Forgotten Fruit Part 1- Banana Nut Muffins

As many commercials lately have been so willing to point out, we throw away a fair sized percentage (which varies from source to source) of the groceries we buy. There's something so disappointing about finding an untouched bag of formerly fresh fruit in the back of my fridge.

So today when I realized that I had quickly aging nectarines, blueberries and bananas I knew something had to be done.You wouldn't throw away a perfectly good baby, just because it was a little old.

Now to be clear, I'm not saying to eat rotten fruit, I'm talking about that just a bit too soft, possibly bruised, not so attractive fruit you bought last week. The smooshed cherries in the back you bought 2 weeks ago are too far gone.

I think we should start with the classic "old fruit" recipe, banana nut muffins. People in my house seem to very picky about the ripeness of bananas, there's only a 2-3 day window before the bananas are forgotten and left behind a bag of chips.

Banana Nut Muffin (adapted from the Joy of Cooking)
2 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
3/4 cup of sugar
2-3 ripe bananas (mashed)
1 egg
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
1 cup of walnuts, chopped (optional)





Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt and nuts. Set aside.
Whisk together the egg, bananas, and vegetable oil.

Combine the flour mixture and banana mixture, but do not over mix. The batter will be pretty firm and not smooth, just mix until it is moist. Divide batter among 12 muffin cups (1 tray), make sure to line it with cupcake liners.

This picture came out a bit more dramatic than I meant it to.

Bake for about 30 minutes until golden brown and let cool.