Whole Wheat Strawberry Banana Muffins

Short update on my spine-cracking progress: I have graduated to once again being permitted to do low-impact exercise again! (In other words, I’m allowed to stretch, do non-crazy yoga, swim, and use ellipticals/stationary bikes.)

My no-spending challenge is going quite well so far (hopefully, I’m not speaking too soon). Last week, I managed to pilfer 12 sandwiches, 2 slices of pizza and 5 burgers–all free of charge. This will most likely extend the life of my loaves of bread to the end of next month (and if not, there’s still lots of cereal to be had!).

I really love it when they have events at school that provide a bunch of food. :] I’ve taken to bringing empty sandwich bags with me in my backpack for such occasions. <3

I made these this morning before running off to school to study some more biochem (it is kicking my butt :'( ). It’s adapted from a recipe on allrecipes.com, but I changed a bunch of stuff (decreased the amount of sugar and oil, added some oats). I’m sure you could use fresh strawberries too (it’d likely have even more flavor), but I have a giant bag of frozen strawberries, so I’ve been trying to find uses for them.

They aren’t too sweet, but they’re surprisingly filling, and have been approved (by that, I mean taste-tested after I ate the first one and lived) by my housemate (dietetic intern) and three friends in my program. :]

This recipe makes 12 muffins!

Whole Wheat Strawberry Banana Muffins

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup frozen strawberries, diced
• 1/2 cup applesauce, unsweetened
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375. Grease a 12-muffin tin or use paper liners (I ran out halfway through, so I did half and half).
2. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, oil, applesauce, vanilla, sugar & bananas.
3. Combine flour, baking soda + cinnamon and stir mixture until moistened. Stir in strawberries until evenly distributed. Spoon into muffin cups until completely filled (they don’t puff up too much).
4. Bake for 20 minutes, or until they pass the toothpick test.

• Do you have a favorite muffin recipe?