Several weeks ago, I finally found the time to make two new items. First, I had some ripebananas that I wanted to use, and instead of making the standard Moosewood Cookbook banana chocolate chip muffin recipe, I decided that I wanted to make them a bit more substantive and add some oats into them. So I did a little google searching at work (shh!) and found this recipe from AllRecipes.com (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Banana-Oat-Muffins/Detail.aspx).
I added in maybe 3/4 cup of chocolate chips into the recipe as well, made perhaps 15 muffins instead of the 12 in the recipe (some of my silicon baking cups seem smaller than standard). They turned out really well, but I think adding another sweetening agent would be good because without the chocolate chips, they would have been rather bland (I think some people in the comments mentioned applesauce for vegetable oil — that might serve two purposes which would be good).
Another accompaniment that would make them tasty is something that I actually did pair with the muffins — homemade ice cream!
I recently purchased an ice cream maker — yes, an ice cream maker. Williams Sonoma hassome on sale for only $60 so I thought it was such a bargain, that I couldnt say no. Its a Cuisinart 1.5 quart machine, and they added in an extra freezer bowl. Its still on sale here: http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/9313347/index.cfm?cm_src=rel.
For my first homemade ice cream experience, I decided to pick a simple recipe with no cooking required. I chose the Philadelphia Style Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Williams Sonoma: http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/recipedetail.cfm?objectid=E2192A50%2D00D5%2D4D3D%2DBCCDF7E7E0EEFEBF. I followed the recipe exactly, except for deciding to throw in some chocolate chips at the end of the freezing process. It turnedout to be the best ice cream I've ever had, but I only finished about an eighth of it before having to throw it away because it had been in the freezer for too long! Unfortunately, I think my current lifestyle is not only suboptimal for making ice cream (and really any sort of food) but also apparently for eating things I make. In a few months, I am hoping to spend some quality time experimenting with different types of ice creams, frozen yogurt and sorbets — just in time for a cold winter, I'm sure. Some of the recipes I want to try are: lavender, green tea, peach, strawberry basil, raspberry, and of course, plenty of versions of chocolate!
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