Light and flaky blueberry scones with buttermilk and all the rich flavor of a complicated recipe in only a few minutes? That’s the magic of our easy blueberry scones with buttermilk, which is included in my book “Kid Chef Junior Bakes“. What’s special about our easy blueberry scones with buttermilk They cook quickly in a…
Whole-Wheat Honey Muffins
This Saturday I’ll be cooking two honey-rich recipes at our local farmer’s market: Honey-Mustard Chicken and these brand new Whole-Wheat Honey Muffins. It’s is my fourth and final appearance of the year and it’s been a blast. Hope I get the chance to do it again next spring and summer! If you want to use…
Healthy Double Chocolate Muffins (With 5 Kinds of Vegetables & Fruit Inside)
Some muffins are really just cupcakes pretending to be good for you. These are not those muffins. As a mom of four small kids, healthy muffins are my secret weapon for packing as many nutritious ingredients into my rascals as possible. All those fruits and veggies? That’s the magic. How to make magical double chocolate…
Our New Favorite Healthy Snack for Kids: Chocolate Chip Oat Cups with Cranberries
I’m always looking for new ideas when it comes to healthy snacks for kids. And starting this fall, those healthy snacks need to be portable. Because I caved. Three of my four kids are starting after-school activities this year. Between two dance classes and one after-school basketball program, the next nine months will basically be…
Magic Muffins: The Healthy 5-Fruit & Vegetable Muffins Kids Love!
Who among us has ever said, “Yep, my kids get ALL the fruit and vegetables they need. And then some.” Not you? Me neither. To get the five recommended servings of vegetables and fruits into four kids every day, I serve veggies straight up but also add them into unsuspecting dishes: Eggs. Smoothies. Popsicles. And you better believe it,…
Apple Cinnamon Oat Muffins
Do your kids love muffins? When it comes to muffins, my four rascals are all-in. That’s why I’m always trying new spins on healthy muffin ideas. After several recipe tests and tweaks, it’s unanimous: These apple cinnamon oat muffins are the winners. What’s the secret? Doubling up on the apples. Applesauce, meet your parents: Granny Smith…
The 12 Best Muffin Recipes I’ve Ever Made
Muffins are so sneaky. Most of them are closer to cupcakes but that doesn’t stop those sweet imposters from parading right through most people’s mental list of Healthy Breakfast Ideas. I was in a cafeteria the other day where each item had a little plaque next to it, listing all the nutritional information. Morning Glory muffins! I thought…
Lemon Yogurt Cakes with Blueberries
THERE’S A SECRET TO MAKING A CAKE MOIST. Add yogurt. This time, it was vanilla and the result was delicious. I learned about yogurt cake when we lived in Italy. Estelle was about a month old when we took a weekend trip to Umbria and did all sorts of things I can’t imagine doing now. Hikes (which…
banana oat cups with peanut butter and jam
WANT A MAKE-AHEAD BREAKFAST packed with nutrition? These super simple banana oat cups come together using just a few ingredients–and none of them is sugar. They’re sweetened with pure honey instead of sugar, which is a habit we’ve been working on for a while. Plus these are full of chia seeds, a super power brain food…
simple sweet potato walnut muffins
When it comes to sweet potato recipes for kids, these muffins are elbowing their way to the top for two reasons: You don’t have to bake the sweet potatoes ahead of time, and they’re full of protein-rich nuts. Easy and nutritious? Two of my favorite things. Throw in a specially shaped pan and how can…
applesauce zucchini muffins
WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU 12 CUPS OF SHREDDED ZUCCHINI, FRESH FROM THE GARDEN, YOU… If you’re a crazy person like me, you hit the kitchen and make zucchini muffins. Lots of muffins. Now these are not our first healthy zucchini muffins. (So far we’ve done zucchini spice muffins and a zucchini chocolate cake.) But they’re some of…
zucchini spice mini muffins
THERE IS A CERTAIN ZUCCHINI PATCH in my yard that is going totally crazy. Yours too? As a first-time gardener I am constantly amazed that more and more zucchini just keep appearing day after day, like magic. But now, after eating sauteed zucchini for dinner more times than my family would like, and baking five or…
honey-sweetened banana muffins, a recipe from “The Family Cooks”
A muffin is a tiny cake! And sometimes not so tiny. Cake for breakfast? No wonder kids like muffins! Pssst, parents! Although these are treats, they use whole-grain flour, fruit, and unrefined sugar. And cinnamon is a trickster spice that makes sweets taste sweeter. Reprinted from “The Family Cooks” by Laurie David. Copyright (c)…
low-sugar muffins with berries & ricotta cheese, a Food 52 Makeover
MOTHER’S DAY IS A TRICKY ONE. At least for me. I know the customary “gift” is something along the lines of breakfast in bed, but the only time I’ve eaten breakfast on a tray since becoming a mom has been inside a hospital, right after giving birth. Otherwise it’s off to the races starting around dawn ever since….
coconut pineapple mini-muffins, a Serious Eats recipe makeover
WE’VE BEEN MAKING A LOT OF LUNCHES around here. Foodlets Friday Lunch is a teeny, tiny pilot program that we started this spring. Every Friday I make lunch for the kids at Phoebe’s preschool and parents who are keen to buy one simply cover the costs. It’s not catering, not yet, but I hope it…
better-for-you double chocolate banana muffins, a “smitten kitchen” makeover
THERE ARE PEOPLE IN MY LIFE WHO LOVE MUFFINS. And we’ve made a lot of them. Banana muffins with millet, banana oat, chocolate zucchini and more. But none, not a single mini muffin, bug-shaped muffin or big ol’ muffin in the bunch compares to these. I have a toddler who now cries at the sight…
super spinach cupcakes
THAT’S RIGHT, NOW I PUT SPINACH IN THE CUPCAKES. They’re festive for St. Patrick’s Day but so full of yummy vanilla goodness that the kids love them year round, and I don’t think twice about rounding out lunches with one (or even two).
better-for-you morning glory muffins
I LIVE IN A ONE COFFEE SHOP TOWN NOW, as opposed to Rome where you could buy a cappuccino on practically every corner. Our place is outside of Chapel Hill, North Carolina and what our town lacks in coffee, for making coffee 10 Best Drip Coffee Makers For Your Money, it makes up for in…
Low-Sugar Cranberry Oat Muffins with Fresh Cranberries
These cranberry muffins with fresh cranberries are moist and delicious, but also good for you! Ours are lower in sugar than most cranberry muffin recipes, plus full of whole oats for added fiber and of course, all those fresh cranberries. Best of all, kids love these muffins. Just ask my trusty helpers.
pumpkin bran muffins with chocolate chips
WELL, WE MAY HAVE A PICKY ONE. Usually a voracious little eater, every time I’ve tried to give 17-month-old George a bite of anything other than carbs lately, he chucks it across the room. Airborne. Veggies, cheese, certainly meat, all of it hits the floor moments after I set the offending food in front of him….