A couple of muffins

I've been eating a lot of chicken breast and poached eggs over steamed greens lately. The creamy yolk on the vibrant green is REALLY pretty. But I don't eat them because they're aesthetically pleasing. It's because of my excessive baking during the past weeks. I made three types of muffins, a clafoutis, banana bread, pumpkin bread, cheddar herb quickbread, choquettes, and cinnamon pull apart bread. I ate all those lovely treats and enjoyed them fully. Now it is time to do a little healthy eating, no? 

So, muffins. I'd pick them over cake any day. Cookie or cake? Cake. Cake or cupcake? Cake. Cake or muffin? Muffin! My favorites are the classics: blueberry and corn. After strolling down the baking aisle at my local supermarket, a small, yellow sack of cornmeal caught my eye. I immediately planned to transform the coarse meal into tender corn muffins. Scrolling through Smitten Kitchen's recipe at the supermarket, I picked up everything I needed... except the frozen corn kernels. Darn, I thought as I waited for the muffins to cool. Then I bit into one. Delicious, with or without corn kernels. (For the record, I have a bag of kernels, chilling in my freezer, waiting to be slipped into corn muffin batter.) Notes: I used white whole wheat flour and it gave the muffins a nice, slight nutty flavor. 

Banana bread is freaking delicious. There's no other words to describe it. Lately, my younger brother always rushed to school without packing himself anything for breakfast. I decided to make a hearty banana bread into portable muffins. I roasted the bananas, let them cool, then gave them a spin in the processor. We both love pistachios so I just added some crushed nuts into the crumble topping. The best banana bread made better with pistachios. Yes. Notes: I used white whole wheat flour. Like I said, pistachios in the crumble topping make it special. Roasted bananas gave it a touch more sweetness but I didn't really get a different flavor profile. I didn't have honey so I used agave nectar. 


Now, for something a little different. Music. I'm not really a "music person." I have a few friends who live, breathe, eat music. I have a few favorite artists who sing mostly teenybopper/ Top 40 music. (Mike Posner, Vampire Weekend, Maroon 5, Justin Bieber, One Direction) Then, I came across Hoodie Allen in Jake and Amir videos. And. I. Fell. In. Love. A UPenn grad and an ex-Google employee, Hoodie Allen (real name: Steven Markowitz) could do anything he wants. Seriously. He chose music and he excels at it. I bought his EP, All American, on the first day of its release. 4.99 - a bargain! This is one of my favorite songs off his EP. Listen! Love! (Then buy his EP!)