before I share this recipe I have to share an Elijah quote. He was pretending it was Anders' birthday (which is just 2 weeks away!!!) and had just sung "happy birthday" in it's entirety - quite well if I do say so myself. Then he served "cake" (some wooden trains). I asked him what kind of cake it was...
"Chocowate...Chocowate chip...munk cake"
It was delicious and hilarious.
And so are these muffins/bread (not hilarious, just delicious). I have no idea where the original recipe came from. I made it a couple of years ago in Camrose. I made alterations then (of course) and made some more this time as I didn't have my sweetener staple of concentrated apple juice.
I'll write the recipe as I made it, with the original measurements in brackets in case you want to do it that way.
3 cups whole wheat flour (original was white I'm sure, but a combination would be great if you don't like all w.w.)
2 cups oats - I use old fashioned and mix them in the wet ingredients and let them sit while I grate the zucchini, that's the note i made last time, I did it again this time too, not sure why I did it, I guess it softens the oats a bit
4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
2 large mashed bananas
1 cup oil (original said 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup apple juice concentrate - or applesauce (in place of the half cup oil I omitted)
No sugar (original had 1 1/2 cups sugar)
4 eggs
3 cups grated zucchini - gently squeeze the excess liquid out
3/4 cup raisins or dark chocolate - I chop dark chocolate bars into pieces (original had walnuts)
1 tsp vanilla
Mix wet together - with oats. Grate zucchini, add to wet. Mix dry together. Combine all. Pour into greased or papered muffin cups or loaf pans. I think it will make 2 loaves or 24 muffins. I doubled the recipe last night and came up with 24 muffins and 2 loaves. Bake at 350 35-40 minutes for loaves, this is what my recipe says, it might take longer I didn't really keep track. Muffins are around 25 minutes I think. But check at 20 minutes too.
This time since I didn't have apple juice for sweetening I put in 1/4 cup xylitol and 1/4 honest to goodness white sugar. That tiny bit of real sugar didn't bother me at all. Hurray. (the 1/4 cup measurements are adjusted for the single batch, I doubled last night, so used a 1/2 cup of each)
I also added probably an 1/8th cup (adjusted) each of flax seed and of hemp hearts for some added nutrition.
As I mixed this up in my biggest bowl I realized that I was about to make a tonne of bread and muffins. And that only the kids and I, and maybe just I, would be eating all this. So I divided the dough, tossed a bunch of chocolate chips and some more sugar (maybe half a cup) into one part and used that to make a dozen muffins for Lance. I think he'll like them.
This is a very good sugar-free, or low sugar, recipe. The muffins are dense - in a good way I think - and moist. Flavorful. Perfect with some cheese and a glass of milk.
If you're not used to super low sugar muffins, maybe try the recipe with the sugar at 1 cup instead of 1 1/2 cups. Or cut it down to 3/4 cup. I think you'll still enjoy them. If you have kids who aren't that conditioned to sugar yet cutting the sugar by half, or even cutting out 2/3 of it will probably be fine.
My body is hot and my heart racing. As I was just now typing this, something moving caught my eye. Scurrying towards me was a gigantic spider. And I mean gigantic. This exact kind and size of spider is what gave me my fear of spiders as a child. All told probably three inches, including legs. Body maybe a half inch. I could check. It's not dead yet. Just caught under a glass bowl. I didn't think I should just squash it on our new carpet, but I could not bear to risk it crawling on me if I came at it with paper towel. I would scream for sure...maybe wake the kids. Not sure what I'll do now. Duct tape the bowl to the carpet and wait for Lance? I could convince the kids it was a science learning opportunity and Lance could later dispose of it.
Seriously it is too creepy. But I keep looking at it. Morbid fascination I guess. But does he have friends? That is what I'm wondering. Actually I know he does because not long ago Lance hollered and said I should come and look at something...then he changed his mind, thinking better of it. He began to describe its size, and I stopped him. I knew what he was talking about and my imagination didn't need any juicy details to send it reeling in fear. So now I have that guy's brother trapped. Ughh.
In other news we are making it through the week pretty good. Well, that's easy to say since mom just left this afternoon! Everyone enjoyed Grandma Kathy's extended stay and I am especially grateful. Lance has been having a good time on tour, just played two shows in Camrose and got to see some of our favorite people. Jane and Jena did fabulous jobs hosting the shows and we're grateful for that blessing. Just two more nights and he comes home. That will be very good.
Well, I should clean up this place a little before bed - and make a plan for the spider.
wish me luck...
aimee
No comments:
Post a Comment