war of the muffin ~

That's right ... it's escalated to a war! A war between me and my muffin top ~ which has now escalated to what I classify as a belly flop.  How did that happen!!!!

I have always been the chunky monkey of the family ~ and I'm not too proud bearing that title.  I have been on so many different diets through out my lifetime.  Sometimes I'd lose a few pounds only to put back on. The few I'd lose, and then a few extras, would sneak back on me each time I TRIED to diet.  Frustration ... frustration... frustration! 

I have QUIT the dieting.  Now I am concentrating on just eating healthier.  hmmmph....  The word diet is getting kicked to the curb.

My biggest pitfall ... carbs.  I do (or should I say did) love my whites.  White flour, white rice, white sugar, noodles, potatoes ... oh ... that beautiful little potato.  It wasn't the potato that was killing me .... yes ... killing me ... I have all the health issues that go along with all those high carbs in my diet ... it also included all those carb laden gravies and sauces that I would top it all off with.

BUT THE BIGGEST problem in my house has been that dreaded white flour!!  It has to go!!

Lord help me on my quest.

  Now... I'm doing okay with that BUT I love to bake and cutting out white flour isn't all that easy to do.  I've been trying to switch over to using all whole unprocessed flours; but if you're a cook ... you know ... the texture and taste changes dramatically without white flour.

So began my muffin war!

I have been on a muffin kick ... trying to find a "good tasting, low fat, low cal, low carb, low sugar, low everything" muffin that actually taste good ... isn't dried out and flavorless ... or taste like cardboard (which whole wheat taste like to me)... and the kicker ... I can eat it without feeling quilty.  Now is that too much to ask for in a whole wheat muffin?  I think not.

Here's what I came up with this morning ~ I'm calling them:

Mel's Morning Glory Muffins

 

I began with taking 2 whole carrots, raw - with the peeling on,  1 apple, with the peelings on and cored ~ tossing those into the food processor and giving it a whirl ~ to grate the carrots and apple.  They ( whoever they are) claim that you should eat those peelings ... they're full of the vitamins and nutrients.

I transferred that to a mixing bowl and added:

2 large Eggs

1/4 cup Canola Oil

1/4 cup low-fat Milk

2 tsp. Vanilla Extract

1 tsp. Orange Extract

Mix that altogether ... then add the following dry ingredients:

2 cups Whole Wheat Flour

1/4 cup Brown Sugar

1/3 cup  Sugar Substitute

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1 tsp. Baking Powder

1 tsp. ground Cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground Ginger

1/2 tsp. Salt

I also added about 1/2 cup of toasted sunflower kernels ... or you could add walnuts or coconut or raisins, flaxseed ... today it just happened to be the sunflowers for me:)

Filled up the paper lined cupcake pan ...

 it made 12 

and baked in a preheated 375 degree oven 

for 25 minutes

Pat on back ... they actually tasted pretty darn good. I think that vanilla and the orange extract were the magic ingredients.

They didn't taste "cardboardy" and the texture wasn't too bad either.  Next time though ... I'm thinking maybe just a bit more canola oil ... increasing it to 1/3 cup vs. 1/4

All in all ... I think this ones a keeper.

Until next time ...
So it goes in my neck of the woods.
~mel