Eating healthy is a fairly recent adjustment for me. It’s been a gradual change that started with the idea of knowing where my food comes from to making my own bread. Then I started drinking kombucha and exercising outside every day rain or shine. I’m realizing how important it is to be healthy overall! Not just exercise, but everything that goes in should be good, and that includes what we put in our minds. Don’t get me wrong, the first thing I do when Sam’s out of town is go out for pizza. Nobody’s perfect. I still eat some unhealthy things, but if I make them myself, I’m eating fewer processed foods. Plus I can be more conscious of what’s in my food. That’s why I came up with a better for you muffin! In fact, I’m going to go so far as to say these Hippie Muffins are healthy.
Sam is one of those people who thinks all carbs are unhealthy (false). So I made this recipe to prove him wrong. There is such a thing as good carbs! Not everyone will agree with me when I say I think we need whole grains in our diet. But these are especially good for you, since they’re also made with carrots, pineapple, bananas, applesauce, red walnuts, flax seed, and dried fruit. I did add brown sugar and honey, but go at the speed you’re comfortable with. I have a hard time believing this recipe could taste bad with a little less sugar. So be a little crunchy this week, and take time to put good things into your body. Make yourself some Hippie Muffins and go for a long walk. Be kind to yourself!
Let’s get started on this recipe! It’s so simple.
I mixed together all the dry ingredients first. Then I started to mix together wet ingredients. Just a note, I would not use the pre-shredded carrot at the store, but use a box grater on one of the larger holes and grate your carrots that way. You wan’t shorter, finer strands of carrot. I totally screwed up and tried to use the pre-grated carrot and had to use an immersion blender to break it all up. So don’t fret! You can always fix things.
Mix together your honey and eggs with a whisk. Then add your mashed bananas, applesauce, pineapple, carrots, and brown sugar, mixing with a wooden spoon. Mix in the flour mixture. Then mix in the nuts and orange zest. And if you’re using it, dried fruit. I crushed the walnuts in their bag with a rolling pin. Be creative with it.
Mix it all again and pour into your prepared muffin tin. Sprinkle flax seeds on top for added crunch. Bake at 400 F for 20 minutes. There you have it! A healthy alternative to sweets. See the full recipe below.
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- ½ cup rolled oats
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp baking soda
- ¼ cup honey
- 3 eggs
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 bananas mashed
- 1 cup crushed pineapple
- ½ cup apple sauce
- 2 cups grated carrot
- 1 cup walnuts, chopped
- ½ cup dried fruit such as apricots or raisins (optional)
- zest of one orange
- ¼ cup flax seeds
- Preheat the oven to 400 F. Prepare two twelve cup muffin tins with liners or grease the muffin tins.
- In a medium mixing bowl, add the wheat flour, all purpose flour, oats, cinnamon, and baking soda. Mix together. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the honey and eggs and whisk together. Then add the brown sugar, bananas, pineapple, apple sauce and carrots. Mix together with a wooden spoon. Add the flour mixture and mix together. Add the walnuts, optional dried fruit, and orange zest and mix again.
- Scoop the batter into each prepared muffin tin until nearly full. Sprinkle flax seeds over the muffins. Bake for 20 minutes.
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