Anyone else have a toddler who would gladly live off only carbs? Yeah. Us, too. I developed this recipe to trick my toddler into eating some more fruit and vegetables while he thinks he’s eating carbs. The muffins look like muffins and are sweet, like a cross between banana and zucchini bread.
It’s absolutely incredible when you look at the nutritional facts of a “typical” coffee shop blueberry muffin and a healthy muffin such as the one in this recipe. While a coffee shop muffin may be larger than the healthy muffin (exact size wasn’t given), the overall calories, carbs, sugar, fat, and sodium are dramatically decreased beyond the size effect, and the healthy muffin contains much more fiber and vitamins (see the full nutritional information at the bottom of the post). This muffin is definitely something I can feed my toddler and feel good about it! And he loves them.
| Nutrient | Regular Blueberry Muffin* | Fruit and Veggie Oatmeal Muffin |
| Calories | 467 | 119 |
| Carbohydrates (g) | 68 | 23 |
| Sugar (g) | 39 | 7 |
| Fiber (g) | 1 | 2 |
| Total Fat (g) | 19 | 2 |
| Unsaturated Fat (g) | 15 | 2 |
| Saturated Fat (g) | 4 | 0 |
| Trans Fat (g) | 0 | 0 |
| Protein (g) | 6 | 5 |
| Sodium (mg) | 367 | 68 |
*Regular Blueberry Muffin nutritional information taken from Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health.
Ingredients:
- ~3/4 cup food processed zucchini
- ~3/4 cup food processed carrots
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1 ripe banana
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups gluten free old fashioned oats
- 1/4 cup Truvia brown sugar baking blend
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 cup raisins
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400 deg
- Prepare muffin pan by spraying with cooking spray or using muffin liners (I love silicone liners!)
- Add zucchini and carrots to the blender and blend until fine. I’m not very exact when measuring the zucchini and carrots. I will put a whole small zucchini or half of a large zucchini in the blender and then add baby carrots until I end up with about 1 1/2 cups of zucchini and carrots. My blender is marks volume on the size so I can easily see how much zucchini and carrots I have.
- Add all remaining ingredients except raisins and blend until smooth
- Mix raisins into batter by hand
- Place batter in prepared muffin tins. The volume will be slightly different each time because of varying fruit and vegetable sizes. This will make approximately 15 muffins.
- Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean
- Eat fresh or freeze for later
Nutritional Information: Calories 119, Fat 2 g, Cholesterol 245 mg, Sodium 68 mg, Potassium 128 mg, Carbs 23 g, Dietary Fiber 2 g, Sugars 7 g, Protein 5 g, Vitamin A 19%, Vitamin C 2%, Calcium 1%, Iron 6%