Meal Muffins

I'm not a recipe-kind-of-gal, but I'll share one with you today because I mangle and manipulate it so frequently and it's a lifesaver when you just can't face another zucchini, or you want to be sure your family covers the nutritional bases on particularly on-the-go days.

I call these Meal Muffins, because they are truly complete meals. It starts with a banana bread recipe from my old, ripped-up, held-together-by-rubberbands Betty Crocker Cookbook on which I used to rely before I started winging it, but my recipe has traveled so far from that basic recipe that I'm thinking I don't need to credit Betty anymore.

Meal Muffins

* 1 cup raw local honey
* 1/3 cup organic butter
* 2 local free-range organic eggs
* 1 1/2 cup WHATEVER you need to use up--I lean toward either some kind of squash or some kind of greens (kale, collards, Swiss chard,or, yes, lamb's quarters!)
* 1/3 cup organic orange juice (I try to use some from my sister foodshed, Florida)
* 2/3 cup organic whole wheat flour
* 1 cup mixed whole grains--I lean toward 1/3 cup oatmeal, 1/3 cup ground flax seeds, 1/3 cup corn meal, or wheat germ, or rye flour, or WHATEVER
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
* a handful each of "mix-ins": nuts, raisins, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, dark chocolate chips, and a big ole' bunch of frozen berries (I like to put them in frozen so they don't discolor the batter)(use something local, if you have berries or cherries in season)

Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Fill cupcake pan with those little paper baking cups. Mix honey and butter (I usually melt the butter in the microwave for 40 seconds or so). Stir in eggs until blended. Add orange juice (okay, if you have three rotten bananas, you can mash them in here, but I don't usually add bananas) Stir in remaining ingredients, folding in the final "mix-ins" at the last moment.

Use a soup ladle to fill the baking cups two-thirds full. Bake until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. I don't know--20 minutes or so? You can tell. Cool completely, although someone in my house usually dives in before that.

I then put each muffin in a little plastic baggie and store the whole bunch of them in the freezer in a big plastic bag. I pull what I need out a couple mornings a week, let defrost a bit, tie a piece of raffia around the baggie with a sprig or two of mint and tuck them into lunchboxes and briefcases.

What I particularly like about this recipe approach is that every single batch of muffins is different, depending on what I have on hand, whatever is growing in the garden, whatever I find in my local travels. They are truly seasonal. And delicious. One lesson I learned: Just don't tell anyone if you put kale in them and they'll never notice.

Meal Muffins