oatmeal banana muffins

It's been a really long week with a ton of homework. Seriously, every October I contemplate dropping out of college. There's something about the stress of October that just gets me every time. I don't ever drop out, but I definitely give serious thought to why I value my education so much.

So, since it's October and we are quite stressed, my roommate and I made a last minute decision to go out of town for the weekend. Which meant I needed to whip up some snacks real quick so we'd have something to eat while we were traveling. I've been on this muffin kick lately, as noted by my last post involving pumpkin muffins, and my grandma makes these really amazing banana muffins that I was craving, so that's what I picked.

Except here's the thing - I have issues with bananas. They're this really awful texture and when you smush them up, they look real vomity. I love banana bread and banana muffins and hummingbird cake (which is this incredible southern fruit cake thing), all of which have bananas, so usually I find a way to smush them without looking, but today that wasn't working out, so I used applesauce instead. Also, advanced apologies that I again forgot to take pictures.

The secret of these wonderful muffins is that you cook the oatmeal first. My mom always saved oatmeal from when we had oatmeal for breakfast and would just use the leftover oatmeal, which works just fine. 

So you put the oatmeal, almond milk, and shortening in a small saucepan and bring it to a boil. You can melt the shortening first if you're worried about it, but it melts fine if you just toss it all in there. Once it boils, take it off the heat and let it sit.

Mix the egg, brown sugar, and applesauce (or banana) in a bowl. Stir in the oatmeal mixture.

Add the rest of the ingredients and stir it up. Tada! You have muffins! Bake em and eat em. 

Note that there are only 2 left - we are all of them on the trip. They're that good.

Grandma's Banana Muffins

1 cup rolled oats

1/3 cup shortening

1 cup buttermilk (or 1 TBSP vinegar with 1 cup almond milk)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 mashed banana (sub 1/3 cup applesauce, or shortening)

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

Pinch of salt

Put the oatmeal, butter, and milk in a small saucepan and bring it to a boil. Set aside. In a bowl, combine egg, banana, and sugar. Stir in the oatmeal mixture. Add remaining ingredients, and stir until combined. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes.