Garden Muffins

These muffins are lightly sweetened and packed with "good" stuff like whole grains, vegetables, and walnuts.  Great for breakfasts or snacks.  Eat these slightly warm with a pat of butter or your favorite spread and you are set!  There are no eggs or dairy and you'd never even know!  You can make them mini-sized, regular, or jumbo!  I have rectangle muffin tins so that's why mine look like mini-loaves.

Garden Muffins

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (white wheat is the best)

1/2 cup oats, slightly ground (I just whirl them through my blender for a few seconds)

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/4 cup maple syrup or agave nectar (or 1/4 cup sugar if you don't have maple syrup or agave)

1/4 cup oil

1 cup grated zucchini

1/2 cup grated carrots

3/4 cup non-dairy milk (almond, rice, soy, etc.) or regular milk if you want

1/2 cup raisins, optional

1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts, optional

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, oats, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.  In another large bowl, combine applesauce, maple syrup/agave and oil.  Add zucchini and carrots and then stir in milk.  Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, then stir in raisins and walnuts and mix until well-combined.

Spoon batter into lightly greased muffin cups, filling each cup until almost full.  Bake at 375 degrees for 18-20 minutes for regular size muffins or 25-30 minutes for jumbo, until muffins are lightly golden and toothpick comes out clean.  Let muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove from pan and cool on a cooling rack.  Store leftover muffins covered at room temperature.  Makes about 12 regular-sized muffins.