Summer arrived this weekend and it was wonderful but very hot and steamy. We spent the long weekend in Pennsylvania at my mother in law. It is a wonderful place and the children loves to be there. They play outside all day, explore in the woods and swim just like kids used to play when I grew up. Sometimes they even forget about their ipads.....We planted some watermelon seeds and hopefully in 80 days we can harvest some nice fruit. Coming from Sweden where you import watermelon I have never grown that before so it will be exciting for me as well. Another exotic non food related thing happened we found a live snapping turtle on the drive way!! It was huge.

We like many others had a barbecue. Hamburgers, coleslaw, potato salad and chips was what we ate. For dessert we had wonderful very ripe strawberries from my favorite market Manoff Market Gardens.

Most of the time I don´t pack sweets in my children´s lunch boxes and if I do it is usually home made and on the healthier side. Last week I did these muffins. I made them less sweeter and added some more fiber with the whole wheat flour. My children liked them so that was good. That is not always the case when I try and modify recipes.

Morning glory muffins made healthier

You can see the original recipe in lower case letters my change is in upper case letters.

Ingredients

Nonstick cooking spray DID NOT USE
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled) USED 1 CUP WHOLE WHEAT AND 1/4 CUP ALL PURPOSE FLOUR
1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar 1/4 CUP MAPLE SYRUP
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg USED CINNAMON INSTEAD
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup raisins USED LESS BC MY KIDS DON´T LIKE RAISINS SO MUCH
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil USED 2 TBSP
1 large egg
1/3 cup skim milk USED 2% MILK
4 medium carrots, shredded
1 medium ripe banana, mashed USED 1 1/2 BANANA

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt until there are no lumps. Stir in oats and raisins. Add oil, egg, milk, carrots, and banana and stir until blended.
Fill each muffin cup with 1/4 cup batter. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean, 23 to 25 minutes. Serve muffins warm or at room temperature.

MENU

Tuesday Asparagus tortilla, green salad

Wednesday Zucchini noodle Mei Fun with chicken

Thursday Mixed salad (romaine lettuce, arugula, tomato, avocado, corn, carrots, celery, red onion, pepper, sugar snaps) with bacon bits and balsamic vinaigrette

Friday Pasta with tomato, mozzarella and basil

Saturday Dinner party

Sunday Grilled pork chops, watermelon and feta cheese salad, corn on the cob

ENJOY!