When the seasons change and all the new crops of fruits and vegetables return to our farmer’s market, I get totally excited — and when strawberries start showing their face again, I feel like I’ve gone to heaven.

Yes, beautiful strawberries are back and they’re tasting sweet, juicy and delicious (and getting better week after week). When strawberries are in season, I love making the family Strawberr-wee Popsicles and Strawberry Preserves, but this year I wanted to add a new strawberry recipe to my repertoire. When I suggested to Kenya the idea of making strawberry muffins for breakfast the other morning, he begged me to do it.‬

You may be pleasantly surprised to hear that these big red berries contain more Vitamin C than some citrus fruits as well as being high in fiber, folate and potassium. A 1 cup serving provides kids with a whopping 140% of their recommended daily dose of Vitamin C! Now, I’m not suggesting that you let your little one scarf down half of this recipe in order for that to happen, but in the event they do love these muffins that much, at least you’ll know that what’s baked inside these sweet little gems is doing their bodies good!‬

Strawberry Muffins (Makes 24-28 Mini Muffins)

2 Cups All Purpose Flour
3 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Salt
1 Large Egg
3/4 Cup Milk (low fat or whole cow’s milk, almond, rice or soy milk will work)
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.

My mother used to make the most delicious zucchini bread. Whenever friends were coming over to our house or she needed a culinary gift, it was one of the most popular recipes in her repertoire. It’s amazing to me that a bread starring a vegetable (technically, zucchini is a fruit, but try convincing your kids of that fact) was so appealing to a kid like myself, but it was. So, if you have a little one who is normally zucchini averse, this bread may turn them around on it for good.

I don’t know why so many people have emailed me recently asking for a healthy zucchini bread recipe, but I’m happy to oblige with a weelicious version. There are a lot of zucchini bread recipes out there loaded with white or brown sugar, so I decided to make mine using agave nectar instead. I also opted to bake them in muffin cups instead of a loaf shape so it’s more kid friendly. Zucchini is a good supplier of potassium and vitamin A and it has a consistency that makes for a deliciously moist bread. When I made a batch for breakfast last week, Kenya turned into a muffin eating machine. It was then that I realized that it wasn’t important if zucchini was a fruit or a vegetable. To him, it was simply delicious.

Zucchini Muffins (12 Muffins or 24 Mini Muffins)

1 Cup All Purpose Flour
1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 Tsp Cinnamon
1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
2 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Salt
2 Eggs, whisked
1 Tsp Vanilla
1/3 Cup Vegetable or Canola Oil
2/3 Cup Agave Nectar
1 1/2 Cups Zucchini, shredded (about 2 small zucchini)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place the first 6 ingredients in a large bowl and whisk to combine.
3. Place the remaining ingredients in a separate bowl and whisk to combine.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and stir just until the ingredients are combined.
5. Pour the zucchini mixture into large or small muffins cups (I like to use a small ice cream scooper to make spooning into the muffin cups easier).
6. Bake 15 minutes for small muffins and 20 minutes for large ones.
7. Cool and serve.

This recipe is going to blow your mind (and your taste buds)! I’ve been making banana bread for years, but I must admit my original recipe contained pretty significant quantities of butter and sugar. As you know, those days are long gone for me. Still, I crave banana bread and I wanted to make a much more healthy version — minus the sugar, of course — to see how my family would like it. I don’t mean to brag, but my original banana bread recipe was pretty fantastic, so I had to keep testing and experimenting to try and match the original’s flavor and texture. I also decided to use the new recipe to make muffins, as portion control is easier and little muffins are the perfect size for little hands.

Normally, I love cooking with wheat germ because it contains 23 nutrients (like potassium and riboflavin) and has more nutrients per ounce than any other grain or vegetable. It also has a high concentration of complex carbohydrates and protein which makes it the perfect ingredient for getting your day started right. It turned out to be a great addition. It adds great taste and makes the muffins super healthy.

I was shocked at how light and sweet the new recipe turned out. When you try it, remember that the real key is using super ripe bananas. Our grocery puts the brown, spotty ones for on sale several times a week, so I always stock up on them for recipes just like this!

Banana Wheat Germ Muffins

1 Cup All Purpose Flour
1 Cup Wheat Germ
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Salt
3 Medium Very Ripe Bananas, mashed, plus 1 banana sliced approx. 3/4 inch thick for topping
1/2 Cup Agave
3 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
1 Tbsp Vanilla
1 Large Egg

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine flour, wheat germ, baking powder, baking soda, salt in a bowl.
3. In a standing mixer combine the 3 bananas, agave, oil, vanilla and egg. Beat until combined and bananas are mashed.
4. Gently mix in the dry ingredients in 3 stages until just combined. Do not over-mix.
5. Grease or line muffin cups or mini loaf pans and fill 3/4 full with the mixture.
6. Place the slices of banana on top of each filled muffin cup or decoratively over the loaf pan.
7. Bake 15 minutes for mini muffin cups, 20 for regular muffin cups or 25 minutes for mini loaf pans or until a toothpick comes out clean.
8. Cool and serve.

We used these to make this recipe:

KitchenAid Precision 24-cup Mini Muffin Pan