Night Owl

At this moment, my son - who is not sleepy - is running up and down the hall in pink high heels. Just a few minutes prior to donning the heels I heard the sounds of water being poured out and found him and the cat in the bathroom. The cat was drinking from the faucet (I'd turned it on for her - she prefers running water) and Wyatt was dipping water out of the toilet into the "drinking" cup that the kids use to brush their teeth.

And now at this moment - he's traded one pink shoe for a blue shoe and is squatting down admiring the princesses on his toe tap shoes. He kicked off the pink one and i having a tantrum because he can't get it back on. But now he just asked me to take his socks off. And since the socks are off - they are no longer socks, but mittens and are now on his hands.

Oh and earlier he took a bar of soap and put it in my breadmaker (it sits on the floor under the counter) and closed the lid and started pushing buttons and declared that he was "cooking."

I have no idea where the soap is presently, but when I was looking for it in the bread machine I also found a Percy Train Engine.

It's been an interesting evening to say the least!

My tummy is growling

You will never find anything quite as elaborate as my best friend Becca's Food Blog - in my writings but from time to time I might write about a recipe or being hungry and going to her house to eat breakfast!

Right now as we speak I have banana oatmeal muffins baking in the oven. I had a "rotten-by-my-standards" but very bakable banana on the counter this morning. I asked Maddie if she wanted banana pancakes or banana muffins for breakfast and she said she wanted muffins.

One of the things I love about having a preschooler is that Maddie LOVES to help do things. She dragged her little chair over to the counter and mashed up the bananas for me. She also helped mix all the ingredients together. She talked me into letting her put some of the batter in the muffin cups, but I took over that job as she was being a little too messy.

Wyatt even got in on the action at the end - after the muffins were already in the oven. Maddie had lost interest and run off and he climbed up on the chair and put all my measuring cups into the empty bowl of muffin batter. 

They were yummy! Enjoy!

Banana Oatmeal Muffins

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. butter softened

2 eggs

2 ripe bananas, mashed

3/4 c. honey

1/4 c. milk

1 3/4 c. flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 c. oatmeal

1 c. raisins

1/2 c. walnuts

* I added cinnamon and nutmeg (for a half recipe I added 1/2 tsp cinnamon and about 1/4 tsp nutmeg - freshly grated)

Preheat oven to 375. Cream butter and sugar. Add egg, banana, honey and milk. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda and oatmeal and spices if using. Fold in nuts and raisins. Spoon in greased muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes, yield 18 muffins.

*Anne's notes: I made a half batch (1 cup minus 2 tbsp for the flour measurement). I used 1/3 cup whole wheat graham flour, and then 2/3 c. AP flour (minus 2 tbsp of flour). I used salted butter - most recipes call for unsalted, but this one didn't specify and honestly i never buy unsalted butter!. I added cinnamon and nutmeg, which I think greatly improved on the taste. I used quick cooking oats and omitted the nuts and raisins since I detest raisins!

I also used mini-muffin pans instead of the full size muffins. I rarely use big muffins these days because both Maddie and Wyatt like the little ones :)  Half a batch made 24 mini muffins, which is MORE than enough for us! I baked them for about 12 minutes, but I would start checking at 8 minutes. They didn't rise a whole lot, but were very moist and yummy!