Blogs, girl time and Saturday productivity

So all da boys are out cutting wood this weekend which leaves me home with a little girl time. Now my dillema is how much of it to blow on fun stuff like watching movies and endless hours of reading blogs versus getting something productive done (that I can tell my hubby I accomplished something while he was gone).

I end up sorting through the office, which is no small task. I still had not pulled all the 2009 filing to store, much less started filing anything from 2010. I am going through all sorts of files of miscellaneous stuff like rototiller rental reciepts, old Lowe's ads, every money market transaction over the last 4 years.... (why do I have this stuff???) The idea is that somehow, eventually, it will lead to me being able to balance my checkbook. What has happened to me? I used to be a very diligent, track every penny, checkbook balancer. This was when I did it all with a pencil and paper. Now that I use a computer to track and balance I put it off for way too long. I think it is because I have to make sure everything is entered before I can balance it. And I have to sort through the filing to enter stuff. And I have to have a place to file it before I sort through it.... You see my problem.

Anyway, I am tackling it today. Until I decide to take a break and look at a few blogs. HOW in the world do these women get all this incredible stuff done and still blog about it? Now I am not only feeling unproductive because I just blew an hour reading blogs and not getting anything done, but also slightly inferior because I am not doing any of their amazing projects. Woe is me!

Blogs, and really the computer in general are my love-hate relationship. So much cool information, so little time. Especially as I am using my time to find more cool information that I may never actually do. Oh well, such is my life.... Back to my office so that I can say I accomplished something today.

Or maybe I should just watch a movie and eat chocolate bon-bons instead.....

Banana Chocolate-Chip Muffins

And now for a recipe you won't find on The Pioneer Woman.....

These are a breakfast staple at our house. And besides the chocolate chips they really are healthy. They are all whole wheat and oat bran, but they are NOT heavy at all, nor do they taste like sawdust. The secret is to use whole wheat PASTRY flour. Pastry flour is made with a softer wheat than bread flour. Yes, it really does make a difference. I use the whole wheat pastry flour for all quick breads and regular whole wheat flour for all yeast-leavened breads. I buy Bob's Red Mill 100% whole wheat pastry flour. This is usually the best price at Winco, but sometimes Fred Meyer has it on sale at a better price. By-the-way, I store all my whole wheat flour in my freezer between uses because it has a much shorter shelf life than regular flour.

So here is how you make them. The full recipe will be at the bottom:

Preheat oven to 350 F. (325 if using convection)

You will need two to three very ripe bananas. I use two if they are bigger, three if they are smaller. You want to end up with about a cup of mashed banana. But don't stress over it. The recipe is really very forgiving, so if you are a little under or a little over it doesn't matter much - just use what you've got! If you have a lot of ripe bananas, or if you have very ripe bananas and no time to make muffins just throw those puppies in the freezer. Don't peel them - just open the door and throw them in and forget about them until you have time to deal with them. In fact I have noticed quite often that some stores will have extra-ripe, about-to-go-bad bananas at a very reduced price. I will buy a whole bunch and stick them in my freezer for making muffins later! Best deal ever! This time I had one fresh banana and two frozen bananas to use (picture above.)

For the fresh bananas just peel and put into a cup or bowl. I like to use a glass measuring cup so I can see if I am anywhere near the 1 cup mark when I am done mashing.

If your bananas are frozen then I first put them on a plate and then nuke them in a microwave for 30 seconds to 1 minute. I don't really want to get them hot, I just want to warm them up enough to peel off the skin. Warning: The inside will be VERY slimy/mushy and may trigger gag reflexes in individuals particularly sensitive to slug-like items. But in all reality, slimy/mushy is just what you want when making banana bread or muffins!

Here are all three bananas in the cup; ready to be mashed and mushed....

Mash them, smash them, turn them to goo... You can use a fork or you can use a pastry cutter like I am using here.

See how mushy they are? This is perfect. You don't want any big ol' chunks of banana in your muffin. You want them evenly moist. So mushy is good. Set aside - you will come back to it.

Now get out a largish bowl. And start putting in your dry ingredients. Whole wheat PASTRY flour. (I really need to re-label my bin, it just says whole wheat flour. I know it is pastry flour as opposed to the whole wheat bread flour which is also in my freezer. But if I ever want anyone else in my family to find the right ingredients, perhaps I need to re-label. Not that anyone else in this house would ever have a reason to know the difference between pastry and bread flour. I'm just sayin...)

Oat bran... If you don't have oat bran just use all whole wheat flour. I have done both and it works fine.

Sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and CHOCOLATE CHIPS. Really people, do NOT skimp on the chocolate chips.

Now I stir all the dry ingredients together with a whisk until combined.

Now on to the wet ingredients.

I just add all my wet ingredients in to my mushy bananas and whisk together. Egg, vanilla, oil, sour cream or plain yogurt. I probably use plain yogurt the most, but have used both with good results. Just use what you have on hand. One time I even used buttermilk and it also turned out great.

Here they are all combined.

Get your muffin trays ready. I like to use cupcake liners. This recipe will make 12 bigger muffins, or I often will make use this 6-cup pan as well and make 18 smaller sized muffins.

Mix your wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir together just until it is all completely moist. Don't over mix it, but don't leave a big clump of dry stuff on the bottom either. The batter will be lumpy - that is okay.

I use my cookie scooper to fill the muffin cups. It keeps my hands clean. I usually put one scoop in each cup and then use the rest of the batter to fill them up semi-evenly.

This is how full they are with 18 muffins. If you only have 12 muffins the batter will be pretty much up to the top of the cups. That is okay, they don't rise overly-much and so you will be fine.

Bake for about 25 minutes and then remove to a cooling rack. Did you know that your nose can usually tell when baked good have reached their optimal doneness? (I still set my timer or I would forget and have burned everything.) If you start paying attention close to the recommended time you will be able to smell when your baked goods have reached their "peak" - try it, you will be amazed!

Here they are, yummy and golden! Cool and eat. They do freeze pretty well also.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup oat bran

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup mashed banana (2-3 bananas)

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt

Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Combine the rest of the ingredients in a seperate bowl. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently stir together until just combined. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins and bake for approximately 25 minutes until tops are golden brown. Cool before eating.

P.S. - This muffin recipe is actually my own invention, as much as any recipe can ever be an original invention. I just have a hard time believing that no one else ever put the same ingredients together before the same way. So I am sure that someone out there has figured out a recipe pretty darn similar to mine. Muffin recipes can't be that different, can they? Anyway, this one works for me. If I ever actually post another recipe again I will try my best to tell you where it came from and give credit where credit is due.

Reading update

I have not been reading as much lately. I am still waiting to get my next book club book from the library. It has been on hold forever! I may miss this month. (They probably only have one copy and another book club gal has it checked out!) Anyway, here are the two most recent reads:

The Red Glove Collection, by Karen Kingsbury - Four short Christmas stories. As always, I love her stories. Easy reading after reading the older classics.

Its a God Thing, Inspiring Stories of Life-Changing Friendships, by Larry Baker with Becky Lyles - Becky is in my Bible study this year and she was the author who wrote down Larry's story. Challenging and inspiring. He definitely has a ministry that God has called him to. It reminds me that we each have our own place to which we are called. While we are all called to a ministry of friendship, it will look different for each of us. The type of ministry that Larry does could be unwise for someone younger or with a different set of strengths. So don't try and do what someone else does, but what you are called to do.

Recent reads:

To Kill a Mockingbird - I read for book club and we had a very good discussion. I can't believe that I have never read this book before! Very good. Sad, but highly recommend.

What do mushrooms, star trek and spanx have in common?

So we were eating our dinner of chicken kabobs the other night and I cut a grilled mushroom in half and put each half on the boy's plate and told them that they at least need to give it a try. I was quite surprised when they quickly and without complaint ate the mushrooms but then declared that they didn't really like them. Then they calmly went on with dinner. After dinner I was telling hubby that I was really expecting them to put up a fuss about trying the mushrooms. My hubby said that it was because I (instead of him) had told them to do it and they knew that resistance was futile. To which my Star Trek-infused mind responded, "I am the Borg, resistance is futile." To which my husband replied, "If you are Borg, when are you going to wear a skin-tight suit like Seven-of-Nine?" To which I responded, "If I looked like Seven-of-Nine then maybe I would wear a skin-tight suit." And then at the exact same moment we both said together, "Maybe if the suit is tight enough, I would look like Seven-of-Nine!" Which for some reason makes me think that I need to look into adding some Spanx to my wardrobe soon.

More books for my library list

Here is what I am reading right now from the library:

1) All New Square Foot Gardening - by Mel Bartholomew - This is the updated version and is WAY better than the first version. Lots of colored pictures. Simplified information.

2) Lasagna Gardening for Small Spaces - by Patricia Lanza - I actually meant to get her regular lasanga gardinging book, but this one still has all the useful information. I will be trying a modified form of this in a few beds this year.

3) How to Build Your Own Greenhouse - by Roger Marshall - Brad has found this very helpful and informative. Good for helping you decide how you really want to use a greenhouse and what type you need. I am sure that I will be checking it out again in the future.

4) Chickens in Your Backyard, A Beginner's Guide - by Rick & Gail Luttmann - Good information, the most concise I have seen so far. It answered a lot of questions for us.

Book update - The Orchid Thief

I am finally back after losing internet access for a week - which was probably really good for my productivity but made me feel sort of out-of-the-loop about life around me. Perhaps to permanently disconnect would be good for my sanity, but I just don't think that I can go back to life offline without some sort of serious calamity to force me into such an existance. (I know I CAN exist without internet, but I really don't WANT to give up online bill paying, ability to look up recipes, and daily blogs, and e-mails, and googling any subject that crosses my mind....)

Anyway, I promised an update on The Orchid Thief and here it is:

First off I must say that this is just such a strange little book. It is a non-fiction in the gardening section at the library with the feel of a novel. It is a story, but a true one. The author slowly meanders thru the story and weaves in tons of information about Florida, botany, architecture, orchids, etc. Unfortunately she meanders a little too slowly for my taste and caused me to lose the drive of the plotline by mid-book. I am afraid that this book will be a halfer for me.

I am ashamed to say that I have read a lot of "halfer" books. These are books that I get half-way thru and then never finish for some reason. Many times it is just that the book loses its compelling plot by midway, or rather, that by midway thru the book I have lost my initial curiosity about the book and the book has failed to establish a compelling enough plot for me to finish it. For me the plot of a book is like the engine on a train and all the other stuff is the cars. A strong enough engine (plot) with little else to pull will go fast and furuious to the end. A strong engine with lots of "cars" in the form of meanderings and information will slow the book down a little but still pull steadily and strongly to the conclusion. But a weak engine with too much to pull will just get bogged down. Usually I bail on the ride before reaching the end. This is what happened for me with this book. I will return it to the library half-read.