It's winter, however, when the light beams across the marina, it's easy to believe it's glorious weather.
Contrarily, when I'm inside my narrowboat with the wood burner, it feels like a sauna. So I have been snug, and busy organising the space to make it homely and comfortable while enjoying the calm and serene vibe of a marina, from my narrowboat Cygnet.
The heat from this fireplace caused my bananas to quickly overripe, and on the verge of turning, so I decided to bake some muffins using ingredients that were already in my cupboard.
To avoid the boat becoming overbearingly hot, I had to time the outing of the fire, before pre-heating the oven to bake my muffins.
The bonus of baking, was the sumptuous aroma that permeated the entire boat and made the evening warm and cosy, while I watched the sunset with soft music playing in the background.
My Ingredients & Utensils
Nutty Banana Muffins with vanilla extract, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
- 3 ripe bananas, peeled and mashed.
- 1/4 cup sugar (add more to your desire)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/3 cup butter, melted
- 1 dash of salt (my butter was salted so I went light here).
- 1 lg egg, beaten.
- 1 tsp vanilla extra
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 cup walnuts
- 1 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Living on a narrowboat means that I'm off-grid, so my appliances are basic and manual. Hence, here I'm using a grater for some ground nutmeg and cinnamon.
Making Banana Bread muffins is a simple recipe that requires minimal ingredients, and simple steps. Method (Pre-heat Oven to my gas mark at 3, which is my oven's highest setting.)
- Peel and remove the skin from the bananas, place in a bowl and mash them until smooth.
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- Add the melted butter and stir vigorously to blend it with the bananas.
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- Add all other remaining ingredients.
- baking soda
- vanilla extract
- sugar
- beaten egg
- cinnamon
- nutmeg
- nuts
- flour
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- Grease the muffin tray with butter
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- pour the cake mixture into each cup.
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Of course, you are not going to bake the banana peel, right? It's just for the photo:)
I then sprinkled nuts on top.
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Bake for 55 - 60 mins, then stick a toothpick in the centre of a muffin to test to see if it is baked right through.
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- Put the kettle on, and make yourself or company a lovely cup of coffee or tea
Waste less & Live Simply
As a minimalist, it's important for me to waste less and find creative ways of using food and produce. So, from making my banana bread, I avoided discarding it, and I saved wood by heating the boat with residual heat from my oven.
This is an economical way to heat your living space in the winter.
I trust that you'll try this recipe the next time you have bananas that have gone dotty. This is a fairly healthy recipe that's not too sweet if made with the small portion of sugar that I've used here.
I'll be sure to share more about my life on a narrowboat on a marina in the UK, so thanks for stopping by, and please pop back for more.
See you soon:)
All images were taken by me.
