Tag: Healthy Recipes

Sweet Quinoa Muffins

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Nutrient-dense, light, and fluffy, these muffins are a wonderful way to “sneak” health into a child’s diet. Plus, eating them is like eating clouds with a light, rich sweetness.

The combination of coconut oil with vanilla yogurt adds wonderful moisture to the recipe. The almond flour lends a buttery-almond flavor. You can substitute grated carrots for the puree if you want more texture. The chia seeds add even more fiber and protein.

Your toddlers will love these. They are great for breakfast, snack, or on-the-go meal.

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Sweet Quinoa Muffins (makes 15)

¾ cup plus 1 Tbsp whole wheat flour
¾ cup plus 1 Tbsp almond flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 Tbsp chia seeds, optional
1 Tbsp sesame seeds, optional
1 cup cooked and cooled quinoa
¾ cup brown sugar, packed
½ cup coconut oil, melted
½ cup Greek vanilla-flavored yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs, room temperature, beaten
¾ cup carrot puree (or 1 cup loosely packed, grated carrots)
½ cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease muffin pan with cooking spray, or line with paper liners.
2. Melt the coconut oil and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, sift together the flours, baking soda and salt. Add chia seeds and sesame seeds (optional).
4. In a separate bowl, stir together quinoa, sugar, coconut oil, Greek yogurt, vanilla and eggs, carrots, and walnuts (optional).
5. Stir wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. The muffin batter will be about the same consistency as pancake batter.
6. Use an ice cream scoop to spoon batter into muffin tins, about ¾ full.
7. Bake 18-20 minutes, until the tops are a nice golden color.

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Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Muffins

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Instead of crying over the pantry full of baby food that my toddler had outgrown, I incorporated the “passé” puree into a sophisticated muffin.

I love giving sweet potato muffins to my family, guilt free. The Vitamin A in the sweet potato and the fiberous whole wheat flour compensate for the bursts of the delicious sweetness of the chocolate morsels. These speckled muffins are beautiful-looking and will complete the Halloween-inspired playdate.

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Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Muffins (makes 30)

4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup (16 oz.) mashed or pureed sweet potato (without butter, salt, or milk)
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup oil
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 – 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (1 12 oz. package)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin cups with cooking spray or line with paper liners.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs, sugar, sweet potato, milk, and oil until smooth.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk flours, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
4. Add dry ingredients to liquid ingredients, and stir just until combined.
5. Fold in chocolate chips.
6. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, until 3/4 full.
7. Bake 16 to 20 minutes.
8. Cool on wire rack.

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Peanut Butter & Jelly Muffins

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A peanut buttery muffin with creamy, jelly-filled center trumps the PB & J sandwich any day. Its peanut butter isn’t sticky and its jelly doesn’t ooze all over the place. Plus, what child wouldn’t be pleasantly surprised to see frosting-like jelly inside.

The “frosting” actually contains some protein (cream cheese), which complements the amino acids in the peanut butter…shhh, don’t tell!

These muffins are quick and easy to prepare, requiring two mixing bowls and a whisk. They are fluffy, moist, soft and light. Perfect for breakfast, brunch, or snacks.

*Possible Substitutions:

  • For the milk, substitute unsweetened vanilla almond milk or soy, cow, rice, goat, or coconut milk.
  • For the jelly, use strawberry jelly, jam, or preserves (or raspberry, apricot, raspberry, grape or cherry).
  • For the peanut butter, use soy nut butter.

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Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins (makes 18)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup milk
1/2 heaping cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup canola oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup jelly, jam or preserves
½ cup whipped cream cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease muffin pan with cooking spray or line with paper liners.
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugars, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
3. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk egg, buttermilk, milk, peanut butter, oil and vanilla extract.
4. Pour wet ingredients over the dry ingredients. Stir until just combined.
5. Spoon batter into greased muffin pan, filling each muffin cup about 1/4 full.
6. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk cream cheese and jelly.
7. Spoon 1 tsp jelly filling onto each muffin cup. Top with batter to ¾ full.
8. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, or until tops are golden.

 

My Muffin Obsession

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Ok folks, here’s how it all started…

My muffin obsession began the morning my first-born son entered tumultuous toddlerhood. On this particular morning, my little Michael obstinately rejected a spoon of banana puree, pushing my hand away like an angry teenager.

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I realized that I would have to find some kind of portable, protein-packed nourishment that would delight, occupy, and ward off tantrums. I needed a fun food that Michael could feed himself…found it…

The Muffin.

And so it began. As I whipped up batches in less than ten minutes and served muffins 20 minutes after, I knew that I had discovered a gold mine. These muffins were my solution – a global solution – for any mother who’s pressed for time and agonises over weekly meal planning. Did I mention clean-up consists of washing two mixing bowls and some utensils?

As I stocked our freezer with mini meals, I relished the joy of hosting thematic playdates with muffins that brought smiles to children and made adults feel like kids again.

A few weeks into my obsession with muffin making, after devouring four mac and cheese muffins, my husband expressed some concern. I believe his exact words were, “I’m afraid we’re going to be eating only muffins for the rest of our lives.” Hmmm.

My mantra became: “a muffin for all moments.” Michael was gobbling up French toast muffins for breakfast, cheeseburger muffins for lunch, and Thai turkey meatloaf muffins for dinner. For snacks, he happily munched on cheesy broccoli corn muffins or peanut butter and jelly muffins.

When my younger son, Joey, approached 18 months, I experienced yet another round of toddling tantrums and muffin fever. Now, after several years of muffin-making, playdates, and hunger-inspired tantrums, I’ve decided to start this blog to share my tried and true recipes. I hope I can provide some solace and sustenance. Enjoy!

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