Banana Yogurt Muffins

Now that bananas in Australia are back to $2.98 a kilo (down from $15.98 a kilo after the cyclones last year), I have started to buy lots of bananas to go in my weetbix cereal. Unfortunately, this hot weather causes the bananas to ripen a bit too quickly and I end up needing to do something with the over ripe bananas besides throwing them out.

Banana bread has gotten a bit old, so I've found this recipe, tweaked it and made some extremely tasty and moist muffins for breakfast/lunch/snacks. These muffins come out super moist thanks to the yogurt and oil, plus are healthy if you use whole wheat flour and low fat yogurt. I also really like that they are not too sweet. Just writing about them makes me want to eat another one!

Banana Yogurt Muffins with Honey and Cinnamon

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups self-raising flour (I used about 1 1/4 cups of whole wheat self-raising flour)

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup natural yogurt (I used fat-free greek yogurt)

1 egg

2/3 cup vegetable oil

2 large bananas, mashed

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp honey

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C) - Makes 12 muffins

Mash the bananas in a large bowl. Add the egg, yogurt, honey and vegetable oil and combine. Add the dry ingredients gradually and mixed until just combined. Be sure not to over mix. Line muffin trays with paper cups and fill (or you can use the silicon cups on a baking try, which I did).

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean. Let cool for 5 minutes and turn on a wire rack to cool completely.

*NOTE: If you don't have self-raising flour (which I didn't), you can make your own by following these ratios:

1 cup plain flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Welcoming the New Year with New Resolutions

2011 was a good year. I spent the year living in Melbourne, working at an amazing cultural institution, making great new friends and traveling to several foreign countries. And after almost three years living in Australia, I finally made a trip home to see my family and friends.

Perhaps most notably, I finally got a job in my field as a photographer at the library. I interact daily with some exciting and interesting collections items. Even though the contract lasts only a year, I've been incredibly lucky to spend my days in the studio.

2012 looms ahead of me with uncertainty. I suppose just as every year has. I am not sure what what wait for me in the future, but I will be ready with strength and determination. And not without setting myself some resolutions. There is always something to work for. And though I firmly believe that you do not need a new year to start working towards the things you want to change, it's as good a time as any to try.

2012 Resolutions:

1. To better look after my health and wellness - this year I need to do the things I've been putting off for a long time, such as visiting the doctor and the dentist. I also want to strive to continue to eat well and exercise regularly. I would like to be able to even improve at the gym by doing things like squatting 20kgs regularly and running 10kms occasionally.
2. To work on my spiritually and inner balance - I'd like to take more yoga classes and mediate more often, but I would also like to explore going to church again on Sundays when I am not donating plasma at the Red Cross (which I look forward to continuing to do in 2012).
3. To work on creative endeavours and explore my passions - Now that I have a thermometer for developing film, I would like to get to back into photography and hopefully one day get back into alternative processes. I have started a tumblr for a photo a day project, in hopes to document my life, one photograph at at time--also to get myself into the habit of seeing the world through photography again. I also hope to develop this blog again a documentation of my life in a city. Instead of being about my life in Toronto, this time about my life in Melbourne.
4. Keep in better touch with my family at friends back in the States - I know that it is easy for life to get in the way, but I know I need my family and friends in my life so I need to write more emails and make more phone calls. I don't want to lose those relationships and I want to make sure they can grow even though we might live miles apart.

And there you have it, my new years resolutions. I hope they help me lead better life this year. And at the very least, they give me something to strive towards.