Saturday morning, the phone rang at 7:30. A longtime family friend and neighbor from my growing up days called, and I was her last resort. Her sister was 1 of 4 honorees that day at noon in St. Paul, MN. She so wanted to be there but ride arrangements fell through and she was terrified at the thought of driving in big-city traffic. Would I drive 60 miles to a small town to meet her and take her to the event and the reverse? Uh, I was scheduled to take a class at 10 and had a bajillion errands to run - I'd call her back.
It's the people, not things that are important, right? I twisted my husband's arm to cover my class; made some other arrangements and called her back - I'd do it! Headed out the door without breakfast or coffee, so stopped at a nearby convenience store to one-stop shop: gas, coffee and a snack. I usually pump gas and go away, as going inside could get one into real calorie trouble!
Filled my coffee mug and headed to the bakery section looking for anything whole grain. The closest choice was a banana-chocolate chip muffin, HUGE @ $1.29 (not whole grain). At the check-out, there was a basket of bananas at 3 for $ 0.99 - I bought. Ultimately, I had a 33-cent good-for-me banana and a not so good muffin half. (Yes, I ate only half, since calorie wise, a regular-sized muffin is about 200 calories, so the one I bought had to be at least twice that.) I really missed the flavor and goodness of whole grains, but also didn't sleuth the rest of the store.
Having 2 ripe bananas left, on Sunday I decided to make our own great "Healthified" Banana-Chocolate Chip Muffins. They're made with whole wheat flour and have 3g fiber - a much healthier choice, and a dozen likely cost what 1 muffin did at the convenience store! Banana muffins and breads freeze well, so now I'm ready for future spur-of-the-moment road trips (BTW, I had a wonderful memorable day)! Stock your freezer with these healthier economical banana muffin recipes:
Banana-Chocolate Chip Muffins Banana-Raisin Muffins Banana-Cranberry Muffins
