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Carrot Raisin Muffins
For this recipe, I used the carrot and apple pulp leftover from my juicer. If you want to use regular shredded carrot, then you’ll need to decrease the moisture a bit. These are dense and moist…and delicious! These are not gluten-free, but they are wheat-free.
Dry Ingredients:
1/3 C each: quinoa flour, millet flour, spelt flour, and ground oats
1/4 C ground walnuts
1/4 C ground flax
1 1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t ground ginger
“Wet” Ingredients:
2 C juicer pulp from juicing carrots and apples (or just carrots)
1 small banana, mashed
1/2 C brown sugar
scant 1/3 C unsweetened applesauce (*3 cubes)
1/3 C + 2 T non-dairy milk
1/3 C R.W. Knudsen Vita Juice blend or apple juice (organic)
2 T organic canola oil
1 t vanilla extract
1/4 C raisins
Mix the dry and wet ingredients together and bake in muffin liners at 350 degrees for about 23 minutes. Makes 1 dozen.
*Freeze applesauce in ice cube trays so you always have applesauce on hand for baking. Applesauce is used to replace oil in baking.
NOTE: You can make lower fat, gluten-free (GF) Carrot Pineapple Muffins by modifying this recipe as follows.
- Instead of spelt flour, use brown rice flour.
- Instead of ground flax, use garbanzo bean flour (to reduce the fat).
- Instead of 2 C carrot pulp, use 1 C carrot pulp and 2/3 C chopped pineapple (part of a can of pineapple).
- Instead of 1 small banana, use 2.
- Decrease the brown sugar to 1/3 C.
- Omit the apple sauce.
- Decrease the non-dairy milk to 2 T.
- Use pineapple juice for the juice (from the can of pineapple.)
- Decrease the oil to 1 T.
Does anything say “healthy” better than fresh fruit and vegetable juice? I don’t think so! It’s only been a month since I got back into a regular juicing habit, despite that I bought my “new” juicer at least 2 years ago.
I was re-inspired by listening to the Raw Vegan Radio podcast episode 0125: “School of Juicing with Jay and Linda Kordich.” Now that I’m loving juicing again, I said to myself…
“What took me so long!?”
I’ve vowed to keep this habit going at least several times a week. (The last time I juiced regularly was about 20 years ago, when I got a Juiceman. I enjoyed it, but unfortunately I let my juicing habit fall by the wayside.)
I initially bought my Omega 8003 Nutrition Center Juicer when I set out to do a short– 3 day– juice fast. I wanted to replace my old centripetal juicer with one that would afford me the option to juice wheatgrass and leafy greens.
I chose the Omega because it’s a masticating juicer. Using the blank plate also allows you to make frozen fruit “soft serve” desserts, among other food preparation options. The one drawback of the Omega 8003 is that the food chute is only 1 1/2 inches in diameter, which means you have to cut the food pieces to fit down the chute. But it’s a snap to assemble and to clean. I timed the process: 25 minutes to wash, cut, and juice the fruits/vegetables and clean up the juicer parts.
So what took me so long to get back into juicing? Self-reflection revealed that I had become a bit of a smoothie snob. Ever since I bought my Vitamix blender, I was in love…In love with the Vitamix…In love with the green smoothie.
Even though I’d bought the new juicer, I’d done the juice fast, and I knew on an intellectual level that there are good reasons to blend your fruits/vegetables and to juice them, I still wasn’t doing both. I was stuck in the mindset of picking just one. “Don’t remove the fiber!” said my inner voice. Yet, by choosing sides, I was missing out on all the added benefits of juicing. By juicing, you pack an awful lot of goodness in one glass!
Now I share my love with my blender and juicer. Like a plural marriage, I have room in my heart for more than one!
My “go-to” green smoothie is orange/tangerine, frozen banana and kale. My “standby” juice is carrot, celery, cucumber, apple and lemon. To this basic juice formula I mix it up by adding in beet or parsley. Soon I’ll cycle in some fresh ginger.
One thing’s for sure…I’m going to keep juicing!
Freeheel Vegan 