Zucchini & Carrot Muffins

Honestly, I really do post something healthy-ish once in awhile! It's just been...awhile. But these have 4 cups of shredded veggies, and if you do the math (stay with me), that's 12 muffins, which means 1/3 cup of veggies in each muffin! Healthy! Wheat flour, flax seed - healthy(-ish)!

My 6-year-old said that even though they have vegetables and "look a little bit gross", they "taste like sugar", which is her stamp of approval.

And listen to this. There were genuine tears when these were gone, and begging for me to make more. That almost never happens, even with the most delicious desserts! So I pulled out my last zucchini and the bag of carrots and whipped up another batch. And then a few days later, more begging! Are you kidding? I will make these for the kids ANYTIME they want. So stow this away for the summer's bounty, or better yet, share some with me so we can all have lots and lots of muffins.

*Bummer about the pictures - they were either too golden with sunshine or too blue in the shadows and I was too lazy to get my light out. You get the gist.

Zucchini & Carrot Muffins (print recipe)

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp salt

2 large eggs

2 cups grated zucchini (about 1 large or 2 small)

2 cups grated carrots (about 4 medium)

1/2 cup dried pineapple or cinnamon chips

1/2 cup chopped nuts

1 3/4 cups King Arthur 100% White Whole Wheat Flour

1/4 cup ground flax seed (also called flax meal)

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp ground cinnamon Coarse sugar, optional

1. Preheat oven to 375°F; Line 12 cups of a standard muffin tin with papers, or grease each cup.

2. Whisk together the sugar, oil, salt and eggs.

3. Add the zucchini, carrots, dried fruit (or cinnamon chips) and nuts.

4. Whisk together the remaining ingredients in a separate bowl, then add to the batter. Stir till just combined.

5. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups. Let the muffins rest for 10 minutes before placing them in the oven. Sprinkle each with coarse sugar, if desired (it makes a nice crunchy top.)

6. Bake the muffins until the edges are lightly browned and they feel firm if gently pressed, about 18 to 25 minutes. A cake tester inserted into the center of a muffin should come out clean.

7. Remove the muffins from the oven, and cool them in the pan for 10 minutes; transfer to a rack, and cool completely. Makes 12 muffins

Recipe from the King Arthur Flour website

Kiwi Pops

How do you describe the taste of a kiwi? No idea. But you know they're good. And intriguing. I love the taste and texture of a perfectly ripe kiwi, and those teeny crisp black seeds make them oh-so-exotic!

But they are an oft-overlooked fruit. Which is why I was thuh-rilled to find a popsicle all to themselves. OK, so there's lime juice in there. And sugar, of course. But it's just for support and doesn't overwhelm. We served these up at a playdate at our house, and all five kids age 3 to 5 ate them up. Three cheers for fruit in any form! Especially this one.

Kiwi Pops

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 cups sliced kiwis, with or without peel (that's right!)

3/4 cup fresh lime juice

1. In a saucepan, combine 1 cup water and the sugar. Stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Refrigerate for 10 minutes or longer to cool.

2. Combine the kiwis and lime juice in a food processor or blender. Process until smooth.

3. Add the sugar water and 1 1/2 cups cold water to the kiwi mixture and process again to combine.

4. Pour the mixture into your pop molds. Insert the sticks. Freeze for at least 6 hours.

5. Remove from the freezer; let stand at room temperature for 5 minutes before removing the pops from the molds. Makes six 8-oz or eight 6-oz pops

Variations

Kiwi & Strawberry Pops: Reduce the kiwi to 2 cups. Add 1 cup strawberries in step 2. Add an additional 1/2 cup sliced strawberries to the molds in step 4.

Kiwi & Pineapple Pops: Reduce the kiwi to 2 cups. Replace the water with pineapple juice. Add 1 1/2 cups fresh pineapple chunks to the molds in step 4.

Recipe from POPS! Icy Treats for Everyone by Krystina Castella

Pineapple-Ginger Syrup

I came across this recipe when I was doing my research for pancake week. It wasn't right as a topping for any of the ones I was making right then, but I kept it on file to make for something, sometime.

We actually buy fresh pineapple often. Pull the spikes off, rest it upside down on a dish on the counter until ripe, then peel, core, slice and eat. Fabulous. Now, the beauty of this recipes is that it utilizes pineapple rind. So the next time we had pineapple I just saved all the stuff we didn't eat and made this awesome, versatile syrup. Simmering for awhile, it made the house smell awesome. And it tasted great, too. We mixed it with seltzer water - what a refreshing drink, but you can also drizzle over yogurt, pancakes or ice cream. YUM! (Here's Ed and my sister enjoying a glass...)Pineapple-Ginger Syrup
1 large pineapple, washed and dried
1 3-inch piece fresh ginger, thinly sliced
1 cup sugar
4 cups water

1. With a sharp knife, slice off top and bottom of pineapple. Holding fruit upright on cutting board, slice off peel in strips; reserve peel. Cut flesh into 8 wedges. Remove core; reserve. Refrigerate wedges for another use.

2. Cut reserved peel and core into 1-inch pieces; place in a medium saucepan with ginger, sugar and water. Boil until reduced to 1 cup, 25 to 30 minutes. Strain, discarding solids; chill.

Recipe from Everyday Food, March 2004

Morning Glory Muffins

For Christmas my brother gave me an amazing cookbook - The Best of America's Test Kitchen: the year's best recipes, equipment reviews and tastings 2007. I'm an idiot and didn't know what America's Test Kitchen is but now I do. These are the guys who do Cooks Illustrated and Cooks Country magazines, and the PBS show "America's Test Kitchen." They have a 2,500 sq foot test kitchen near Boston where two dozen test chefs work full time year round testing and perfecting recipes. Some have been tested 20, 30 or 40 times to get them absolutely perfect. Nice to have someone else do it since I hate nothing more than working hard to chop, puree, fold, and dice, and dirtying every bowl I have only to have a recipe fail.

So every time I flip through the book my mouth waters and I finally got around to trying a recipe tonight: Morning Glory Muffins. I was looking for something to use shredded carrots in, since I have half a bag leftover from making Rachael Ray's "Curry-in-a-Hurry Chicken Salad" (which by the way is really good, especially the mango chutney salad dressing...) a few weeks ago. Sometimes Ed is in a hurry out the door in the morning; it's nice to have muffins around that he can grab and go, so I'm always looking for good recipes to try. And so far the book has lived up to its name. These muffins came out perfect - great texture, not too dry nor too moist, fabulous flavor and extremely aromatic.

Before I give you the recipe let me just mention a few little changes I made to make them my own:

• left out the coconut because I don't like it
• 2 tsp instead of 1 tsp of vanilla - Dave taught me the great trick of always doubling vanilla in recipes
• salted instead of unsalted butter just because that's what I had; didn't notice the difference in taste
• added a dash of freshly grated nutmeg - I add it to anything I can
• my oven runs hot so they were done in only 22 minutes
  
• instead of raisins I used Trader Joe's "Golden Blend", which has dried golden raisins, cherries, blueberries and cranberries - YUM!

Morning Glory Muffins
1/2 cup walnuts or pecans
2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 carrots, peeled & grated (2 cups)
1 (8-0unce) can of crushed pineapple, drained and pressed dry with paper towels
1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup raisins

1. Adjust an oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375. Coat 12-cup muffin tin with spray or line with paper cups.
2. Spread the nuts on a rimmed baking sheet and toast them in the oven until fragrant, about 5 minutes. When cool enough to handle, coarsely chop.
3. Whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together in a large bowl.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk the sugar, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla until smooth. Gently fold the egg mixture into the flour mixture with a rubber spatula until just combined. Fold the carrots, pineapple, coconut, raisins, and toasted nuts into the batter.
5. Use a large ladle or measuring cup to divide the batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out with just a few crumbs attached, 25-30 minutes.
6. Let muffins cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then flip out onto wire rack. Cool at least 10 minutes before serving.

Let me know if anyone tries them!