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.

Banana chocolate chip muffins

I don't know how it happened (since I am known to be a monkey when it comes to banana) but somehow we ended up with 4 extremely ripe bananas on our counter last week. Since the bananas were too ripe for my liking and I don't like to waste food, I decided to make banana muffins - with a chocolate twist.

This recipe was super easy and quick and you likely have all of the ingredients at home. So the next time you find yourself with 4 spotty brown bananas, be sure to refer back to this recipe so that you can yum over your delicious homemade chocolate chip muffins. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

• 4 medium-sized ripe bananas
• 1/4 cup melted butter (cooled)
• 1/4 cup applesauce
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup shredded carrots
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup Ghirardelli chocolate premium baking chips 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Grease your muffin tin
3. Peel bananas and place them in a big mixing bowl with the melted butter and applesauce. Small together with a fork. 
4. Add the egg, vanilla and carrots and blend/mix until the mixture is creamy and smooth and evenly combined. 
5. Add salt and baking soda and stir. 
6. Add flour, chocolate chips and walnuts and mix until combined. Don't overmix. 
7. Pour until muffin tins until 1/2-3/4th full. 
8. Bake 18-20 minutes or until toothpick pulls out clean. 
9. Enjoy!

More Run Fast Eat Slow recipes - Yummy carbs!

I can't believe it. We are now under 4 weeks away from the start of our first Trimarni camp of 2017 in Clermont, FL, which means that we will be racing our first triathlon of the season (Olympic distance) in just 4 weeks! And then three weeks later, Karel and I will be returning back to Florida to race the Ironman Haines City 70.3 event as our first endurance event of 2017.

To keep us well fueled, healthy and happy, I have been keeping our house filled with carbohydrates. In addition to making sure that our fridge always has some type of cooked grain/rice/potato assortment in it, I've been making good use of my Run Fast Eat Slow cookbook as there are so many delicious recipes that are perfect for helping us meet our daily carb intake. Plus, we love carbs so it's not that difficult for me to get excited to make something new.

I tried out two new recipes from the cookbook and I think you will just love them. Of course, I had to make another loaf of the banana bread.

Enjoy!

(All recipes are from the cookbook. However, the ingredients listed are with my modifications.)

We love having muffins in our house - homemade, that is. I love that this recipe includes zucchini and carrots to bump up the nutritional value of each muffin. The chocolate chips and walnuts give it a nice texture (and yummy taste) and the muffins are not too dense - just moist enough to yum with every bite. 

Superhero muffinsPg. 42


INGREDIENTS

2 cups gluten free flour (or almond meal)
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup chocolate chips
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup grated zucchini (about 1 zucchini)
1 cup grated carrots (about 2 carrots)
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper muffin cups (I sprayed the tin with non stick sprayed and ended up with 17 muffins instead of 12 as I filled each 3/4th full instead of to the brim).
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, salt, walnuts and chocolate chips.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs, zucchini, carrots, oil, maple syrup and vanilla. Add to the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. The batter will be thick.
4. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins, filling each about 3/4th full. Bake until the muffins are nicely browned on top and a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. About 25-30 minutes.

Let's get real. Pancakes are amazing. I can't imagine my life without pancakes. My dad loved pancakes so every time I eat one, I think of him.
Pancakes taste great after a hard or long workout but they are also amazingly good for brinner or for breakfast, on a recovery day. I love pancakes as they provide a great source of carbohydrates and a fluffy base to dress up with yogurt, syrup, butter, nut butter, berries and anything that your taste-buds desire.
Having pancakes pre-made is such a great feeling when you finish a long or hard workout and you know that homemade pancakes are ready for you and you don't have to spend 20+ minutes mixing together ingredients and flipping pancakes on a skillet.
These pancakes came out really fluffy and they offer a nice pumpkin taste that isn't too overpowering. This recipe made ~23 pancakes so I kept about 15 in the fridge and froze the rest. 

TEFF PUMPKIN PANCAKES
Pg. 44

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups teff flour 
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp nutmeg (it called for pumpkin spice but I used nutmeg)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 3/4 cups milk (it also called for 1/2 cup plain whole milk yogurt but I left that out as I didn't have any - still turned out ok!)
2 tbsp sugar (It called for 2 tbsp honey but I used sugar instead)
(it called for currants or raisins but I left those out since I wanted to make these plain - more fun for dressing up later!)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the teff flour, baking powder, nutmeg/pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon and salt.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, pumpkin, milk, (yogurt if using) and sugar (or honey). Pour over the dry mixture and stir until just combined. 

3. Fold in the currants/raisins if using.
4. Heat a stove-top griddle or skillet over medium-low heat (I used two skillets so that I could make more at the same time). Use oil for brushing the pan.
5. Ladle a heaping spoonful of the batter into the hot pain. Cook the pancakes on one side until the bottom starts to brown, about 1 1/2 - 2 minutes. Using a spatula, flip the pancakes over and cook on the other side until nicely browned and cooked through, 1-2 minutes. Continue with the remaining batter, brushing the pan with oil as needed.
(The book recommends to place the pancakes in the toaster to reheat from the freezer - great idea!) 

We are just loving this banana bread recipe - it's oh-so-good. I prefer my bananas on the yellow side but now, it makes me excited to see my bananas get brown spots as I have a recipe to use them for! 

For the recipe: banana bread. 

In this recent creation (picture above), I used walnuts and raisins and it was so good! 

Zucchini flaxseed muffins

There's something so special about the oven. It's kinda magical how the oven can turn something flavorless into something so flavorful!!

I just love the process of baking muffins as the final product smells absolutely delicious!!

In real life, 20 minutes goes by rather quickly but when it comes to baking, 20 minutes feels like forever!!

These zucchini flaxseed muffins didn't last long in the Trimarni household so that means two things...

1) I need to go grocery shopping for round two of making muffins

2) These muffins are 100% Trimarni blog-worthy

Enjoy!

Zucchini Flaxseed Muffins

(adapted from Martha Stewart recipe)

Ingredients

1 3/4 cu all-purpose flour

1/2 cup ground flaxseed

1/2 cu packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

 1 1/2 cup grated zucchini (1 zucchini)

1/3 cup mashed ripe banana (1 banana)

3/4 cup reduced fat milk

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

Cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat a 12-muffin tin with cooking spray.

2. In large bowl mix together flour, flaxseeds, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

3. Add zucchini and banana. Stir to combine.

4. In small bowl, whisk together milk, eggs and vanilla.

5. Add milk mixture to flour and stir until combined. Do not overmix.

6. Fill muffin tins ~3/4 full and bake for 20-25 minutes. Let muffins cool in pan (removed from oven) for 30 minutes (if you can wait that long). 

(optional: add a few chocolate chips to the top of each muffin before baking)

Although these muffins are packed with great ingredients to leave your tummy happy, I like to eat my muffins with greek yogurt or scrambled eggs for a balanced, healthy and satisfying meal.  

Blueberry Zucchini muffins

 

I love to be in the kitchen. It's a place that gives me so much creative freedom, sometimes I am overwhelmed by my options.  I don't have a Rolodex of recipes but rather, I am inspired by ingredients. I love to visualize or see meals and create them in a way that pleases, teases or excites my taste buds. There may be a creation here or there that is not blog worthy (I have yet to create a cauliflower or Brussels sprouts recipe that makes me excited) but most of time the time, I take pictures of my food because I am so proud of what I put together. I invite you to take pictures of your meals as an easy way to see what you are putting into your body. Anything from a bowl of cereal to a 4 course dinner, enjoy, appreciate and savour the foods you choose to put into your body.

 

I love to cook but I wouldn't call myself the best baker. I try, especially around the holidays with a few Czech dessert recipes, but baking is a science. There's little room for creativity in baking and for someone like me who likes to eye-ball and guesstimate, that doesn't fly when it comes to making the perfect cake or pie.

 

But, I found one thing that allows me to be super creative when it comes to baking.....MUFFINS!

If you search my blog, I have lots of muffin recipes. I love to add in veggies to my muffins and try out different ways to add sweetness and fiber. Certainly, my muffins don't compare to a baker for mine are a bit on the dense-side and to the dislike of many, not very sweet. But that's ok - we love them in our house and they make for the perfect pre-training snack or dessert.

 

I hope you enjoy my blueberry zucchini muffins!

Blueberry zucchini muffins

 

 

Ingredients:

3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup instant oats (uncooked)
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon and nutmeg (each)
1 tsp all spice
1 cup plain non fat or low fat yogurt
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp canola oil
1 large egg
1 medium zucchini (shredded - about 1.5 cups)
1 cup frozen blueberries (if in season, fresh is fine)
Water - add as needed to help bring batter to a slightly thick consistency and barely dripping off mixing fork/spoon
Favorite crunchy flak cereal (ex. Great Grains) for topping
Pam - to spray pan

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spray muffin tin (12 tins) w/ non stick spray
3. Combine dry ingredients (until yogurt) in bowl and mix until combined.
4. Combine wet ingredients in bowl, stir well.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet until evenly mixed. Add a little water as needed to help w/ mixing.
6. Spoon into muffin tin, until 3/4ths full. Batter should make 12 muffins. Sprinkle with a pinch or spoonful of cereal before baking.
7. Bake for ~18-25 minutes or until top of muffin is firm to the touch.

 

Nutrition facts:

(I used my software program Diet Analysis Plus)
Servings: 12
Serving size: 1 muffin
Calories: 118
Fat: 3.5g
Carbohydrates: 19g
Sugar: 8g
Fiber: 3g
Sodium: 74 mg
Protein: 4g