Since it has been colder out I have been trying to come up with something to have in the morning instead of a smoothie. I liked how I could quickly make and drink a smoothie after my run while I was stretching and getting ready for work. I would toss lots of fruits and veggies in there with greek yogurt, sometimes peanut butter, and whatever else I had around. I felt like it was a great way to quickly take in quality calories after my workouts and ensured that I got a healthy dose of fruits and veggies first thing in the morning.
Lately, its been so cold outside that when I come in I don’t really want to have an ice cold smoothie right away. I also want to switch things up a little so I don’t get really sick of smoothies and never want to have them anymore.
Over the long weekend I played around in the kitchen, with the intention to make some muffins that were healthy enough to eat for breakfast, that also snuck in fruits and veggies. I decided to make a fruit and veggies puree to use as the liquid in the muffins. The other ingredients were pretty standard, but I added chocolate chips to make sure they had some sweetness.
Chocolate Chip Veggie Muffins Recipe
How to Make Chocolate Chip Veggie Muffins
First I combined all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Then I put all the fruits and veggies into my Vita mix. (You could also use a food processor, but probably need a really strong blender depending of what kinds of fruits and veggies you use.) I used chopped apples, bananas, carrots, spinach, kale, and beets. I added enough water to get everything moving. It will become like the consistency of a smoothie or thick juice. I added the eggs and applesauce to the dry ingredients and mixed it by hand using a spoon.
Then I poured the veggie puree into the bowl and mixed it with everything else. It took a few minutes to get it completely combined. At this point I also added chocolate chips, but you could leave those out or add nuts if you wanted.
I used a regular muffin pain, a mini muffin pan, and a loaf pan. The only problem with doing it this way is each pan takes a different time to bake, but I didn’t want to have to do one at a time and have to wash it in between.
Bake on 350 until firm, for about 15-22 minutes (The mini muffin pan took 15 minutes, and the regular muffin pan and loaf pan took 22 minutes). They actually turned green after they cooked! The batter was red from the beets, but I guess the kale and spinach came out more once they were cooked.
I was a little nervous about how they would taste but I thought they were just what I was looking for! They were soft and flavorful, but I was glad that I had added the chocolate chips in for some extra sweetness.
I separated them into containers so that I could freeze some. I’m not sure how they will be after freezing, but I have frozen similar muffins before and they were still good.
According to MyFitnessPal, each muffin has about 200 calories, 6 g of fat, 3 g of fiber, and 6 grams of protein.If you try these out, let me know what you think!
What is your favorite healthy on-the-go breakfast?
txa1265 says
These look really good – never a bad time for chocolate chip muffins!
I recently tried bulgur and shared a great recipe – http://txa1265.wordpress.com/2014/01/13/recipe-sharing-crunchy-peanut-butter-bulgur-with-berries/ Since you make the bulgur ahead, and it is a hot dish, I am loving it as a winter breakfast after a cold morning run.
runningoutofwine says
Sounds good! I might need to get some bulgur so I can try that!
missadventuresinrunning says
The muffins look great! A good way to sneak in some fruits and vegetables. Chocolate chips make everything better!
virginia wine directory says
bookmarked!!, I really like your blog!
Jukka Salonen says
Looks Good. Have to make these some day.