baking with stella

Stella is not big into eating vegetables, so I often make these "toddler muffins" which include grated carrots and zucchini. This was my first time making them with a mini muffin pan rather than a regular sized one, and they turned out much better! I wish I would have bought more than one pan. I found a Wilton brand mini muffin pan at Marshall's for about $6, and maybe I'll go back and see if the other one is still there.

I decided to include Stella in the preparation this time. The peeling and grating portion of the recipe takes a little time, but she loves being a part of the experience and carrying out little tasks I explain to her. Her job was to dump the zucchini and carrots in, and then to stir them while I got the other steps ready. She also dumped in the flour and cinnamon. She was so proud of herself and excited to do whatever was next. I also thought involving her would make her more likely to eat the muffins when they were done (she has a love-hate relationship with the taste of these) since she had invested herself in the process. By the way, shredded zucchini (and commonly used grated carrot) tastes really good on salad, as I discovered during lunch today.

Trying to sneak a taste!

Greasing with coconut oil

They turned out exceptionally fluffy and moist this time around

Enjoying the fruit of her labor (she hit her head on the coffee table prior to this picture, hence the red mark)

If you're interested in trying out the recipe, I found it on Pinterest, and it's one of those recipes that is huge in circulation. I leave out the nutmeg because when I included it before, Stella was less likely to eat it. For some reason, the mini muffin route has improved the taste, so if you have one of those pans, give it a shot. Oh, and I decreased the baking time by about 3 minutes, making it about 15 minutes total, but I suppose it depends on your oven, too.

Speaking of finding recipes on Pinterest, this chicken is currently cooking in the crockpot. Has anyone else ever tried this widely-circulated-on-Pinterest recipe? I will let you know how it turns out!