Foodie Friday: Grown Up Muffins

As part of our quest to stop wasting money in a million little ways, we’ve decided to start making premade breakfast items. The past year, I’ve eaten a LARA bar pretty much every day, and I’m getting a little sick of them. Josh can’t even eat them due to all of the nuts, so he’s been buying breakfast at Panera or Starbucks most days. Since we’d really love to get me out of my horrible old car within the next six months, we’ve implemented a budget (sigh), and spending so much on breakfast isn’t really good for that.

Muffins are always a good option for things like this. You can make them ahead of time, and just grab one as you run out the door. I’m always running out the door in the mornings. However, I really didn’t want it to be a super sugary junk food of a muffin. I wanted something hearty, something that would be tasty and filling and give us a great start to the day.

These muffins totally fit!

Obviously, some of the ingredients I had to switch out (no nuts, so double the dried fruit. Need to find another way to work in some protein). They’re super dense and really good, a great recipe to use as a base for a variety of fruits.

Grown Up Muffins (recipe here)

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cups sugar (1/3 brown, 1/3 white)
• 1/4 pound carrots (about 2/2.5 cups, coarsely shredded)
• 1/2 cup pecans, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup dried fruit
• 3 large eggs
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil (I used coconut oil)
• 3/4 cup plain yogurt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 large apple, shredded

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease/line 18 muffin cups.

In a large bowl, sift together flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Whisk in the sugars. Add the carrots, pecans, and dried fruits to the flour mixture and mix well.

In another bowl, whisk together the oil, yogurt, eggs, and vanilla. Add the shredded apple and mix well. Add this mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just combined.

Divide the batter among the muffin cups and bake for 15-25 minutes. I let mine go to 20, and probably should have taken them out at 18. Live and learn.

Store in an airtight container for 5 days, or freeze some.