Morning Glory Muffins

 A.K.A. banana-carrot-apple/pear-coconut-raisin muffins

It seems that every time I talk with my dad, he complains that he wants my mom to bake him something. He was a bit jealous when I told him I made these muffins. They've got pretty much everything he loves in them: carrots, raisins, coconut, banana and nuts. Can you ask for a more tasty way to start off your morning? 

Serves: 12 muffins

Ingredients

1 large banana, mashed
3/4 cup soy milk or other non dairy milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup white sugar

2 cups flour, half whole wheat, half white
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt

1 large pear or apple, pealed and chopped
1 cup grated carrot
1/2 cup shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened up to you, I've used both)
1/2 cup raisins

1/2 chopped pecans for topping

Preparations

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a muffin tin, or line with muffin liners (Do not need to grease if using a silicon muffin tray).
2. In a large mixing bowl, mash banana and mix with all wet ingredients and sugar.
3. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, spices and salt.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix to combine.
5. To the batter, add the chopped fruit, grated carrot, raisins and coconut and mix well.
6. Distribute the batter evenly, top the muffins with the chopped pecans and place in your preheated oven at 350°F.
7. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes in the muffin tray before transferring the muffins to a wire rack and cooling for an additional 5-10 minutes before chowing down.

Fresh Blueberry Muffins

Wow, it's been a while since I last posted. You'd think that I'd have more free time during the summer, but I've been working so much that I have even less time to cook than I did during the school year. On my last day off, I whipped up a tasty batch of blueberry muffins with some banana to change them up a bit. 

They turned out great! They were super moist from the banana and super tasty from everything else we put in them. And not to brag or anything, but they are good for you too: each muffin is packed with fruit and contains only about 3% of your daily fat and sodium.

Feel like a little nutrition lesson? 

One Tim Hortons classic Blueberry Muffin has 570mg of sodium, which is 38% of the sodium you need in a day, based on your Adequate Intake. 570mg of sodium equates to a 1/4 tsp of salt - that's in every muffin. I used that much salt in my entire batch of muffins! So one of my muffins has just less than 3% of your daily sodium. Now, I'm using Adequate Intake because that is the ideal value that you should be basing your diet on. But Nutritional Facts tables, like the one on your cereal box, base their percent daily value on the Upper Tolerable Intake Level (UL), which is the maximum daily intake.The UL for sodium is 2000mg; the Adequate Intake is 1500mg. This means that if you follow the Nutritional Facts tables, you could be consuming a lot more sodium than you need.

A Nutritional Facts table would tell you that your Tim's Blueberry Muffin only has 28% of your daily sodium, when in fact is has 38%. This is a problem. In Canada, over 85% of males and about 75% of females have sodium intakes above the UL, putting them at a higher risk of high blood pressure, hypertension, heart disease, obesity and cancer -  they don't include those warnings on Tim Hortons muffins, but maybe they should.  When in doubt, cut the sodium out. 

Speaking of which, here's my recipe:

Bake at: 375°F

Makes: 12-16 muffins

Ingredients

2 cups fresh blueberries, washed (~1 pint)
1 tbsp flour

1 ripe banana, mashed
1 tbsp ground flax seed with 2 tbsp water
1/8 cup vegetable oil
1 cup white sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp vinegar
2 tsp baking soda

1 cup white four 
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup soymilk or other milk

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Wash blueberries, then toss in 1 tbsp of flour to coat and set aside. 
In a medium mixing bowl, mash the banana then add the ground flax and water and let the mixture sit for a couple of minutes while you measure out the rest of the ingredients. Next add the vegetable oil, sugar, vanilla, vinegar and baking soda to the banana-flax mixture and mix well.
Mix the dry ingredients together, then add this to the wet mixture and fold it in gently.
Incorporate the soy milk into the mixture until smooth, then add the blueberries.
Grease a metal muffin tray, or use muffin cups or a silicone muffin tray. Evenly distribute the batter in the muffin tins.
Bake at 375°F for 20-30 minutes.

Great for breakfast or a snack!

Tasty Tropical Fruit Muffins

One of Ryan’s favourite muffin recipes from his mom. Muffins are perfect for the morning; they are fast, easy and nutritious.

Vegetarians and vegans need to be especially cautious of B12 deficiencies, which is why I like to add the optional nutritional yeast to this recipe. The nutritional yeast doesn't affect the texture or flavour of the muffin at all, but it’s a great way to incorporate some additional B vitamins into your diet. Nutritional yeast is an excellent source of vitamin B12 and also thiamine. If you decide to add the ½ cup of nutritional yeast, each muffin would have about 50% of your daily Vitamin B12 plus a bit extra depending on the fortification of your soymilk.

Bake at: 400°F

Bake Time: 25 minutes

Makes: 12 muffins

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

½ cup shredded coconut, unsweetened

½ packed brown sugar

(Optional: 1/2 cup nutritional flakes)

1/8 cup water

1 cup soymilk, or other variety of milk

1 cup mashed banana (2-3 bananas)

¼ cup melted margarine

2 tsp vanilla

1 can crushed pineapple, juice removed

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Combine all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

In a separate bowl, combine all wet ingredients.

Pour wet ingredients into the dry bowl and stir until moistened.

Spoon muffin batter into a greased pan or a silicone muffin tray.

Sprinkle about a handful’s worth of extra coconut on top of the muffins.

Bake for about 25 minutes, until golden brown and the cake tester comes out clean.

Enjoy for breakfast or for a snack!