by Rhett DeVane
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
½ cup toasted wheat germ
½ cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
2 ripe bananas, mashed
¾ cup milk
5 Tbsps. melted butter
1 egg
cinnamon sugar (optional)
Preheat oven to 400º. Fit 12 muffin cups with paper liners, then spray with cooking spray.
Mix flour, nuts, wheat germ, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Stir in bananas, milk, butter, and egg. Mix until blended.
Using an ice cream scoop, fill muffin cups evenly with batter. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar if desired.
Bake muffins until a toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean, about 20-22 minutes.
Cool for 1 minute, then remove from the muffin pan and cool on a wire rack.
Serve with butter or honey-sweetened cream cheese.
Rhett’s Writer’s Day Easy Pasta Salad
The last thing I want to do when I’m busy writing or editing is slave in the kitchen. I can whip this up in no time!
3-4 cups cooked pasta—rotini, small shells, or macaroni
1 can diced stewed tomatoes, drained of excess fluid
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 can artichoke hearts, drained and roughly chopped
1-2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
Cook pasta in salted water. Drain. Splash with the olive oil and toss.
In a large bowl, mix together the tomatoes, feta, artichoke hearts.
Add pasta and toss.
Chill.
Sometimes, I add in 1 cup of cooked, diced chicken or canned chickpeas.
Book Club Discussion Points
The intense Southern summer plays into the drama of the four women’s lives, providing a pressure cooker for their misery. What external factors have altered your life in such drastic fashion, and how?
One person’s reason for suicide might seem trivial compared to another’s. In your opinion, which woman proved the strongest case for such a measure?
Sheila comments that “good can come from bad.” How did this play out for those involved in the Suicide Supper Club? Have you experienced this manner of twisty fate?
What about Glenn Bruner? Based on his past, how do you think his new life will work out for him? What caused him to take such a convoluted path?
And last, a loaded question. How do you feel about suicide? Is there any scenario where you feel it is justified?