Morning Carrot Muffins

I dream of starting most of my days with a nice warm homemade muffin and a coffee. Is this attainable for me? Absolutely! Is it the best thing for my body everyday? Not in my books. However...it does make for a wonderful afternoon snack while our boys are napping:)

I love muffins...our boys really love muffins, or 'mops' as Levi calls them. I have a few standby recipes that always give great results...but for the most part I love to try something new every time. This week I've been craving a nice moist and healthy carrot muffin...I have no idea why...just am. I was watching the Food Network while running at the gym on Monday...that's almost an oxymoron!...and Giada was making a version of these. I would have totally made her muffins if I would have been able to write down the recipe...or find them online...but neither option worked! She did such a great job, they looked amazing. So here's my version of them. I know she used shredded zucchini instead of the banana...but I went with what I had on hand:) They turned out amazing...very pleased. Hope you enjoy them as much as we did! In fact...these are so healthy you could definitely start your day with them!

Morning Carrot Muffins

INGREDIENTS

1 1/4 cups flour(I used 3/4 cup brown rice flour & 1/2 cup almond flour)
1/2 cup maple syrup or honey
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup oats
1/2 cup raisins (optional...but add sweetness)
3 Tbsp olive or coconut oil
1 egg
1/3 cup almond milk
4 medium shredded carrots
1 medium ripe mashed banana

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt. Stir in oats, syrup and raisins. Add oil, egg, milk, carrots, and banana and stir until blended.

Fill muffin tin with batter. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean, 23 to 25 minutes.


Boys are napping...I'm making tea and heading to our sunny dining room to finish up my Beth Moore study for the week...talk soon!

Pumpkin Millet Muffins

So...if you made the "Pumpkin Scones...Starbucks Style" earlier this week, like I did...then you're probably wondering what you could do with the leftover pumpkin puree in your fridge!? The last thing you want to do is waste such a wonderful thing! Noah and I whipped these muffins yesterday morning while Levi was napping. There is something so wonderful about the smell of pumpkin spice in your house on a fall day!



I have to say...as convenient as the canned pumpkin is, there is nothing quite like pumpkin pastries made from fresh pumpkin! Those fresh ones will be saved for November 1st, when it's time to take the pumpkins off the front steps...and make room for Christmas decorations!


Pumpkin Millet Muffins

1/2 cup coconut oil
1 cup almond milk (or milk of choice)
3/4 cup sweetener (maple syrup, agave, honey, cane sugar)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup millet, toasted (flax seed works too!)
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1 3/4 cup spelt flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine oil, milk, sugar, vanilla and pumpkin in a large bowl and mix together. Stir in the oats. Toast millet in a hot dry skillet until lightly brown and fragrant. Toast the pumpkin seeds and add the millet and seeds to the bowl. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients together. Add the dry mix to the wet mix and gently stir to combine.



Fill lightly greased muffin cups generously with batter. Sprinkle tops with pumpkin seeds and bake for 20 minutes, or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. The will make 12 large sized muffins. ENJOY!

*You will notice in the picture above that my muffins are missing the pumpkin seeds on top...we were all out!! They still tasted yummy...just didn't look as festive!

Noah got the first taste test of these Pumpkin Muffins...fresh from the oven...I think he liked them:)



And we don't want to leave Levi out! Although he won't be enjoying these muffins for a little longer yet, he sure does look like he's having fun in his new rocking chair from Nana & Papa...an early birthday present:)

Blackberry Yogurt Muffins

Surprisingly we still found Blackberries this past weekend at the Farmer's Market! I should add VERY RIPE Blackberries...so we knew that we needed to do something with them asap, other than freezing them that is. Skimming through my new favourite cookbook, SLICE, I stumbled upon Raspberry Yogurt Muffins...made a few changes (other that the obvious, blackberries for raspberries that is!)..and came out with these!!

Levi got first dibs on the fresh berries...too cute to resist!



A little measuring and mixing gave us this tempting 'before' shot...



And approximately 20 minutes later...this yummy result!



Easy...incredibly moist...healthy...and fun:)
ENJOY!

Blackberry Yogurt Muffins

1 1/2 cups spelt or barley flour
1 cup oats
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 cup plain yogurt (get your hands on some coconut milk yogurt and these become vegan)
1 cup mashed bananas
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup blackberries, cut in half, fresh or frozen

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin pan. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients. Puree together wet ingredients. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Gently fold in blackberries. Divide into muffin pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until an insert toothpick comes out clean. Makes one dozen muffins.