I am never bad when I have bananas that look like those.  Endless possibilities, no?!  I saw on the internet that someone made a peanut butter swirl coffee cake, and while that looked amazing, a quick check of the recipe showed two sticks of melted butter.  Um, no.

I decided to make chocolate banana peanut butter swirl muffins.  I do consider myself more of a cook than a baker, and usually am too lazy to separate the dry ingredients from the wet ingredients.  I always thought, why bother?   Until one time I made muffins, and bit into a giant piece of baking powder – and then I realized why it was important to sift or whisk the dry ingredients.  Don’t be a jerk like me and skip this step.  

I don’t mind a bit of chunky banana either.

I definitely need some help on the peanut butter swirl – and after I posted this on my Instastory I got several suggestions – one was to melt the peanut butter a bit before swirling on top, the other was to do a layer of batter, a layer of melted peanut butter and then another layer of batter on top of that, THEN use a toothpick to swirl.  Try those out and let me know if those work.

I always bake my muffins at 425 – no matter what the recipe says.  You just cut the cooking time by 5 minutes.  That ensures that wonderful muffin top.

Another tip I saw was to add a tablespoon of cornstarch to your batter to make the muffins extra fluffy, and these were definitely fluffy!   I used all no calorie Splenda too – being diabetic I am used to the Splenda taste, but feel free to sub in regular sugar – it would add two points per muffin – still 5 points for this size muffin isn’t too bad!

I couldn’t decide, so you get all the pics – you’re welcome.

Just . . . yum.

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I had one of my Alouette Cheese quiches for breakfast that I posted yesterday – I need to fix it though – because with the turkey sausage, it adds one more point to the quiche – still 5 points for this is worth it!

Jenn and I walked Macy’s because it was cold and a bit rainy.  The Walnut Room is ready for the holidays!  This picture doesn’t do it justice on how big and beautiful it is. 

And I need more snowmen like I need a hole in my head, but I can still look and touch!

Tomorrow I will post the recipe for this butternut squash and apple soup – so good!  Zero points and so filling.  The view isn’t too shabby either.

Dinner was quick and easy – turkey sausage open faced sammies – kind of reminded me of the Burger King chicken parm sandwich I used to love back in the day.

I am off work today – headed back to the knee doctor because my left knee has been killing me.  The last cortizone shot only lasted me a few days.  Fingers crossed surgery isn’t the only option.  Happy Tuesday – make it a great day!