My Friend Jeni, Anchors Away, & Oatmeal Muffins

So, I have this friend Jeni...

She lives in beautiful Southern Oregon, like me!

She sells me Tupperware. No joke. Super excited to get my pantry organized!

Jeni's visiting the blog today. She submits guest posts when asked to. This is my way of saying, thanks for being awesome Jeni, and not flaking out on your guest post like I did! Be sure to check out her blog and if I ever get my act together, you may see me hanging out over there soon.

Hi you guys - I'm Jeni from over at Anchors Away!

I'm a wife and a mom. In addition to the daily duties both of those (and working full time) holds...I'm on a mission...a mission to lose weight, and gain faith! 

When I'm not counting calories or researching bible verses - I love anything DIY, spending time next to a campfire, and reading magazines in bed. I'm addicted to polka dots and just know that if I were 60 years older, Betty White and I would get along famously. 

I hope you come join me in my journey to get healthy and to build a relationship with God - two things that have both weighed heavily on me for many years!

Being on a diet is hard.

But perhaps the hardest thing for me on my quest of eating healthy, is eating a good breakfast while I'm in the midst of the morning rush.

Gosh knows that every morning a mini-disaster or 7 has to happen as you're running out the door - toddler incident, missing shoes, lack of outfits, and any combination of those are usual in the Q household!

If you're a mom to little ones, an even greater challenge can be getting them to eat a breakfast that packs in more nutritional value than a pop-tart or otherwise.

These little guys are so versatile! Add any toppings you'd like (I'm thinking of experimenting with apple cinnamon, and raisins next go around!), freeze them for storage, pop them in the microwave for a sec (10 seconds or so) and you're good to go!

They were husband, Noah, and Dixon (yes, our dog stole a muffin during this process....but he too approved them!) and pack in some protein for your day while maintaining a low calorie count!

Protein-Packed Oatmeal Goodie Muffins!

Ingredients

• 3 mashed bananas (the riper the better. I'm talkin' black-ish ready-for-banana-bread ripe!)
• 1 cup vanilla Almond milk (you can substitute for skim milk, but I found the vanilla almond milk makes it a tad sweeter!)
• 2 "scoops" protein powder (I used vanilla whey protein powder, but have also substituted for the popular "Body by Vi" powder with equally YUMMY results)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp Baking powder
• 3 cups (240g) Old Fashion or Rolled Oats
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• any "mix-ins" your little heart desires!

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Mix all ingredients except your "mix-ins" and let sit while you prepare the muffin pans.

Spray a muffin pan and/or liners with with non-stick spray.

Stir your"mix-ins" into the oatmeal batter (I separated mine - made 9 chocolate chip, 3 cinnamon/brown sugar, 3 maple/brown sugar this last round)

Divide batter into 15 muffin cups. They should be just about filled.

Bake 20 minutes, you’ll see the edges just starting to brown and they will be firm to the touch.

The muffins may stick when hot but are removed easily when cooled for a bit.

Thanks again Jeni! You are welcome back any time.