Pineapple Blueberry Muffin

Gwenny is at an awkward food phase. She wants to feed herself, and she doesn't have molars. Veggies are a real problem. Breakfast and lunch are pretty manageable, but we have problems around dinner, especially when we go out. I need something I can just grab and go as a back up if we can't find suitable food. My solution: frozen muffins.

Not just any muffins. I want whole grains, protein and veggies involved. So I created these today. I used oat flour for the additional iron and protein. Also, molasses instead of refined sugar gives these muffins extra calcium, magnesium, iron and potassium. I included carrots to sneak in a veggie and nuts for more protein.

It's a lot of ingredients, but these are meals in a muffin! Seriously, they leave nothing out.

Ingredients
1 c oat flour (make from whole rolled oats and a food processor or coffee grinder)
1 1/4 c whole wheat flour
3/4 c flax seed meal
2 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
2 medium carrots, grated (or finely chopped, if you already have the food processor out from the oats)
1 20 oz. can crushed pineapple with juice
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 c milk
1/2-3/4 c molasses (you could use same amount of honey or 1/2 c brown sugar)
1 t vanilla
1 t grated orange zest (delicious, but unnecessary)
2 c fresh or frozen blueberries
1 c chopped nuts (I use pecans because I'm allergic to walnuts)

Directions
Preheat oven to 375.
Combine dry ingredients and whisk together. Then mix in carrots and pineapple.
Beat wet ingredients in a large bowl, then mix in dry ingredients. Lastly, stir in blueberries and nuts. Mix as little as possible for fluffy muffins.
Grease muffin tin and fill cups with 1/4 c of batter.
Bake for 25-30 minutes.

The most difficult part - putting them in the freezer to eat another day. Gwenny and I could easily eat six of them right now. :)

My favorite muffins

I made these muffins this morning. On a funny note, because Alex is asleep in the living room, I didn't want to use the food processor in the kitchen and wake him up. I ended up carrying the chopper and the bag of carrots and G out to the garage and using the outlet on the workbench. Silly, I know.

1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
3/4 c flax seed meal
3/4 c wheat bran
1/2 c rolled oats
1 c brown sugar
2 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
2 t cinnamon (I also throw in some allspice and nutmeg)
2 c shredded carrots
1 1/2 c shredded apples (you can also use applesauce)
1 c craisins
1 c chopped nuts
3/4 c milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 t vanilla

Mix dry ingredients with whisk. add carrots, apples, craisins and nuts and mix until covered with flour mixture. Add liquid ingredients and mix just enough to involve all the flour.
Bake at 350 for 18 - 20 minutes.
This recipe makes 20 - 24 muffins. Try with cream cheese - oh my.

Thanks to Bob's Red Mill for the recipe and the flax seed meal.