Whole Wheat Zucchini Bread/Muffins

 Have you noticed that a lot of my recipes consist of breakfast foods?  Why do I post so many breakfast-y foods you may ask?   Because our mornings are go-go-go and I want my kids to have as healthy a meal as they can even when we're rushing out the door.   Another go-to in our family is Zucchini bread baked in muffin tins.  Here's the recipe with my tweaks in parentheses. ‪

Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 1 hr (if in loaf pans). ~30 minutes in regular sized muffin tins. ~20 in mini sized muffin tins

Yields about 18 muffins.
Ingredients:
- 3 C all-purpose flour (I made mine with 2 C whole wheat, 1 C white flour)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3 tsps ground cinnamon (I used 2 tsp)
- 3 eggs
- 1 C vegetable oil (I used 1 C coconut oil, melted)
- 2 1/4 C white sugar (I used almost 2 C)
- 3 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 C grated zucchini (about 1 medium and 1 small)
- 1 C chopped walnuts (I opted out as I didn't have any)

Directions:
1. Grease and flour 2 8x4 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. (I greased two regular sized muffin tins).
2. Sift flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.
3. Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.
4. If you're making muffins, bake for ~30 minutes or until tested in center comes out clean. Cool in muffin tins for 10 minutes. Remove and completely cool on rack.
If you're baking bread, bake for 40-60 minutes. Cool in pan for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.

Maple Carrot Muffins

 

Staying at home on a workday earlier this week because my little one was sick meant I had time to make a batch of Maple Carrot muffins to freeze for breakfast for the kids.  When my son was younger, he was really picky about eating vegetables.  I would scour the internet for recipe ideas to hide veggies inside things.  Pretty soon I came upon this one.  The original recipe called for white flour, white sugar, and vegetable oil, but I substituted it with wheat flour, mostly brown sugar (I like the flavor better), and applesauce to make it somewhat healthier. It was a hit for both my kids (5 and 2.5). They freeze well so it's easy to heat one up when you're on the go during the week.  Who doesn't want kids to eat more veggies?  This recipe makes about 18 regular sized muffins. Enjoy! 

2 C Whole wheat flour
scant 1 C brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs
1 C applesauce
1/2 C maple syrup
3 C grated carrots (about 3 medium carrots)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl, combine first 6 ingredients. In another bowl, beat eggs, applesauce, and syrup. Stir into dry ingredients until just moistened. Fold in carrots. Fill cups 2/3 full.
 
2. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. 

A closer view of carrots inside