Well, since we're eating healthier, here's one of my favorite muffin recipes. These muffins rock, and not just your colon! They actually taste really good. They stay moist for days, they're incredibly healthy, and they're a cinch to make. Banana-Cranberry Spice Muffins Recipe Source: Fiber One website 1 cup Fiber One� original bran cereal 1 egg 3/4 cup fat-free (skim) milk 3 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 medium) 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup sugar 3 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries Heat oven to 350�F (the original recipe stated 400�, but I found that to be too hot and would burn the muffins). Grease bottoms only of 12 regular-size muffin cups with shortening or cooking spray, or use paper baking cups. Place cereal in resealable food-storage plastic bag; seal bag and crush with rolling pin or meat mallet (or crush in food processor). In medium bowl, beat egg, milk and oil with fork or wire whisk until well mixed; beat in bananas. Stir in cereal; let stand 5 minutes. Stir in remaining ingredients except cranberries until blended. Stir in cranberries. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until light golden brown. Immediately remove from pan to cooling rack

Hi there! I just came across this cooking forum as I'm usually spending free time browsing the gardening forums. Anyway I seen you are looking for somthing to do your old bananas and thought you might like to try this one. Kids and DH like it just as much or even better than my Pumpkin Roll. Banana Roll: 3 eggs 1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. vanilla 3/4 cup flour 2/3 cup mashed bananas 1 tsp. banana flavoring mix all ingredients together until well blended Filling: 8 oz. cream cheese softened 1 cup powdered sugar 3/4 tsp. vanilla 2 tbls. butter beat together until fluffy Spray jelly roll pan with cooking spray and cover with a sheet of parchment paper leaving enough of an edge to grasp. Pour batter into pan and spread out evenly to all sides. At this point you may sprinkle with finely chopped nuts, totally optional. Bake @ 375 for 15 min. Remove from oven and turn upside down on a clean kitchen toewl dusted with powdered sugar. Carefully remove paper and roll up lengthwise. Let set until cool to the touch. When cake is cool, unroll and remove towel. Spread filling to the edges and reroll. Wrap in more parchment paper and then aluminum foil and chill overnight. Cut cake into desired size slices to serve.

Well, I made some corn bread last night. 24 gem muffins and one mini-loaf. Kept mixing to an absolute minimum, there were plenty of lumps (like Mom always told me to leave alone) and the results were very tasty. Like I said before, good flavor and crumb, no tunnels. But still, I got the Sombrero look. Not as much as I have gotten with straight muffin recipes but there. The loaf had more of it than the gem muffins. The flour info is interesting. I knew different flours had different gluten levels (never could make a decent wheat loaf until I heard about adding a wee bit of gluten flour) but as I use the same flour from batch to batch, that in and of itself doesn't explain why this only happens sometimes! A couple of weeks ago, I made a pan of cornbread that looked beautiful...modestly and evenly domed. Sigh. Okay, promised Lemon Bread Recipe: Lemon Bread 1 c oil 2 c sugar 4 eggs 3 c flour 1/2 t baking soda 1/2 t salt 1 c buttermilk 1 c chopped walnuts (see my notes) 2 T grated lemon peel Topping: 1 c sugar 1/2 c lemon juice Cream oil and sugar together; add eggs, slightly beaten. Mix together flour, baking soda and salt. Beat into mixture, alternately with buttermilk, until smooth. Stir in chopped nuts and lemon peel. Spoon into greased 9"x5" pans. Bake for 1 hour in a 350 F preheated oven. Cool Slightly. Remove from pans. Heat topping ingredients until sugar is melted. Place loaves on pieces of foil. Pour topping over bread. Cool, wrap and store in refrigerator or freezer. Makes 2 loaves. The above is the recipe as it appears in, "The Tastes Of California Wine Country Napa/Sonoma, written and compiled by Sonnie Imes. It is a cookbook I've had for years, featuring recipes from various Bed & Breakfasts in that area. The Lemon Bread recipe comes from a place called, "Healdsburg Inn on the Plaza" which, to my knowledge still exists, though whether they still serve this bread is anyone's guess. My Notes: This bread is fine made with your basic lemon. But I far prefer Meyer Lemons for their rich flavor. I do not add walnuts for two reasons,for one thing, I've never cared for nuts in quick breads. They lose any crispness, becoming mere chewy lumps as far as I'm concerned. For the second thing, walnuts give me mini blisters on my tongue. I sometimes do add dried cranberries, plumped slightly in some sort of fruit liqueur. Most often, I just let the lemon flavor stand alone. One can always serve the bread with a fruit puree on the side or a good, home made jam. The recipe calls for you to "pour topping over bread." I have found that direction to be inadequate. Place the loaf in a large baking dish or serving dish, something that has sides to catch the liquid topping and large enough for room to spoon it up as it pools so you can drizzle it back onto the loaf. The loaves should absorb every bit of the topping. Turn the loaves on their sides to soak up pooled topping as well. The top and sides of the loaf should be well inundated. Just before serving, I sprinkle the loaves with lemon flavored powdered sugar. I make this by whirring sugar, more lemon peel (I grate extra when I make the loaves and leave it out to dry a bit while they bake) and a few drops of lemon extract in a spice grinder. Plain powdered sugar would do, of course. This must be done just before serving because the sticky topping will soak into the sugar if given time to do so, leaving it icky looking. This is wonderful served as a "strawberry shortcake" in lieu of the shortcake.

I've converted my favorite English muffin recipe to the bread machine. Let it do the work. Going back in time a few years ago... Hubby, who thinks food appears by magic around here (well, almost), helped me make English muffins one Christmas Eve morning - by hand, from scratch. We delivered them, freshly made, to friends/neighbors/family. When his much impressed sister asked how they were made, he said "Don't ask. You're not equiped for the job." hehehe If you like English muffins, you may also like crumpets. Yet one more use for those English muffin/crumpet rings. Crumpets are a cross between English muffins and pancakes. Cooked more like a formed pancake, but you need to toast it before eating it. The easiest ones I make are a King Arthur recipe for sourdough crumpets. Take 1 c. sourdough starter. Put it in a 4-cup measuring cup (for easy pouring) and add 1 t. sugar and 1/2 t. each salt and baking soda. Whisk these in thoroughly. Watch the chemistry... the baking soda "explodes" forming millions of carbon dioxide bubbles to leaven the crumpets (which is why you need a 4-cup measuring cup). Spray your crumpet rings with Pam. Set them on a preheated griddle. Fill the rings with about 1/4-inch of batter and cook it over low heat until the tops are set and full of holes. The tops will also lose their glossy wet look. Remove the rings and flip the crumpets over for a minute or two. When they are done, place on a rack to cool. DO NOT stack them like pancakes because they tend to stick together. This recipe makes 8 crumpets. To serve, pop the crumpets into a toaster or toaster oven to brown and get slightly crisp. Serve with butter and jam. You can also add flavorings to give the crumpets a different flavor. I also add finely chopped deli ham to the crumpet batter for brunch crumpets. Never toss another cup of sourdough starter.... -Grainlady