Happiness is…a warm muffin.

This muffin?

Not as nutritious.

See what I mean?

And unfortunately, these are the muffins being sold at the snack cart at school.

I struggle with the snack cart.

Want to know what else they sell?

Poptarts. Cheerio’s cereal bars. French Toast Crunch cereal bars.

I bet you can already guess that I felt compelled to research these.

Look what I discovered:

• There are over 50 ingredients in each of these “snacks”
• Few of the 50 ingredients can actually be recognized as food
• Sugar is the number two ingredient in the cereal bars
• Forms of sugar can be found several more times
• Partially hydrogenated oils make an appearance
• As does high fructose corn syrup

And we (and when I say “we”, I don’t actually mean “me”) are offering these snacks to our kids to help fuel their growing bodies and expanding minds. Just think about what they could do if they were fueled with nutrient dense foods!

Like these muffins, for instance!

And as a bonus, they are totally adjustable to individual tastes! Like blueberries and coconut? Done! Strawberries and pecans! Yes! Raspberries and almonds? Yep!  The possibilities are endless!

Pick Your Berry Muffins (adapted from Kathy Patalsky of Happy.Healthy.Life)

(Makes 6 jumbo muffins or 12 regular size muffins.)

1 3/4 c. spelt flour

1 T. baking powder

1 T. ground flax seeds

1/2 t. salt

1/2 c. coconut oil, melted

1/2 c. maple syrup, room temperature

1/2 c. almond milk, room temperature

1/2 t. vanilla

2 T. citrus juice (lemon, lime, orange-your choice…match to your berry)

1 banana, ripe and mashed

1/4 c. coconut flakes or chopped nuts

1 c. berries, frozen

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray muffin tin with nonstick spray. I usually make 6 big muffins, but you could certainly choose to make 12 normal size muffins. Combine flour, baking powder, flax seeds, and salt in large bowl. Combine coconut oil, almond milk, maple syrup, and vanilla  in a small bowl or large measuring cup. Add wet ingredients to dry. Stir until combined.Add citrus juice and stir. Add mashed banana, berries of choice, and nuts of choice. Gently stir until combined. Spoon batter into muffin tin. Bake for 20 minutes (normal size muffins) to 28 minutes (big muffins). Let muffins cool before removing from tin, as they are quite delicate immediately after coming out of the oven. Eat!