06 February 2012

Broke-Ass Recipe: Breakfast Muffins (Or Bread)

breadPumpkin bread loaves.

My mom makes a mean banana bread in which you’d be hard-pressed to find a bite without a chunk of chocolate chip. It’s like a dessert, even though she uses hippie ingredients like soy flour and agave nectar. It is in this spirit I created my breakfast muffins, though they are much simpler and more suited for everyday eats. Most importantly, you don’t have to shell out for soy flour and agave nectar.

The benefit of using these as your breakfast staple is they are cheap, easy and perfect to toss to (or at) your kids during the mad morning rush to get their little asses out the door. Throw a handful of chocolate chips in ‘em and add a schmear of peanut butter and they are still far healthier than any kid’s cereal. Of course, the main key in this series is – cheap breakfast! So, enjoy:

-3 Cups whole grain flour (I use Eagle Mills Ultragrain blend from Costco)
-1/2 cup flaxseed meal (Giant sack of Flax USA brand, also from Costco)
-2 Tsp. baking powder
-2 Tsp. baking soda
- 1/4 Tsp. salt
- 1 Tbsp. Cinnamon
- 1/2 Tsp. Allspice
- 4 eggs, beaten
-1/2 cup packed brown sugar
-1 Cup Greek yogurt OR applesauce*
-3-4 super-ripe mashed bananas OR 1 can of pumpkin puree OR 1 can of sweet potato puree*
-1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
- 1/4 bag mini chocolate chips (*optional)


Directions for Muffins: Preheat oven to 400. Blend your dry ingredients together (1st seven.) Blend the wet stuff together (2nd five.) Mix the dry blend with the wet blend & fold in the chocolate chips. Pour into greased muffin tins (makes approx 20 muffins, if you make them like I do, or 24 if you are conservative with your batter) and bake for about 16-18** minutes. Cool on a rack. Goes well with butter or peanut butter.

Directions for Bread: Preheat oven to 350. Blend your dry ingredients together (1st seven.) Blend the wet stuff together (2nd five.) Mix the dry blend with the wet blend & fold in the chocolate chips. Pour into greased bread tins (makes 2 loaves) and bake for about 45-55** minutes. Cool on a rack. Goes well with butter or peanut butter.

Basically, you make a bunch & freeze the other half – it is two-workweeks of breakfasts for less money than any packaged cereal, muffin, bar or burrito and less hassle than whipping up eggs and toast every morning.

*NOTE: If you do banana muffins, vanilla yogurt is better than applesauce (though not by a large margin.) If you do pumpkin or sweet potato, Use a little more allspice & a little less cinnamon.

**NOTE: Check for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center. If it comes out clean (melted chocolate is fine), they are done. If batter or chunks cling to the toothpick, keep them in a bit longer.

5 comments:

LES said...

E.M. I don't know alot about this electronic media but I do get your posts on facebook. The muffins look great but I would really like to read the rest of your "Vampires Don't Drink Wine". The bit I read on Amazon was pretty awesome, but I do not own a Kindle. Why don't you have it printed?

Nicole (carried a paint can) said...

Have you tried egg muffins?
http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2006/10/egg-muffins-revisited-again.html
I am going to attempt them the next time we get a couple dozen eggs.
It seems like a cost effective breakfast too.

EM Hum said...

LES - Thanks! I am thinking about making a print edition, but you can also go here: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/84003
and download a version for your PC. :)

Nicole - nom, nom, nom. I am so on this.

cath c said...

printing! and thanks for the alt ingredients as i am allergic to bananas.

cath c said...

and apple sauce