Hey there healthy eaters!  

Clients are always on the hunt for yummy recipes and truth be told, so am I!  Thankfully there seems to be no shortage of creative ways to squeeze more plants into your daily choices and this muffin recipe will definitely help you get there (hello zucchini and carrots).

If you are one of my clients then you probably know my shameful secret…. 

I 

Do

Not (Hnat)

Follow 

Recipes!

It’s true.  Initially it was one of my goals – to have that ability to just whip up something amazing with a couple of items you happened to have in your pantry.  But the truth is I struggle with measuring ingredients (ahhhem… following directions) and I’d rather just wing it in the kitchen, let the food talk to me.  Get inspired based on what I have available and create something original.  Sometimes it’s genius.  Other times, HNAT so much.

Recently a client told me about the Superhero Muffins she made from the Run Fast. Eat Slow Cookbook.  After a quick glance at the ingredients, I knew I had to bust out some discipline, my measuring cups, and spoons to dig in.  

In true form, I didn’t follow the recipe to a “T” because quite frankly, I didn’t have all the ingredients.  So I sub’d several to experiment and changed the name around just a pinch.  And the results?  Super Y.U.M!

What I like about this muffin recipe is that it isn’t too sweet.  Or rich.  Now don’t get me wrong, there is definitely a time and place for those kind of chocolatey-gooey scrumptious treats.  But right now, I am diggin’ how hearty these babies are.  Anything with omega-3 rich brain-food walnuts is game in my book.  And I had a zucchini and some carrots that needed a food home.

The original recipe calls for almond meal, butter, nutmeg and maple syrup so I tweaked it a bit with equal parts (almost) of what ingredients I had on hand and bumped up the protein content with soy protein and my fav protein powder:

almond meal  →  1.5 cups Bob’s Red Mill soy flour + 1/2 cup Sprout Living brown rice protein 

butter  →  coconut oil (might experiment with applesauce next time?)

nutmeg  →  allspice (close enough to nutmeg)

maple syrup →  blackstrap molasses (would also experiment with maple syrup for #lowFODMAP or agave which is NOT lowFOD)

Super-SHEro Muffins [gluten-free]  

Prep time: 15-20 minutes; 12 servings (or 24 mini muffins)

recipe adapted from Run Fast. Eat Slow

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups almond meal (or other GF flour like Bob’s Red Mill Baking Flour)

½ cup protein powder*

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (use gluten-free if sensitive)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts 

1/2 cup currants

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice 

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

3 eggs, beaten** vegan option see below

1 cup grated zucchini (about 1 zucchini or yellow squash)

1 cup grated carrot (about 3-4 small carrots)

6 tablespoons coconut oil 

1/2 cup blackstrap molasses

1 teaspoon vanilla

paper muffin cups

Instructions:

1. Arrange a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 12-cup standard muffin tin with paper muffin cups.

2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, protein powder, oats, walnuts, currants or raisins cinnamon, allspice, baking soda, and salt.  

3. In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs, zucchini, carrot, coconut oil, molasses, and vanilla.

4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined.

5. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups filling each to the brim. Bake until the muffins are nicely browned on top and a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 25 to 35 minutes.  

6. Refrigerate in a sealed container in refrigerator for 1 week or freeze for up to 3 months, if they last that long!

Jennifer’s Tips:  The batter looks really, really weird.  Not like your typical muffin or cake batter at all.  But don’t worry, everything comes together in the cooking process.  It was hard for me to not eat hot right out of the oven.  The smell of the spices + molasses is so delish.  These are hearty and perfect for breakfast on the go or mixed into my Fully Loaded Yogurt Bowls.  My pre-travel prep includes making a batch of protein muffins (and storing half for later) so these will likely be on my list!

**VEGAN VERSION: can replace eggs with 3 flax eggs and these come out AMAZINGLY moist.  For each egg use 1 Tablespoon of ground flax + 3 Tablespoons of warm water. Replace 3 eggs with 3 Tablespoons of ground flax with 1/2 cup + 1 Tablespoon of warm/hot water.  Stir together and let mixture sit for a few minutes to “gel”.  Now add to moist ingredients like you would the eggs.  I made the vegan version and was eating the dough without any concerns for bacteria from eggs!  I topped half of the muffins with 3-4 dark chocolate chunks from Whole Foods 365 brand and it was NEXT LEVEL!  My next goal is to experiment with chia eggs: 1 Tablespoon of chia seeds with 2.5 Tablespoons of water = 1 chia egg.

**Jan 2019 update w recent substitutions: just made last night with 1 1/2 cup Bob’s Red Mill soy flour to boost the protein content and I like the texture (plus I was out of almond flour). Because I was also low in coconut oil and didn’t want to experiment with olive or avocado oil, I added 1 large ripe banana to the wet ingredients. I only had a small carrot so I shredded yellow squash and used that with the zucchini. I also ran out of flax seeds so I used 2 eggs instead of 3 (the banana provided some of the missing moisture). End results —> still turned out FANTASTIC! I really can’t live without these muffins and love to experiment with adding whatever ingredients I have available. They always seem to turn out great regardless of what substitutions I experiment with! Let me know how your version turns out on Insta with #nutritionatlanta

Next batch I’m experimenting with yellow squash and pumpkin seeds!