TK: Shredded Carrot and Apple Muffins

This week's grocery store trip is going to be as minimal as possible, so I did not have high hopes for any new posts. I skipped over Cravings real quick, because her shit is usually expensive and complicated and I am not about that life as of late...so I decided to check out Thug Kitchen. I was pleasantly surprised to find that most of the recipes in this book use ingredients I already have. "Kitchen Staples" if you will. I settled on this muffin recipe because I had some old, sad carrots in the fridge and an apple on the verge of suicide. Voila.

This is your standard muffin recipe. Very easy. Well, it should have been quick and easy...but the boys were playing in the backyard while I threw this together and, if you don't know already, my youngest is on a constant mission to maim and/or kill himself. I had to stop a lot to go remove him from certain death. Usually he keeps that shit to a minimum, but today there must be a full moon or something because what should have been a 15 minute prep time was easily doubled. Oh well, he's still alive so there's that.

Back to muffins. Gather, mix, scoop, bake. Done.

They do look tasty.

Close up.

Now, I did make a few adjustments to these muffins so this could be my fault, but I wasn't a huge fan of these. Andrew and Calvin ate the shit out of them, but I'll force myself to eat them for breakfast because I hate wasting food. They reminded me of a bran muffin, which I've never actually had. But with a name like that I think it's safe to assume my presumption is true. Here's the recipe anyway:

2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 tbs. baking powder

1  1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/4 cups almond or other non dairy milk (I used whole milk because that's what I had)

1 1/2 cups grated carrots, about 3

1/3 cup grated apple, about 1

1/4 cup olive or grapeseed oil (I mostly always swap out oil for plain applesauce, which is what I did here. But you would think that would add a little flavor as opposed to the other way around...)

1 tbs. lemon juice

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 cup chopped nuts (I wanted to add these, but didn't have any. They would make a big difference I think)

1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a muffin pan or toss in some muffin liners.

2. In a bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients together with the apples and carrots until well combined. 

3. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Do not overdo it or your shit will be tough as hell. Fold in the nuts if you're smart and are using them.

4. Scoop into the muffin cups and bake about 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Take them out of the tin and let them cool for like 15 minutes.