Ja cię kocham…

Most mornings during the week I wake up so early that I don’t want to have breakfast.  Sounds bad, I know, but the reason is because if I eat at 5-5:30am, I’ll be ready for a full-blown lunch by 9am.  I try to hold off breakfast until 7… at least by then it’s a suitable breakfast time that allows me to have a noonish lunch.  Mind you my breakfast is a last minute thought every morning as I’m heading out the door.  “Oh crap, I need breakfast!”  Breakfast bars are my typical breakfast during the week.  As much as I love the convenience, it gets old.  I want something more substantial to start my day.

Then I met Muesli.

This recipe is wonderful because you mix all of the ingredients with the exception of the fruit in a bowl and let it sit overnight in your fridge.  When you wake up, you have a superbly healthy breakfast.

You can also make this an oatmeal.  By cooking the oats and milk for a minute, then throwing in the rest of the ingredients once the oats are  cooked, you can have a quick, gourmet-looking, hearty breakfast.  Your choice.  Muesli or Oatmeal.  I’ve done both and they are both good.

Pick your favorite milk – soy, skim, almond, rice (or just water)…
Pick your favorite nuts and dried fruits – almonds, walnuts, pistachios, sunflower seeds, craisins, golden raisins…
Pick your favorite fresh fruit – nectarines, peaches, cherries, apples, pears…
Mix in some coconut flakes and brown sugar (optional)

And you will have a delicious breakfast!

Coconut and White Nectarine Muesli

Ingredients:

Adapted from Daily Unadventures in Cooking

Serves 2-3

1 cup oats
1 cup soy milk or milk of your choosing
2 tablespoons unsweetened coconut
2 tablespoons golden raisins and dried cranberries
2 tablespoons almonds
1 tablespoon flax (optional)
1 fresh nectarine
2 cherries for garnish

Directions:

Combine all of above up except nectarines and stir. Cover and put in the fridge overnight. In the morning chop up your fruit and serve on top.
**This will not be super sweet.  If you prefer it to be sweeter add some brown sugar on top.**

Man do we love homefries and hash browns in this house!  Normally we buy the frozen hash browns and have to stand around for 45 minutes or so for them to cook.  Today was a little different.  I had some left over potatoes from another dish that I decided to use for my OWN homefries.  Boy did they turn out good.  Even with the chopping, these were WAY quicker to make than our frozen hash browns.

There are only two rules that I must share with you when you embark on homemade homefries:

1.  You MUST use butter.  I used a butter/olive oil combo so the butter wouldn’t burn in the skillet, but it is the BUTTER that turns these babies into a beautiful, crispy, golden brown.  Do not skip the butter.  Even if it’s a tiny pad of butter… it’s a must to get the best results.  (And this is coming from a girl that usually uses olive oil for everything!)

2.  When you initially put the potatoes in your skillet.  Do not… I repeat, DO NOT stir them or move them for the first 5 minutes or so.  You want them to turn nice and crispy and this won’t happen if you constantly stir them.  So… place them in the skillet, go sit by the tv for a minute with your freshly brewed coffee and relax.  Let them crisp!  We don’t want mushy potatoes!

So go ahead… make your own diner deluxe breakfast.  Toast, eggs, bacon, and homefries.  It costs only pennies per person and it tastes soooo good.

Homemade Homefries

Serves 4

Ingredients:

5-6 small baking potatoes (I used butter gold potatoes), chopped into 1-inch cubes.
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 Tbs. butter
salt and pepper to taste
cayenne pepper to taste (optional)
2 cloves garlic, finely minced

Directions:

Heat large skillet to medium-high.  Add olive oil and butter.  Once butter begins to melt, swirl it around coating the entire skillet.

Add potatoes in a single layer.  Add salt, pepper, and cayenne.  LEAVE ALONE for 3-5 minutes or until the one side is golden brown.  (Time varies depending on your stove top.)

Give them a good stir.  Let sit for another 2-3 minutes.  Repeat one more time.  Add garlic when your potatoes are almost done.  you don’t want it to burn.

**Once my potatoes were pretty much done, I scooted them over to one side of my skillet (mine is 14 inches) so I could cook up some eggs.**

Remove from heat once potatoes are nice and crispy on the outside and relatively soft on the inside.  Season with salt and pepper again.

One of the rare times that I use ketchup!

It’s pouring.  It’s dark and gloomy.  And I am lazy.  So lazy in fact that I didn’t take the normal 40-50 pictures of my food for you.  I took 3.  And they were all “eh”.  But it’s a lazy Sunday so I’m sure that you can forgive me.  Will you forgive me?

As lazy as I am on dark and rainy weekend mornings, I still want my big, cozy meal.  What is cozy and filling without all the fuss?  Pancakes, my friends.  The answer is pancakes.

You can do one of two things.  Create your pancakes from scratch like I did with my Homemade Carrot Cake Pancakes with Cream Cheese Frosting OR get out your pancake mix (mine happened to be the Fiber One Complete Pancake Mix) and add a little love to it.  My love of choice for this morning was fresh blueberries, lemon zest, vanilla and cinnamon.

My little fluffy pancakes tasted like a gourmet chef made them.  Mind you they TASTED gourmet-ish but the appearance was that of a lazy wife trying to squish all of her pancake batter into her large skillet at once.

Try it!  Give your pancake mix a little love next time.  You won’t regret it – even on your laziest of days.

Blueberry Pancakes with Lemon Zest

Serves 2-4

Ingredients:

1 1/2-2 cups of pancake batter
handful fresh blueberries
1 tsp. fresh lemon zest
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar

Directions:

Mix all ingredients into a medium bowl and cook pancakes as directed.  Top with confectioner’s sugar and extra lemon zest.

Well hello wonderful sandwich that is figure friendly, sweet, and simple.  Thank you for being so incredibly satisfying in that roaring belly of mine.  You make me happy, very happy.   I want to have you on my plate every night for the rest of my life.   Would you mind that?

This cute treat was a spectacularly light and satisfying dinner for Jay and me.  Typically this recipe is for a brunch but it worked well for us as night time.  I always have a huge craving for dessert after dinner but this sammie was nice and sweet and satisfied the Sugar Monster that visits me around 8 o’clock every night.  He looks remarkably similar to the big, hairy, orange Hunger Monster on the Weight Watchers commercials.  Sugar Monster doesn’t bother me all day, but as soon as dinner is over he throws Hershey kisses and ice cream sandwiches at my face.  Crazy monster.  Will you ever leave me be?  Probably not – unless, of course, I eat this sandwich for dinner every night.

Speaking of Weight Watchers, this sandwich is only 3 points (per full slice of bread with topping).  I recommend using the Pepperidge Farm Cinnamon Raisin Bread because it is only 80 calories a slice.  )

Hands-on prep was all of 10 minutes and cook time was as long as your toaster takes to make your toast.

If you’re a mom or dad, Mom-Mom or Pop-Pop, you’re (grand)kids will love these!  They can be cut into hearts, stars, or whatever cookie cutter shape you’ve got!  This recipe reminds me so much of my Mom-Mom and Poppy.   I used to go on summer vacation for a week at a time at their house, and they always made me sliced strawberries mixed with sugar.  Mmmmmm…. I love the fond memories.  This takes me back to the 1980s…

I regret that I didn’t have the required raspberries for this recipe, but I definitely added some lime zest for a kick and some contrasting coloring.

Berry and Cream Cheese Open-Face Sandwiches

Source: Weight Watchers All-Time Favorites Cookbook, p. 75

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 large strawberries, hulled and sliced
1/2 cup raspberries
1 1/2 Tbs. sugar (I used turbinado)
1/2 tsp. grated orange zest
2 tsp. fresh orange juice
4 Tbs. light cream cheese
2 tsp. honey or agave nectar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 slices cinnamon-raisin bread
lime zest for garnish

Directions:

Combine the berries, sugar, orange zest and juice in a small bowl.  Let it sit for 5 minutes (or until sugar dissolves) while stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, combine the cream cheese, honey, and vanilla in another small bowl.

Toast the bread; let cool about 30 seconds.

Spread 1 Tbs. of cream cheese mixture on each slice of bread.  Cut each slice in quarters and top each quarter wtih about 2 tsp. of berry mixture.  Sprinkle with lime zest.  Serve immediately.

So cute!  Enjoy guilt-free!

Okay, I have a husband that is obsessed with only a few things as far as food is concerned – milk, english muffins, and fiber one bars.  Milk is an absolute must, so we always have at least a glass of milk in the house, but english muffins can be rather expensive.  I try to buy them during a “buy one get one free” deal, but I haven’t seen one in a while.  So I decided to make my own in the form of bread.

This recipe comes with the nooks and crannies found in a typical english muffin, but it is made with ingredients that we all have in our cabinet.  YES!!!  There is nothing more gratifying than to find a recipe that I want to make, AND I have all of the ingredients.

You can make pizzas, french toast, McDonald’s “egg mcmuffins”, and much, much more with this bread.  You need to make this.  Even if you have never set foot in the kitchen, you can’t go wrong with this recipe.

English Muffin Bread

Source: Donalyn Ketchum

Yields 2 loaves

Ingredients:

5 cups all purpose unbleached flour
2 cups milk
1/2 cup water
2 packages dry yeast
1 Tbs. sugar (I used turbinado sugar)
2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
Pam, butter, shortening (or whatever you may use to grease your baking pans)
cornmeal for sprinkling pan and loaves prior to cooking

Directions:

Grease 9×5 pans with Pam and then sprinkle cornmeal in and tilt the pans to coat all surfaces and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together 3 cups of the all purpose unbleached flour, yeast, sugar, salt, and baking soda.

Heat the milk and water until it’s very warm but not too uncomfortable to touch.

Stir it in the flour mixture.

Add the final 2 cups of all-purpose flour and knead into a ball.

Divide the bread dough into two even groups and place them in the prepared bread pans.  Sprinkle with cornmeal.

Let the bread sit in a warm location for 45-60 minutes to rise.  (I used a halogen lamp since I turned the heat off.  I like my house relatively cold.)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F while bread is rising (with 15 minutes left or so).

Place pans in the oven for 30 minutes.  (Since my bread was placed in dark pans, I placed a cookie sheet under them and only cooked them for 20 minutes.)  My oven tends to cook faster than others.  With this in mind, it doesn’t hurt to check your bread after 20 minutes.  Check with a toothpick and when it comes out clean, remove bread from pans and allow to cool on a cooling rack or plate.

Enjoy!

I saw this recipe and just HAD to try it.  Melted butter, cinnamon, and sugar all enveloping warm dough that just falls a part on your plate – count me in!  These muffins are incredibly delicious and quite a yummy treat for breakfast.  If you plan on making these, please be sure that you are not in a rush and have time to love your dough and give it the attention it needs to turn into these beauties.   It’s a little time consuming because it involves fresh dough that needs to rise, be flattened, and rise again.  The actual hands-on part isn’t so much work.  You just need to have the time to allow the dough to rise.

You can even make extra dough and set some aside for a lovely pizza crust.  )

I did alter the recipe a little.  Half of the flour that I used was whole wheat (that’s the maximum amount allowed for this recipe to turn out), I used natural cane sugar instead of brown sugar, and turbinado sugar (sugar in the raw) instead of white, granulated sugar.   I try my best to steer clear of processed and bleached foods.

The muffins literally melt in your mouth as you eat them.  I recommend eating them warm with a nice cup of tea.  It’s a great start to your day.

Monkey Bread Muffins

Adapted from Joy the Baker

Yields roughly 12 muffins

Ingredients:

For the dough:

3 cups flour (can replace up to half of this with whole wheat flour)
2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 cup lukewarm water (may need up to 1 or 2 tablespoons more)
2  tablespoon olive oil

For the mixture that keeps it all together:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cup brown sugar or natural cane sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar or turbinado sugar
3 Tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
handful of golden raisins (optional)
more flour, granulated sugar and cinnamon for dusting

Directions:

Stir dry ingredients, including yeast, in a large bowl. Add water and olive oil, stirring mixture into as close to a ball as you can.  Make sure to include all of the floury bits into the ball.

Knead it for just a minute or two. Lightly oil the bowl where you had mixed it.

Place the dough back into the oiled bowl and toss it in the oil so it’s completely covered.

Cover it in plastic wrap and leave it undisturbed for an hour or two, until it has doubled in size.  Joy mentions that you may place the dough in the fridge overnight.

Place the dough on a floured surface and gently press the air out of the dough with the palm of your hands. Fold the piece into an approximate ball shape, and let it sit under that plastic wrap for 20 more minutes.

Joy’s advice for the overnight dough: If you’ve left your dough in the fridge overnight like I did, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F, place the covered bowl of dough near the oven, or on a stovetop burner that doesn’t get too hot, bringing the dough to room temperature faster.  After it’s been out of the fridge for about 30 minutes, dump it onto a floured counter, press the air out and knead the dough into a smooth, happy ball.  Return to the down to warm up a bit more, and rise just a bit more, about 30 minutes more.  Your dough should be doubled in size from the previous night.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease a muffin pan and dust it with flour.  Set aside.

On a well floured work surface, dump out the dough.  Press out with your hands until your dough is about 3/4-inch thick.

Cut into tiny chunks – about 3/4 of an inch and sprinkle with a bit of flour, a handful of granulated or turbinado sugar and a generous dusting of ground cinnamon.  Toss on the counter top.

In a separate bowl, combine brown or cane sugar, granulated or turbinado sugar, butter, flour, cornstarch, raisins (if you feel inclined to do so) and cinnamon until well combined.

Fill the muffin tin to the halfway point with dough chunks, softly packing them in.  Top with about a tablespoon of the sugar mixture, then top with more dough chunks, packing lightly.  Finish with more sugar mixture.  That’s four layers for each muffin.

Place a large cookie sheet under your muffin tin to avoid any dripping onto the bottom of your oven.  Don’t want a smoky mess!

Bake for about 12-15 minutes, keeping an eye on them after 12 minutes.  Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes.  Run a sharp knife around the edges of each muffin then gently scoop out of the muffin tin.

Besides a grilled veggie sandwich, my all-time favorite lunch is a peanut butter and banana sandwich.  And if anyone happens to throw in some marshmallow fluff and/or chocolate, I won’t tell.  YUM.  I used to eat two of them every day during college (can we say freshman 15???).

I had a whole bunch of very, VERY ripe bananas sitting on my counter this morning, and I had a thought.  I would LOVE to make banana bread… better yet, I would LOVE to make peanut butter banana bread!  Even though this idea was original for me, I knew that there would be a recipe online for it.  And I was right )  AND it was a healthier version to boot.  Fantastic.

Even thought this is a more “healthy” version of the bread, you can’t even tell.  It’s sweet, it’s peanut buttery, and it’s incredible.  Basically it’s a woman’s dream all wrapped up in one baked good.  My friend Nicole tried it today at work and absolutely loved it.  She’s a queen baker so that means a lot!!!  )

Peanut Butter Banana Bread (with Chocolate Chips)

Source: Peanut Butter Boy

Yields 1 to 2 loaves

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (all-purpose flour also works well but try to use unbleached)
3/4 cup brown sugar (I used natural cane sugar)
1T baking powder
3/4t salt
1/4t cinnamon
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 large)
1 cup skim milk
3/4 cup creamy natural peanut butter w/ salt
1t vanilla extract
1/4 cup egg substitute (or 1 egg)
3.5 oz dark chocolate, chopped into small chunks (I used chocolate chips)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9×5 inch loaf pans (or muffin tins).

In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. In a medium bowl, combine mashed bananas, milk, peanut butter, vanilla and egg.

Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir just until combined. Mix in the chocolate chips.

Split evenly between the two pans  and bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Since the batter can easily fit  into one pan – If you want to make only one loaf, bake for 20- 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

This intensely satisfying breakfast is for my darling husband, Jay.  Jay LOVES Saturday and Sunday morning breakfasts in our home because we like to go all out.  Being as busy as we are (both in grad school and both working) we adore lazy weekend mornings filled with jammies until at least noon, no real urgent plans, and a large homemade breakfast.

Jay loves pancakes.  He has his own special recipe that makes them light and fluffy with the capability of melting in your mouth.

Jay loves carrot cake.  For our wedding we had a mixture of carrot and red velvet (my absolute favorite cake) as our wedding cake.  As far as Jay is concerned, carrot cake simply cannot be beaten.

During my typical daily perusing of food blogs, I came across a carrot cake pancake recipe from Joy the Baker.  Joy knows baking, and if you are going to indulge in any baking recipe at all, it must be Joy’s.  She is a pro.

Made from freshly grated carrots and a mix of whole wheat and unbleached all purpose flour, these pancakes are incredibly filling.  Your eyes are easily bigger than your stomach for these babies.

Joy made a very important observation.  She said that the carrots in her pancakes were a little too crunchy so I alleviated that by finely grating mine.  The results were great!

Noodles loves her carrots and she’ll eat them chopped, grated or whole!

Since I have a complex with crunchiness in my baked goods I FINELY chopped my pecans to the point that they were almost a powder.  I wanted the flavor without the chunk.  Again, it worked well!  No funky chunky pecan bites in my pancakes!

I also prefer my nutmeg to be freshly grated with a microplane.  The flavor is fresher, bolder, and a little goes a long way…

These pancakes very easy to make and incredibly filling.  If you enjoy a good carrot cake then these pancakes are perfect for you.

Homemade Carrot Cake Pancakes with Cream Cheese Topping

Source: Mildly adapted from Joy the Baker

Makes 10-12 small pancakes or 5-6 large pancakes

Ingredients:

3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cups whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons finely chopped pecans
2 teaspoons baking powder (aluminum-free if you can!)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
Dash nutmeg
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup packed natural cane sugar (brown sugar works well, too)
1 cup milk
2 cups finely grated carrots – (as fine as you can)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Spread
4 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 dash ground cinnamon

Directions:

In a bowl, combine flours, pecans, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, ginger, and nutmeg.

In a separate bowl, combine egg, brown sugar, milk, carrots, and vanilla; mix well.

Stir carrot mixture into dry ingredients until moistened. Pour batter by 1/4 cupful onto a greased hot griddle. Turn when bubbles form on the top of pancake; flip and cook until golden brown.

For topping, blend cream cheese, powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla until smooth. Sprinkle with cinnamon, and serve with pancakes.

Not the most glamorous shot, but you can see why I became full so quickly!!  Yum!

Well last week I accumulated quite a bit of leftover fruit, which has compelled me to bake.  I’m not normally a baker because either what I make sits in my kitchen until it’s hard as a rock, or I manage to eat 12 muffins or a whole loaf of bread in 2 days.  I cannot find the happy medium that allows me slowly enjoy what I have baked.

Yes, I could cut the batch in half… I may try that next time, but often times I’m left with disappointing results.

Anyway… I had some left over mangoes in my fruit bowl.  Mangoes can be rather expensive so normally I buy one at a time.  Since they were on some kind of super sale, I bought 4.  They weren’t ripe yet, so I waited and waited for them to ripen until I forgot about them.  Oops…

What do you do with slightly overripe fruit?  You bake with it!  But what on earth can you make with mango?  It was time for research.

Joy the Baker, a food blog celebrity, made her own fresh Mango bread with lime zest and grated Granny Smith apple.  It sounded a bit odd – so it’s perfect!  I love making unusual foods, especially with fruits and veggies.

The bread takes some time to bake in the oven, so just make sure that you have the time.  I’m off from school for a week so my mornings are pretty free.

Joy, you didn’t fail me.  The bread was super moist because of the apple, and delicately sweet.  The ground ginger gave it a punch that makes you say “Mmmmm…what is that?”.  I only tweaked it a tiny bit.  I used natural cane sugar instead of white sugar, and I omitted the golden raisins.  Just like walnuts, I’m not a big fan of raisins in my baked goods.

This bread is the perfect breakfast to go.  Yum!

Mango Bread with Lime and Granny

Source: Joy the Baker, adapted from Baking a la Greenspan

Ingredients:

3 large eggs
3/4 cup flavorless oil such as canola
2 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour (all-purpose is fine)
1 cup natural cane sugar
1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1 to 1 1/4 cup diced mangoes from 1 large peeled and pitted mango
1 cup grated apple from 1 peeled Granny Smith apple
grated zest of 1/2 lime
Directions:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan, dust the inside with flour and tap out the excess.  Put the pan on an insulated baking sheet or on regular baking sheets stacked on on top of the other.  This extra insulation will keep the bottom of the bread from over baking.

Whisk the eggs and the oil together.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt.  Rub the brown sugar between your palms into the bowl, breaking up any lumps, then stir it in.

Pour the wet ingredients over the dry, with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, mix until blended.  The batter will have a doughy, sticky consistency that is very difficult to mix, but do not fret!  The fruit will make it smoother once you add it.

Stir in the mango, apples, and zest.  Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula.

Bake the bread for 1 1/2 hours, or until it is golden brown and a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean.  I recommend checking your bread every 30 minutes to see if the top is beginning to brown.

Joy offers excellent advice: If the bread looks as if it’s getting too brown as it bakes, cover loosely with a foil tent. I had to do that, and it was my saving grace.

Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before running a knife around the sides of the pan and unmolding.  Invert and cool to room temperature right side up on the rack.

I would have never thought to put bananas and espresso together in a muffin, a cake, or in anything.  I was quite intrigued by the thought of these two flavors blended and baked together with cane sugar and vanilla.   Sounds pretty tempting, mostly because of the espresso.

And that’s because I am a huge java junkie.  I eagerly await my Gevalia Coffee shipment each month and get so excited when it arrives on my door step.   I do not splurge often, but I encourage all to splurge a little on one of your favorite things – and mine happens to be café au lait or a vanilla cappuccino with soy milk, or an awesome cookbook.

Heidi Swanson has quickly become my absolute favorite cook to follow.  Her blog 101 Cookbooks is amazing and so is her cookbook, Super Natural Cooking.  I have made several of her recipes and have been blown away by them all.  Her selection of ingredients are natural and wholesome, yet incredibly flavorful.  Just because you eat healthy does not mean you have to deprive yourself of flavor.  I am learning this now thanks to Heidi Swanson.

These amazingly delicious muffins come from her cookbook, Super Natural Cooking.  The only changes that I made were the omitted the walnuts (I’m not a big fan of a crunch in my soft muffins, breads, and cakes) and the use of one cup of whole wheat flour and one cup of unbleached all-purpose flour because I didn’t have the white whole-wheat flour that the recipe called for.

Espresso Banana Muffins

Source: Super Natural Cooking, p. 38

Yields 12 muffins

Ingredients:

2 cups white whole-wheat flour
2 tsp. aluminum-free baking powder
1/2 tsp. fine-grain sea salt
1 1/4 cups chopped, toasted walnuts (optional)
1 Tbs. fine espresso powder
6 Tbs. unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup natural cane sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 cup plain yogurt
1 1/2 cups mashed overripe bananas (about 3 large bananas)

Directions:

Heat oven to 375 degrees F, and position the racks low in the oven, and line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, 3/4 cup of the walnuts, and espresso powder in a bowl.  Whisk to combine.

In a separate large bowl, or a stand mixer, cream the butter until light and fluffy.  Beat in the sugar and then the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the vanilla, yogurt, and mashed bananas, then very carefully mix in the dry ingredients. Be sure not to overmix or the muffins will become tough.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tins, top with remaining walnuts, and bake until golden – about 25 minutes.  Let cool for 5 minutes then place on wire rack to finish cooling.