banana muffins for the muffin-deprived

I'm fresh from an empowering visit with the nutritionist, who tells me that the kids are well fed given their issues, and that I should give them a multivitamin and continue playing in the kitchen.

Oddly enough, this does make me feel rather playful. I'm thinking I should hang a sign on my kitchen:
ingredients come in, food comes out.
Or maybe, the Impossible Gourmet works here.
Hmm. This is fun. How about: This kitchen has been rated U (for unlikely) by the local parents council. Small children should enter only at the risk of expanding their vocabularies in unsettling ways.
Or... Complex eaters seek delicious food. No recipes under eleven ingredients need apply.
And finally, Please be patient. Chef is twisting self into culinary pretzel.

Yes, that was therapeutic. Feel free to offer your own suggestions!

In true pretzel form, tonight I tried a much revamped recipe from Whole Foods Market, one of those 'special diet' recipe cards that I tend to accumulate, sticking them in my coat pocket where they sit, forgotten, emerging upon their reincarnation as paper napkins for small grubby faces.

Whole Foods is rating high in my books right now, even if they are making organic food into a big corporate moneymaker, because of their Kids' Club. Or possibly despite it.

The goal of the Kids' Club (as I see it) is to persuade parents to come in with their kids, who will get free food, which the kids will then nag their parents into buying. If sufficiently successful, the kids will also nag their parents into repeatedly blowing the week's budget at WFM, because they want the free food. And stickers. But what if the free food is no good for your kid?

The Eldest, who is a KC member, was very patient about not being allowed the cheese crackers on offer, but I was somewhat irked. I left an irritable note about the issue, and today got a phone call. The next time the Eldest and I are in WFM, he may choose a free apple or banana, instead of their chosen freebie. I wholeheartedly approve...and asked the nice person on the phone to find out if the ascorbic/citric acid in the EFM house brand canned goods is corn-derived. She promised to try.

Here is the banana muffin recipe, and the texture is just like I remember, if a bit drier than my pre-allergy banana muffin. I think it's only fair to warn you that it made 11 muffins (I filled the tins a bit sloppily), and only four are left. Oh yes, and we don't like buckwheat. Not at all. Nope. Not us.

Shockingly Good Banana Buckwheat Muffins
1/3rd c. brown rice flour
1/3rd c. tapioca starch
1/3rd c. potato starch flour
2/3rd c. buckwheat flour
1/3 c. sugar
1 Tb baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
3 ripe bananas, mashed
2 Tb flaxmeal, mixed with just under 1/2 c water, microwaved until bubbling, then let cool to a egg-white texture (a.k.a. flax gel). For the rest of you, just use two eggs.
1/3 c. oil
1/4 c. molasses

Oven to 425 degrees F. Grease muffin tins (12)

Whisk together dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together wet ingredients (except banana). Add wet ingredients to dry and banana, stirring briefly until just combined. Divide batter between muffin cups. Bake until a toothpick comes out cleanly, about 16 minutes.

Let cool 5-10 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack. Try not to eat all at once.
Note: these muffins are a bit dry. They are lovely the first day, but not so the second. Consider adding applesauce or yoghurt, or even oil for extra moisture. Nonetheless, they are 'shockingly good' because, well, they have buckwheat. Low expectations? You betcha.

Author's Note: a later version of this recipe is far better - see here: http://breedingimperfection.blogspot.com/2007/05/trading-places.html