Amanda Miller
Columnist
Lettuce Eat Local
In the grand scheme of things, an hour doesn’t seem like it matters much.
There might be only 24 of them in a single day, but 168 in a week. A 30-day month consists of 720 hours, and if you look at an entire year, that number skyrockets to 8,766. That means an hour is only 0.0001% of a year…not a big deal, right?
Maybe not, until one vanishes into thin air. Daylight Savings Time begins on Sunday, March 12, so at 2:00 in the morning, it’s 3:00.
Suddenly an hour feels very, very big. I find it a little cruel that this “spring forward” happens on a Sunday every year, although my kid(s) have always gotten up early enough that still getting to church on time isn’t hard. Naptime and bedtime later, however, are a different story.
I do have to admit I find a little brutish humor at seeing which families clearly forgot to change their alarm clocks, based on their arrival at church; although with the synchronization of phone clocks, now probably fewer delays are based on lack of awareness and more on the difficulties of getting everyone ready an hour earlier. I will be watching an extra toddler this week, so I may have to laugh at myself this year.
The “fall back” sequence in November when Daylight Savings ends never bothers me quite so much, but it still wreaks havoc on children’s schedules. And don’t get my mother-in-law started on what it does to the cows’ schedule. Needless to say, none of us on the farm are huge fans of the time change.
But it does get me started thinking about the importance of a single hour.
It is a feat of nature what a mother can get accomplished in a mere 60 minutes when naptime goes well; I don’t mind saying I’ve shocked myself some days.
I also don’t mind saying that I’ve shocked myself for the opposite reason on other days. My personality lends itself very strongly to being consistently productive, but being a mom has also shown me that sometimes the best way to spend my time is to not “do” much with it. Yes, I’ll still get the dishes done, but if the sun is shining and I want to go walk around outside, that’s also good. Spending time well can even look like wasting time, because sometimes it’s easier to sit and respond to texts while the two-year-old is sleeping instead of playing keepaway with the phone, and sometimes *gasp* I even take a breather and scroll Facebook or do the Quordle.
And although it can feel like it, naptime isn’t actually the most important hour of the day. When I can let go of some of that drive for productivity, a simple 60 minutes with Benson and whoever else is in our home that day can be spent in such valuable ways. Instead of using half my brainspace thinking of prepping for supper; finishing the laundry; and yes, even writing an article; I can remember those are just things — necessary things, yes, but just things. And the people right in front of me, be they neighbors dropping in, friends stopping by unexpectedly, or my own crazy toddler, are people worthy of my time and attention.
An hour spent being present is worth many distracted hours. So instead of lamenting the loss of an hour because of Daylight Savings, I’ll try to remember to spend the hours I have well.
Time-Saving Banana Bread-fast Muffins
Somedays spending my time well looks like making muffins before Benson’s nap instead of during — although it would be much faster (and neater) to do it without him. These mini muffins make a perfect ready-to-go breakfast on a rushed morning, as they are full of satisfying wholegrains and good fats yet low in added sugar. It might look like a lot of ingredients, but everything just goes into the blender, so these muffins come together in a snap.
Prep tips: the riper your bananas are, the sweeter the muffins will be. In full disclosure, I added less than a tablespoon of honey to my batch, and they would have been better a little sweeter…but now that I poured melted chocolate on top, Benson loves them.
2 very ripe bananas
1 egg
½ cup peanut butter
1 cup buttermilk (or ½ yogurt+½ milk)
a good splash of vanilla
2-4 tablespoons honey (more or less to your taste)
1 ½ cups flour (I used a combo of whole-wheat, rye, and oat)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
optional: chopped peanuts for garnish
Add bananas, egg, peanut butter, buttermilk, vanilla, and honey to a blender; process until smooth. Add the flour, baking soda and powder, and salt; and blend on lowest speed, just until incorporated.
Pour into buttered muffin tins, sprinkle with chopped peanuts if you want, and bake at 365°: 10 minutes for mini-muffins and 15-20 for regular size muffins.
