavily freckled, soft and super sweet. In many households they would still be considered edible maybe even ideal, but I detest bananas this way. In fact I've been known to gag eating such bananas. My naners need a little green on top. The peel needs to be flawlessly yellow and crisp, and the flesh just a bit sour. Obviously the aforementioned bananas were way past their prime in my mind so it was either the trash or the oven.

I didn't have enough to make my favorite banana bread, so I thought I'd try this recipe for banana muffins. I was pretty happy with the way they turned out. The muffins were very moist, light and fluffy. They weren't too sweet or too heavy, so I didn't feel like a piggy eating one as my second breakfast.

Marlo liked them, too. I packed up the remaining 11 muffins into paper bags to take to Jeff's office and stupidly left the bags on the coffee table while I packed up Marlo's lunch for the day. I'm such an amateur. Of course Marlo pulled the bags off the table, pulled out a muffin and began shoving fistfuls into her mouth. When I finally noticed, I panicked thinking she was going to either choke on the nuts or have an allergic reaction and suffocate. I fished out all the contents of her mouth, found no nuts, then proceeded to laugh and grab my camera.




Banana Nut Muffins
Adapted from Chocolate and Zucchini



1 cup sugar
1/2 cup salted butter, room temperature
1 egg
2 large ripe bananas
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 cup toasted, chopped pecans
demerara sugar (sugar in the raw)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a standard muffin tin or line cups with paper liners.
2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffly. Add egg and mix in completely.
3. Mash bananas in separate bowl and mix in milk and cinnamon.
4. Whisk together flour, baking soda and baking powder in separate bowl.
5. Starting and ending with flour mixture, alternate adding flour and bananas to butter and sugar. Only mix until just incorporated.
6. Fold in pecans.
7. Fill muffin cups with batter and sprinkle tops with demerara sugar.
8. Bake 18-20 minutes.

Breakfast & Dinner Courtesy of Mr. Tub of Ricotta

One tub of delicious, creamy ricotta cheese = two delicious, memorable meals. I've been making my mother's recipe for stuffed shells for years and for years I always have a half a tub of rotting ricotta in my fridge afterwards. But (trumpets sounding) Giada has (of course!) saved the day with her Lemon Ricotta Biscuits (muffins, my friends).

Chances are, if you're my friend, and if I even just kind of like you, you've eaten these stuffed shells, cooked by either yours truly or yours truly's mother. They're simple but special enough to entertain with and really budget friendly. They're one of my family's favorite meals and just might become one of yours as well. Over the years I've played with the recipe here and there with a sprinkle of this and a sprinkle of that. I encourage you to season the stuffing to suit your taste. It's really basic and takes well to amendments.



Beef & Cheese Stuffed Shells

20-24 jumbo shells pasta
2 jars of your favorite red sauce
3/4 lb. ground beef
1 small onion finely diced
7.5 oz. (1/2 container) of Ricotta cheese
1 generous handful of shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
2 garlic cloves minced
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 egg
1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Preheat over to 350. Spread one jar of red sauce on the bottom of a large rectangular baking dish. Set aside.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain and set aside to cool. Add ground beef and onion to large skillet over medium high heat. Season with salt and pepper. Break meat up into very small pieces. When meat is cooked through, pour contents onto a paper towel lined bowl to drain. Once drained, place meat in a medium sized mixing bowl add the ricotta, mozzarella, breadcrumbs, garlic, salt, pepper and egg to the bowl and mix well.
Fill pasta shells with meat and cheese mixture to your liking and place in the prepared baking dish. Pour the second jar of red sauce over the shells. Sprinkle lightly with mozzarella cheese and place in the oven for 35 minutes. Remove from oven and top evenly with Parmesan cheese.

Now for the leftover ricotta:



Lemon & Ricotta Biscuits

2 cups flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
½ cup softened butter
1 cup sugar
zest from 1 lemon
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 egg
½ tsp almond extract
1/4 cup sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 350. Whisk together dry ingredients in bowl. With electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar. Add lemon zest. In separate bowl mix ricotta, lemon juice, and egg. Add mixture to butter and sugar. Add dry ingredients in two batches. Fill muffin tin lined with papers or well greased. Top with sliced almonds and sprinkle with sugar. Bake 20 minutes.