Healthier Banana Muffins

My friend had to work late, so our birthday dinner was cancelled. She is actually living with us for a month or so though, so I’m sure we’ll still have a bottle of wine when she gets home.

I took a longer route home along the Rock Creek Park trail to add some mileage. I am doing a big ride with my dad tomorrow night so I didn’t want to do too much. The beginning was very traffic-ky/annoying. DC drivers are so cranky sometimes! I rode about 7.2 miles in in 37 minutes. I’m not exactly sure on the mileage since the Garmin took a while to find the satellite signal.

Shortly after I got home I received the text from my friend that dinner was cancelled. The dog and Neil are in Arlington for the night while Neil helps his little brother study for an AP exam, so my night was suddenly wide open. I can’t remember the last weekday I had a free night…probably before Spain!

What did I do with my free time? I baked some “healthified” banana muffins. I used to bake a lot but haven’t been doing it so much in the last few months. I also rarely improvise and prefer to follow a recipe, but tonight I decided to experiment. I think they turned out pretty good!

Healthier Banana Muffins

Ingredients (makes 12 muffins)

• 1.5 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 medium ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/4 cup agave nectar
• 1/8 cup honey
• 1 egg
• 1 egg white
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• optional: chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350*.  Spray muffin tray with non-stick spray.
2. Mix together dry ingredients.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together wet ingredients.
4. Fold wet ingredients into dry mixture and combine.
5. Scoop batter into muffin tray.  (I used a 1/4 cup measuring cup to scoop, and used slightly less per muffin)
6. Bake 20-25 minutes, or until you can stick a fork into a muffin and pull out clean.

Nutritional Info per muffin
Calories – 160.2 Total fat – 6.9 g Total Carbohydrate – 23.8 g Dietary Fiber – 2.3 g Protein – 3.2 g
(3 weight watchers points)

The finished product:

They are definitely less sweet tasting than your typical banana bread or muffin, but I think it would be a great breakfast-on-the-go option. Chopped walnuts would make it even tastier and more filling. (Note: the nutritional info does not include walnuts). Using agave nectar and honey instead of sugar lowers the glycemic index – meaning these muffins will fill you up longer!

I’m going to have some wine with my friend when she gets home and try to go to bed early-ish. I have a 6:15 yoga class to attend tomorrow…yikes!