I can’t help it, every Friday I get that stupid Friday song by Rebecca Black in my head, no matter what!  Help…it’s becoming painful

But I have a little something to ease the pain! I posted a picture of this book by Jessica Seinfeld on Instagram the other day called Deceptively Delicious.  I forgot that I had it but someone reminded me and now I’m going to start trying (and tweaking, of course) these recipes.  The premise of the book is making kid-friendly meals with various fruit and vegetable purees “hidden” inside!  

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you also already know a little bit about my ongoing struggle with my kids to get them to eat healthy.  It is a constant battle and one of the biggest stressors in my life at the moment.  I have declared war on them (and my hubby sometimes) and will NOT retreat until I feel that they are consistently (and this is the key here) consuming a healthy balanced diet.  

This is not to say that I don’t want to let them enjoy being a kid.  Of course I think they should be able to enjoy treats as other children do so they don’t feel deprived and resentful.  I also feel that between family and friends, holidays, birthday parties, school snacks, movies, carnivals, etc. they will get PLENTY of sugary snacks; therefore, I’m on a mission to eliminate them both from our house and their daily eats in general.  That’s not to say that they can’t have a juice box, because they can (sometimes) but I buy the organic, 100% fruit juice, low sugar version…not Kool-Aid, not Capri Suns, etc.  I’m not at all criticizing any parents who do purchase those, it’s just my personal choice. 

My husband is finally starting to realize what I’ve been claiming for years: Our children simply do not do well with loads of sugar.  Their behavior is noticeably different (for the worse)..they are hyper active, inattentive, unable to focus, less patient, and moody.  This is a fact!!  Not for all children, but definitely for mine.  Our children have always been super high energy (I would give my life savings to be able to have half their energy) and sugar puts them, and us, into overdrive.

I do not want to deprive them and I like rewarding them with treats at times. But I am going to get our household under control one way or another.  One of those ways is by limiting their sugar intake for most meals.  I will touch on this more in future posts but this is getting lengthy now so I’ll move on.  

Not only are these muffins naturally fat free but they have 10 grams of sugar each…however, those 10 grams are from CLEAN sources like bananas, sweet potatoes, organic baby applesauce, nonfat plain Greek yogurt and raw coconut crystals, which is the natural sap of coconut blossom collected and evaporated, and contains 42% less sugar per tbsp than granulated white sugar!  Okay, I’ll give up the goods already…

Ingredients:

1 1/4 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c Coconut Secret raw coconut crystals
1 1/2 c banana puree
1/2 c sweet potato puree
4oz container of organic baby applesauce (or unsweetened applesauce)
1/2 c nonfat plain Greek yogurt (I used Fage brand)
2 large egg whites
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract


Directions:

To make the puree, you can either clean, cube and boil sweet potatoes (or yams) and puree in blender or food processor or use canned sweet potatoes like I did (make sure they are not packed in syrup) because I already had some opened.   Add ripe bananas to food processor or blender and puree (I used 3 small-medium bananas).  Mix all ingredients together and pour into muffin tin.  Cook for 20-23 minutes at 350F.

Notes:

These were made for my children.  Had I made them for me I would have used oat flour, but I think the consistency you get from the whole wheat is more suitable to their super-picky pallets. Want to pack more of a protein punch?  Try adding some protein powder.  *Also, you can use any kind of Greek yogurt or applesauce.  Please just remember that whatever modifications you make will alter the macros below!

*Macros: (I don’t usually post macros but since I figured them out anyway, I thought I’d post as a guide)

Calories:   100
Carbs:       23
Fat:          0
Protein:     4
Sugar:       10
sodium:     179

Have a great weekend and happy baking!