Sunshine Muffins

Forget empty calories! Power up with whole grains, yogurt, nuts, fresh fruit—even veggies—in one portable sweet (and healthy) treat.

What makes this recipe so great? Let me tell you …

Blueberries – this fruit is packed with antioxidants (get the frozen variety all year round)
Orange – the juice delivers the right amount of sweetness
Extra-virgin olive oil –low in saturated fat and it makes the muffins extra moist
Pistachios – get a dose of vitamin B6 with this fiber-packed nut
Fat-free plain Greek yogurt – adds protein and calcium
Carrots – these beta-carotene beauties can reduce the risk of heart disease

From Health Magazine and adapted in my kitchen to cut sugar and up the protein content.

I’ll be noshing on one of these with a 2-egg white omelet for a little extra protein to fuel my morning strength sessions!

Makes: 12 servings

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (next time I will try substituting this for another type of flour, like coconut or barley)
• 4 scoops Arbonne vanilla protein powder (to up the protein content of these babies!)
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 orange (you need ¼ cup juice and 1 tsp zest)
• ½  cup sugar (I reduced this from original recipe that called for ¾ cup sugar)
• 2 large egg whites
• ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• ½ cup fat-free plain Green yogurt
• 2 cups grated carrots
• 2 cups fresh or thawed frozen blueberries (divided)
• ¾ cup fresh or thawed frozen blackberries (I added these for more berry goodness)
• ¼ cup shelled pistachios, finely chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line muffin cups with paper liners or spray with olive oil cooking spray if you don’t have liners or prefer not to use them

In a large bowl, whisk the first 6 ingredients (through salt).

In another bowl, add orange zest and fresh squeezed juice. Whisk in the sugar, egg whites, oil and yogurt.

Stir in flour mixture just until moistened. Fold in carrots and 1½ cups blueberries and all of the blackberries.

Divide batter among muffin cups. Top with pistachios.

Bake until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean (25-27 minutes).

Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Unmold. Cool completely on the rack.

If you prefer a loaf rather than muffins, use a muffin tin. You may need to adjust the baking time for longer. And be sure to watch the top of the loaf so it doesn’t burn (you can cover part-time with foil).

Nutrition Facts

Per serving (1 muffin or 1 slice): calories 246, fat 6.3g (sat .08, mono 4.2g, poly 0.8g), cholesterol 0mg, protein 8g, carb 34g, sugar 15g, fiber 5g, iron 1mg, sodium 126mg, calcium 339mg