Tropical Morning Muffins

So first of all, I have to do a special shout out to fellow consultant Lindsey Mote. She has an AMAZING blog with tons of great recipes I've been trying lately. One such recipe is her Tropical Morning Muffin Recipe. I've tweaked it a little to my personal tastes, but to see her original recipe, pictures, suggestions, visit her blog. 

This recipe is great because it is moist and healthy with lots of fruits, not a lot of sugar, and NO OIL OR BUTTER! I have tried it with all white flour, and again with all whole wheat flour. I must admit, this was my first time making anything with all whole wheat flour, and it was a bit much for me. There wasn't enough sweetness to balance out the grain for my taste. That said,  the people who usually eat whole wheat everything said they loved them, and my toddler still loved them and they were a life saver of a breakfast before our 8 am church on Sunday morning. I will personally only use all white, or half wheat/half white flour from now on, but let your health and taste preferences be your guide.

The best part of this recipe, aside from the taste, is that you can put everything in a jar and give it as a gift! I raffled one away at a party I did recently, and it was a hit. I have been using the pre-portioned individually sealed apple sauce containers that you can buy for your kid's lunch, because it's the right amount of sauce, and it rests at the top of the jar perfectly, still allowing me to fit on the lid and band to close the jar up. But since Shelf Reliance has just come out with applesauce powder, as soon as I get mine, I plan to use that in this recipe instead. I'll post an update once that happens.

If you want to make this recipe for yourself, just dump everything in a bowl, add 1 cup water, mix and let it rest while you preheat your oven to 350. Grease your muffin tins (1 batch yields 12 regular or 36 mini muffins). Spoon  the batter into the tins, and bake at 350 for 15-22 minutes, depending on the size of your muffin.

If you want to give it as a gift, use a wide mouth quart jar (the taller ones), and start layering items in the order listed below, with flour first and apple sauce last. Add a cute bow, e-mail me for a copy of the label to include, stick it on, and voila! Your thanksgiving hostess will love it, and your gift will ensure you are invited back for many a turkey in years to come.

So without further ado, here's the recipe for my version of Lindsey's Tropical Morning Muffins:

1c Thrive White Flour (or Whole Wheat Flour)
1/4c Thrive Brown Sugar
1T Thrive Whole Egg Powder
1t Thrive Baking Powder
1/4t Thrive Baking Soda
1/4t Thrive Salt
1/4c Thrive Maroon Cookie Mix
1/2c Thrive Pineapple Chunks
1/4c Thrive Mangoes
1/4c Thrive Banana Slices

1/2 cup of applesauce (in sealed container).

Just add 1 cup of water, mix it all together, bake in greased tins at 350 for 15-22 minutes, and enjoy!

Freeze-Dried Bananas

Today's post is product review of THRIVE's Freeze Dried Bananas Slices, (not to be confused with the dehydrated banana chips that they sell as well) .

Price: A #10 can of FD Banana slices will currently cost you $24.49 if you buy it through me. And with a Net Wt of 19.2 oz, that comes out to be $1.27 per ounce. Honeyville (another food storage company) is selling their #10 can of FD Bananas for $26.49 and only giving you 12oz. That's $2.20 per ounce. So THRIVE FD Bananas are almost $1.00 cheaper per ounce. If you're looking to try them for yourself before buying a big #10 can, this wonderful product also comes in Pantry can size (about 5oz) as well as Mylar Pouch (about 2.25oz).

Shelf Life: Because it is freeze dried, and not merely dehydrated, this awesome fruit addition to your home store will last for up to 25 years on the shelf, unopened, in its #10 or Pantry sized can. And if you do open the can to start snacking on it, you'll have two years to finish off the can as long as you use the provided plastic lid to seal between uses and keep it on your shelf away from heat and moisture. This product will last OPENED on your shelves as long as regular canned fruit will last in their cans unopened.

FD Appearance: Here's what three of the banana slices look like in Freeze-Dried form.

These are three of the bigger pieces from my can. These bigger pieces each measure appx. 3/8"- 1/4" in thickness and 1" in diameter. There are a number broken pieces in the can, as well as a small amount of powder, but those smaller pieces are just as easy, nutritious and yummy to snack on, and the powder would be wonderful in a smoothie.

FD Taste: Let the record show that my husband, who normally enjoys bananas, does not like these at all. He is, however, the only person I know who doesn't. Every party I go to, every friend or family member that samples them, they all love them. They are airy, crunchy and full of banana flavor. Kids especially seem to like them. Everyone else likes them so much, in fact, that my husband was bewildered and asked to try them again. He still doesn't like them and thinks the rest of the world is crazy, but since it seems to be 1 vs the rest of the world, we'll let the numbers determine who's really crazy here. :-)

Reconstituting: I placed a handful of FD Bananas in a dish, added some cold water, and let them sit for 10-15 minutes to reconstitute. Here's what it looked like after I drained the excess water.

These do not reconstitute back into firm, pale yellow banana slices. But since THRIVE foods are picked at the peak of ripening, and since I soaked mine in water to rehydrate them, I really wasn't surprised that what I got was more a slimy, very ripe colored collection of banana pieces. It reminded me of when I mash up ripe bananas to make banana bread. The wet texture wasn't appealing to eat plain (to me personally), but it would go beautifully in banana bread, muffins, pancakes, oatmeal, smoothies, etc. They did in fact go into the smoothie we had last night (which my husband says was pretty good).  There might be other methods of reconstituting that give a different result, and I will research those eventually. But if you plan to soak them in cold water, expect a result similar to the one above.

Summary: I think this product is a great way to add some variety to your food storage. You can't really get canned bananas at the store, and a lot of the banana chips you can buy are dehydrated and then covered in honey, adding lots of extra sugar and calories you don't need. These freeze-dried pieces have no added preservatives, and have the same nutritional value as their fresh counterparts. They are a no-mess, yummy snack my toddler loves to eat, and I love the convenience of them (and their super long shelf life). They make a great snack straight from the can, or reconstituted, they would go wonderfully in all kinds of baked goods, oatmeal, cereal, smoothies, etc. If you like bananas, make sure you add a can of THRIVE Freeze-Dried Banana slices to your home store today.