Coconut Muffins

You know me and healthy muffins? I just can't help myself!!! These are a new favorite and they came about by mistake. There were suppose to have blueberries in them... but guess what? I forgot. YUP. I'm awesome. They came out so tasty though I wanted to tell you about them!

I've actually just been asked to join a new group of awesome food blogger over at Food Fanatic and you can find the recipe for these Blueberry Coconut Muffins right over there. I'm super excited to join their team as their "healthy cooking fanatic!" how awesome is that??




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Going bananas

How were your thanksgivings? Mine was super relaxing and spent with my Mom/Dad/Aunt Sandy/Husband/Hobbes. We had a blast hanging out and I think Hobbes especially loved how much turkey my Dad was willing to give her. She also had a blast chasing his feet around. Side note: Hobbes has never been one to attack/eat/chew on shoes, this all changed when she saw my Dad's slippers, nondescript and nothing exciting about them... but for some reason she chased them with all her might no matter how many times we said no.

On a totally non thanksgiving related note. I made banana muffins. It's a cooking light recipe and I love them. Spiked with ground flax seed and no eggs you can easily sub out the yogurt for extra banana mash to make these vegan (which is exactly what I did). My reason was because I had extra banana laying around, and no yogurt on hand. You can find the recipe here.

Side note: I used frozen and thawed bananas, they tend to have more moisture so if you are using non frozen and thawed bananas you may need to add a little milk (non-dairy to keep them vegan) to add a little more moisture to things. (AKA if you are mixing this all together and it resembled cement and not muffin batter)

Yum!



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Fat Free Pumpkin Muffins

It's fall, I love fall. John and I keep taking random hikes and drives into the country. I mean how could you stay inside when it looks like this out?


Secondly how could you stay inside when this furface is along for the ride?

Love it.

Fall always brings the need to involve pumpkin into things, who am I kidding, I bake with it all year long. But there is an even stronger pull when the leaves start to fall. So I went back and revisited my old pumpkin muffin recipe, the old one was always hearty and maybe a bit too heavy. This time I have a lighter airier version for you. And with an entire 15oz can of pumpkin to boot.

Bring. It. On.


Pumpkin Muffin
recipe by steph chows
makes 12 muffins

1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
dash salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 15oz can canned pumpkin puree
3/4 cup splenda (or white sugar)
1/4 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup skim milk


In a medium bowl mix together flours, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
In a large bowl whisk together pumpkin sugars and eggs.
Gradually add flour mixture to wet, alternating with 1/2 cup skim milk.
Pour into greased muffin tins and bake in a preheated oven a 350 for 23 minutes or until tester comes out clean.


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Coconut Blueberry Muffins

John and I have a new tradition of going to this fabulous bakery in town every Saturday morning. John gets the same thing every week, I mean EVERY week, but then he saw these blueberry coconut muffins in the display and he had to add one to his routine. They are TO DIE FOR delicious. He always feels a little guilty after eating them though; butter, sugar, white flour, these are not the things a healthy muffin are made of. So being me, I had to create my own version at home, sans all the bad for you stuff of course. And thus came this love child.

*drool* seriously people *DROOL*

The ingredients might not all sound like what a normal muffin would be made of, but stick with me, these things are the best!

Coconut Blueberry Muffins

recipe by steph chows

Muffins:

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup splenda (or white sugar)

1/4 cup light brown sugar (not packed)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup skim milk

3 tablespoons fat free cottage cheese (mashed with a fork so no chunks)

3 tablespoons light coconut milk (I got a can of it in the international isle)

1 tablespoon canola oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 large egg + 1 large egg white

1/4 cup flaked sweetened coconut

3/4 cup frozen or fresh blueberries

Topping:

1/4 cup flaked sweetened coconut

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 tablespoons white sugar

1 tablespoon splenda ( or white sugar)

1 tablespoon canola oil

Preheat oven to 350°.

Whisk together flour through salt in a large bowl. In a small bowl whisk together milk through egg. Add milk mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Fold in 1/4 cup coconut and 3/4 cup blueberries. Place 12 muffin cup liners in muffin cups; coat liners with cooking spray. Divide batter evenly among muffin tins. Mix together topping and sprinkle evenly over batter. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack 15 minutes.

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Blueberry Muffins

I know I know ANOTHER muffin recipe? What can I say, I can't help myself! These come from The CarbLovers Diet Cookbook and I really liked the recipe, not too many ingredients and they came together super quick. I added my own topping to make them a little more interesting.


Blueberry Muffins
recipe by The CarbLovers Diet Cookbook

3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup white whole wheat (I just used whole wheat)
1/2 cup sugar (I used splenda)
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg (I used 1 tsp cinnamon)
1/2 tsp salt (I used a dash)
1 large egg lightly beaten
3/4 cup soy milk (I used skim)
2 Tbs vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup blueberries

Combine flours through salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center.
Add egg, milk, oil, vanilla and blueberries to the flour mixture and stir until combined.
Bake 16-20 minutes or until done.

Cashew Oat Agave Muffin topping
recipe by steph chows

As for my topping I mixed together a handful of cashew (chopped up) 1/3 cup oats, and 1-2 Tbs of agave nectar and placed it on top of the muffins before baking.

What's your all time favorite muffin?

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Cinnamon Muffins - fat free and low sugar

Sometimes you just need a cinnamon sugar muffin to brighten you day. Ok maybe that's just me but either way these were a huge hit in our house. John ate the first batch of 12 in 2.5 days... yeahhh. That might be some kind of record. (full disclosure I ate ONE from that batch) Since he was sulking that there were no longer any baked goods in the house I made another batch for him last night... any wagers on how long this batch lasts??

I prefer these muffins hot out of the oven, the sugar cinnamon has a nice crust to the top of them. John still loves them the next day even after the crispy crust has gone soft from the moisture of the other muffin in the tupperware tin.

In all reality I have to say I'm super impressed John likes these, I mean there is NO chocolate in them? That man is addicted to baked goods with chocolate... it's an anomaly. Also can you believe these things have no added fat? And they still taste delicious, promise, give them a try :)

Are you a must have chocolate in it to be considered dessert person? Or do you love all desserts equally? I love all dessert, maybe not equally, but I don't think I've met a dessert I didn't like :)

Cinnamon Muffins
recipe by steph chows

1 cup white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup toasted wheat germ
1/2 cup splenda granulated (or use 1/2 cup white sugar)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
1/3 cup fat free yogurt
1 1/2 cups skim milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray muffin tin with non-stick spray.

Mix together dry ingredients (flour through flax seeds) in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, mix wet ingredients (yogurt, milk, vanilla). In an even smaller bowl, mix the sugar and cinnamon.

Pour the wet mixture into the flour mixture and stir just until thoroughly moistened. Do not overmix. Spoon batter into each muffin cup. Sprinkle each muffin with 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon sugar mixture.

Bake for 17-22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool for a few minutes before serving.

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Triple Chocolate Chunk Muffin Knock-Offs

My sister forwarded me a link she found on pinterest of these healthy muffins. Their photo looked AMAZING... my muffins in no way puffed up that much, and I got 16 instead of 12... next time I will try filling them to the tip top... even so, I think I had more than 12 muffins worth of batter. (UPDATE: the pinterest photo wasn't for the recipe... found the real recipe owner with different looking pictures here.)

I loved the muffins, puffed up or not and will be trying this again for sure! One other thing I wasn't sure about was she put all the ingredients together at once... which didn't seem to make sense to me since you need to make oat flour out of the oats... and getting them wet isn't going to make that easy. So I ground all the dry together and mixed the wet in a separate bowl and then mixed them. Might be another reason mine didn't puff as much?? Any suggestions??


Triple Chocolate Chunk Muffin Knock-Offs of Whole Food’s 6 Dollar per 4 Chocolate Chunk VitaTop Muffins
Thanks to an awesome reader I found out the recipe originally came from Dashing Dish

Ingredients:
1 3/4 c oats
3 egg whites
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt (or regular plain low fat yogurt)
1/2 tsp cream of tartar (or 1-1/2 Tbsp. vinegar)
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1-1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup hot water
1 cup sugar substitute (like Splenda granular) OR 1/4 cup + 2 tbs stevia
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or use white chocolate or peanut butter chips!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line (12-cup) muffin pans with foil cupcake liners, or spray muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

In a blender, (or food processor), mix all of the ingredients together, except for the chocolate chips. Blend until oats are ground and mixture is smooth. (I did dry together, and wet in a separate bowl, then mixed them together)
Place mixture in a bowl and gently stir in 1/2 of the chocolate chips (set the rest aside). Scoop mixture into prepared muffin pans.
Place muffins tins in the oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove muffins from the oven (but don’t shut oven off), and distribute the other half of the chocolate chips on top of each muffin.
Place the muffins back into the oven and bake for an additional 2-5 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. *Note, you could skip this step by putting all of the chips in the batter, and baking the muffins for 12-15 min straight, but this method gives the muffins the traditional ‘VitaTop Muffin’ look with the chocolate chips on top!
Cool muffins before removing from pan. ENJOY!!!
Servings: 12 Big Muffins or 24 Smaller Muffins
Calories: 116 Calories Per Muffin or 58 Calories Per Muffin

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Blueberry Flax Muffins

If you didn't know it already, I LOVE muffins. I asked John what kind of baked goods he wanted this weekend and he requested blueberry muffins please, can do! These are the perfect snack with a nice warm mug of tea if I do say so myself. (that is precisely what I'm having as I type this)

How were your weekends? Do anything fun? We spent it pretty low key since Hobbes got spayed on Thursday. Poor thing has to wear the cone of shame now... In case you were wondering she spent the majority of the weekend walking into things and getting trapped... while I followed her around taking pictures to embarrass her with when she's an angstful teen. Awesome.

Blueberry Flax Muffins
recipe by steph chows

In a medium bowl mix together:
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup old fashion oats
1/4 cup flax seed meal
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
dash salt

In a large bowl mix together:
6oz fat free yogurt (I used blueberry on the bottom variety)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup splenda (or 1/4 cup white sugar)
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

Add 1.5-2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen) to the dry mix and then dump into the wet mixture. Stir until just incorporated, don't over stir. Bake in greased muffin pan (I used liners, they stuck to the muffins like MAD- don't make the same mistake)

Preheat over to 375 and bake for 25 minutes. Let cool and enjoy.

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Chocolate doughnut... muffins? With PB choco frosting

Bet that title got you drooling ehh? Side note, I've been saying ehh lately. I blame Jeanne. Cause she's Canadian and she writes it in her emails... which somehow has translated to me saying it. Maybe I just want to be Canadian or something? John goes nuts every time I let one slip LOL "why are you pretending to be Canadian?!?!" :D

Right... onto the doughnut muffins. I saw this on a blog and NEEDED to go home and make them. Only problem... I don't have a doughnut pan... so I tried making them as muffins, I increased the baking time... but they stuck like MAD to the pan... next time there will be liners. The tops had the perfect texture though, so I can see how making these shallower in a doughnut pan would be AMAZING. Either way, they tasted amazing, and I love her frosting, YUM! (as you can see above my muffin tops pulled off... so I put the frosting sandwich style under the tops, and then put a smear of coolwhip on top for flare.

She mentioned there not being enough batter to make 6... so I upped the nuts a bit and they filled 6 muffin tins to the top.


BAKED CHOCOLATE DOUGHNUTS
recipe by neverhomemaker

What you'll need . . .

1 cup rolled oats, processed into flour
1/2 cup cashews (processed with oats) (she used pecans and only 1/4 cup)
1/4 cup agave (she used maple syrup)
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
pinch salt
1/2 cup skim milk (she used almond milk)
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 egg, (she used Ener-G egg replacer (plus required water) for one egg)

Method . . .

Preheat to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a mini bundt pan (or doughnut pan, if you have one).
Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
Pour into five of the six bundts (I need to rework the recipe to make more -- trust me, it's so good, I'm making more today).
Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, until slightly firm. Let cool in pan and then turn over to pop out.

Frosting:
Just use a fork to mix everything together in a small bowl:
2 tablespoons peanut butter
2 Tbs splenda (she used 1/3 cup powdered sugar)
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 to 2 tablespoons almond milk

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GF Muffin FAIL

Don't forget to enter the giveaway!

Oye... oye... OYE... not good, really not good. I don't think they are salvageable... but I HATE throwing things out... and wasting ingredients. No need to link to the recipe, it was from a blog, and their pictures made them look beautiful... not like mine... which makes me wonder if I missed a step... or something... 3/4 of a cup of peanut butter... 3/4 cup brown sugar... brown rice and garbanzo bean flour... 1/2 Tbs pumpkin pie spice...and they don't really taste like anything... at all?? That white center is a yogurt center... but it just tasted like egg if you ask me... not a good thing in my book. Don't get me wrong I LOVE eggs... but I don't love having a lump of egg in the center of my muffin...

I was making these to bring into my GF coworker... I will probably bring them in still to let her try... but I'll for sure warn her first... eeek. SORRY!!! UPDATE: John ate 4 of these between yesterday and this morning... and says they have a subtle taste, but they aren't horrible... sooo maybe my taste buds were off yesterday? Hard to say... maybe John is just a human garbage disposal...

Tell me some of your kitchen fails! :)

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Pumpkin Muffins!

You know it's that time of year. Time to snuggle up under a blanket with a good book, and time to bake up a storm with my best bud pumpkin! What's the best things to start the season off with... of course muffins!!!


I found these over at my friend Sugarcrafter and knew I had to bake some up! Just a few changes from her also delicious as is recipe :)


Pumpkin muffins
recipe adapted from Sugarcrafter
For the muffins:

* 1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour (she used white whole wheat)
* 1/8 tsp salt (she used 1/2 tsp)
* 1/4 cup brown sugar plus 1/4 cup splenda granulated (she used 1/2 cup packed brown sugar)
* 2 tsp baking powder
* 1/4 tsp baking soda
* 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
* 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
* 1/8 tsp cloves
* 1 egg
* 1 cup canned pumpkin
* 1/4 cup milk
* 1/4 cup fat free sour cream
* 1 cup old-fashioned oats

She made a delicious streusel topping... I just used a mix of maple agave and oats to top mine!

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and spray a muffin pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and oats.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg, pumpkin, milk, and sour cream.

Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients just until combined.

Spoon the batter into the muffin pan, filling each one 2/3 full. Sprinkle with agave oat mixture

Bake 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool at least 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Makes 12 muffins.

What are your favorite muffins? Got a link? Let me see! I can always use another good muffin recipe!

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Adventures in GF muffins

I totally thought these muffins were a fail...

Turns out I'm just super impatient because once they cooled they popped out of the tins without any issues.

They were still pretty crumbly though, but nothing like the first picture. I have to say I was really pleased with the texture and taste of these muffins. John ate one up and it wasn't until after he said he liked them that I told him they were gluten free. I'm bringing some into work tomorrow for my good friend who is allergic to gluten, I'll let you know what she thinks :) --UPDATE: she loves them!! Woohoo!!!

The centers all did collapse, but I just see it as an excuse to put a glob of ice cream on top to hide it don't you?

Super easy to whip up and not a long list of specialty ingredients to buy either!

SPECIAL NOTE: these were made for someone with a gluten allergy not celiac's disease... if you are making something for someone with celiac's disease double check with all ingredient lists to make sure there are no trace elements of gluten.

Gluten Free Coconut Cinnamon Muffins
recipe adapted from The Joy of Clean Eating makes 11 muffins

1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup sucanat (don't have any? try using 1/4 white + 1/2 brown sugar)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp apple butter
3 tbsp canola oil
unsweetened coconut to top (1/2 tsp per muffin)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl add in the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Mix well and set aside.
Beat together the milk, vanilla, apple cider and apple butter in a small bowl
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix together. Do NOT over mix. You should have a very liquidy batter.
Place into greased muffin tins and then sprinkle 1/2 tsp of unsweetened coconut on top.
Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely before trying to remove them.

Do you have any easy gluten free recipes that you love? (AKA make it so I don't have to buy 8 kinds of flours...) Share the link please! :)





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Rhubarb Muffins

I'm out of town this week so I have some fabulous guest posts set up for you! (I was trying to write to tell you all this on Friday but blogger wouldn't let me!) Today we have my best bud Jeanne!

When I met Steph a few years ago, we learned very quickly that we have a lot in common. Tons of our conversations started with a story and ended with: "Me TOO!" We have the same birthday (albeit a year apart), we have crazy curls, we swam tons as kids, we craft, we camp, we have a serious addiction to the library, and when it comes to baking, we can't leave well enough alone. Recipes are more like guidelines anyways, aren't they?

Now, I don't know about you, but I'm so excited for local summer produce to start showing up on my table. It doesn't get more local than when you pick it out of your own garden. Okay. I'll admit it, the only thing that is ready in my garden right now is rhubarb. And that's probably because it's a weed. But it's one tasty weed let me tell you. I love baking with it! In the past month I've made: Rhubarb cake, rhubarb crisp, rhubarb square, stewed rhubarb... But today I'm here to talk about a favourite of mine: Rhubarb muffins.
Wait... Is that heavenly music I hear? Hells yeah it is.


I got this recipe from my SIL, and while it was a pretty damn awesome when she made it, I just had to tweak it.

Original Rhubarb Muffins.
In a large bowl add and combine well:
2 Eggs
1 C Sugar
1/4 C oil
1/2 C plain yogurt or buttermilk
1 3/4 C chopped rhubarb

In a smaller bowl combine well:
2C All Purpose Flour
2 tsp b powder
1/2 tsp b soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon.
Combine wet and dry ingredients and fold together gently until just mixed. Spoon into prepared pan. Bake at 375F for 25minutes. Remove from pan and cool on rack.


What did I change? Just the normal substitutions. Reduced the sugar. Apple sauce instead of oil. skim milk. And what's up with 1/4tsp cinnamon? That's nothing!
Added MORE rhubarb. These are rhubarb muffins after all!! And when it's growing like a weed and you aren't paying through the nose for it, might as well use it, right!?



My Rhubarb Muffins.
In a large bowl add and combine well:
2 Eggs
1/2 C Sugar or a little more
1/4 C apple sauce
1/2 C plain yogurt or buttermilk
2 C+ chopped rhubarb

In another bowl combine well:
1C Flour
1C Oatmeal
2 tsp b powder
1/2 tsp b soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon.
dash nutmeg

Eat. Enjoy. Or like me, take it to a gathering of friends and get rave reviews! :)


What recipes do you normal tweak? How would you modify this recipe? Add strawberries?

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My better butter giveaway!

Remember I promised you a muffin recipe when I was doing a review of my better butter? Well here it is!!! And for those of you with super good memories you will also remember I mentioned something about a giveaway... that's right My Better Butter is giving away a sample package of their three flavors along with a full size jar of your favorite flavor!!


Rules/Way to enter: (leave a separate comment for each entry)
1. Leave a comment picking your favorite My Better Butter flavor
2. Tweet about the giveaway make sure to include @steph_chows and @mybetterbutter and a link to the giveaway
3. Facebook about the giveaway and link to the giveaway and to mybetterbutter.com

You have until Monday January 31st at midnight EST to leave your comments, I will announce the winner on Wednesday so make sure to check back! Shipping only to the US, sorry international peeps!

In other news, if you don't win and want to try some of this delicious My Better Butter now is your chance with this 20% off code! My Better Butter would like to offer you readers a 20% discount on any online order. If you enter "stephchows" into discount code, 20% off the total will come off!


Maple Pumpkin My Better Butter Muffins!
recipe by steph chows

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup bran flakes (crushed)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
Dash of salt

1/4 cup splenda
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup maple pumpkin better butter
1/2 cup plain fat free yogurt
1/4 cup skim milk

Mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a medium bowl beat together the sugars and egg. Stir in maple pumpkin better butter and yogurt, finally stir in the skim milk. Add wet to dry and stir until just barley combined. This only made 9 muffins... whoops. Next time I'll either 1.5 times the recipe... or just make 6 really big muffins!

Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes.

Chocolate and almond butter muffins...cake

So these were going to be muffins, but then I decided to make a loaf instead. Why you might ask? Especially since I just rebranded the blog with a flying muffin... because I didn't feel like cleaning the muffin tin afterward and I was out of cupcake liners. Yup that laziness is how I roll.


I was browsing around on How Sweet it is (who also has a love of muffins) and found this recipe. I had to make them!! Just a few changes... like almond butter instead of peanut butter, and flax egg instead of egg whites. The loaf is delicious, especially served with a scoop of icecream. YUMMM



Whole Wheat Almond Butter Fudge Muffins
recipe by How sweet it is (slightly adapted by me below)

Makes ~1 loaf

1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/3 cup splenda (or use white sugar)
1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tablespoon baking powder
dash salt
1 1/4 cups fat-free milk
1/2 cup no stir MaraNatha almond butter
1 Tbs ground flax seeds plus 3 Tbs water
2 Tbs canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2-3 tablespoons applesauce

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400.

Lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flours, sugars, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl; stir with a whisk. Make a well in center of mixture. Combine milk and next 4 ingredients (through vanilla); add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Stir in applesauce. Fold in chocolate chips.

Spoon batter into 9" loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 30-35 minutes or until loaf springs back when touched lightly in center. Let cool in pan 5 minutes. Remove from pan, and cool on a wire rack.


Did you all dress up for Halloween?
John and I went as Jesse James and Bombshell McGee... awesome.

Farm Fresh Muffins

If you didn't see already, go check out the post all about where I made these muffins here. Muffins don't have to be intimidating, I didn't know I was going to be making them, otherwise I would have snuck a recipe with me, but making them on the fly seems to work just as well :)


Raspberry Peach Whole Grain Muffins
recipe by steph chows

Whisk together
1.5 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup white sugar
2 Tbs brown sugar

Mix together
1.5 cups shredded zucchini (skin and all)
1 farm fresh egg
1 cup skim milk plus juice of half a lemon

Pour wet into dry and mix until just incorporated. Then Fold in
1 peach chopped up
1/2 pint raspberries

In a separate bowl mix together the topping
1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup slivered almonds
drizzle of maple syrup to get it all wet

Spoon into greased muffin tins and then spoon on the topping.

Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until done.


Do you think you could have pulled a muffin out of your rump?? What would you have made??

Bangin Blueberry Muffins

First off, if you haven't already go sign up for the jam exchange!!! (You have until Aug 11th to sign up!) Ok now onto other chow news...

It's been awhile since I've made you all a muffin! Well we need to remedy that for sure. A friend of mine was headed out of town and asked if we wanted to pick up their CSA package while they were gone (ummm yes please!!!). WOW I can't imagine how she and her husband eat their way through the amount of food that was given each week... Case in point: 13 yellow squash! Seriously... 13 of them?? What are we suppose to do with that many yellow squash?? (and that was only one of the many things in the CSA basket for the week!!!)

I'll tell you what I did with all that squash though... I turned them into muffins of course :) And NO they don't taste like squash, it just gives them this amazingly moist wonderful texture.


And if you are wondering the blueberries came from the 9.5 lbs I picked... anyone want to guess what the next featured jam recipe will be??

These are super moist, delicious, and of course have no added fat!
Bangin Blueberry Muffins
recipe by steph chows

Dry- (mix together)
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
dash salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2/3 cup splenda or white sugar
1 cup fresh picked blueberries

Wet- (beat together in a separate bowl)
1 Tbs milled flax seeds plus 3 Tbs water (mix and let sit to form a gel) Or use 1 egg
1 1/4 cups grated raw yellow squash
lemon zest
1 tsp lemon juice
1 1/4 cups fat free milk

Optional Topping (mix together in a small bowl)
1/4 cup rolled oats
1 Tbs whole wheat flour
2 Tbs agave nectar (or honey)
2 Tbs chopped nuts (I used almonds)

Pour wet into dry and stir until just incorporated (don't over mix). Place in greased muffin tins and sprinkle optional topping on if desired, bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until done. Give them a little pat on top, if they spring back, they are done.

Let cool in pan for 10 minutes then remove and continue to cool on a rack.

Perfect for breakfast, snack time, or dessert!