Nathanael's New Adventure

Today my littlest boy started on his pathway to higher education....atleast we hope that's where his pathway leads. Regardless, he started preschool. I thought he was pretty excited to start "Sam's old school". He had talked about it plenty over the last few months. But this morning, when he slept later than Sam (which is unusual), Sam predicted that "maybe he doesn't want to go to school." Sure enough, when I sat him down to eat his breakfast, he just sat there, not eating, as if by prolonging breakfast he could avoid going to school. When I went over to him he told me "I don't want to go to school today. I don't want to make new friends." (Amazing! This child might be mine afterall!) I told him he didn't have to make new friends because his friend Benjamin would be in his class. That seemed to solve all his problems and from that moment on, he was perfectly willing to go to his new school.

We got to school a few minutes early, so while we were waiting in the van Nathanael started begging me to let him out so he could just wait on the sidewalk. As soon as they opened the doors and I got him out of the van, he started marching towards the school, calling over his shoulder "bye, Mom". Gee, thanks. He marched right inside and promptly found the toys he wanted to play with while they waited to begin their day.
And how did I spend my time while I was without children this morning? I tested out a new, picky-eater friendly, quick morning breakfast (or snack) recipe. It is basically a banana bread recipe, but also has squash and carrots in it. I figured they would probably taste pretty good, but I was concerned about whether or not Sam would eat them, purely because he would be able to see the carrots. To minimize the risk of his rejection, after I grated the carrots, I gave them a ride in my Vitamix to chop them into smaller shreds. They smelled delicious while baking and I tested out a few as soon as they were done. I thought they were very flavorful and incredibly moist. I couldn't wait for the boys to test them out. And, hooray, they both found them to be quite pleasing to their palates.

Next time I make them, I'd like to try to replace some or most of the butter with applesauce or yogurt. And in place of the oat bran, I just blended up some dry oatmeal. Other than that, they are perfect just the way the recipe says.

Toddler Muffins
via allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar, or to taste
2 large bananas, mashed
1 (4.5 ounce) jar baby food squash
2 carrots, grated
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup oat bran
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease 24 mini muffin cups or 12 standard muffin cups.
2. In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until smooth. Mix in the mashed bananas, squash, carrots, and eggs. Stir in the flour, oat bran, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt until just combined. Spoon the batter equally into the prepared muffin cups.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack. Store at room temperature for up to two days, or freeze.