Banana Oatmeal Muffins

I adapted this from a recipe I found at www.recipezaar.com, which is a site with a great "recipe sifter" engine, although the quality of the recipes varies a lot. I've changed this one a lot though - for instance, it wasn't muffins before, it was a flat bake. I suppose they are technically not muffins now, since they don't have any flour in them, and don't rise up much, but they're muffin-like. Anyway, they are a yummy breakfast, and are easy, quick, and reasonably nutritious - a big hit around here.

You can make these with over-ripe bananas, and what I do is toss any bananas that are getting brown into the freezer, where they hang around until I thaw them for banana bread, or these tasty muffins, etc. They turn dark brown, but they taste just fine.

Ingredients

• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 or 2 mashed bananas
• 2 cups quick oats
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 3/4 cup milk

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. Spray a 12-muffin tin with cooking spray, or grease
3. Mix together oil, brown sugar, beaten egg, vanilla, with a fork
4. Mash in bananas - lumps are not a problem
5. Add oats, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and milk, and mix well
6. Pour into prepared pan
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until they are pulling away from the sides of the tins.
8. Munch on a couple for breakfast, perhaps with a piece of cheese or two. Leftovers, if you have any, should freeze well (am testing this theory with today's leftovers).

I'm thinking about trying these with chopped apples instead of bananas next time. The original recipe had raisins. I bet you could use any kind of fruit, really, but just watch the cooking time, as it may vary a bit depending on the moisture content.