Happy sigh. I came home from working at our office space for the afternoon and was met by an excited Silas who had been eagerly looking forward to my return so we could play another game of baseball together.
The warm sun, green grass, and my enthusiastic 5-year-old were too alluring, so I didn’t even change out of my flats. 🙂
I’m so grateful for sunshine, beautiful weather, and for breathing room in my life again after a full few weeks. It’s amazing what those three things do for my soul!
After baseball, I’d promised Kathrynne I would make some Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins for her. I haven’t made this recipe in years, so I’m surprised she even remembered it!
But she brought it up earlier in the day and talked about how she wished I would make it again. We happened to have some bananas that were on their last leg, so today was the perfect day to make it!
Kathrynne’s still feeling pretty miserable and running a fever and very little food sounds good to her, so I was especially happy to hear that she was hungry for something.
Silas & Kaitlynn asked if they could help me make muffins. So we had some fun together in the kitchen before dinner…
I know that there are a lot of amazingly staged photos of recipes abounding on cooking blogs all over the internet. And I have no problem with these beautiful pictures. In fact, I find them inspiring, artistic, and mouth-watering.
But we all know that Pinterest-perfect, magazine-worthy pictures and backgrounds aren’t really real life.
So tonight, I snapped some very un-staged pictures while I helped the kids make the muffins. Looking at these pictures, I’m reminded that this is the stuff that memories are made of. The messes, the every day moments, the time together.
And to me personally, these pictures are much more meaningful than the most artistic food photograph out there. Because these are my people and we are living life together — dirty dishes, spills, cluttered countertops, and all!
These muffins are neither healthy nor Trim Healthy Mama-approved, but they are yummy, frugal, and so easy to whip up. Here’s the recipe… and you’re welcome! 🙂
Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1 cup sugar (I used raw sugar.)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup Miracle Whip or Mayo
- 3 ripe bananas, mashed
- Chocolate chips and/or nuts
Mix dry ingredients together. Beat egg in a small bowl. Stir in the mayo. Add to the flour mixture. Stir until just moistened. Stir in bananas.
Spoon batter into 12 greased or paper-lined muffin tins. Sprinkle with chocolate chips and/or nuts.
Bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly browned.
Makes 12 muffins. Freezer-friendly.
Thank you for sharing not only the yummy looking muffins (I will be trying these as soon as I have bananas in the house again), but also for the encouragement about the tough times. We are in the tough times now and have been for a couple of months since my brother moved in with us from the homeless shelter. I keep trying to remain positive, to remind myself that things will change and get better, but it is very hard to stay positive when both cars had to go into the shop within a week of each other, my car will need all 4 tires within the next two months, and a host of other crazy budget challenges. Your blogs always brighten my day and I always learn something useful and frugal from your posts. Please keep up the good work and know that you are making a difference, not just in your family, but in other families as well.
I have a similar recipe but instead of mayo, it calls for sour cream:) My kids love these muffins.
My favorite is your kids sitting on the counter. I let my kids on the counter but not in front of people because I’m scared what people will say. Thanks for the Real photos and real memories. I’m making banana bread with my daughter tonight!
😉
I love everything about you blog and all your customizable planner pages! I’ll be subscribing and reading forever. Love all you share!
I love your blog with all the customizable printables and everything else, I’m doing the 5 day morning challenge to or maybe it’s 7. I love all you share! I have been looking for these type of customizable planners forever I can do it on my computer and print as I need them so much less time! Thank you, and love everything you read, I have a list for 2017
We just made these again yesterday. This time we substituted the may with Greek yogurt (suggested by a previous comment) and I must say they are so much better! My kids love mixing them up and pouring the batter into their muffin pans. We each enjoyed one after cooking and froze the rest
These were great muffins!! Yummy
Love the real life photos. I just made these and substituted gluten free flour. They are delicious and so simple to make! Next time I think we’ll mix the chocolate chips into the batter.
These are yummy. Have made them quite a few times over the years. Haven’t made them in a while though. Was wondering what to do with the extra ripe bananas that are lingering on the kitchen counter. Perfect timing. 🙂
A big THANK YOU to Kathrynne for making a yummy suggestion! I made batch and WOW they are good. Kids and hubby loved them. I plan on making them with yogurt next time.
Yay! So glad you all liked them!
Thank you for sharing this-my 4 year old LOVES muffins and MAYO-I can’t wait to tell her I’ve found a recipe for muffins with mayo in them!!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and great photos of your family with us.
Love you real life photos, loving seeing how your little ones are growing… been reading since you had just 1 (child) :-). Keep being you.
So I have to ask. ..I see shortening in the photos. Did you use that with these muffins at all? I also SOOO appreciate your unstaged photos! Thank you for being real! Love your blog and read it everyday.
We used that for greasing the muffin tins. Thanks for asking so I could clear that up!
Crystal these are my favorite posts of yours. Real life, nothing to measure up to, just how it truly is. Please keep them coming. This is why I have followed your blog for so long. Thank you for being true and honest. You are an inspiring person.
Thank you so much for your kind encouragement!
Crystal–I love that you are refreshingly REAL and yet inspiring at the same time! Praying Kathrynne wakes up all better tomorrow!
Real life photos are the best! I always feel like my blog pictures should be staged so I appreciate knowing that just isn’t the case!
I made these with my four year old little girl this morning. It was so fun because I didn’t have to drag out the stand mixer and a bunch of complicated ingredients. Easy and no pressure. A winner. I love your pictures. Real kids having real fun with mommy.
What a relief to see a real muffin! I’m all about health and good food but I sure do miss the old days of just good old fashion fun in the kitchen with whatever ingredients are on hand! Yes to family time and fun memories!
Yummy! We make these too, except we mix the chocolate chips in with the batter – it’s yummy and melty in every bite! I do also appreciate the real-life photos.
I wonder if using avocado instead of mayo would taste bad? I do like the yogurt suggestion.
Let me know if you try it! I’m intrigued with the idea!
I also appreciate the real life photos. I feel better knowing that I’m not the only one who has an “ordinary” home. The muffins look really tasty in the pics, too!
On a side note, we like to use a cookie scoop to fill muffin tins. It’s faster and not as messy.
Prayers for Kathrynne. Please let us know when she’s on the mend.
I think I am going to try these but instead of the mayo, I am gonna use greek yogurt
Oh, great idea! Let me know how it turns out!
I’m going to try this recipe today for sure! And I love your shoes!
This is by far my favorite website on the internet. I am on here numerous times a day. Thank you so much for what you do and for who you are 🙂
Aw, thank you so much for your sweet encouragement!
Thanks for keeping it real:) I tried to join pinterest, then left pretendland because I was too overwhelmed:) ha. love the pics and letting us in on snapshots of your daily living!
These look really great! I love that you are willing to give people the non-Pinterest side of life. It makes baking with the kids so much less stressful when you don’t have to get them to pose and then get your item in the perfect lighting, on the perfect plate with the most awesome burlap napkin underneath! Fun and great recipe!
We love muffins at our house, I try and bake a batch at least once a week. We have a recipe called Monkey Muffins and it has peanut butter, chocolate chips, and bananas, yum!
Oh, that sounds so yummy! Do you have a link to the recipe you use?
I found this recipe from Taste of Home for Monkey Muffins that looks like the one referenced.
https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/monkey-muffins/
Thanks for keeping it real! Banana Chocolate Chip muffins are my husbands favorite for his lunchbox. I make them 2-3 dozen at a time and freeze them so that we never run out. I hope you are all on the mend and feeling much better this morning!
I hope Kathrynne feels better soon! Those muffins look so good. I bet they’d last an hour at the most in my home! 🙂
Aww…I love your non-staged photos! And I agree, sunshine and down time do wonders for the soul.
Banana chocolate chip muffins are a favorite of mine. I haven’t seen a recipe using mayo before. Pinterest and other social media sites sure have changed blogging but I still love personal photos best. It makes me feel like I am really getting to know the person behind the blog and …well…isn’t that why blogging started in the first place, as a way to share our lives with others mess and all.
Mayo is not the healthiest ingredient on the planet, but it sure makes these muffins delicious! 🙂
Even worse is the shortening! Say it isn’t so! 😉
I love your “unstaged” photos…in fact, that’s one reason I visit your blog. All the perfect pics all over the internet can leave me feeling like I don’t measure up, or need to work harder to have my house/kids/clothes/hair look that fabulous. My very favorite part of these pictures is your little boy’s mismatched clothes! My 8 year old boy always wants to pick out what he wears…and some of the combinations he chooses makes me laugh! Children are truly a blessing–they just seem to scatter joy wherever they go!
Thanks for your sweet encouragement! And you MUST read this: https://www.facebook.com/MoneySavingMom/posts/10152850664028227 🙂
Those are my kind of muffins! Topped with so many chocolate chips you can’t even tell it’s a muffin. =P Next time I buy bananas I’m so trying these.
We got just a little bit carried away with the chocolate chips. 🙂
I completely agree with you! Mermories are made of all the suff and of all little things we share with our family everyday and I love this too.
You have such a beautiful family!