Recipe: Meal in a Muffin (using yogurt, dates, nuts, carrot and apple)

MEAL IN A MUFFIN

"Sometimes there's only time for coffee and a muffin but this is a healthy one - low in fat, high in fiber, and tough enough to toss into your briefcase or backpack. A survival snack."

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 cup chopped dates, cut into small pieces
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup chopped pecans (or slivered almonds)
2 eggs
1 egg white
2/3 cup plain, nonfat yogurt
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
3 cups grated carrots
1 cup grated apple

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a muffin tin or line it with paper cups (this makes removing the muffins extra easy).

In a large bowl, mix together the all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, dates, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, salt and pecans or almonds.

In another bowl, whisk the eggs, egg white, yogurt and vanilla together until smooth. Pour into the dry ingredients and stir with a fork until just barely combined (a few lumps are okay in muffins). Fold in the grated carrot and apple. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups - they should be about 3/4 full.

Bake for 40-45 minutes, until the tops are firm and a skewer inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

GIRL TALK:
- Use the food processor with the grating disc to grate the carrots and apples (or use Girl power and a basic box grater).
- Dates can be sticky and tough to chop - use your kitchen shears to snip them into usable bits.
- The banana is a great fruit until it turns on you - turns black and overripe, that is. The Girl consigns her blackened bananas to the freezer. Peeled and frozen in plastic bags, they're perfect to pull out for a smoothie and they make awesome banana bread (that really dark and delicious kind.)

Makes about 18 muffins
Source: The Girl Can't Cook by Cinda Chavich