Zucchini Raisin Muffins

When I was a kid, my grandmother always had zucchini growing in her garden. Every summer she would make endless loaves of zucchini bread, that I would slather in butter and devour in two seconds. I love her zucchini bread so much, and she would always make sure she had a loaf ready when she babysat my brother and myself.

After she passed away I don't think I've had zucchini bread once, nor have I tried to make it. I've made these zucchini raisin muffins a few times before, though they taste nothing at all like the loaf I loved so much - they are still really good and surprisingly healthy. They come from my favorite cookbook, The Vegetarian Family Cookbook by Nava Atlas.

I love to have them with some soup or salad for lunch - or with an apple as a snack.

Zucchini Raisin Muffins
13/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup ground flaxseeds
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup natural granulated sugar
1 cup vanilla yogurt (soy or dairy) or applesauce (I have used both and the results are similar)
2 Tbsp safflower oil
1/3 cup soy milk
1 cup firmly packed grated zucchini (I put mine right in the food processor)
3/4 cup chopped raisins
1/3 cup chopped walnuts (I used mine already in the Walnut Cheeze)


Preheat oven to 350, oil a muffin pan. Mix dry ingredients, add wet ingredients, then the zucchini and raisins. Divide into 12 muffins and bake 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Done and done! So simple!

Back to school muffins!

Back to school means very little to me (except that I am officially a 5th year student in my program... shudder). I stopped taking classes at the end of my second year of school - and I haven't had a summer break since I was 21. Actually- I technically get no breaks now, but I do manage to take AS MANY AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE TO SAVE MY SANITY. Caps, aside, the only thing that does affect me is the fact that I have to prepare for lectures. This year- I have new topics, meaning I actually have to create new powerpoint presentations, thus causing me to have to go to lab/work at a decent hour (not noon). Hey, I do human research - sometimes I am working only evenings or on the weekends, so when I don't have that going on, I don' rush in.

Back to school also means that my husband is back at school, teaching high school. That means that he is gone super early- leaving me some quiet time to enjoy my coffee, listen to NPR, and catch up on my non-science related reading (a.g. food-involved reading). This past Sunday I made muffins, strawberry-goji muffins to be exact, to grab on my way out to work, or to enjoy with my morning coffee at home if I have more time. They are very good and VERY low in calories!

The muffin recipe comes from Nava Atlas' The Vegetarian Family Cookbook, which is absolutely one of my favorites. The muffin base is the "basic muffins, seven ways recipe:"

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 Tbsp ground flax seed
2 Tbsp baking powder
1 Tsp baking soda
1/3 cup natural granulated sugar
1 cup yogurt (I used coconut) or applesauce
2 Tbsp safflower oil
1/3 milk (I used plain soy)

Mix dry ingredients, add wet and stir. For fillings I added 1 cup fresh strawberries and 1/3 cup goji berries.


Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes - makes 12 muffins!




Without fruit, they have 126 calories each - so they are a great snack with my coffee!