Carrot Cake Muffins

Raise your hand if you also love carrot cake? I have a confession to make. I love carrot cake. Maybe because it’s a cake made with a vegetable. This sweet, spicy and moist cake is my favorite way to celebrate my birthday each year. A tradition that started with my dear friend Laura making me a delicious carrot cake for my birthday back in ~2009. 

With my carrot cake muffins, we can all yum over carrot cake all year long and feel great about the nutritional quality in the recipe. Because the typical carrot cake recipe (with cream cheese frosting) can be extremely high in calories, sugar and fat, you can feel good about this more nutritious (on-the-go) version which uses applesauce to cut back on oil.  Since carrots are naturally sweet, you’d never know there was only ½ cup brown sugar in this entire recipe.

Carrot Cake Muffins

Vegetarian, Dairy Free

Yield: Makes 12 muffins [1 muffin = 1 serving] / Prep Time: ~20 minutes / Cook Time: ~20 minutes

• ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1½ teaspoons canola oil
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¾ cup finely chopped carrots (about 3-4 medium sized carrots)
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• 1½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1 cup all-purpose flour (to make gluten-free, you can use gluten-free baking flour)
• ¼ cup walnuts, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a muffin pan with twelve muffin liners.
2. Process carrots in a food processor until finely and evenly chopped.
3. In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat together applesauce, vegetable oil and sugar until combined. Mix in egg and vanilla. Add carrots and mix until combined.
4. Add the salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, and flour to the applesauce mixture and mix well.
5. Divide batter evenly between muffin lined cups in muffin pan (a #40 cookie scoop works very well to portion batter into liners).
6. Top each muffin with a few chopped walnuts.
7. Bake for 17-20 minutes or just until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean.
8. Cool on a wire rack.

Time-saving tip:
Baking cup liners will make it easy to get these muffins out of the pan with minimal clean-up. However, to avoid some of the muffin sticking to the inside of the liner, make sure the muffin is cooled completely before removing from the wrapper. Also, choose nonstick liners.

Storage: Store in an airtight container for one week or freeze the leftovers in a heavy duty freezer bag for up to 2 months.

Carrot Ginger Soup & Celery (in your) smoothie

Julia Child was fearless and creative in the kitchen. If there was one person I wish I had the opportunity to meet, passed away or alive, it would be Julia Child. I could not think of a cooler experience than being in the kitchen with Julia Child and then yumming over a meal with her.


She had this special gift of helping people feel comfortable in the kitchen. And no matter your cooking skills, she made cooking easy and fun no matter the recipe or food.

I have been challenging myself in the kitchen by making homemade soups. I sure do love Amy's Organic soups but my New Year resolution was challenging myself more with recipes. And since I am not one for resolutions, I started this challenge a few weeks before the New Year.

I found this recipe on the Whole Foods Market website and actually followed the entire recipe. I'm not giving up my creativeness in the kitchen as I am not one to follow a recipe or all the ingredients included but I gave this one a go and it came out great!

Don't be afraid in your kitchen. As Julia Child would agree, don't just eat, enjoy your cooking experience!

CARROT GINGER SOUP

• 4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth, divided
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
• 1 pound carrots, coarsely chopped
• 1 medium Yukon Gold potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

             Method: 

Heat 1/2 cup broth to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until tender, about 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in ginger, carrots, potato and remaining broth and heat to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook 25 minutes or until vegetables are tender. In batches, carefully puree in a blender. Add water or broth if needed to thin to desired consistency. Reheat soup if necessary. Stir in lemon juice and garnish with chives.

               Nutritional Info: 

Per Serving:130 calories (5 from fat), 0g total fat, 0g saturated fat, 0mg cholesterol, 220mg sodium,28g carbohydrate (5g dietary fiber, 9g sugar), 3g protein

And speaking of being creative.... smoothie-making has no limits! 

It may not be your first choice for a smoothie ingredient but let me tell you how much nutrition you add to your smoothie by adding a stalk or two (chopped) to your smoothie.

You may think it's a "diet" food and has no flavor but celery is perfect for a body in motion.

It adds fiber, potassium, natural sugars and sodium, vitamin A and Calcium and it also acts as a natural anti-inflammatory!

It does not have a strong taste in your smoothie but certainly if you aren't use to this ingredient in your smoothie, you may taste it at first. But, once you learn to appreciate it's powerhouse of nutrients, you will never leave it out of your next smoothie creation.