A Traditional Farm Life - Banana Streusel Muffins

A Traditional Farm Life

By Shasta Hamilton

Photo by William Snyder

Greetings from Enterprise, dear friends!   You might find this a little hard to believe, but our boys can turn vegetables into draft horses!

That’s right. A summer of selling vegetables at local farmer’s markets, coupled with lawn mowing and odd jobs around town, have helped our boys secure the chance at buying a team of draft horses.

On Monday our boys, chauffeured by Gary Crump and accompanied by their father, made the long trek to the Amish community near Parsons, Kansas to buy a team of Hofflinger draft horses.  They returned home with “Tom” and “Jerry,” 17 and 13 years of age, respectively. 

At 14 hands high and about a thousand pounds each, these dark sorrel draft horses with flaxen manes have captivated our hearts and fueled our dreams for the future.

Yesterday the boys hitched them up to the people hauler for their “maiden voyage.”   They were headed to the restaurant where Michael was, so their first trip off the farm was to be done completely on their own. 

It turned out they did just fine.  While it didn’t exactly “go off without a hitch,” I was very proud of them for working through the few minor setbacks they had without any adult help.  (They must have been paying attention at the draft horse workshops they’ve attended in recent months.)

Personally, I barely know a bit from a bridle, so it was pretty amazing to watch these young men harness and hitch up their new team.  They left the yard with a flourish, trace chains jangling and the steady clip-clop of horses’ hooves on pavement ringing clearly through the still morning air. 

I stood near the road, silently watching them climb the hill and finally turn the corner, a few mother’s tears slipping from wet eyes . . . My once little boys are quickly becoming men.

With manhood comes responsibility, and it is our prayer as parents that our boys’ taking of responsibility will grow in correspondence with their age. It has always been our philosophy to seek to raise them as future men, even though we like to call them our “boys.”

We had a very pleasant surprise yesterday in the form of two cases of overripe bananas from Zey’s Market in Abilene.  They were quite literally delivered to our doorstep.  We were tickled they thought of us.

Two cases of bananas mean A LOT of banana bread.  They were delivered shortly before we opened for the Wednesday evening meal, so we offered banana-bread-ready bananas to all our customers free for the taking.  Thankfully, we were able to share the blessing and still put most of a case into the deep freeze for future use.

The future ended up being today.  We whipped up a batch of Banana Streusel Muffins by simply putting our favorite banana bread recipe in muffin liners topped with streusel and baking for a shorter period of time. 

So when life gives you overripe bananas, go ahead and make banana bread!

Photo by William Snyder

Banana Streusel Muffins

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 very ripe bananas, crushed

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup chopped nuts, optional

Streusel Topping

1/4 cup sugar

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons butter

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 

3.  Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well.  Stir in crushed bananas and vanilla extract.

4.  In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.  Add to banana mixture and stir only until combined.

5.  Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full (1/3 cup batter per muffin). 

6.  For streusel, combine sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a small bowl; cut in butter until crumbly.  Sprinkle evenly over muffins.

7.  Bake 25 minutes or until lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean with a few moist crumbs. Do not overbake.  Cool in pan 5 minutes; remove to wire rack to cool completely.

Yield:  12 muffins.

Copyright © 2015 by Shasta Hamilton

Shasta is a fifth generation rural Kansan now residing in Enterprise, Kansas.  She and her husband own and operate The Buggy Stop Home-Style Kitchen with their six home-schooled children.  You can reach The Buggy Stop by calling (785) 200-6385 or visit them on the web at www.thebuggystoprestaurant.com. 

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