carrot | Kid Tested Firefighter Approved

Need a way to sneak a couple servings of veggies into your daily diet? These healthy muffins are really easy to make and they taste awesome! You can eat these for breakfast or for a quick snack.

I found this recipe on the Veg News website, they always have a ton of great recipes.

Low-Fat Veggie Muffins

Makes 12 muffins

What You Need:

1/3 cup hot water
1⁄4 cup ground flaxseed
1/3 cup agave nectar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup applesauce
1 cup grated zucchini
1 cup grated carrot
1 grated apple
1-3⁄4 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1⁄2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

What You Do:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small cup, add water and ground flaxseed, stirring with a fork. Let it sit for 5 minutes, until mixture thickens. (This is your “egg” mixture)

2. In a small bowl, combine agave nectar, maple syrup, vanilla, and applesauce. Add in zucchini, carrot, and apple. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. To agave mixture, add flaxseed mixture and stir to combine. Mix dry ingredients to wet, and stir to combine.

3. Divide batter evenly into muffin tins and top with walnuts, if using. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

We eat a ton of kale salad but this one is the absolute best! I highly recommend this one, you WILL NOT be disappointed. I’ve added the Smoky Maple Tempeh Crumbles to make it more of a meal-type salad and it’s awesome! You can make this without the tempeh too, it’s so good either way! Plus, this salad keeps well in the fridge for a few days so it makes awesome leftovers!!

AMAZING Kale Salad topped with Smoky Maple Tempeh Crumbles

This salad recipe is from food blog Melomeals: VEGAN FOR $3.33 A DAY, one of my favorites!

Here is her recipe:

Ingredients:

4 cups kale, destemmed and cut in a chiffonade – I use Black Kale/Lacinato or also called Elephant Kale
1/2 – 1 teaspoon best quality sea salt (smoked salt would be fabulous here!) – I use Alderwood Smoked Salt from World Spice Merchants but you can use regular salt if that’s all you have (Smoked salt is best though!!)
2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar – I add a little extra
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon orange zest
2 cups shredded carrots
1 cup chopped red cabbage
½ cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
2 Tablespoons minced red onion
½ cup chopped green olives – make sure you mince them well
1 cup toasted sunflower seeds
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
Pinch nutmeg
½ cup raisins
1 cup cilantro, chopped
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
Salt/pepper to taste if needed

Directions:

– In a large mixing bowl, add the kale, salt, orange juice, vinegar and garlic powder. Massage well with
your hands for several minutes.

– Add the rest of the ingredients and massage well

Let salad sit for 10 minutes; taste and adjust seasonings and enjoy!

For the Smoky Maple Tempeh Crumbles – you can use these in a lot of other dishes too, they are great in breakfast burritos, other salads and just by themselves! You can also keep them in cubes instead of mashing them.

* 2-4 blocks Organic Tempeh – from Trader Joe’s

* 2-4 tsp Liquid Smoke (depending on how smoky you like it!)

* 2-4 Tbsp Pure Maple Syrup (depending on how sweet you like it!)

– I use 4 blocks of tempeh (from Trader Joe’s) so I have enough for leftovers (I always double this salad recipe for leftovers) – you can use 2 for a single batch of this salad

** Note: I used to cook these in oil but I’ve since removed oil from our diet. You can bake these crumbles on parchment paper at 350 degrees for about 20-30 minutes. Stir every 10 minutes or so.