I guess I have been on a breakfast kick the last two days with my posts.  Although I did promise you I would build up that breakfast section in the index!  I can’t take all the credit for these muffins- my boyfriend found it and insisted I make them.  My boyfriend has been on Weight Watchers with me and it has been really great to have the support.   The only thing is that he gets so many more points than me and he is losing so much more weight.  It is easy to get jealous!

I know the whole spiel on how men lose weight faster than women,  but that doesn’t help with the fact that we are super competitive.  We will be out to eat and he will order first and replace his French fries with a baked potato. So then when I order, I one up him by replacing mine with a side salad.   When the food gets to the table he will try to pass off half his baked potato to me and then take off the top piece of bread to his sandwich.   I haven’t even begun to talk about our competitiveness at the gym.  Have you ever raced on an elliptical? Overall though, it is really great to have a partner in this Weight Watchers lifestyle change, to support you, and keep you on track.  (See!  I didn’t say diet!)

So, what were we talking about before I went on this whole Weight Watchers tangent?  Oh yes, mini muffins!  Boyfriend M  (this sounds so corny but don’t want you to be confused by sister M and her husband M,  and our little sister M) found this recipe on Weight Watchers online and ask for me to make them.

At 1 PointPlus a mini muffin, I happily obliged.   I made half of the muffins with baking paper cups and the other half without.  I would recommend you use a small amount of cooking spray and go without the muffin papers.  The muffins sort of sticks in the paper and you basically need to eat the paper to get the rest of the muffin out (more fiber!)  Also ,the original recipe calls for light artificially sweetened vanilla yogurt and the closest I had was 0% plain Greek yogurt. So as an alternative to vanilla yogurt, I took a cup of plain yogurt and added a few splashes of vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon of sugar.  Banana Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins

Ingredients:
1 cup 0% Fat Greek Yogurt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup fat-free skim milk
1/2 cup uncooked quick oats
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract plus a few splashes for flavoring yogurt
1 large egg, beaten
1 large ripe banana, mashed
1/4 cup unpacked brown sugar
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1/2 tsp. salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  In large bowl combine yogurt, 1 tablespoon of sugar and a few splashed of vanilla extract.  Mix until combined.   Add in milk, oats, the rest of the vanilla, and egg.  Stir to combine and set aside to allow oats to soften, about 5 minutes.

In another bowl, combine brown sugar, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

Once the oats are softened in wet ingredient bowl,  mix in mashed banana.

Gently combine dry ingredients into banana yogurt mixture until they are just incorporated.  Do not over mix.  Fold in mini chocolate chips.

Spoon batter by small cookie scoop or tablespoon into mini-muffin tins coated with cooking spray. Bake for 15-18 minutes until golden.  Makes 36 muffins.

Serving Size- 1 muffin for 1 Weight Watchers PointPlus

Source- Adapted from Weight Watchers Online

-K