Rainy weekend

Forget about May flowers.  April showers bring productive weekends.  The average unpacking time for me tends to be 17.5 days, but I'm happy to say that with lightning speed it only took me seven days to unpack.  Yes, I acknowledge that's still 6 days overdue.  Progress, people.

Big highlights include my baby brother's birthday (ok, 23, so maybe not 'baby'), a Saturday night out with friends, and lunch with my husband's family.  Here are some of the smaller highlights of the weekend:

Springy fruity soap.  Thanks Bath & Body Works.

My husband and I went for an 11-mile run.  Half-marathon is only two weeks away.  How cute that we have matching his 'n' hers Asics, huh?  The thing is we can't stand to run with each other.  So we developed a system- we plan a circular route, and take off in opposite directions, and pass each other at the halfway point with a high five.  It works well.  I may be biased though, 'cause twice now I've beaten him home.

Essie "Mint candy apple" nail polish.  So springy and fun.  It reminds me of Easter M&M's.

 I switched out my winter clothes.  Now that all my wool sweaters are packed in totes, it can't snow anymore, right??  Nice to see bright colors hanging in my closet again.

Found these in the fridge.  Don't judge.  I, uhh, was purposely keeping those bananas shoved in the back, so...uhh...I could make some banana muffins.  It was all part of the plan.

Banana Oat Muffins
-1 cup Bob's Red Mill oat bran (or else toss 1 cup of oats into a food processor until finely ground)
-1 cup all-purpose flour
-1 tablespoon oats
-1/2 cup chopped walnuts
-1 tsp baking soda
-1 teaspoon baking powder
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-pinch of salt
-1/2 cup butter substitute, such as Best Life spread or Brummel & Brown
-3/4 cup sugar
-2 eggs
-2 ripe bananas, mashed
-1/2 cup plain or vanilla nonfat Greek yogurt

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, oats, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.  In a smaller bowl, beat together eggs, butter, sugar, yogurt, and vanilla.

Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture.  Stir in bananas.  Be mindful not to overstir, as that makes the muffins tough.  Fill a 6-cup muffin tin (jumbo) or 12-cup tin (regular) with batter, sprinkle a bit of dry oats on top, and bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

These muffins are hearty and dense, thanks to the Greek yogurt.  They're quite big too, if you make the jumbo ones like I did- similar in size to Perkins'.  Only instead of packing 610 calories and 30 grams of fat, one of these has 330 calories, 59 g carbs, 10 g fat, 10 g protein, and 5 g fiber.  Great for a Monday morning breakfast.