Fruit or Veggie Muffins

I'm sure many parents can relate when I say I'm constantly trying to get fruits and vegetables in my kids.  They are slowly trying more things but it seems to change from one day to the next what they will be willing to eat.  I came across this great zucchini bread recipe from Lisa over at 100 Days of Real Food.  Zucchini is a vegetable that I can never get my kids to eat.  But, I love a recipe where I can put it in there and they will eat it and I always make sure to tell them they are eating it:  "Guess what kids? You like zucchini!"  I made my own gluten-free version of the zucchini bread.  I prefer them as muffins because they are already portioned, freeze really well, and don't make as much of a mess.  So far I've done this recipe with zucchini, carrot, and apple.  All were really good!  We like to have a couple of these muffins with a nice big smoothie as one of our easy lunch ideas.  The kids love it.



Gluten-Free, Casein-Free Fruit/Veggie Muffins
(Makes about 2 dozen)

3 cups Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour*
3 t xanthan gum
1 T cinnamon
1 1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t baking powder
1 t salt
3 eggs
3/4 c oil
3/4 c honey
1 t vanilla
3 c grated zucchini, carrot, or apple (unpeeled) (or whatever fruit or veggie you want to try)
1 c chopped nuts (we like walnuts in this)

Preheat oven to 325.  Grease muffin tins.  Combine the first 6 ingredients in a large bowl.  Add the eggs, oil, honey, and vanilla and mix until moistened.  Fold in veggie/fruit and nuts.  Put a large heaping tablespoon of batter in each muffin cup and bake about 20 minutes until a toothpick comes clean.  Let cool at least 5 minutes before removing from pan to cool completely.  I like to wrap these individually and freeze.  They defrost really fast out of the freezer.  (In fact I threw a couple in my purse the other morning because I knew as soon as we got to the market the kids would be hungry and they were good to eat when we got there.)


*Gluten Free All-Purpose Flour
This is my go to flour mix.  When using in baking recipes I always use 1 tsp xanthan gum per 1 cup of flour.

2 cups brown rice flour
2 cups whit rice flour
2/3 c tapioca starch
1 1/3 c potato starch