Sweet Cornbread Muffins

There is no better accompaniment for red beans and rice than cornbread. In fact, my mom and my husband prefer to skip the rice altogether and use cornbread as a base instead. Me, I keep the rice and have my cornbread on the side, usually with a smear of butter (and sometimes a drizzle of honey, yum!). I used to be a diligent Jiffy mix user, but since we have recently been trying to get away from so many prepackaged foods, I set out to find the perfect cornbread recipe. After a few misses I finally found a winner over at Cooking on the Side. Her recipe is a sweet cornbread, which is the only way to make it, in my opinion. The recipe makes about 18-20 muffins, so there are plenty of leftovers to freeze, or make cornbread stuffing. Enjoy!

Cornbread Muffins
Adapted from: Cooking on the Side

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup yellow corn meal
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups milk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
2 tablespoons honey

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease or paper-line 18 to 20 muffin cups
2. Sift together flour, sugar, corn meal, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate small bowl, combine milk, eggs, vegetable oil and butter; mix well. Add to flour mixture; stir just until blended. Add honey and mix well. Pour into prepared muffin cups filling 2/3 full.
3. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 5 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool slightly. Serve warm.

Fruit & Oatmeal Breakfast Muffins

These grab and go muffins are super tasty and filling. They're chock full of good for you stuff like oats, bananas, apples, and raisins. This is a great recipe to use if you're looking to use up some ripe bananas like I was! I took some liberty with the recipe from Eat Good 4 Life and added some vanilla and left out the nuts because I didn't have any. I also left the skin on my apples because I like the color and texture of it. Overall they turned out great and will make a good breakfast for the next few days. Enjoy!

Fruit & Oatmeal Breakfast Muffins
Adapted from: Eat Good 4 Life


2 ripe bananas, mashed
1  egg
1/4 cup oil
1/3 cup low fat milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup sugar
2 medium apples, chopped into small pieces
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1  3/4 cup oats
3 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of cinnamon
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup walnuts (optional)

 1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Grease a muffin pan or line with paper cups .
2. In a bowl combine bananas, milk, oil, sugar, vanilla and egg. In another bowl wisk together dry ingredients, flour, oats, cinnamon and baking powder. Add dry mixture to wet mixture, mix well. Fold in apples, raisins, and walnuts (if using).
3. Spoon the mixture evenly into muffin cups. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until tester comes out clean.
4. Make sure you remove muffins immediately after they are done. Let them cool on a wire rack.