Sweet Potato-Banana-Coconut Muffins

I have decided that sweet potatoes are one of my favorite foods. I really can't get enough of roasted sweet potato slices with olive oil, salt, pepper and a drizzle of maple syrup. Thankfully, sweet potatoes are very nutritious and full of fiber, beta carotene, and potassium. Beta carotene, which is converted to vitamin A in the body, is important for vision, healthy immune system, and for skin and cell health. Potassium is needed for proper heart, kidney, muscle, nerve and digestive system function. Sweet potatoes do not need to be saved for Thanksgiving! They can make a great side dish baked, mashed or roasted. I try to get in at least one sweet potato a week. I had not thought of using sweet potatoes in muffins before though, so when I saw this recipe I knew I had to try it. I added a banana for sweetness and significantly decreased the sugar in the original recipe. I also added more fiber and decreased the fat by using egg beaters. These are a great start to the day or for a delicious snack! Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Banana Coconut Muffins
Yield: 12 standard size muffins
Adapted from this recipe

2 cup whole wheat flour
¼ cup ground flax seed
¼ cup brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
1 banana, mashed
½ cup mashed sweet potato
½ cup shredded coconut
¼ cup egg beaters
½ cup plain fat-free yogurt or Greek yogurt
½ cup skim milk
1 tsp vanilla

1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray muffin tins with non-stick spray.
2. Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl
3. In a separate bowl, combine the remaining wet ingredients and coconut
4. Add wet ingredient to dry ingredient and stir until combined. Do not over mix
5. Divide into muffin cups

6. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown

Per muffin: 154 calories, 4g fat, 25g carbohydrate, 2.4g dietary fiber, 4.4g protein

Parsnip Muffins

Parsnips- kind of strange thing to add to muffins I know. I bought a bag of parsnips a couple of weeks ago to make a recipe from Around My French Table. That was really my first exposure to them and the rest have just been sitting in the refrigerator. I was planning on roasting them, but this morning I was flipping through a magazine and in it was a recipe for parsnip muffins. I decided to try it, but my recipe is loosely adapted from the one I found. I manipulated the recipe quite a bit to make the muffins higher in fiber and lower in fat. 

While I was doing this, it reminded me of my days working at Billings Clinic as a research dietitian. I spent hours making wheat, oat, and sugar beat fiber muffins for a cholesterol study. We had to make the muffins low in fat and calories plus flavorful and tasty so the test subjects would really eat them. I was so tired of baking and muffins by the time the study was done. I promise these parsnip muffins are very edible even with all of my tweaking. Actually they turned out very moist and surprisingly good. They are not very sweet, but the currents give a little bite of sweetness and the walnuts add a pleasant crunch. If you happen to have some parsnips, these are a delicious way to use them! Enjoy!

Parsnip Muffins

Inspired and adapted from Fine Cooking

yield: 16 muffins

1 tbsp Canola oil

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1 large egg

1/4 cup ground  flax seed

1/4 cup water

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup light sour cream or plain non-fat yogurt

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 1/2 cups grated parsnips

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup currents or raisins

9 oz whole wheat flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

pinch of salt

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Coat a standard 12-cup muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray. 

2. Beat together the oil, sugar, yogurt/sour cream, applesauce, vanilla, flaxseed, egg, and water until combined. 

3. Stir in the parsnips, walnuts, and currents. 

4. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the moist ingredients and stir to combine. 

5. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean- about 20 minutes. Cool pans on a wire rack for about 10 minutes before turning them out onto the rack to cool. 

Whole Grain Waffles

I love Saturday mornings. We get up late and I make a big breakfast. We take our time drinking coffee and eating- just enjoying a slower pace from the week days. Today I decided to try a new recipe for waffles. It is a whole grain recipe that also happens to be gluten free. Right now gluten free is kind of trendy and even a supposed weight loss diet. Gluten is the storage protein that is found in wheat, barley and rye. It is not bad for your body, but it is a large molecule that can be hard to digest, especially in large quantities. Some people have celiac disease, in which they have an autoimmune response to gluten that causes malnutrition. For them, avoiding gluten is vital to their health. For others, they may have gluten sensitivity or intolerance and when they avoid gluten their digestive system works better. For most of us, gluten is the most prominent grain in our diet. In ancient times I am certain that people ate a greater variety of grains than we do today. Their diets included things like quinoa, amaranth, millet, buckwheat, and teff. We rarely see many of those grains today. Instead we have focused on wheat and so most packaged and processed products from soup to cheese include wheat to thicken, prevent caking, etc besides our normal intake of breads, pasta, cereals, crackers and baked goods. 
Does following a gluten free diet help you loose weight? Not necessarily. Most packaged and processed gluten free foods contain more fat and sugar than regular products. The people who are loosing weight eating gluten free are doing so because most likely they are eating less starches and more vegetables, fruits, lean proteins and low-fat dairy products (all naturally gluten-free). Something all of use could do on a regular gluten containing diet. 
 I tried these gluten free waffles today because they are full of whole grains and fiber. I did a nutrition analysis on the recipe. Per waffle: 67 calories, 2g of fat, 8g carbohydrate, 1g dietary fiber, 1g sugar, 3g protein. The same size waffle prepared from a mix contains 103 calories, 5g fat, 15g carbohydrates, .4g dietary fiber, 7g sugar, 3g protein. So this gluten free waffle definitely wins nutritionally. And, it also tasted pretty good- there was a slight nuttiness from the quinoa that I didn't mind at all. They initially were a little soft coming out of the waffle iron, but putting them in the oven gave them a nice crispy outside with a soft, chewy inside that a waffle should have.  I topped one with Greek yogurt and blueberries and another one with Nutella- delicious! Enjoy!


Whole Grain Waffles
adapted from Simply Sugar & Gluten Free
*Start this recipe the night before as the batter needs to sit for about 12 hours


1 1/4 cup skim milk
1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed
1/2 cup oats
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tsp almond extract1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg
2 tablespoons ground flax seed
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt


1. In a blender or food processor, combine quinoa, oats, milk, vinegar, olive oil, vanilla and almond extract. Blend for about 3 minutes. Let sit over night at room temperature. 
2. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Place a cookie sheet over a large baking sheet and place in the oven. Preheat waffle iron and coat with non-stick spray. 
3. To the waffle batter, add egg, flax seed, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Blend for 2-3 minutes until well combined. 
4. Cook waffles in waffle iron. Place cooked waffles in the oven to stay warm and crispy until ready to eat. Top with favorite toppings.   

Blueberries and Breakfast

I am a breakfast lover. In fact it is by far my favorite meal of the day. I love yogurt, berries, toast with peanut butter, eggs over easy, omelets, pancakes, waffles, oatmeal, whole grain cereal, dried fruit etc, etc. I grew up eating breakfast every day before school. There was a (very frustrating in my parents opinion I am sure) time during high school years where I refused many breakfast foods, especially cereal with milk because “I could taste the grass that the cows were eating.” Many early morning minutes were spent arguing about the taste of the milk with my parents. Now, I look forward to my morning cup of coffee and delicious breakfast. I do not like being rushed in the morning, so I set aside a few minutes for breakfast and coffee every morning before I take my dog Jake for a walk.

My husband on the other hand, although he enjoys breakfast foods, he does not enjoy getting up in enough time to eat breakfast before work. Usually he scrambles out the door with minutes (or negative minutes) to spare and does not eat breakfast. As a good wife, and as a dietitian, knowing the benefits of a good breakfast, I have taken it upon myself to provide him with some type of breakfast he can take to work. This has been interesting (see rhubarb bread in my previous post) and most mornings it is just a banana and some almonds, toast, or some yogurt. Yesterday I came across a smokin' deal and I bought two pounds! I decided to use some for blueberry muffins. Usually, I ration fresh blueberries very carefully because 1. they are my favorite fruit, 2. they are a seasonal food, 3. they can be expensive. A handful in my oatmeal or yogurt or in our pancake batter on the weekends is my typical use (besides sneaking a few when I open the fridge). But, I decided to give some up for the greater good of my husband’s breakfast!

I adapted this muffin recipe from BHG. There was a ripe banana in the freezer, so I added that to the batter for extra moisture and flavor. I also added some whole wheat flour for more nutrition. I have been experimenting with using ground flax lately, so I added a few tablespoons to this as well. Flax seeds have become popular in the past several years, but I often hear misconceptions about them from my patients. Flax comes in several forms- usually oil, whole seeds, or ground. Flax has been promoted as a good omega-3 source. Omega-3 oils are heart-healthy fats that help reduce inflammation in the body and are very beneficial for blood pressure, heart health (reduce triglycerides and increase HDL cholesterol) and are being used as a treatment for depression. Flax seeds contain the plant form of omega-3 oils (a-linolenic acid (ALA)). Unlike the omega-3 oil in fish (EPA & DHA), ALA must be converted to a form that can be used by the body. Usually less than 5% of ALA is converted a form the body can use as omega-3. So, all of that to say, flax oil or seeds are really not a good source of omega-3 fat.

However, they still have other excellent nutritional qualities. I usually recommend ground flax seeds because the whole seeds pass through the body undigested, meaning one will not absorb all of the nutrition from them. Two tablespoons of ground flax contains 70 calories, 3g of protein, and 3g of dietary fiber. Ground flax is a great source of fiber which helps lower cholesterol, keeps blood sugar stable, regulates the digestive system and promotes satiety. Ground flax is also a good source of protein which will also help keep you full longer between meals. It adds a nutty texture and flavor to yogurt and oatmeal, easy to add to smoothies, and works great in a lot of baked goods. I do recommend keeping it in the refrigerator or freezer however once it is ground. Because of it’s high fat content, it can go rancid quickly if left at room temperature. Substitute any type of berries or add some nuts for even more nutrition, texture and flavor. Enjoy!

Healthy Start Blueberry Muffins

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup unbleached white flour

1 cup oats

4 tablespoons ground flax

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoons baking soda

pinch of salt

1 beaten egg

1 ripe banana, mushed

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons Canola or vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup fresh blueberries

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease twelve 2-1/2-inch muffin cups or line them with paper bake cups; set aside.

2. Stir together flours, flax, rolled oats, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Make a well in the center of the mixture.

3. Combine egg, banana, milk, brown sugar, oil, and vanilla in another bowl. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened. Fold blueberries into the batter. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each three-quarters full.

4. Bake in a 400 degree F oven for about 15 minutes.

Per Muffin: 160 calories, 4g total fat, .5g sat. fat, og trans fat, 16mg cholesterol, 112mg sodium, 27g carbohydrate, 2g dietary fiber, 8g sugar, 4g protein