Saturday, August 6, 2011

2 New Muffin Recipes

I have rarely made muffins. For my whole life. They just seemed like a lot of work, until I realized that you can squeeze all kinds of nummy stuff into them, and then freeze them! Pull them out the night before and it's all soft and wonderful the next morning. Lately, I've been freezing muffins, and I leave just enough for lunch with a fruit and a ton of veggies and dip (hummus, black bean, salsa, whatever!) This is a super easy lunch idea instead of buying lunch or packing sandwiches day after day. (Oh, and it's a super easy breakfast idea to eat AFTER a green smoothie!)  Before I give you these recipes, though, here are a few resources. 3 years ago, I bought each of my kiddos one of these. This is PERFECT for leftover soup, stew, chili, or even dinner from the night before if the kids raved about it. :)
This year, I'm buying these so that my kids have homemade & much healthier lunchables. Also, my sister has a membership at Sam's Club and is going to buy a package of 1000 of these (see picture) for dips, etc. I'm soooo excited for this, because kids looooove to dip things. Heck, I love to dip things too. :) 


Alright, hopefully now that you know there are plenty of ideas for packaging the lunch out there, let's move on. MUFFINS!!!  P.S. Special thanks to my Jess who bought me the coolest cookbook! I have adjusted some of the recipes per Jess and the result is absolutely fabulous!


Banana Muffins
2/3 c Agave
3 very ripe bananas
1/2 c coconut oil
1/4 to 1/2 c almond milk (adjust to make batter thin enough)
1 1/2 t vanilla
1/2 apple, cored, with skin on
1 t baking powder
1 1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t sea salt
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
2 c flour, see note
Note: any combination of flour will do, but we do a lower gluten variety if we can. You can do whole wheat or partially whole wheat with spelt or kamut or brown rice flour. Everything I've tried has worked beautifully!

Blend in high power blend, or if you don't have one, make sure at least the apple and banana is blended until smooth. Then add dry ingredients to combined wet ingredients. Fill muffin tins until about 3/4 full. This made about 21 muffins. Bake at 325 for 20-25 minutes. 

****you can also add a few teaspoons of freshly ground flax seed-yum!

Pumpkin Muffins
1 can pumpkin
1 1/2 c agave
1/2 c coconut oil
2/3 c water 
1 whole apple, cored, with skin 
1/2 banana, mashed
2 t baking powder
3 1/2 c flour (see note above)
2 1/2 t baking soda
1 1/2 t sea salt
1 t cinnamon
1 t nutmeg
1/2 t ginger

Blend in high powered blender. If you don't have one, do the banana and apple, and then mix combined wet ingredient with combined dry ingredients, adding water as needed to ensure the batter is thin enough. Pour into 2 muffin tins, about 3/4 full. Cook at 325 for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

****you can also add a few teaspoons of freshly ground flax seed-yum!

I loooooooove fall, so these just fill my kitchen will all sorts of happy smells and happy thoughts of cooler, crisper weather and colorful leaves.
I will do some dip ideas in another post, but until then, ENJOY!!! :)

1 comment:

Jessie said...

I made the banana muffins yesterday with the low gluten grain mix - Spelt, barley, and brown rice and they turned out great! I was so excited to use my barley because it usually gets a bit neglected in my kitchen. I like your idea of adding some fresh ground flax.... Yummy! I'm looking forward to dip ideas and those cups are so cool. Sometimes we do plain yogurt/kefir mixed with agave and cinnamon for a fruit dip. Yogurt / kefir ranch is really easy, mix 2 cups with a packet of organic ranch mix. I'm working tweaking my own ranch mix which would be cheaper than the packet mixes. I'm making your green beans and potatoes tonight... So excited!