Banana Crumb Muffins

I had some ripe bananas to use and found a fantastic banana muffin recipe.

Banana Crumb Muffins

1 1/2 c. flour

1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 bananas, mashed

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/3 c. butter, melted

1/3 c. packed brown sugar

2 T flour

1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

1 T butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease 10-12 muffin cups or line with paper liners

In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 c. flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture until just moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 T. flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 T butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.

Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

The only variations I made were to substitute oil for the 1/3 c. melted butter and to add some chopped nuts and a splash of vanilla to the batter. Bon apetit!

If it's not one thing...

Last night I realized - again - that my couch really isn't that conducive to providing a good night's sleep. Why, you ask, was I sleeping on my couch when I have a perfectly comfortable bed? Well, the water heater in the apartment above me sprung a leak over the weekend and I now have a dehumidifier sitting in my bedroom, sucking all of the moisture out of the room. Reasons it does not make a good roommate:

1) It is really quite noisy.

2) I'm asthmatic and with no moisture in the air, I'm unable to breathe. Not ideal.

3) It puts off a surprising amount of heat. The room is like a car that's been sitting in the sun on a hot day with all the windows tightly shut.

4) Window! I'm unable to have the window open, making the air stale stale stale. And did I mention dry?

5) The bedroom door has to be shut and I'm too accustomed to sleeping with it open.

I really think management should have to pay my electricity bill this month or at least make a contribution. I had an industrial fan running for two days and now this dehumidifier. What's next?

This reminds me of the time on my mission when, as a joke, my companion and I brought home a discarded water heater and put it in our roommates bedroom as a practical joke. Ahh, the memories!

Success!!

Forgive me for being excited about this, but I don't have kids so when my dog makes me happy, it's a big deal. I met a couple friends for dinner tonight and decided to leave Abby out of her kennel, free to roam the apartment. I've been slowly experimenting with this, with the end goal of being able to leave her out whenever I have to leave her home instead of crating her for long periods of time. I feel like a terrible owner everytime I put her in. But such is city, apartment life. Anyway, this is the first time I've left her at night by herself and she didn't cause any damage! That I can see at least. When she first came home from the humane society there were some disastrous trials in which it was quickly determined she couldn't be trusted to be out. Now that she's older and 100% adapted to me and our home she seems better suited to staying home alone! As long as she doesn't start inviting her canine pals to come over and play when I'm at work we should be fine...

More Oregon Scenery....

Oregon Coast

How lucky am I that such natural beauty is just 90 minutes away??