Nourish

Welcome to a new week! I don't know about you, but my soul was wonderfully refreshed yesterday as I spent time with God and took a day of rest with my family.  I have no doubt that God had our spiritual, emotional and physical bodies in mind when He incorporated a "Sabbath" rest for us.

It's Monday: back to school, groceries, laundry and helping people achieve personal goals in their lives. We're also under a thunderstorm and flash flood watch, so I've got a double batch of muffins in the oven right now, waiting to be eaten during that afternoon crazy hour when our bodies need refueling & rehydration. Now that I've nourished my soul, here's a fantastic way to nourish the body. 

Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Refined Sugar Free Banana Muffins in minutes.

You'll want to make these right now.  Best news: they are healthy and they are quick! 30 minutes and you'll have them prepped, baked and cleaned up. No kidding.  I think I based my recipe on this one I found on Pinterest. but I've been making them for so many years, I'm not sure. Enjoy it nonetheless!

Banana Muffins:

• 1 medium/large ripe banana, peeled   (FYI, ripe bananas are soft and brown & very high glycemic. Green bananas are lower in sugar, but don't give the liquid to the recipe)

• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup creamy GF peanut butter or sunbutter (DO NOT use almond butter!)
• 3 Tbls agave 
• 1/2 to 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup mini Enjoy Life chocolate chips (gf, df, nut free)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375 standard or 350 convection

Grab your Demarle silicone mini muffin pans.  Or, prepare mini muffin pans by spraying very, very well with cooking spray; set aside.

Grab a blender: Vitamin, Blendtec, Magic Bullet...whatever spins your world.

Add to blender in this order:  agave, egg, vanilla, banana, peanut/sun butter, cinnamon & baking soda, then blend on high speed until smooth and creamy, NO MORE than 1 minute. Seriously. You'll heat up the butter and your chips will melt into a gooey mess. Just sayin.

Add heaping 1/2 cup Enjoy Life chips and stir in by hand; don't use the blender because it will pulverize or melt them.

Using a small Pampered Chef scoop, drop 2 scoops into mini muffin pans. Each muffin should be filled to no more than 3/4 full (any fuller & the muffins will not rise properly).

 

Sprinkle each muffin with a generous pinch of chocolate chips. Just because I love chocolate.

For best results, bake at 350 convection for 9 minutes
Or, bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes

Do not over bake. Muffins will rise greatly in oven & fall as they cool on counter. Do not panic. They will taste fantastic!!!

Allow muffins to cool in pans for about 10 to 15 minutes.

Makes 12-14 mini-muffins. They will be eaten before you can pack them away.

I make these ALL THE TIME. I always double the recipe because these muffins freeze fantastically and hold up perfect in school lunches.  Here's a few more options I've tried during the zillion times I've baked them...

Variations:
Add 1/3 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder and 1 Tbls more of agave
Add mint chips instead of chocolate chips.
Add 1/2 tsp of bakers coffee spice blend

To make them sugar free completely:
These are good, but aren't as fabulous as the above recipe.

• 1 cup + 1 Tbsp almond butter
• 1 egg
• 1 banana
• 3 tbsp coconut milk
• 3 Tbsp stevia powder
• 3 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 Tbsp cocoa nibs
• 3/4 tsp baking powder