Snow Day Zucchini & Carrot Mini Muffins

Girlfriend is not a huge fan of veggies (or meat for that matter) but she will consume hidden veggies (not meat) in the form of muffins, mac and cheese and nuggets. I love to cook big batches of food and freeze it, so that during the week we just defrost for her lunch or dinner. Sidenote, my child thinks the microwave is the only appliance in the kitchen. We got her a play kitchen for Christmas and she spent hours putting her pretend food and pans in the microwave and then serving us her creations, accompanied by "YUM" Thanks to the many snow days we have had lately, I've had her "help" me in the kitchen, so she can see that not all of her meals come from the microwave!

I adapted some muffin recipes that claimed to be healthy but had over a cup of sugar in them!
The following in the recipe we used during the latest snow day.

Snow Day Zucchini & Carrot Mini Muffins

Ingredients

• 2⅔ cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground allspice
• 2 zucchini, shredded
• 2 carrot, shredded
• 6 Tablespoons unsweetened applesauce (or 1/4 cup and 2 Tablespoons) 
• 4 Tablespoons butter, melted
• 4 Tablespoons milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 Tablespoon honey
• 1 Tablespoon agave
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients (flour-allspice)
3. In a separate mixing bowl, combine  wet ingredients (zucchini- eggs)
4. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until combined.
5. Spray a mini muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.
6. Spoon batter into mini muffin tins until full ( I use a mini ice cream scoop)
7. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

healthier cobb salad

these days I am all about easy, "healthyish" dinners. The little one will sit in her bjorn chair on the counter while I prep and cook dinner. Lately, however, she goes from babbling up a storm to shrieking and losing her sh@# So, any meal that requires me to stir, saute, or flip the food, isn't really going to work because I spend lots of time making faces, singing to her and basically doing anything to keep her happy and entertained. I like this dinner because it only requires some chopping and throwing a few things in the oven and it's ready in about 20 minutes

what you need:

lettuce
cucumber
tomatoes
avocado
frozen corn
turkey bacon
chicken
crumbled blue cheese
dressing

what you do:

cook corn in microwave according to directions (5 minutes) and drain
cut up tomatoes, avocado, cucumber
wash lettuce or open bag of lettuce (my preferred method)
cook chicken and turkey bacon, cut up when cooled

tips:

I like to use chicken filets because they take less time to cook
arrange bacon in baking dish, cook in oven at same time as chicken (15-20 minutes @ 375)
place chicken filets in another baking dish ( I like to cook an extra one or two to use for another dinner or lunch) sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper
I don't dress the whole salad because if there are leftovers, no one wants soggy salad!
I make a quick dressing of olive oil (a few tablespoons), good season's italian seasoning (a sprinkle) and white vinegar (a splash)
there are many flavors in this salad, so I like the dressing to be simple.

ENJOY!

Hi

I wanted to create a space to document things happening in casa eagle, recipes I've tried and tweaked, projects from pinterest that have gone well (or not), funny pictures of our little eaglet, home improvements. I worry that if I don't write stuff down, I'll forget it. My memory these days is pathetic, I blame it on the lack of sleep and I plan to use this as an excuse indefinitely. I've always found so much inspiration in the blogs I read, so I hope to return the favor. Now with our little one, I find that I spend time on different blogs to find product reviews, or answers to random questions (best way to store breast milk? is it normal for a 2 month old to poop ten times a day?) yes, these are the things I google lately. Now that I'm a mom, I find that talking to other mom's has been invaluable. I never thought I would have so many damn questions and it's my mom friends that have given me the best advice and guided me through this whole new mom thing.