Morning Glory Muffins
Oh boy, if the Tricia of 2004 knew that I was going to send a blog post, let alone a blog post containing a recipe! But that person is about to be shocked because in 2012, I’ve been through 5 years of dietary experiments, cleanses, restrictions and challenges.
What I’ve found through my experimentation, my body responds very well to a high fat, low carbohydrate, clean diet – meats, fish, vegetables, some fruit and some nuts and seeds.
I’ve gotten away from “normal” pantry items: rice, stuffing, Bisquick, lentils, beans, wheat flours, probably a bunch of packaged things I never really got into anyway.
Some pantry items I have in place of these things: coconut flour, almond meal, coconut butter, coconut oil, organic vanilla, organic raw honey, ghee (clarified butter)
You don’t have to be a 100% commitment to eating clean foods, but it helps when you have resources to help you along the way. It took years for my eating habits to adapt to this way of life, and there were many pitfalls! I couldn’t do it without support from my fellow Crossfitters, 30-day paleo challenges, and a bunch of personal boycotts (Dairy Queen, Arby’s, Dunkin Doughnuts, every bakery in every little town, every highway sign that informs you of which restaurants there are on each exit as you drive 45,000 each year to visit clients)….and websites: Chowstalker, Mark’s Daily Apple, Whole 9 Life, Jan’s Sushi Bar, etc.
This is my favorite muffin-ish recipe – and I’ve modified it from its original form to make it more delicious! So feel free to play with it and change it to your needs.
The Morning Glory Muffin
Preheat oven to 350 – Mix batter until it’s uniform….it will be thick – I use my hands.
2.5 cups almond flour (my fav mix is 1C almond meal, 1C coconut flour and 0.5C protein powder)
1 TBSP cinnamon – and I usually go a bit heavy and add a pinch of pumpkin pie spice and pinch of nutmeg
2TSP baking soda
0.5TSP salt
2C carrots, peeled and grated – or sweet potato, zucchini (pull some moisture out with a paper towel) or anything that is going bad in the fridge!
1 large apple, cored and grated – any kind
1C Shredded coconut – or flakes if you like that sort of thing
6 dates – chopped into tiny pieces, or 0.5C raisins – figs or dried apricot would work too – just adding a bit of sweetness
3 large eggs
2TBSP honey – I don’t add this anymore and they are still amazing
0.5C organic 100% canned pumpkin – or applesause
1TSP vanilla
Optional: 0.5C or more Chia seeds to add to the batter – if you’re into that sort of thing.
You can load the batter into a muffin tin (about 15-18), make meatball sized balls (number depends on the size of your balls!) and use a cookie sheet or spread out onto cookie sheet and make bars…the batter doesn’t rise or spread – it stays where you put it, so you can do whatever you like. In any form, they take about 18 minutes in my convection oven, and I don’t know how long they should take in a regular oven so I would say that once they look a bit “toasted” they are done.
*Cool on drying rack for a good 15 minutes. They keep very well in tupperware on the counter or in the refrigerator and they travel well. If you are not familiar with almond or coconut flours, be careful when you eat them….they are dense and you can choke! These “flours” don’t dissolve in your mouth (sugar) like regular baked goods (sugar).
**Take small bites please…and be careful if you share with small kids…I’m serious, they are so delicious and I am a shove-food-in-your-mouth-as-fast-as-possible-girl that I almost choked.
ENJOY!!!!
