I'm kind of a maniac when it comes to finding ways to sneak super foods, or even just healthier foods into my children. They eat pretty well, but I feel like I've accomplished something when I trick them into eating healthier things.
I recently saw a picture on a friend's facebook page, and while I don't know how true it really is, it made me really rethink our Saturday morning breaks at McDonalds. I am more determined then ever to keep them from eating fast food!
I recently saw a picture on a friend's facebook page, and while I don't know how true it really is, it made me really rethink our Saturday morning breaks at McDonalds. I am more determined then ever to keep them from eating fast food!
Disgusting isn't it?
So, almost immediately after seeing this, I decided to get kids involved in making a healthy snack option to take along.
Then came Avocado Blueberry muffins. Basically, avocado and blueberries were 2 of the few produce items we had left from our weekly grocery shop, so we thought we'd give it a shot!
Ingredients:
1 cup GF oats (or regular oats if gluten isn't a concern)
1 cup coconut flour (or whole wheat flour)
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 raw cane sugar (you could try subbing honey, but I worried that would make them too dense)
1 whole egg + 1 egg white
1 extra ripe banana
2 ripe small avocados
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup lactose free greek yogurt (I choose Liberte, because it's amazing and high in protein)
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice, or cinnamon
3/4 pint of washed and dried fresh blueberries
Slice the banana, throw it in the blender. Add avocado (pitted and remove skin obviously), vanilla, yogurt, egg and egg white. Blend until smooth, no chunks remaining.
So, almost immediately after seeing this, I decided to get kids involved in making a healthy snack option to take along.
Then came Avocado Blueberry muffins. Basically, avocado and blueberries were 2 of the few produce items we had left from our weekly grocery shop, so we thought we'd give it a shot!
Ingredients:
1 cup GF oats (or regular oats if gluten isn't a concern)
1 cup coconut flour (or whole wheat flour)
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 raw cane sugar (you could try subbing honey, but I worried that would make them too dense)
1 whole egg + 1 egg white
1 extra ripe banana
2 ripe small avocados
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup lactose free greek yogurt (I choose Liberte, because it's amazing and high in protein)
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice, or cinnamon
3/4 pint of washed and dried fresh blueberries
Slice the banana, throw it in the blender. Add avocado (pitted and remove skin obviously), vanilla, yogurt, egg and egg white. Blend until smooth, no chunks remaining.
Next, take the dry ingredients, and mix them together in large mixing bowl. Oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, sugar (if using honey, you could put that in the blender), and pumpkin pie spice.
Make a well in the centre of your dry ingredients and pour wet ingredients into the centre. Mix just to moisten.
(I'm sorry that picture is sideways... but I'm not going to fight with it.)
Once your ingredients are well mixed, add in your blueberries.
Once your ingredients are well mixed, add in your blueberries.
I have to admit, this picture was taken after I had already made half of the batch, but I forgot to take a picture. This whole step-by-step picture taking is new to me.
We opted to use our mini muffin maker, but you could easily bake them (that would probably work better actually, but we don't have a mini muffin tin, and my kids don't usually eat a whole muffin, so we like minis!). If you choose to bake them, temp will be 375 degrees F, and they will need about 14-15 minutes for mini muffins. If you would prefer normal sized muffins, 25-30 minutes. These don't rise a whole lot, they are a dense muffin, so you'll have to do a toothpick test to make sure they are cooked through. In our mini muffin maker, they took 4-5 minutes, but it only makes 7 at a time, so it takes a lot longer.
This recipe made about 38 muffins. So I'd say 35-40, depending.
Also, we did a few with paper muffin cups, and a few without. Without was a better choice because they are so dense, they stuck to the paper, and you lose half of the muffin. Make sure to well grease your muffin tin - we use coconut oil to grease everything for baking, but choose what works for you. I'm hardly an expert!
We opted to use our mini muffin maker, but you could easily bake them (that would probably work better actually, but we don't have a mini muffin tin, and my kids don't usually eat a whole muffin, so we like minis!). If you choose to bake them, temp will be 375 degrees F, and they will need about 14-15 minutes for mini muffins. If you would prefer normal sized muffins, 25-30 minutes. These don't rise a whole lot, they are a dense muffin, so you'll have to do a toothpick test to make sure they are cooked through. In our mini muffin maker, they took 4-5 minutes, but it only makes 7 at a time, so it takes a lot longer.
This recipe made about 38 muffins. So I'd say 35-40, depending.
Also, we did a few with paper muffin cups, and a few without. Without was a better choice because they are so dense, they stuck to the paper, and you lose half of the muffin. Make sure to well grease your muffin tin - we use coconut oil to grease everything for baking, but choose what works for you. I'm hardly an expert!
They aren't exactly beautiful, but they were a trial run. I would certainly bake them next time, but overall they were a huge hit. Boo actually ate 7 of them, and cried when I told her she couldn't have anymore. They are a fantastic healthy snack for them on the go. I kept 1/3 of the batch out and put the rest in the freezer to grab as we need. The ones we kept out were gone the next day! Hey, whatever gets my kids eating avocado, because otherwise they are not big fans! I hope if you give this a shot, you'll let me know how it went, and you enjoy them as much as we did! |