Zucchini Banana Muffins

My day started out like any other Sunday: warm cup of coffee, perusing Facebook, checking email and making a few blog updates.

Specifically, I was changing the homepage to show post excerpts rather than two full posts, followed by post excerpts. Doing this involved going into the Editor and placing code within the Theme Functions (functions.php).

I wouldn’t consider myself an expert in any sort of coding; I always say I know enough to be dangerous. This morning I successfully made the updates to my homepage (W00T!), paused for a moment, and thought:

Wouldn’t it be nice if my social share buttons showed with all the excerpts?

Famous. Last. Words.

I added a plugin that was supposed to place social share buttons on post excerpts. In order for the buttons to only show on the excerpts, however, I needed to fuss with some more code within the Theme Functions. So I did.

And then I clicked the “Update File” button.

And the screen went white. Except for these God-awful words:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected ‘<‘ in /home/lizhaw/amusingfoodie/wp-content/themes/focus/functions.php on line 135

And I couldn’t get back into ANYTHING. Not my admin panel. Not an old web version. NOTHING.

{deep breath}

I sent a friend a desperate Facebook message. Not for help; simply for empathy.

I sent my sister a Facebook message. “I BROKE MY BLOG,” I said.

I refreshed. I Googled. I…had no idea what to do.

And then I messaged a coder friend. He was at church, but said he could fix it within minutes once he was home. Bless him.

I said, “No rush. The world never came to an end because a food blog was broken.”

{deep breath}

I decided some perspective was was a good idea. Because, #FirstWorldProblems.

And THEN I decided to bake while I waited impatiently.

Digging in the fridge, I realized I managed to forget about three zucchini from my next to last Hometown Harvest bag. Whoops.

They were in my crisper drawer, and had rolled to the back where I’d overlooked them for over two weeks. Despite being a little shriveled, they were otherwise fine, so I figured they’d be perfect with the brown over-ripe bananas on my counter for muffins. My daughter LOVES zucchini bread and muffins in her school lunch.

Then, I made pizza dough (enough to freeze some for another day) and we had personal pizzas for lunch, followed by laziness and movie watching.

And just as my thoughts drifted….

Zucchini Banana Muffins

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

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Ingredients

• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup canola oil
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 3 medium zucchini, peeled & grated
• 3 over-ripe bananas, mashed

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 325°F and place 24 liners in cupcake pans.

Use a hand-held mixer to combine the eggs and oil in a large bowl. Once they look light yellow and creamy, add the sugar and vanilla and continue beating for 2 minutes.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and continue mixing with the hand-held mixer until they're combined - the mixture will be thick.

Add the mashed bananas and shredded zucchini, and continue mixing until everything's just combined - about 30 seconds.

Fill each liner just over halfway with the batter. Bake them for about 20 minutes, or until the tops bounce back when you gently press on them.

Remove the muffins from the pan and let them cool completely on a wire rack. Makes 24 muffins.

Hometown Harvest is a blog sponsor, which means I’m compensated for spreading the word about what they do, my experiences and the deliveries I get. Interested? Click here to learn more, and make sure to tell them I sent you. All opinions are my own!