Carrot Cake Muffins {Sugar-free!}

Let me introduce you to one of the ways that Abby will eat her vegetables: in some sort of baked good. I've done this with zucchini, but as it isn't really in season, I wanted something I could make now. I found this recipe and modified it slightly.

Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins

1 ½ C Whole Wheat flour

1 t baking soda

1 t baking powder

¼ t salt

1 T cinnamon (I also added about ½ t nutmeg)

1 C wheat germ

1 1/3 C milk

1/3 C olive oil (you could substitute with applesauce too)

2 eggs

1 t vanilla

2 C grated carrots (about 3-5)

1 ripe banana

Raisins
*I added ½ C of oats too

*If your husband decides that a recipe for muffins with no sugar is too unbearable, you may add ¼- ½ C of brown sugar.

-Preheat oven to 350. Line and spray muffin pan. Mix flour, soda, powder, salt, cinnamon (and nutmeg and oats) in a large bowl. These are your dry ingredients. Set aside. Beat in another bowl wheat germ, milk, oil, and eggs. Let sit for 5 minutes. These are your wet ingredients. In yet another bowl, mash banana and vanilla together. Stir in grated carrot. These are the filling ingredients.

-Pour filling mixture onto the wet ingredients and stir. Pour that mixture over the dry ingredients. Don’t over-stir. Fold in raisins.

-Evenly spoon into muffin pan, having the batter almost reach the top. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until light brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for 2 minutes, then remove and transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

 

Yield: 22-24 muffuns.

Calories per muffin: 105

I had to make a few modifications based on what I had on hand. I didn’t have 1 whole cup of wheat germ, I only had about 2 T. (1 C of wheat germ is 400 calories- I don't know if I'll ever use the entire cup!)
The original recipe that I modified this from called for 1T each of flax seed and chia seeds, and I didn't have those, but I liked the idea of texture, so I added ½ C of oats- added to the dry ingredients. I used vegetable oil instead of olive oil, however next time I think I’ll just use applesauce. (The oil alone was 640 calories! Made with applesauce instead, each muffin would only be 76 calories each!)
Also, we are not a very raisin-friendly household, so I didn’t have any on hand. I don’t mind them in baked goods, but I didn’t have them today. I think Abby likes them, and it’s a good toddler snack, so next time I want to use them too. Otherwise, I made them as is. I only got 22 muffins, but if not filled so full, and probably with raisins, they might make 24.

If you omit the raisins, they are 94 calories per muffin.

Made with my modifications, each muffin comes to 84 calories per muffin.

If your husband has a hissy fit and you decide to add ½ C of brown sugar, they will come out to be 113 calories per muffin.

Final verdict: They are great! Abby approved. I ended up mixing the second half of my batter with some brown sugar, and those were even better than the no sugar ones (I know, you're shocked.)  Imagine these warm out of the oven with some butter, or better yet, some almond butter. Mmmmmm.

Happy almost Thanksgiving and a Flashback

 

Happy Thanksgiving, people. I hope you have a fantastic holiday. I will be seeing both parents and parents in law, and eating pie. What will you do?

It's fun seeing pictures of my daughter from last year, right? I think so. These are exactly one year old.

Love it.

I will be making this as well. I know it isn't very Thanksgiving-y, but this recipe is tried and true. Spencer loves it (he isn't a big pie fan, and he wants me to make this as often as I am willing.)

Banana Cream Pie

3/4 C sugar
1/3 C flour
1/4 t salt
2 C milk
3 egg yolks, beaten
2 T butter
1 1/4 t vanilla
4 bananas
graham cracker crust (either homemade or store bought)

In saucepan, combine sugar, flour, and salt. Add milk gradually while stirring. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly, till bubbly. Keep stirring, cook 2 more minutes. Remove from heat.
Beat egg yolks. Stir in small amount of hot mixture into beaten egg yolks. Immediately add yolk mixture. Cook 2 more minutes on medium heat, stirring. Take off heat, add butter and vanilla. Stir till smooth consistency.
Slice bananas into pie crust. Top with pudding mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Chill for at least an hour before serving.
Serve with whipped cream.

Abby likes Spicy Chicken

George Costanza, anyone?

Anyway, Abby doesn't like chicken normally. She has had some problems with eating what we give her for a while now. It is our one frustration with her. She likes to toss her food over the side of the high chair. Not because she is done eating, or because she full. For funsies. She will eat a few bites, then toss, or just toss without tasting, and {maybe} 2 minutes later eat the same food I've retrieved from the floor back on to her high chair. She loves toast and loves strawberries, but sometimes she'll toss even those foods too. Again, just for funsies.

Despite the seeming lack of reason behind throwing her food other than to play the gravity game, she has never tried chicken. She seems to have decided months ago that she would have nothing to do with it and she would be the minority in America and not love it.

 So. On to the chicken that she would eat.

Has anyone had the lemon pepper chicken at Pei Wei? They took it off their menu several months ago, but that stuff was good. They had a similar dish at their sister store PF Changs, lemon pepper shrimp.

They both taste very similar, but we like the chicken variety a little better. Spencer has made it for us twice now, and it is really yummy.

She loved it.

She ate a whole bunch of it. We had previously discovered that she likes lemons, but I think it was the sauce that she liked the best. That girl loves her sauces.

 Want to make it too?

P.F. Chang's Lemon Pepper Shrimp

Sauce
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
2 Tablespoons chopped garlic
1/2 Teaspoon minced ginger
1/3 Cup soy sauce
3/4 Cup water
2 Teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 Cup dark brown sugar
2 Teaspoons lemon juice
2 Teaspoons coarse grind black pepper
1 Pound medium raw shrimp (31/40 count), shelled and deveined
1/2 Cup cornstarch
1 Cup vegetable oil
4 thin lemon slices, each cut into quarters

Garnish
1 Teaspoon vegetable oil
2 Large green onions
1 Cup bean sprouts
.
Sauce: Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a wok or large saucepan over medium heat.
Sauté garlic and ginger in the hot oil for about 15 seconds being careful
not to burn the garlic. Add the soy sauce, then dissolve cornstarch in the
water and add the mixture to the pan. Add brown sugar, lemon juice and black
pepper and bring mixture to a boil. Simmer for two minutes then remove it
from the heat.

Shrimp: Coat all the shrimp generously with cornstarch. Let the shrimp sit
for about five minutes so that the cornstarch will adhere better. Heat a cup
of oil in a wok or large skillet over medium heat. Add the shrimp to the pan
and sauté for 3 to 4 minutes or until the shrimp starts to turn light brown.
Strain the shrimp out of the oil with a slotted spoon or spider and dump
oil. Replace shrimp back in the wok the lemon slices, sauté for a minute,
then add the sauce to the pan. Toss everything around to coat the shrimp
thoroughly. Cook for another minute or so until the sauce thickens on the
shrimp.

As the shrimp cooks, heat up 1 teaspoon of oil in a separate medium
saucepan. Cut the green part of the green onions into 3" lengths. Add green
onion slices and bean sprouts to hot oil along with a dash of salt and
pepper. Sauté for a couple minutes until green onions begin to soften.

Assemble Dish: Pour the green onions and sprouts onto a serving plate. Place
shrimp over the vegetables and serve.

Servings: 2

We've cut out the bean sprouts, and used light brown sugar because that is what we had on hand. Again, we used chicken and it was very tasty.
Trust me. Yums.