In my family, late summer has always been about strawberries. As in, “cram as many sweet Ontario strawberries into your mouths as possible before they go away and we have to settle for the imported stuff.”
So we have been indulging. Lucky for me, the boys are both fruit fanatics and love a good berry. I like to throw them in smoothies, on cereal and with ice cream – who can resist a ripe, sweet and juicy little treat?
On the subject of fruit, this weekend I found myself faced with an all-too-familiar dilemma involving the dreaded overripe banana – two, to be exact. Bake something or toss? Since I hate wasting food – even spotted, smushy food – I decided to hunt up an easy recipe that would allow me to use up the bananas.
I quickly popped over to Life Made Delicious and found a recipe for Banana-Strawberry Muffins. Hooray! I could add bananas and incorporate my favourite fruit – a win-win!
Hold on. I also noticed that for every person who would “make it again and again“, more than half would “rather starve“. What gives? I suspected it had something to do with the addition of FIBRE 1 Original cereal, finely crushed. BUT, since I did have the cereal on hand, and am all about upping a food’s nutritional value, I decided to make the recipe as is and crossed my fingers that they would turn out all right.
The recipe is very straightforward:
INGREDIENTS
2/3 cup (150 mL) sugar
1/2 cup (125 mL) canola oil
2 eggs
2/3 cup (150 mL) mashed ripe bananas
1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla
1 cup (250 mL) flour
1 cup (250 mL) FIBRE 1 Original cereal, finely crushed
1 tsp (5 mL) baking soda
1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt
1 cup (250 mL) finely chopped fresh strawberries
DIRECTIONS
Heat oven to 375°F (190°C). Grease or spray bottoms of 12 regular size muffin cups with non-stick cooking spray, or place a paper-baking cup in each.
In medium bowl, combine sugar, oil and eggs. Stir in bananas and vanilla. Stir in remaining ingredients except strawberries until just moistened. Stir in strawberries. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.
Bake 16 to 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean. Let stand 5 minutes. Remove from pan and serve warm or cool.
THE VERDICT
We really like them! I don’t think I’d make them again and again, but the sweet strawberries and banana meshed nicely with the wholesome-tasting cereal base. The grownups liked them better than the kiddies – surprise surprise – and darling husband will definitely have one in his lunch box tomorrow!
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| BANANA-STRAWBERRY MUFFINS |
For more easy recipes – including many delicious ideas for incorporating sweet summer strawberries – visit Life Made Delicious today!