***post-edit note: Oh no! I forgot to put in the baking soda when I first posted this! These yummy things need baking soda! Please adjust the recipe if you are going to try it! (I corrected it below.)
We have hot breakfasts most days around here. It just kind of works into our schedule so we keep doing it.
But I’ll let you in on a little secret: I’m sick to death of making eggs and pancakes and waffles every morning! It’s killing me. I needed to branch out a little bit and get a little more creative.
So when I came across this recipe in a Rachael Ray magazine sitting around, I figured I’d give it a try paired with a smoothie the next morning and see how it went over.
My kids aren’t zucchini lovers and I never had zucchini baked goods growing up so I never really think about this stuff, but I’ll tell you what, these kids of mine thought these were the best things since sliced bread (after a little bit of nose-turning-up when they saw all that green in them).
So I figured I’d share. Here you go:
1 1/2 sticks butter (softened) (3/4 c.)
1 1/2 c. sugar
Whip these together until light and fluffy:
Beat in:
2 eggs
1 tbsp. vanilla (yes a whole tablespoon which is so great by me…the more the merrier as far as vanilla is concerned:)
In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients:
1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 c. whole-wheat flour
1 tbsp. ground flaxseed
1 tbsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
Then mix into butter mixture.
It will be pretty dry:
…until you mix in
3 cups grated zucchini:
The recipe gives you the option of adding 1 cup of golden raisins if you want, but I didn’t mess with that. I couldn’t resist mixing in a few chocolate chips into some of the batter though…
Hey, I wanted baked zucchini goods to go over smoothly for this first run. Ha!
Bake at 350 for 20- 25 minutes.
Be really careful not to over-bake them like I did or they will be crumbly. But your family will still probably scarf them down speedy quick like mine did.
Next time I will substitute half of the butter with applesauce like I do in most baked goods like these. I bet that will make them more moist…and more healthy too.
Happy baking!
And please send any other breakfast variety recipes my way if you have any grand ideas.
I hear you!! I face the same dilemma weekly. I get so tired of cooking the same old things and hearing everyone complain with no new ideas. I'll be trying these muffins soon – so thank you for sharing! I used to do a breakfast according to the letter of the day to keep things interesting. Like Monday Mush (oatmeal), Tuesday Toast (fried egg or peanut butter and bananas on toast), Wednesday Huevos (scrambled eggs of some sort), etc. Maybe it's time to start that up again. We've also done fresh/dried fruit with granola and milk or greek yogurt (but that's a lotta sugar.)
Love your blog. Thanks for sharing!
THANKS! I will try this next week. We also do hot breakfasts…and I feel like it is probably too much sugar most days for them…waffles, pancakes, french toast…a friend just introduced me to ebelskivers and the kids love them. I'll look forward to seeing if any of your readers have some more healthy "hot" breakfasts…even though my kids tend to favor the pastry bread group 😉 It's way too cold here in the Chicago suburbs for smoothies…maybe this summer!
Our fav is bans wheat germ from the weelicious blog
http://weelicious.com/2009/05/17/banana-wee-eat-germ-muffins/
so good and healthy!
You can replace the butter with olive oil.
Or half olive oil and half applesauce.
zucchini muffins are delicious! my mum used to make it as well as lemon poppy seed bread (which is my absolute favorite). Thanks for sharing so many tasty recipes.
When I lived with a few other girls in college, we rotated by the days of the week. Muffin Monday, Toast (with eggs in a hole in the middle), Wednesday waffles, Thursday omelettes, and Friday French toast!
Quinoa bites are great for breakfast. (Quinoa and egg). If you search on pinterest or Google I'm sure you'll find a bunch of recipes and you can choose what you like best! I like this recipe, but be careful on the salt–I like to use less than it calls for. And they are sticky! http://www.recipebyphoto.com/quinoa-breakfast-bites/
my son looooves these veggie muffins
http://www.danamadeit.com/2008/07/recipe-veggie-muffins.html
I do zucchini instead of the broccoli, and only do 1/4 cup of sugar (he's a toddler, so he doesn't care for things to be really sweet- plus i use really ripe bananas and that helps a lot), and i also do 1 cup flour, 1 cup of flaxseed, and I add some cinnamon. Such a healthy snack or breakfast!
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/omelet-muffins/#axzz2tu3i2su9
something like that is good too- fill them with veggies, i do tomato and spinach and ham. so good!
Oh wow, I don't know how you mums do it – hot b'fasts! It's totally uncommon in Australia, it's toast or cereal unless it's a weekend. Except porridge, which is 2 mins in the microwave, but that sort of doesn't count!!
I sort of forgot they were muffins, til I saw the sugar measure :p Seems I'm becoming a health freak.
The same recipe with apples instead of zucchini! Add some extra cinnamon and nutmeg.. Easy way to switch it up!
We are big quiche eaters around here. Because I cheat and buy ready made pie crust it's super fast and easy. Our two favorites are ham, mushroom, and cheese and chicken, cheese and spinach, You can make them ahead and microwave for those busy mornings.
we do whole wheat french toast here. super quick. my kids don't really know the difference from whole wheat and white bread. also, oatmeal is a favorite. my husband likes to buy a ham, cook it ahead of time like on a sunday and then heat it up for breakfast during the week with a slice or two of toast. Also whole wheat banana bread with greek yogurt. whole wheat pumpkin muffins.
try egg muffins! just beat eggs with any meat, veggies or cheese, and bake then in muffin tins until done. can be refrigerated then heated up in morning. recipes on pinterest!! also over night oatmeal is amazing!
Baked Oatmeal is my favorite because it's so easy to make ahead of time, and so easy to make a bunch of different flavors with. Here's one of my favorites: http://www.budgetbytes.com/2011/09/baked-pumpkin-pie-oatmeal/
Not exactly healthy, but delicious nonetheless: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/overnight-blueberry-french-toast/ It could definitely be modified to be a bit healthier.
I like to make pumpkin muffins and freeze them.
2 C whole wheat flour
1 1/2 c oat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup oil or applesauce
4 eggs
15 oz pumpkin
1 cup honey
I make some into regular muffins and some into mini muffins for my little kids.
my kids also like whole wheat toast with almond butter… we have peanut allergies in this house, but I used to eat peanut butter toast every day before I had kids.
Hi Shawni – Will your kids eat steel cut oats or cream of wheat?
Hash browns with eggs, bacon and cheese on top. English scones….and sometimes we slice them open and put eggs in the middle for a sandwich. Lots of smoothies. Breakfast burritos….tortilla, eggs, veggies, ground breakfast sausage. Yum!
We have a chocolate chip cookie recipe that is so much healthier than traditional muffin recipes (and easier too!) that I will serve it with green smoothies for breakfast. In fact, it's so easy I'm done mixing it up before the oven even preheats 🙂 It's just 2 cups whole wheat flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 cup sugar (we use sucanat, but white sugar is fine)and 2 Tablespoons ground flaxseed (this actually is important to hold it all together, so don't skip it) 1/2 cup chocolate chips (or however much you prefer 😉 You mix all that together then dump in two heaping cups of applesauce and 2 T. vegetable oil. If it's not moist enough to mix easily I add a little more applesauce. Then you cook at 350 for 12 minutes. EASY, moist — texture is similar to a muffin top — and delicious!
Yum! Thanks for the idea! Also, I know you are a Costco shopper…they just started carrying coconut flour (which is gluten free and super healthy 🙂 but on the back of the package they have a recipe for blueberry muffins… DELICIOUS! 🙂
We do steel cut oats with 1/3 cup warm berries and 1/4 cup vanilla greek yogurt.
Also, yummy:
Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients:
2 very ripe large bananas
2 cups whole-wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking sodea
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 1/4 cups low-fat buttermilk
1 large egg
1/3 cup light olive oil
7 ounces blueberries, rinsed
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Peel the bananas and mash in a bowl, using a fork.
Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and 1/2 cup brown sugar together in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the center and add buttermilk, egg, olive oil and mashed bananas. Fold the ingredients together until just incorporated. Gently stir in blueberries.
Spoon the batter into 12 paper-lined muffin tins and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon brown sugar. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown on top; a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffin should emerge clean. Cool in the pan for a couple of minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
Overnight oats are so good when the weather is hot. Just mix traditional large flake oats with milk – a little more than to cover them. I usually mix in some low fat yogurt and fruit. Leave in the fridge overnight. Making this in a mason jar is fun – just shake everything together 🙂
Make up a batch of Mormon Muffins. The batter can stay in your fridge for up to 6 weeks. It's ready to go into your muffin tin when you want it.
Those sound DELICIOUS! I like to make an extra big batch of waffles or pancakes and freeze them so I don't have to make breakfast from scratch every day!
Try this baked oatmeal. My fave. http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/01/baked-oatmeal-with-blueberries-and.html?m=1. Or this: http://www.ourbestbites.com/2013/06/coconut-almond-breakfast-quinoa/. We also do hootenanny with lemon and powder sugar a lot. I think you can them something else.
Breakfast is my favorite meal and we have hot breakfast most every day too. Pancakes, waffles, eggs, oatmeal, baked oatmeal, and lots of muffins. Apple muffins, zucchini muffins, maple oatmeal muffins, pumpkin muffins. Other favorites are baked scones (recipe from ourbestbites) and German pancakes. However, I read about how you were going no sugar for a while and I wonder how people do that while making hot breakfasts. Does that mean no jam on toast? No syrup on waffles? How can you make muffins with no sugar? Just curious how to make that work.
I LOVE your honesty. Thank you, we all need to be honest!
What about some sausage balls?
My family loves, loves, loves this baked banana oatmeal here http://bluejeansmomma.blogspot.com/2013/09/whats-up-wednesday-baked-banana-oatmeal.html
we also love Mel's Kitchen cafe.com's breakfast recipes–coconut and cashew granola, overnight maple and brown sugar oatmeal, and lots of her other breakfast recipes.
Have you ever shared your chocolate chip cookie recipe? I would love it!
Shawni: I tried your recipe but they didn't turn out too well. Is there supposed to be some sort of leavener, baking soda or baking powder in this recipe?
We have some delicious breakfast recipes! I will share a couple. Hope you like them as much as we do:
Hash Brown Quiche
3 c. frozen, loose pack, shredded hash browns, thawed
1/3 c. butter or margarine, melted
1 c. diced fully cooked ham, sausage, bacon etc.
1 c. cheddar cheese, shredded
1/4 c. green pepper, diced
2 eggs
1/2 c. milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
Press hash browns between paper towels to remove excess moisture. Press into bottom and up sides of a 9-inch pie plate. Drizzle with melted butter. Bake at 425 degrees F. for 25 minutes. Combine ham, cheese and green peppers. Spoon over cooked crust. In small bowl, beat eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Pour over all ingredients. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F.; bake for 25-30 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Allow to stand for 10 minutes before cutting. Serves: 6
Applesauce Muffins
3 Tbsp. shortening
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg
1/2 c. applesauce
1 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. mace
1/4 c. chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Cream shortening, sugar and eggs until light and fluffy. Add applesauce and mix well. Slowly stir in flour, baking soda, salt, cloves, mace and cinnamon. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into lined muffin tin until 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes. I have substituted Coconut oil for shortening.
Feather-Light Muffins
1/3 c. shortening
½ c. sugar
1 egg
1½ c. cake flour
1½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
½ c. milk
TOPPING:
¼ c. sugar
½ tsp. cinnamon
¼ c. butter or margarine, melted
In a mixing bowl, cream shortening, sugar and egg. Combine dry ingredients; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk. Fill greased muffin tins 2/3 full. Bake at 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden. Let cool 3-4 minutes. Combine sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Dip warm muffins in melted butter, then in sugar mixture. Serve warm. Yield: 8-10 muffins
Susie!! Yes they are supposed to have baking soda! THANK YOU for figuring that out…I can't believe I left it out, and also put in too much salt! Oh boy! Sorry to ruin that batch for you! It has all been corrected and re-proofed now so it's all ready for you to try again if you dare 🙂
Love, Shawni