Have you seen the muffin man......

I had been on a quest for years to come up with a good muffin recipe. Muffins are notoriously high in calories and not much nutritional value. You can blow two meals calories in one muffin and not get much for it. So I set out trying to create a muffin recipe that will feed your body with good things to start your morning out right. I came up with three. Below are two of the recipes. I will post the other one at a later time. The calorie content is still high, but so is the protein, fiber and calcium. These muffins get you through the morning and they taste good too! I hope you enjoy them.

Lavender Lemon with Blueberries

Lavender Lemon Muffins

1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. McCormick Lavender
1 1/2 tsp. grated lemon zest
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oats (put through food processor until coarsely chopped)
1/2 cup nuts
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
3 oz. cream cheese
1/4 cup lemon yogurt
2/3 cup buttermilk
1/8 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. lemon extract
1 egg

Preheat oven to 350 and spray muffin tins with cooking spray. Combine sugar, lavender and lemon zest in a food processor. Process until lavender is chopped fine. (Remove 2 Tblsps. You can either discard or sprinkle on top of muffins right before cooking.) Combine sugar mixture, flour, oats, nuts, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl mix cream cheese until smooth. Blend in yogurt, buttermilk, oil, lemon extract and egg. Add to dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Bake for approx. 30 minutes.
(variation-add on cup of blackberries or blueberries once everything has been stirred together.)

Banana Nut Bran Muffins

Banana Nut Bran Muffins

1/2 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oats (put through food processor until coarsely chopped)
1/2 cup wheat bran
1/2 cup nuts
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2 bananas (quarter banana and then sliced thinly)
1 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg

Preheat oven to 350 and spray muffin tins with cooking spray. Combine sugar, flour, oats, bran, nuts, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl, whisk together banana, buttermilk, oil, vanilla and egg. Add to dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Bake for approx. 30 minutes.

Note: I bake my muffins in large muffin tins so if you use smaller tins you might have to adjust the cook time. Recipes make approx. 6 big muffins. Also, if you find you like these muffin process enough oats to last a while and then just keep them in the freezer.