Menu Plan 1/30-2/10 & Banana Oat Muffin Recipe

The game plan for the past two weeks (and probably the next two-three as well): plan meals that do not "have" to be made... in other words, meals using ingredients that will be good for a few days or can be frozen.  Also... meals that can easily be prepared by my wonderful husband, since I have been working late, going to the doctor every week and also trying to go to my 4:30-5:30 jazzercise class a few days a week, which puts me home at 6pm.  

So we've been eating...

the "easy stuff": 

- French toast & fruit

- Grilled cheese (with the addition of some raspberry preserves on the top... thank you to Grant's coworker Tom for sharing a delicious family tradition!) and tomato soup

- Chicken sandwiches & mac & cheese

- Linguine and meatballs

- Black bean veggie burgers

- whole wheat penne with some evoo and the artichoke tapenade from TJs

- pizza & carrots

the "more" complicated stuff: 

- our favorite potato & ham soup (minus the celery)

- tacos and mexican rice with homemade tortillas, because I intended to have tacos as taco salad but we didn't have enough lettuce :-/.  You MUST try making homemade tortillas.  If you have kids, it could be a fun/easy cooking project b/c the ingredients are simple and you have to roll them out super thin... and they still taste good even if they are not perfect circles.  I wanted to use whole wheat flour... but a certain man of the house (not the one growing inside me) said he'd prefer white flour.  Seriously though, these are sooooo soft, chewy and amazingly warm... I might decide never to buy them again.  How cheap is flour+water+salt+olive oil?!?

- Banana Oat Muffins (see recipe below)... as I was driving home from jazzercise, I had the thought "I want a banana muffin NOW." So of course, after we had dinner, I made these.  I LOVE nuts, but my husband is pickier about them... well, turns out he likes them on banana muffins, so I threw some on the tops.  Délicieux. Thursday night has to be the best night ever to bake something... I took one to school Friday morning and enjoyed it with my coffee before I started my first period class, got to enjoy one this morning with my cup of coffee.. and I'll have another one tomorrow morning before church. Yum. 

Banana Oat Muffins (modified from all recipes)

•  3/4 cup all-purpose flour
•  3/4 cup wheat flour
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 mashed bananas
• walnuts (optional)

Mix dry ingredients (flours, oats, sugar, baking powder & soda & salt) in a large bowl.  In another bowl, mix the wet ingredients (egg, milk, oil, vanilla, bananas).  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and combine thoroughly.  Spoon batter into 12 lined muffin cups.  Sprinkle walnuts on top if desired. Bake at 400 degrees for 17-20 minutes.