Krafty Fox

Yummy, Healthy Pumpkin Quinoa Muffins

I love muffins and pumpkins and pretty much anything containing quinoa. So when I stumbled onto this muffin recipe at Fork and Beans, I was quite thrilled to try them out!

Of course, I never follow a recipe to a tee, so the following is my adaptation of Fork and Beans' recipe.

Healthy Pumpkin Quinoa Muffins

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 22-25 minutes

Makes: 8 muffins

Ingredients:

1/2 cup quinoa flour
1/2 cup quinoa flakes
3 tablespoons olive oil
2/3 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoons vanilla
1 egg (for vegan muffins use 1 tablespoon flaxseen meal and 2 tablespoons warm water)
1/3 cup milk (for vegan muffins use 1/3 cup hemp milk and 1/2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar -- allow this mixture to sit for minutes before adding it to the muffin batter
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Combine olive oil, canned pumpkin, honey, vanilla, egg, and milk in a large bowl. Mix until combined.
Add the quinoa flour, quinoa flakes, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ground ginger, and ground cloves to the pumpkin mixture
Grease muffin tin cups with olive oil.
Fill muffin cups 3/4 full
Bake in preheated oven for 22-25 minutes
Enjoy!!

Peanut Butter and Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

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Each month at our all staff meeting, someone volunteers to bring a snack for everyone at the meeting. Today, April 3rd, it was my turn to bring a snack to share with my coworkers. I had no idea what to bring. The meetings are at 9am, so I wanted to bring some sort of breakfast food, but I did not want to get to work early to reheat something before the meeting and I certainly did not want to get up early and cook something before work. I settled on muffins. But I could not bring myself to make regular, everyday muffins, so I did some internet research and came up with two great ideas. The first, is below, for the second, please visit Pumpkin Quinoa Muffins (Gluten Free).
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I found this recipe at Butter Baking, but tweaked it a bit. Below are the changes I made.

I used whole wheat flour instead of plain flour -- I never use plain flour and everything always tastes amazing.
I used almond meal instead of wholemeal flour -- I wanted to make it a bit healthier, and I think this did the trick.
I used 3 frozen bananas instead of 2 ripe bananas -- in my experience frozen bananas lose some of their flavor and I did not have ripe bananas on hand. If you do not have either frozen or ripe bananas, you can use under ripe bananas, just make sure to use 3 of them.
I used plain non-fat Greek yogurt instead of regular plain Greek yogurt -- Greek yogurt is the new "in" thing with cooking. This was my first time using it and it is pretty great. But, I do think that regular plain yogurt would do much of the same thing.
I doubled the cinnamon -- I just love cinnamon and wanted the flavor to really be present!
I left out the milk -- I did not have milk, so I left it out. Everything turned out just fine without it.
I did not use paper muffin cups -- I feel these are a waste of money and paper. I never use them, I just coat the muffin tin cups with olive oil before I add the batter.

Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15-20 minutes
Makes: 14 muffins

Ingredients:

2 ripe bananas, mashed (use 3 bananas if using frozen or not overly ripe bananas)
2/3 cup non-fat Greek yogurt
1/3 cup natural peanut butter
1/3 cup local honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup almond meal
1 teaspoon baking power
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (bittersweet chips work well too)

Directions:

Preheat over to 350 degrees F.
Combine bananas, Greek yogurt, peanut butter, honey, and vanilla in a bowl. Mix until blended well.
Add whole wheat flour, almond meal, baking soda, baking power, sugar, salt and cinnamon, and mix until incorporated
Mix in 1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips
Coat muffin pan cups with olive oil
Pour muffin mixture into muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full.
Bake in preheated over for 15-20 minutes
ENJOY!

A healthy muffin heart!

The completed snack (minus the orange juice)! How did I do?

Springtime Beauty

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I went for a walk today and ended up morphing into a photographer. I was just in awe of the amazing spring colors and growth. Let me know what you think.