I cannot resist the spicy kick of ginger, especially when it comes in the form of a bread. I know it has something to do with the texture and that spicy, unexpected zing! One of my favorite recipes of all time is gingerbread. I could easily eat a whole pan of gingerbread by myself. Not. a. problem. And even though it does have some nutritional value via the molasses and spices, it’s high amount of sugar and white flour leave me feeling totally zonkered out. Instead of having energy to finish the tasks of the day, I become a baked-good space cadet!

So I set out to figure out how to get the same spicy and textural sensations without the total low-energy crash afterward. And I was pleasantly surprised with the result. If you make these, do not expect something sweet. In fact, they are more like a bread than a muffin. I took them over for some taste testing to a friends and both she and her husband really liked them. She whipped out some almond butter and suggested trying it with a liberal smearing–it was great! They are delicious naked, but the nice thing is you have the option to doll them up with a dab of jam, butter and honey, or any nut butter. The carrots and apple sauce make these super moist, a texture that could almost be called addicting.

These muffins are packed with good nutrients like wheat bran and molasses (both high in magnesium), beta-carotene, anti-oxidants, and vitamins. They are also great with breakfast or as a mid-day snack. Enjoy!

Spicy Carrot Ginger Muffins

3/4 c unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 c wheat bran
1 1/4 c whole-wheat or other whole-grain flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1-2 tsp ground dried ginger (depending on your spice tolerance)
1 egg, beaten
1/2 c yogurt
1/2 c shredded carrots
4 tsp grated fresh ginger
3 Tbsp molasses
1/4 c pumpkin seeds
*1/4 cup sweetener (honey, agave, sucanant…)

Preheat oven to 375°F. In a large bowl, whisk together wheat bran, flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and dried ginger. In a separate bowl, combine apple sauce, egg, yogurt, carrot, fresh ginger, and molasses. Combine mixtures and then fold in pumpkin seeds. Spoon batter into paper-lined or buttered muffin cups. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until tops spring back when lightly touched. Cool on a wire rack.

* As these are not sweet on their own, you might find that adding a little more sweetener will fit your tastes better. Taste the batter before you bake it and see, then add as you’d like. Cheers!

This week, I’ll be sharing with you some of these snacks. I want, no, I need more variety in my diet (the winter can get very bland if you let it!) and I want to start incorporating some more veggies, nuts, seeds, and other goodies into my daily foods. I thought there was not a better place than to share this with you! After all, you have the ability to hold me to this—so I better not let you (or me) down .

Today, I made two things–kale chips and whole wheat pear muffins. Okay, I know what you might be thinking right now—those sound SUPER healthy and probably not that tasty. Au contraire mon amie, they are both super delicious and, well, good for you! The kale chips were a surprise actually. Andrew even liked them! If you are looking for another way to get a few more greens into your diet, give this a try—you will be surprised! They are satisfyingly crunchy, salty, light, and enticing.

I also made some whole wheat muffins, a recipe from Mark Bittman. Usually, the first thing I think of when I hear of whole wheat being used in anything pastry-like is a brick—heavy, hard, and really sad. But when I found this recipe I thought I’d give it a try—after all, Bittman states right in the title how light they were in texture. And he was right. There are two tricks involved with this recipe: use whole wheat pastry flour AND a cup of pureed or mashed fruit or vegetable–like banana, pumpkin, sweet potato, zucchini, apple. This ensures the muffin is moist and really brings an incredible element of flavor to your muffin. I made mine with apple sauce and cut up two super-ripe pears (those pears were either were going in these muffins or directly to the compost–the best for baking:), lowered the amount of sugar and used brown sugar instead of white. They are amazing when they first come out of the oven and will still be amazing for breakfast (and snacks) for the rest of the week. If you wanted, you could even make a nice crumble for the top with oatmeal, cinnamon, brown sugar, and butter . Try these (more recipes to come) and get snacking!

Kale Chips
1-2 bunches kale
olive oil
salt

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. Pull the leaves off the stem, place them on a baking sheet and drizzle with a little olive oil and some salt. Toss with your hands to make sure all the leaves are coated. Bake for 10 minutes, maybe a little less if your oven gets really hot–they can singe pretty easily–but I like them that way!

Whole Wheat Muffins, via Mark Bittman
1/2 cup melted unsalted butter—I used canola oil for this (because I didn’t have butter on hand) and they were still great
2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
3/4-1 cup white sugar—I used about a 1/4 cup brown sugar and they were plenty sweet!
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup mashed fruit or veggie—this is where I used a cup of natural apple sauce + two cubed pears that were pretty mushy, using more fruit than the allotted one cup is ok.
1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract—I added this ingredient in because it goes well with the pear. Feel free to add in any of your own favorite spices too!
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and grease 12 muffin tins. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients, then add the mashed fruit/veggies, the buttermilk, egg, vanilla, and butter or oil. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry, until just combined. Fill muffin tins until full, bake 25-30 minutes or until muffins are puffed up and golden brown on top. Serve warm if possible.

Enjoy!

Other than lots of resting, I did design a really fun website for a woman who loves pie just as much as I do, Beth Howard. The site is called The World Needs More Pie, check it out! She shot a TV trailer for a show all about pie in America and is now looking for a network home. I hope we see her series on television in the next year–who wouldn’t want to watch a show about pie? Yes, please! Pietopia, the contest I do each year, is also in its working stages for this summer. I am looking for sponsors to help out with the sheer size it has become. I want to be able to compensate the artists involved for their time, have a writer in residence, and donation pies from other bakeries so the “tasting” isn’t as short lived. More pie for us all!

A bit of shameless promotion here but, I do design websites on the side. My rates are extremely reasonable so if you or anyone else you may know are looking for a new website, feel free to give me a shout! (tricia@eatingisart.com)

In between webbing, resting, and the classes I am taking for my health coach certification, I did manage to make some fantastic blueberry muffins this weekend. We had a bunch of blueberries left over from the summer picking season in our freezer–it was like tasting a little bit of summer! I’ve made them before–this recipe is a keeper. That and the sun shone for five days straight or something last week? It was a miracle.

Between the sun, the rest, and a renewed energy for the future—I am so ready for action and some change .

see Blueberry Muffin recipe here. Enjoy!

Berries are in abundance here in the Pacific Northwest. They are everywhere, on the sides of highways, in backyards, in parks, on farms, even ditches and alleys. They grow all over! But noticing the abundance of berries here has actually made me realize the abundance of so many other things in life. Sometimes it is hard to keep perspective on what one “has” and what one doesn’t “have”. I find myself caught up sometimes comparing myself, or feeling less than because I don’t “have” something, when in fact, I have so so much. Times are tough right now when I look at the numbers (jobs, for example, are one thing that are not in abundance), however, ideas are. Not only are ideas in abundance, but people, who are there to help me put them into action, which is amazing. The outpouring of friendship, love, and help have been overwhelming, all of which are in total abundance! Whenever I feel myself going down a worry-path (worrying can be so addictive for me! and so I have little tricks to break that cycle before it spirals too far down) I try to lift my head up and look around to see what it is I do have, and focus/utilize those. And, it really works.

It has been an interesting path of trying to stay true to myself and find what really works for me. Some of the conventional ways we are used to living, and I grew up with, work and some do not any longer. However, it has been the journey of finding out what does work for me that has been so incredible. This is not to say that there are times when I get scared or go through tough situations and I feel like there no end in sight. But the end–or the start of a new beginning, however you’d like to look at it– inevitably always comes and a lesson is learned. And if I don’t learn what I needed to learn that time around, it always finds a way to appear again in some other fashion!

So I’ve been on a ’simple’ kick lately with the recipes I’ve been trying, which by the way, I still think is the best way to go! However, sometimes I tend to make things a little harder than necessary on myself just to see if I can do it/make it (figuratively speaking of course . So, I turned to Cooks Illustrated for a great blueberry muffin recipe. Call it cheating (because Cooks Illustrated recipes always tend to be excellent) or call it smart (I wasn’t going to go through all this trouble and not have it taste fantastic!), these muffins are excellent. You start by simmering a cup of blueberries with a teaspoon of sugar to make a jam. After you’ve made the batter (which is amazing in it’s own right, these are made with buttermilk which give them a cloud-like texture but with density…) you spoon about a teaspoon of the jam on top and swirl with a toothpick or chop stick into the muffin so it gets some distribution. You could even go decadent and make a crumble top for these, which I will do for the next round–this time around, I wanted to see the beauty of the blueberry color swirled on top, so simple and delicious. Good thing Andrew and I picked a ton of blueberries the other day, these have just become a household favorite for us both–I predict many more batches coming our way .

Bon Appetit!

Blueberry Muffins, adopted from Cooks Illustrated via The Bitten Word
Lemon-Sugar Topping

1/3 cup (21/3 ounces) sugar
1½ teaspoons finely grated zest from 1 lemon

Muffins

2 cups (about 10 ounces) fresh blueberries, picked over
1 1/8 cups (8 ounces) plus 1 teaspoon sugar
2 1/2 cups (12½ ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk (see note)
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Note: If buttermilk is unavailable, take a little under a cup of milk and add a tablespoon of vinegar to it. Stir and let stand for a few minutes and then use as buttermilk!

1. FOR THE TOPPING: Stir together sugar and lemon zest in small bowl until combined; set aside.

2. FOR THE MUFFINS: Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray standard muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Bring 1 cup blueberries and 1 teaspoon sugar to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, mashing berries with spoon several times and stirring frequently, until berries have broken down and mixture is thickened and reduced to ¼ cup, about 6 minutes. Transfer to small bowl and cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.

3. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in large bowl. Whisk remaining 11/8 cups sugar and eggs together in medium bowl until thick and homogeneous, about 45 seconds. Slowly whisk in butter and oil until combined. Whisk in buttermilk and vanilla until combined. Using rubber spatula, fold egg mixture and remaining cup blueberries into flour mixture until just moistened. (Batter will be very lumpy with few spots of dry flour; do not over mix.)

4. Following photos above, use ice cream scoop or large spoon to divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups (batter should completely fill cups and mound slightly). Spoon teaspoon of cooked berry mixture into center of each mound of batter. Using chopstick or skewer, gently swirl berry filling into batter using figure-eight motion. Sprinkle lemon sugar evenly over muffins.

5. Bake until muffin tops are golden and just firm, 17 to 19 minutes, rotating muffin tin from front to back halfway through baking time. Cool muffins in muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool 5 minutes before serving.

Streusel Topping
Follow recipe for Blueberry Muffins, omitting Lemon-Sugar Topping. Prepare streusel by combining 3 tablespoons granulated sugar, 3 tablespoons dark brown sugar, pinch table salt, and ½ cup plus 3 tablespoons (3½ ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour in small bowl. Drizzle with 5 tablespoons warm, melted unsalted butter and toss with fork until evenly moistened and mixture forms large chunks with some pea-sized pieces throughout. Proceed with recipe as directed, sprinkling streusel topping over muffins before baking.