The Little Things in Life

My beautiful gifts from ADONAI!

Children too are a gift from ADONAI; the fruit of the womb is a reward. ~Psalm 127:3

We recently had to move from our home…unexpectedly. We had two weeks to find a new place to live. Just a few weeks before that I had signed up to teach four classes at our local homeschool co-op. I had also volunteered to be a helper in two additional classes and I am the Wednesday night Creation Science Club teacher at church. Our move happened around the same time co-op and the Creation Science Club started. (It figures!) Wow, can you say life has been a tad bit crazy for a while?

We have been in our new home for almost seven weeks now and we are still not quite settled. (Long story.) We have been eating the same old boring food day, after day, after day…in the name of convenience. Last week I found my Pampered Chef muffin stone and decided to surprise my kids with a tasty muffin breakfast. Since I had five overly ripe bananas I decided to search for just the right banana muffin recipe. I finally found one that seemed easy enough to tweak to good health. It was spiced as well. Score! I made the necessary changes, popped it in the oven and hoped for the best.

Beep, beep, beep! The muffins were done and they looked and smelled heavenly! I woke the children and invited them to breakfast. Yowza! Stephanie and Aja couldn’t get enough of them. This momma was absolutely thrilled to bring smiles to their faces with a little divine on the side. *grin*

My “NORMAL” beautiful gifts from ADONAI!

I know this is not some huge spiritual lesson about loving our children. After all we had been through this was exactly what my children needed to relieve a little stress and to give them a sense of normalcy once again. It was simple, sweet and delicious. Sometimes it’s the little things in life that really touch their hearts. An extra hug, a gentle kiss or even something as tasty as a muffin!

By the way…I’m sorry I was unable to capture the moment of my kiddos scarfing down enjoying their muffins. I was a tad preoccupied making sure I snagged one for myself! *wink*

Remember, children are beautiful GIFTS from ADONAI….treat them as such!

Be encouraged by other “Tuesday Link-up” by visiting my friend, Kate, at “Teaching What Is Good“.

The original Spiced Banana Bread recipe is here if you’d like to try it. My healthy, tasty version is below. Enjoy & God bless you!

Spiced Banana Bread Muffins

1 C white flour
1 C wheat flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
4 bananas (very ripe) (I used 5)
2 eggs
1 C Turbinado sugar (also called raw sugar or cane sugar)
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves (ground)
½ C natural applesauce (no sugar added)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 12 cup muffin pan.

Whisk together white and wheat flour, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. Add eggs, sugar, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and cloves and stir until mixed well. Stir in apple sauce and vanilla extract. Fold in the flour mixture to form a batter and no dry lumps remain. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle the tops with Turbinado sugar for some extra yummy goodness!

Bake in a preheated oven, 35 to 40 minutes, until toothpick inserted to center of muffin comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove muffins from pan and place on wire rack to cool completely.

This recipe makes 12 muffins.