Carrot Zucchini Breakfast Muffins

I have this problem.  Every time I try a recipe, I just can not follow it.  Even when I finally perfect it, I have to go and try something new.  I generally will start with the greatest of intentions and then decide that it needs a little bit of this, a dash of that or my favourite is to substitute something more healthy.  I lived with my sister for my teenage years.  She's 13 years older than I am and was a big role model for me.  She always made cookies, but always added something healthy to them.  The cookie jar was always full of cookies with oatmeal, craisins, seeds or nuts.  My own weakness is muffins.  I love muffins and am always trying to find a great muffin recipe that I can stick to.  Each time I make muffins, I reduce the sugar, replace the flour with whole wheat and lately I have been playing around with other grains.

I skipped breakfast the other day and popped into a local cafe to purchase a muffin. I really have no idea what kind of muffin it was, but it was sure yummy.  I'm pretty sure it was some sort of corn muffin, with pumpkin seeds and sprouted seeds in it.  It inspired me to hurry up and learn to sprout seeds and to make some muffins.  I'm still working on the sprouting, but I did make some muffins.  I have a great recipe that I adapted from The Good Food Book For Families by  Brenda Bradshaw and Cheryl Mutch.  I have played with this recipe so many times and feel like I really have perfected it.  Not sure if I will ever replicate my results, but I am sure the recipe will just keep getting better.

This is probably one of the healthiest muffins that I have ever made or come across.

Carrot Zucchini Breakfast Muffins

I doubled the recipe and made a number of changes to create an even healthier muffin.  I started with last year's zucchini from the garden.  It had turned yellow, but was still in good shape.  This zucchini was one of the largest and was the last one of our 2010 crop.  I only required 4 of the already cut pieces to make 2 cups.  I peeled the zucchini because the skin toughens with age, but would leave the skin on with fresh zucchini. 

The first step required eggs and Free Range Mama's chickens did a very good job providing me with healthy organic free range eggs.

I love that this recipe has so many good fruits and vegetables.  Most of the ingredients were organic or grown/laid at our homes. 

We started buying organic sugar in bulk.  After doing some research, I realized that brown sugar is really just refined sugar with molasses.  So instead of using brown sugar, I use raw sugar and add the molasses myself.  I used applesauce to lower the amount of needed oil and substituted whole wheat flour for all purpose flour.  I usually use rolled oats, but had some barley and quinoa flakes on hand, so I used them to replace the oats.  At the end, I usually decide what dried fruit I would like to add and if I would like seeds or nuts.  I choose to add dried cranberries and sprinkle pumpkin seeds on top.

Enjoy!

Carrot Zucchini Breakfast Muffins 

(Adapted from The Good Food Book for Families by Brenda Bradshaw & Cheryl Mutch, M.D.)

Yield 30 muffins

4 eggs

1/4  cup organic raw sugar

1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup applesauce

2 cups grated zucchini

2 cups grated carrots

4 ripe bananas (about 2 cups)

2 cups shredded unsweetened coconut

1/2 cup dried cranberries(optional)

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups rolled oats (not quick cooking), barley flakes, quinoa flakes, mix of all or some or other suitable grain

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 cup pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds(optional)

1.  Preheat oven to 400 F.  Line muffin pans with paper liners, silicone liners or grease.

2.  Beat eggs and add in sugar, molasses, oil and applesauce.

3.  Mix in zucchini, carrots, mashed banana, coconut and dried cranberries.

4.  In a separate bowl stir together oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg.

5.  Add the dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix well.

6.  Scoop batter into muffin pan and sprinkle each muffins with a teaspoon of seeds.

7.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into muffin comes out clean.