Breakfast Muffin Bread

I'm not a big breakfast person. I like something quick and easy in the morning, usually sweet and in the form of cereal. The only exception to this rule is brunch, but let's all be honest and fess up that we all know brunch is NOT breakfast whatsoever, but an exception to eat pancakes because you were too lazy to get out of bed 2 hours earlier.

When I realized I would have to cook an actual meal for breakfast on the E2 meal plan, I was not a happy camper. I mean, yes there was the option of making oatmeal or something like that, but that still involved far too much time and energy in the morning. I need something that I can consume in under 5 minutes, preferably in the car.

So, I searched for some sort of baked goods and found the recipe for "Mighty Muffins." I generally really enjoy muffins, especially of the lemon poppy seed sort, so I thought this was a good idea.

As I began compiling the batter for these muffins, I slowly came to the realization that I had neglected to buy any Pam spray (I've just been using olive oil in a spray can) and since Rip has seriously struck the fear of God into me when it comes to oil, I panicked. I had two options: I could make cupcake muffins with some of my cupcake papers, or I could turn these muffins into a loaf of Muffin bread. Since I only had about 3 cupcake papers (how does one only have 3 of those?), I decided to loaf it. I poured the batter into a parchment paper lined loaf pan which actually worked out quite nicely.

When I went grocery shopping, I had neglected to write down exactly how much of certain grains and nuts and what not I needed, but I assumed that since I was buying in bulk, this would not be an issue. Unfortunately, I had underestimated the large amount of strange grains and nuts we would be consuming, so I low-balled everything. I did not have enough oat bran for this so had to include one cup of old fashioned oats since I only had about 2 cups of oat bran. This didn't seem to make much of a difference.

This bread tasted alright all things considered. It was breakfast-y. Could definitely taste the 6 bananas (holy cow, that's a lot of potassium), but it was not something I'd generally serve to guests or crave for a snack. But it was filling and we still haven't gone through the whole loaf yet.

Here's the recipe for the Mighty Muffins from "Engine 2 Diet:"

Ingredients:

3 cups oat bran
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons sweetener
Juice of 1 lemon
1 large apple, grated
6 brown bananas, lightly mashed (leave some chunks)
¼ cup walnuts, chopped or halved
¼ cup raisins
¾ cup water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375º. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Squeeze the juice of the lemon onto the combined apple and bananas. Add walnuts, raisins, and water. Combine the wet and dry ingredients into one bowl. Pour into sprayed muffin tins and bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown on top.