Steph's Kitchen Sink Muffins

It's Monday morning... and I'm baking muffins. Why, you might ask, when the work week has just begun and I have so many other tasks at hand? Well, last night we returned from the most blissfully relaxing mini-vacation weekend in the mountains - which, with the extent to which our schedules have been especially stressful lately, simply couldn't have come at a more ideal and welcome time - and I have wholeheartedly decided to embrace the wise advise from Gina of The Candid RD, who, upon returning from her recent vacation, embarked upon a goal to "try to stay in 'vacation relaxed mode' as much as possible." Just as Gina advised, I too long to remain in a peaceful, vacation mind-frame even when back amidst the usual demands of work, school, and other such daily living.

Even though when I first read of Gina's idea we hadn't even yet planned our impromptu trip, I was immediately captured by the wisdom of such an endeavor. After all, in addition to fun events and moments of repose, vacations also manage - without being didactic about it -to enlighten and instruct, transporting us away from our familiar contexts, introducing us to novel tastes and visions, and, in the process, making the rest of the year just a wee bit more understandable and meaningful.

Despite my resolve as I piloted our car back down the serpentine mountain roads, as soon as we returned home I slipped, and plunged back into my usual bursts of impractical multitasking, simultaneously attempting to unpack, clean the house, and read over the list of all the bone markings I needed to memorize for my anatomy test on Tuesday, in the process managing to become entirely more frazzled than necessary. And then I took a deep breath... and remembered that the laundry wouldn't judge me if I left it unattended until after my exam, or at least until after I finished washing the floor. I put the vacuum cleaner away, watched the news with Zach, and fixed us a black bean, corn, and avocado salad. After a leisurely supper my anatomy notes made entirely more sense (with a bit of tutoring from Zach :-), and the laundry fairly sailed into our closet and drawers.

And now, this morning, I'm baking muffins... Kitchen Sink Muffins, from fabulous incredible brilliant Steph of Steph Chows! Steph is such a talented artist and culinary artist alike - I am always clapping my hands with delight as I read about her gorgeous and healthful baking creations! Steph even took a day off of work to bake - how cool is she??!! Steph also shares my enthusiasm for muffin-baking, so I always know right where to go when I'm looking for a new muffin recipe - straight to Steph's blog! :-)

With Steph's lovely recipe in hand, as Monday emerged, Zach and I felt quite blessed to be able to settle in at our kitchen table with coffee and muffins, watching the sun rise...

Here's to the first breakfast of our first day of vacation at home.

Kitchen Sink Muffins (Adapted from this gorgeous recipe created by Steph of Steph Chows!)

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup honey
2 egg whites, beaten
1/3 cup 1% milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup applesauce
1/2 cup mashed banana
1 cup multi-grain cheerios
1/2 cup flaked coconut

~ Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line approx. 12 muffin cups with paper liners or coat the cups with cooking spray.
~ Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
~ Whisk together the honey, egg whites, milk, vanilla, applesauce, and mashed banana.
~ Stir the wet ingredients into the dry until just combined.
~ Fold in the cheerios and coconut.
~ Spoon the batter into the muffin cups, filling them nearly full if you like big cheery muffins as I do!
~ Bake for 20 to 25 minutes - until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let them cool for 5 minutes, then remove from the muffin cups to cool the rest of the way on wire racks - or serve immediately, deliciously warm, with a dollop of jam!