Eating Well and Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Barbara Kingslover is one of my favorite authors so I naturally picked up her last book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - A Year of Food Life, eager to read. To my surprise, her story is part memoir about how she and her family make a promise to only buy food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it.
As I read, I sometimes felt this premise seemed plausible but at other times, absolutely ridiculous. I did actually wonder living a life where our family could pre-pare (i.e. store, freeze, can, preserve) in season fruits and vegetables to eat in the deep freeze of winter.
While I did imagine this feat as doable, I also was drawn back to reality by the simple fact that preparing food for my family sometimes seems next to impossible. Jake still verges on not wanting any of his foods to touch on his plate, Shaye hates Chicken, a staple in any household, and Steve would simply love to eat take out if he had his choice. Myself, well, I have the fantasy of eating well but coming home after a long day on my feet, making a turkey and cheese sandwich on toasted rolls is a feature menu items for us. But I try. I love to make new seasonal recipes from Bon Appetit, my favorite magazine. I try to make dishes on the weekend that can take me into the week...Spinach Quiche, soup - I recently made a great Creamy Tomato, last night, to my surprise, a Stir-fry Steve and Shaye loved - Jake was at a Student Council Meeting -he would not have liked it.
So, I fall back on family favorites often and am grateful the food store is around the corner to offer a world of variety any season of the year. Here is one of our favorite family recipes filled with some nutritional extras the kids know I sneak in but don't seem to mind. If you make them for your family, I think they will enjoy them as much as ours.
Bon Appetit!

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins - A Northern Alviene Favorite.

1 stick butter - room temperature
3/4 cup sugar - I use raw cane sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups of flour - I use whole wheat white
2 tablespoons wheat germ
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed, very ripe bananas
1/2 cup yogurt-sometimes I'll use probiotic keifer
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup ground walnuts
1/2 chocolate chips

Pre-heat oven to 350. Cream butter and sugar, add eggs (in a stand mixer if you have). In separate bowl sift dry ingredients. Mash banana is separate cup, add yogurt. Add dry ingredients with butter mixture till just mixed, add bananas/yogurt, vanilla and nuts and chocolate chips. Blend just slightly, add nuts. Spoon into lined muffin tins. Bake approx. 35 mins.

Jake's Wrestling Season Ends

Let me share something about Jake. He is incredibly brave and continues to impress us with his willingness to try something new (except food-but that is changing). Last year he tried out for the school play, this year it was Wrestling. I must admit, I was worried about this choice but surprisingly, I came full swing around to appreciate the benefits he actually gained from this physically demanding sport.The beginning of the season started with the official "weigh-in" which secured each wrestler's base-line weight for the season - Jake at 112lbs. Wrestler's could only fluctuate a slight bit from that original weight BUT on days of meets, they had to weigh in at or below this original weight and then, could not put on more than 3 lbs. over the course of the day. At first, this was not a problem for Jake but by the end of the season it did become difficult. Two reasons, 1) he was developing incredible muscle mass from his training and, 2) his body is growing leaps and bounds. The consequence of not "making-weight" meant you wrestled "up" to the next weight class. This was cause for a mother's (my) anxiety! He was brand new to the sport and was just learning maneuvers. The players are strong, quick and knew their way around the mat. Jake, a quick study who always recognizes the strategy of a sport, was still learning what to do and if he then had to move up to a higher weight class because he was just SLIGHTLY over his weight, I would worry for his safety. But, this became our family's learning curve to this new sport. Jake worked incredibly hard this winter and his training paid off. He was stronger, he learned the moves and by the end of the season understood what he had to do for a pin. We learned to pace his eating a couple of days ahead of meets which actually forced Jake to eat more nutritiously.
While I did not like that he didn't eat the morning of a weigh in, we packed him bagels, peanut butter, and powerade to eat right after he weighted in at 7:30 a.m. He began taking a multi-vitamin and nutritional soy drinks and he grew into a serious athlete. Jake ended the season at his last meet with a pin in the next weight class above his original weight! I proudly watched him at the edge of the mat and got pictures to share. Wrestling is a very rigorous sport but it taught Jake mental and physical discipline that I believe will serve him his life time. And, while I wasn't the fan of wrestling at the beginning, I now would like him to continue next year because of the benefits it brought him. Steve and I couldn't be more proud of his sense of self and the strength he possesses as a person.