[All Photos - The Grower's Daughter]
In the past month, I have barely baked a thing. Unless it's being brought with me somewhere, I just can't. I've been attempting to fulfill my resolutions to eat healthier and be more active, and that just doesn't happen with a batch of delicious chocolate brownies tempting me all day.
This past week, however, I have been spending a lot of time researching and browsing through my cookbooks. I've tested a few favourite recipes with simple substitutions like using whole grains, and omitting a lot of the excess sugar and fat. So far, I've been fairly impressed with the results.
Since we'll be heading to the Lake for a while this weekend, I've been freezing some baking here and there for when we're away. There's nothing like a coffee and something sweet on the dock early in the morning.
Here is a recipe I found from a Weight Watchers cookbook for a version of carrot muffins. I was really happy with these, as they came out moist and delicious.
Carrot-Bran Muffins with Dates
3/4 c. white flour
3/4 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. unprocessed wheat bran
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
1 c. unsweetened pineapple juice
1/4 c. canola oil
1/4 c. brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1 large egg white
2 small carrots, shredded, about 1 c.
1/4 c. pitted dates, chopped
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a standard muffin tin with paper cups.
Whisk together flours, bran, baking powder, baking soda and allspice in a large bowl. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together juice, oil, sugar, egg and white.
Add wet ingredients to dry and stir only until flour mixture is moistened. Stir in carrots and dates.
Divide batter evenly among cups. Bake until a tester comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Let cool for about five minutes before removing from pan to cool completely.
For anyone interested in the points value of these, it's only 4 (in comparison, a fast food carrot muffin is 10!).
Enjoy!
I love the look of farm fresh eggs, these are from my Aunts farm not too far from our place.
Willen thought we were having a little tea party. He just climbed right up on the chair and started drinking my tea!
PS. I picked up a set of four of those pretty ironstone cups from a flea this weekend. They were disgusting and buried in piles of old dishes, rusty and full of old nails, but for $1 they cleaned up perfectly!
