Pecan Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

Sitting down? Nicholas has homework!! Isn’t that the cutest thing? At three-years-old, the kid already has homework. He came home intent to work on it, even though it’s not due until Friday. His class is learning alphabet identification, and the homework is focusing on the letter “A.” I asked him to do something after dinner, and the response was, “No, Mama, I have to do my homework. I’m sorry.” I love it! With any luck, we can carry this same resolve through the rest of his school career, but I’ll take this for now.

Went to a few stores after work to start collecting Halloween stuff. We’re one of “those” houses that go all out and decorate the yard for Halloween, and the fun has just begun. Every year, we add a bit more to the yard, and I look forward to seeing it all come together. I found some great masks at the dollar store, and they’re going to make some ultra-scary life-size monsters.

Since we got home a bit late, we took the opportunity to clean out the fridge for dinner, having a mish-mosh of stuff. Of course, you know I can’t not cook SOMETHING new, and set to make use of some overly ripe bananas. It seems I always have a lot of those. Nicholas and The Husband love bananas, but go through phases eating them. Tonight I had 8 to use up. I made Pecan Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins and a double batch of Banana Bread. The Husband‘s car is in the shop, so with him using my car, The Neighbor took Nicholas and I to school and work, respectively, today and will again tomorrow. So, she’s getting one of the banana breads and 12 of the muffins. Tomorrow she’s bringing me HER overly ripe bananas, so we’re going to have to get creative.

The Banana Bread recipe is a new one and while good, I still think the Nigella one I made awhile back is still the frontrunner. I liked the muffins, particularly warm from the oven with a bit of butter, but may tweak them just a bit more.

Tomorrow is The Husband Cooks Wednesday, so tune in to find out what he’s up to. And then Thursday, it’s all good old-fashioned hoedown fun, so you’ll have to check in and see what that’s all about. Until then…

Sweetnicks’ Pecan Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon banana extract
1 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 350F. Place muffin cups in muffin tin, or grease with a little butter. Mix sugar, oil, and egg until creamy and light yellow. Add bananas, pecans, chocolate chips, vanilla, banana extract, flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir until completely smooth. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until toothpick poked in center muffin comes out clean. Yield: about 18 muffins

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