Triple B Muffins

Hearty banana bran muffins with a cereal twist—real food from a real kitchen, made with love (and a sink full of dishes–the pictures prove it!)

Banana. Bran. Bonus (aka Grape Nuts).

No lying here—these muffins are yum! A bit on the dense side, but I actually like that. I’m not into muffins that are overly fluffy or sweet. These are the kind that make you feel full in a good way and taste like they were made with care.

Now full disclosure: I’m not really a baker. I’m a cook who dabbles in baking. Big difference! Cooking is all “a little of this, a lot of that” and chances are your dish will still turn out just fine. Baking? Not so much. Baking is more science than art, and science was never my kitchen love language.

But for a while, I was in deep. I baked all our family’s bread—from sandwich loaves to hamburger buns to cornbread made with freshly ground popcorn (yep, popcorn). That was a whole chapter. It’s closed now. But the smell of something baking? Still magic. Whether it’s bread or these muffins, it makes the house feel like home.

And these muffins? You gotta try ‘em.

Keeping It Real (Because That’s What I Do)

I’ve made a personal choice to be less active on social media. Not because I don’t love seeing other people’s lives or sharing food, but because it messes with my brain. One scroll turns into two hours gone. And suddenly I’m not kind enough, pretty enough, clean enough, skinny enough. Just not enough.

So instead, I stay IRL. But I make an exception for food—especially on Pinterest, where I’ve been for years. It’s my happy place for recipes. But even there, I notice that everything looks perfect. Impossibly perfect. Like, was this muffin photoshopped?

And here’s the thing—I am not a photographer. I’m not even an amateur one. I take my blog photos on my phone, in my real kitchen, with my real mess. Because I’m learning. Because I believe there’s value in showing real food made with real love. Even when the sink is full of dishes and the muffins are lopsided.

So yes, you’ll see imperfect pictures here. But they’re from a very real kitchen with very real joy behind them. That’s good enough for me.

The Recipe Backstory

Last week, I made some really good muffins. Like, “wow, I nailed it” good. And then… I lost the recipe. I searched Pinterest, my browser history, my brain—nothing. Gone.

But I had three bananas on the counter giving me serious side-eye, so I grabbed my trusty Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook and used their bran muffin recipe as a base. I halved the batch because the original is meant for storing and scooping over time, but it’s 110 degrees outside and I am not turning on my oven multiple times. One-and-done baking, thank you very much.

Also, shoutout to a recent lightbulb moment: I tried adding ½ cup of Grape Nuts cereal to another family favorite, and it leveled things up in a serious way. So I tossed that into these muffins too. Triple B = Banana, Bran, and Bonus (aka the Grape Nuts).

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A Note on AI and Authenticity

In my search for that muffin recipe, I stumbled across blogs that seemed…off. Like the photos were AI-generated. Maybe the whole thing was. And it left me thinking: what’s the line between content I create and content I get help with?

I haven’t landed on an answer. But for now, I’m choosing to keep it real. Because that’s what I do.

Real food. Real recipes. Real kitchens. Real love. —The Food Civilian