Muffins...Finally!

It's been way over a year now since I have had a muffin - an actual muffin. I've had many failed attempts and have eaten a muffin two anyway - just because - but this time....this time was a major success and I couldn't be more excited about having two fall-back recipes.  Breakfasts, mid-morning snacks, dessert..I forgot how great muffins can be.

I know, I know. I sound a bit lame, but this really is a glorious achievement for me.  See.  I was never a baker.  My sister is a baker. My mom is a baker. I never got it.  So to then have to do substitutes? It just never was intuitive to me. I've searched and searched for a recipe (or two) that worked as is and would work with my ability.  So with a little help from my mom and an afternoon of baked good shopping and tea in my kitchen, we put on our metaphorical aprons (although we should have actually used my two adorable aprons - photos to come) and baked 24 wonders. And because she's my mom, she let me keep them all...the beauty of a Mother Daughter day.

Cranberry Orange Relish 
First things first, we had to make some relish (some leftover for use on chicken, fruit bruschetta, fish, etc). Both this and the connecting muffin recipe are found in the November/December 2011 issue of Clean Eating Magazine.

Ingredients:
1 cup of frozen cranberries, divided
1/2 inch piece of ginger chopped, divided
2 oranges (I used one blood orange and one clementine), peeled, segmented and cut into triangles
1 red apple
2 tbsp raw unsalted walnuts, chopped

In a food processor or Magic Bullet, blend 1/2 cup of frozen cranberries, 1tbsp of ginger and 1 orange until coarsely chopped (mine was more than coarsely chopped, but it worked).

In a large mixing bowl, combine remaining 1/2 cup of cranberries, remaining ginger, remaining orange and apple.  Fold in walnuts and processed mixture from above.  Use in the next muffin recipe, and refrigerate the rest!

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Cranberry Orange Muffins

2 cups of whole wheat flour

1 cup of whole oats
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 tbsp ground flaxseeds
1/3 cup grape seed oil
1 egg
1/2 cup raw honey
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups Cranberry Orange Relish


Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease muffin plan.

In a large bowl, mix flour, oats, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine flaxseeds with 6 tbsp of water.

In a medium bowl, combine oil, egg, honey, flaxseed mixture and vanilla.  Add egg mixture to flour mixture and blend thoroughly. Stir in Cranberry Orange Relish.

Spoon batter into muffin tins. Place in oven for 25 minutes.  My oven runs a bit hot, so I'll only bake them for 20 minutes.


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Voila! A cup of Saffron tea and this = bliss.

Banana Muffins
www.thegraciouspantry.com

2 cups of whole wheat floud
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
2 egg whites
1/2 cup honey
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup almond milk (unsweetened)
1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
2 ripe bananas, mashed

Ready?  Here is the easy thing about this recipe:  Mix all ingredients together in a bowl using a hand mixture. Scoop the mixture in a greased muffin pan.  Bake for 20 minutes. Again, my oven is hot so we had to rotate the muffin pan once.


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