Oatmeal Banana Muffins

Today I am off of work, so I decided to bake. I had a couple ripe bananas, so banana muffins was on the agenda. I've been trying to be more conscientious of eating healthy lately, so I wanted to make these with as little white flour as possible.... I have an abundance of oatmeal sitting around (my new breakfast of choice), so I thought to myself "oatmeal banana muffins would be good" and proceeded to look up the recipe. This is the part of the story where I agree with Dad that I am, in fact, a blond. I googled "oatmeal banana muffin recipes" and found several, including one with not only no white flour, but no flour whatsoever...this was great, exactly what I was looking for. So into the kitchen I went...dry ingredients in one bowl, wet in another...and then I realized...there were no bananas in this banana muffin recipe. Now, a clever person would have realized this before making the muffins, but not me...no siree Bob...so there were a few minutes of frantic "what the heck am I going to do with pile of goo" until I browsed other recipes and was able to save this poor unfortunate batter. So, here is my new favorite Banana Oatmeal Muffin Recipe:

1 cup oatmeal
1 c. flour
1 TBS + 2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 c. sugar

1/4 c. oil
1 egg
2 mashed bananas
small dash of nutmeg
bigger dash of cinnamon
2 cap fulls of vanilla

All dry ingredients get mixed together, all wet ones together, and then you mix all those together and bake at 400 for 20 minutes...they're tasty, but do require either coffee or hot tea as a compliment, because that's what all baked goods like to have with them. :-)

These guys are AWESOME

You've gotta check out this link. :-)

My new favorite quotation, as seen in a coffee shop

Unattended children will be given a shot of espresso . . . and a puppy.


Isn't that a terribly happy thought? :-)

I've been dreaming again...

I've had a lot of dreams about wax lately...I don't know why. Probably partially because I've been running, and every time I run, my legs feel like soft wax by the time I get back. Which reminds me...I should go running tonight...but I don't want to because I just finished a margarita, and my ability to actually run in a straight line is highly dubious because the margarita was consumed immediately after getting off of an 11 hour shift at work...so maybe it wouldn't be wise...but we shall see....
Anyway, my big dream of the week....Ryan's wedding...We've been working on Hassler's 12 voice Cantate Domino, which WILL be beautiful...once we learn it...Well, being in charge of the music for this wedding, I am also responsible for making sure everyone HAS the music for the wedding...but the Cantate has been the focal point, because nobody knows it, but they know everything else...so, in my dream, we were at the wedding, in the choir loft, when I realized that I only had one copy of the Cantate, and no copies of anything else, and for some reason, nobody could remember any of the pieces....even Sicut Cervus, which, as a rule, everyone can sing backwards, forwards and inside out...except, of course, for myself, who can only sing it backwards, forwards and inside out if I'm singing it with someone...anyway, as a result, Alaina glared at me, Christine said "This is rediculous!", Jen laughed, Draper informed me that I was incompetant (which, incidentally, I've been saying this whole time) and Anthony swore he would never speak to me again because Ryan blamed the whole thing on him and wouldn't allow any of us at the reception which Anthony was supposed to DJ, Mike P. did his silent head shake, Joe P. insisted that nobody noticed...and so on and so forth...you get the idea.
I'm going running now...

Shoo Fly Pie

I've had a couple requests/questions about shoo fly pie, so I decided to post the recipe...

Preheat oven at 325.

One 9 inch pie crust -- homemade or otherwise (I have no rolling pin, so I used the "otherwise" option)

Topping:
1 Cup flour
1/2 Cup light brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/3 cup butter

Mix together crumb topping with a pastry cutter, if you have one, a fork works too, until it is relatively fine and crumbly. Set aside

Pie Filling:
1 Cup boiling water
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 tsp. baking soda
1 egg, beaten

Mix together the molasses, corn syrup and boiling water...it will become a sort of frothy mixture. Stir in egg and baking soda. Pour into pie crust. Spoon the topping on top...most of it will be absorbed into the mixture...don't worry, that's supposed to happen.

Bake for an hour or until the pie is brown on top.
WARNING: This will almost definitely overflow the pan in the oven. Be sure to put the pie on a cookie sheet or something of the sort unless you want to have gooey molasses all over your oven smelling up your house. Better yet, wrap the pan in aluminium foil so that you don't have to deal with burnt sugar later. :-)
The pie is very yummy, but be sure that you don't cool it outside, because it is so sweet you'll have to shoo the flies away (hence the name).
Also I think that it could use a little more molasses and less corn syrup. I know you can make it with all molasses and no corn syrup if you want. Also, if you want a more custardlike filling, you can add an extra egg, although I haven't actually tried this yet. But it is very yummy and I highly recommend it. :-)

Shoo fly pie, and apple pan dowdy...

It is funny what a song can do to a person. Yesterday I went down to the piano room at the college. I haven't played much in the last 6 months so I spent a good amount of time there. I worked on wedding music for Ryan and Maria, and then I wanted to see how much my piano playing abilities had faded...so I tried playing something from pretty much every genre. My classical is still pretty good...broadway, mediocre...but I've always had a hardish time with that, and swing, well, my hands don't like moving in sink anymore and they hurt like heck after trying to play "In the Mood" but it was fun anyway. :-) I forgot how different each style is to play. It's kinda fun. :-) Oh, and Laura, I still need to get that book! I forgot it AGAIN when I was over the other night, and I MUST learn the Tocatta and Fugue before Erin does. :-D
Anyway, so, I wrapped up my little piano session playing some swing. One piece that I used to always play was "Shoo Fly Pie" but Kristy is the one that owns the music so I haven't played it in foreverbecause I no longer have the music. So as I was headin' home, this song is running through my head...it's a fun song. I've always liked it. So now what? I'm gonna make shoo fly pie! I haven't had it in 15 years and it's SO YUMMY! The last time I had it I was in Amish Country with Katy and Celka. I went to Katy's last night, and so we of course talked about the trip a little bit, even though it was so long ago. It was fun. So yeah, there was a connection here...what was it again??? I don't know what it was going to be exactly, and as I almost never proof these posts, I guess I'm not going to bother finding out. But the long and short of it is, as a result of playing the piano last night, today I'm going to make the best shoo fly pie this side of the....Blue Ridge Mountains. :-D

Silly little bird...

We have lots of birds at work. They're quite fun to watch. Today I was on the back deck for a bit and watched 2 cardinals do a good bit of flirting...they're much like humans, you know...she would fly from the fence to the shed, he'd follow her; then she'd look at him, but the second he looked back, she'd look away; then she'd fly over to the fence again...etc. etc...they carried on like this for a few minutes, and then he got smart, flew into a tree and she sat there lonely...and then followed. I guess she finally realized that he wasn't going to be putting up with just meaningless flirtation and she needed to make up her mind...it was cute...so I decided that they needed their privacy, and turned my eyes toward the pond where I saw a rabbit (not in the pond, hopping around near the pond). There was a butterfly down there too, and it looked like the rabbit was chasing the butterfly, but I know it really wasn't, because rabbits don't do that sort of thing.
Later in the day I was sitting at my desk (something I do only on very rare occaisions). I heard a funny thumping and chirping coming from the front of the building, so I went to check it out. At first I thought that a bird had gotten inside, but that wasn't the case...I looked out the front window and there was a cute little female cardinal pecking at her reflection in the purposeless bronze plate on the bottom of the door. As is always the case, she ran frantically when she saw me looking at her...but it was cute anyway....now the question remains: Who will be the lucky one that gets to clean the mat in front of the door...I'm off the next 2 days, so I'm sure it won't be me. :-)