The Sweetness of Summer

Summertime. Fresh berries. Synonymous, no?

One of the foods I look forward to the most in the summer is berries. Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and strawberries..mmmm! And Henry is the same. He can eat a pint of blueberries in one sitting – not kidding.

Last week, I took Henry and Olive strawberry picking. Check out our stash!

Quite impressive, no? (By the way, this doesn’t include the basket that Henry ate while picking. Seriously, the kid is to be commended. )

Besides adding fresh berries to our morning smoothies and just picking them out of a bowl to eat plain, I wanted to share one of my new favorite strawberry recipes. This one is from Weelicious. If you haven’t swung by Weelicious before, you simply must.

Friends, meet Strawberry Muffins.

Strawberry Muffins (Makes 24-28 Mini Muffins)
-2 Cups All Purpose Flour

-3 Tsp Baking Powder

-1/2 Tsp Salt

-1 Large Egg (I use 1 tbsp of ground flaxseed mixed with three tbsp of water as a substitute.)

-3/4 Cup Milk (low fat or whole cow’s milk, almond, rice or soy milk will work) (I use soy milk.)

-1/4 Cup Vegetable or Canola Oil

-1/2 Cup Honey or Agave Nectar

-1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

-1 Tsp Lemon Zest

-1 1/2 Cups Strawberries, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. In a bowl, combine the first 3 ingredients.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk egg and add milk, oil, honey, vanilla, and lemon zest and stir.

4. Using a standing mixer or hand mixer, slowly combine the dry ingredients with the wet until incorporated (try not to over mix the batter).

5. Add the strawberries to the batter and slowly combine.

6. Line or grease muffin tins and fill 2/3 of the way with batter.

7. Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick tester comes out clean.

8. Cool and serve.

* If you want to make regular sized muffins, fill 12 muffin cups and bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Jeannie