Banana Peanut Butter Muffins

This morning I realized I had 3 over-ripe bananas in my fruit bowl & didn't want them to go to waste, so I decided to make some banana muffins.  I found a really basic recipe on Pinterest that only called for 2 bananas & I actually had all of the other ingredients at my house, so I decided to give it a whirl.

My banana muffin idea was great in theory, but as I started peeling the bananas to mash them, I realized 2 of the 3 were disgustingly over-ripe & I couldn't use them.  But by this point I had already gathered my other ingredients & was REALLY dying for some muffins, so I started thinking about what I could use as a banana substitute--all I needed was the equivalent of 1 more banana.  As I started to think about this, I thought of how my grandmother always used to make me bananas & peanut butter for a snack--and VOILA!  There was my idea.  It took some tweaking, but I actually ended up with some seriously good muffins!  I am usually a stick-to-the-recipe kind of girl when it comes to baking, so I was pleasantly surprised at how well these turned out.  Enjoy!

Banana Peanut Butter Muffins

1 ripe banana
1/2 cup peanut butter (I used crunchy b/c that's what I had)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
2 cups flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup milk

Crumb Topping (optional--just mush these 3 ingredients together with a fork):
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp flour
2 Tbsp butter, softened

1. Preheat oven to 375 & grease muffin pan or line with paper liners.
2. Mash banana & mix with peanut butter, egg, vanilla, & butter.
3. Mix all dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
4. Dump dry mixture into the wet mixture.
5. Gradually add milk (up to 1 cup) until you get a good muffin texture--not like cookie dough, but not too runny.
6. Spoon into muffin pan & sprinkle with crumb topping.
7. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Makes 12 muffins.

Pizza Pockets

 

 

So, what do you do when you have a can of crescent rolls that's about to expire and you need a quick dinner?  Tonight, my first instinct was to take the tried & true pig-in-blanket route--but alas, there are currently no hot dogs in my refrigerator!  I also have a great creamy chicken pocket recipe (that I will have to remember to post on here soon!)--but only frozen chicken that I wasn't in the mood to thaw & cook.  SO...I started digging around for something that sounded like it would taste good wrapped up in a crescent roll.  (Although, let's be honest--what WOULDN'T taste good wrapped in a crescent roll, right?)  I decided to get a little creative with some pizza-making ingredients left over from the weekend and pizza pockets were born!  I added a nice salad on the side and VOILA!  Dinner in about 20 minutes! 

 

AND it got a thumb's up from my toughest little food critic! :-)

 

 

 

Here are the ingredients I dug up:

 

 

(SIDENOTE: If you have a Publix in your area and you are a feta cheese fan, give their basil & tomato feta a whirl...it is to DIE for!!)

 



Pizza Pockets

(Serves 4)

Ingredients:
1 can of crescent rolls
pizza sauce
shredded cheese
desired pizza toppings
(Optional topping -- garlic powder & grated Parmesean cheese)

1.  Preheat oven to 375.
2.  Separate crescent rolls into 4 rectangles on a cookie sheet & press seams together.
3.  Spread a pizza sauce, cheese, & desired toppings on each rectangle.
4.  Fold in sides of crescent rolls to create a pocket & press seams together to seal in the filling.
5.  Sprinkle a little garlic powder & Parmesean cheese on top before baking for a little added flavor.
6.  Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown.