Random food post on a non-food blog. Because that's just how we roll around here.

Every year for the past few, right after the new year for one of our warm-up activities for Job Readiness Training, I have the students (and my co-workers) right goals, dreams, wishes, plans, hopes, aspirations, ambitions and resolutions for the coming year on strips of colored construction paper. They can be big and serious things (get an apartment, not be homeless anymore, get a job, finish their GED, start college) or more personal things (get back in touch with family), self-improvement things (exercise more, quit smoking) or fun things (get better at playing guitar, go mountain biking, learn German, travel the country). I then have these around for a week or so, encouraging GED students and other clients and staff to add theirs, too, and then I connect them all together in a paper chain and hang it up somewhere in our classroom for the rest of the year. (Except this past year, that didn't work so well. It was crappy construction paper that tape didn't stick to very well, so despite my best efforts and numerous re-tapings, it kept falling down and falling apart until finally it was just not working, and we recycled it early).

The students grumble, and claim they don't have any goals, dreams, wishes, plans, hopes, aspirations, ambitions and resolutions, and so I just tell them that I don't believe them, because I have talked to all of them and know that's not true. Finish JRT, get housing, get a job. Bam. That's at least 3 right there. So I just tell them they have to do 8 or 10 or 12 or whatever random number I've decided on that day, and they grumble some more, and do it. And then when I open it up for if anyone wants to share theirs, they all eagerly raise their hands, and share wonderful, funny, inspiring, poignant, motivating, and impressive things.

So anyway, that is all just the back story. How that all relates to this is that one of mine today said that I want to bake more bread this year. I used to bake a lot of home-made bread, and I loved it. The process, as much as the result. I love kneading, and watching things rise, and smelling it bake and fill my house with deliciousness. But I just don't ever have time for such things anymore.

So tonight-- really, my first evening home, with nothing to do, no grad school apps to complete or homework to do or holiday events to attend or anything like that, in a long time-- I got the urge to bake something. I decided to actually go with banana bread, since I didn't have all the ingredients I'd need for most other breads, plus wanted a quick bread I could make tonight. The students' vegetarian cookbook from whence I draw my banana bread recipe falls right open to that page.

I don't really ever have eggs in the house, though. What I do have is applesauce-- I got a pack of those little single-serve lunch packs, which conveniently is the substitute size for 2 eggs (and, the applesauce then doesn't grow strange things on it, in between times I'm baking and need it to sub in). I also realized I don't have any white sugar in the house-- I had brown sugar, and a pretty much empty bottle of agave nectar, and Truvia. So I did the math on the Truvia and figured out the substitution. And I added a little cinnamon to the recipe, because that sounded good, and a drop or two of vanilla extract (because, why not?) And made muffins, instead of a loaf, because apparently (and this has surprised me more than one now, it gets me every time), I do not at this point in my life own a loaf pan.

The result was fluffy, moist, tasty, and pretty healthy, actually.

I shall call you: Corrie's Healthy Banana-Cinnamon Muffins. With Earth Balance, of course!

The recipe, if you should want it:

1 1/4 c flour

1/3 c Truvia

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 vegetable oil

2 very ripe bananas

1/2 c applesauce

few drops of vanilla extract

Put it all in a bowl in that order, and stir it all up together. Pour into a sprayed or papered 12-muffin tin, and bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes, until golden brown on top.

Notes:

- I would probably use even less Truvia yet-- it's seriously just SO sweet! Even by cutting it in a third from the original amount of sugar called for, it was a little too much.

- I throw old bananas into the freezer, and then whip 'em out again when I want to make banana bread. I nuked a couple for about 30 seconds at half power to unthaw them a bit, then sliced them both in half with a paring knife, and just scraped the inside out with amazing ease. (Sort of like scooping out an avocado.)

Nutritional info (calculated using an online site): 

Serving size, 1 muffin:

140 calories

9g total fat

- 5g monounsaturated

- 3g polyunsaturated

- <1g saturated 

0mg cholesterol

202mg sodium

14g total carbohydrates

- 1g dietary fiber

- 0g sugar

16% Vitamin A

7% Folate

2% Vitamin C

2% Vitamin E

5% Calcium

8mg Magnesium

16mg Phosphorous

90mg Potassium

Incidentally, this recipe is VEGAN, as well! :)