Over Memorial Day weekend my in-laws came to visit TA and I. I had a good idea of what I was going to make for two of the three meals we would be eating at our house, but I completely forgot about breakfast on Sunday morning.

When I woke up I realized my error and decided to make yogurt scones - except I didn't have any yogurt. Instead I used up some aging bananas in the fruit bowl and made muffins.

These were surprisingly quick and easy to make - plus incredibly delicious. They're not too sweet and have just the right amount of banana flavor. I folded in some shredded coconut to the last half of the batter for TA. He's a big fan of coconut and ate nearly all of them himself.

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I went grocery shopping at the commissary the other day to restock the fridge after vacation and found that they had installed two huge bins of 'dinged' produce. These are the fruits and vegetables that have bumps and bruises - a little more damage than you're average cosmetic defect - with discounts to match.

There were all sorts of different items in the bins - zucchini, red delicious apples, bananas. The only item I was really interested in was the packages of granny smith apples.

Bumped and bruised granny smiths? Sounds like applesauce to me.

OK - it actually sounded like apple pie, but I convinced myself that applesauce was a much healthier alternative.

Less than two dollars for five pounds of apples later and I was on my way home to make some applesauce.

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Thick slices of dense, rich banana bread slathered with butter - heaven, eh?

Perhaps not for everyone, but it's not too many steps further for me. I'm a big fan of carbs - essentially anything one can put butter on is my kinda dish. When TA requested a specific recipe that called for banana bread I figured that I'd make a half hearted attempt at injecting some kind of nutrition into this notoriously calories dense treat.

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As breakfast comfort foods go, there is no more a ubiquitous dish than biscuits and sausage gravy.

My mother makes the best biscuits and gravy I've ever had - to this day. Our house was kind like of a halfway-house when I was growing up - there was always a few extra mouths to feed at the dinner, or breakfast, table. She would make dozens of biscuits and gallons of sausage gravy and we'd plow through it all.

In one sitting.

We were hungry teenagers.

As we got older and each of us kids started spending the holidays at the houses of our respective significant others, my mother started a new Thanksgiving Day tradition. Since we were never around for the big turkey dinner, Mom would make a big breakfast for everyone before we scampered off to spend the rest of the day with whatever flavor-of-the-week had caught our attention. It never failed that biscuits and gravy were the focal point of that breakfast.

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