one reason it's hard to lose weight in Samoa...

Banana Muffins!

 We buy huge bunches of bananas here at the markets for 2 or 3 tala (about a dollar) and seem to always have leftover bananas that are too ripe to eat. Sounds like banana bread. A friend gave me her wonderful banana bread recipe. Unfortunately, I didn't have a loaf pan. I checked all the stores in the area and none of them had a loaf pan. I did find a store that had a muffin tin that held 6 muffins. I adapted the bread recipe to make muffins instead.

I cream together sweet New Zealand butter with raw sugar and local brown eggs. then I mash in 8-10 little over-ripe bananas, Stir in flour, salt, soda and some coarsely chopped pecans that I got on our trip to American Samoa. How easy is that?

I only can bake six muffins at a time with my pan in my cute little oven. The recipe makes 12 muffins. Everything is just a little more difficult here in Samoa. Sigh. One thing I like about my oven is that the light comes on when you turn on the oven. The 2 switches above the oven are breakers that you turn on when you want to use the oven and off when you're done. Every switch and plug in our house has a little breaker switch by it. (I think it has something to do with having 240 watt power here in Samoa).

I love these soooo much that when I make them I have a hard time eating just one. Thankfully when I get home to the States there won't be any huge, cheap bunches of misi luki bananas to buy!

Banana Nut Muffins

3-4 ripe bananas (8-10 small bananas, like misi lukis), mashed

2 c. sifted flour

1 t. soda

½ tsp. salt

¼ cup butter/margarine

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

1 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)

Sift flour, soda and salt. Cream sugar and butter; add eggs and vanilla and mix. Stir in mashed bananas. Fold in dry ingredients and nuts. Place in well greased muffin tins. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Makes 12 muffins.