Nutless Wonders

Sleepy Saturday! I had a bad case of insomnia last night so I blew off my run this morning, slept in, then read in bed until NOON! We rolled into First Watch around 1:15 pm for brunch.

I ordered the Triathlete omelet -- egg whites, onion, green chiles, bell peppers and tomatoes with salsa, fresh fruit and dry english muffin. I ate about 2/3 of my meal.

And of course we couldn't pass up the opportunity to share a blueberry pancake!

We ran a few errands and then stopped at Starbucks on our way home. I got a grande iced latte.

Once home I made us each a snack plate of Kashi crackers, Laughing Cow Light cheese, sun dried tomatoes and green olives. YUM.

And for dinner I steamed some brussels sprouts and bell pepper to go with my reheated Thai food from last night.

After dinner I got the baking bug and modified Martha Stewart's fantastic banana bread recipe to come up with these healthier whole grain nutless wonders! (Chris's only request when he found out I was making banana muffins was to make them nutless). They turned out great!

Whole Grain Banana Muffins

(inspired by Martha Stewart's banana bread recipe)

1 stick of unsalted butter

½ cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

2/3 cup rolled oats

¼ cup ground flax seed

1 ½ cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

½ cup low fat sour cream (you could substitute greek yogurt)

3 mashed very ripe medium sized bananas

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare muffin tin by greasing or using liners. With an electric mixer cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and mix to incorporate. In a separate bowl mix flour, flax, oats, baking soda and salt. Mix dry ingredients into the butter mixture until combined. Stir in bananas, sour cream, and vanilla. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

This recipe yielded 12 standard size muffins plus one mini loaf. Now my house smells DIVINE!