Healthy Carrot Muffins

Last week we went out of town, so mom hadn't been shopping. When we got back there was very little food in the house other than carrots, corn grits and some canned pineapple. So the next meal we had was baked cheese grits and carrot, pineapple salad. I made way too much salad, as I usually do, so I made the leftovers into these muffins. Here is the carrot salad recipe, which I thought was pretty nice.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup raisins
• 2 cups pineapple tidbits, drained
• 1 pound carrots, grated
• 1 cup pineapple yogurt (We didn't have yogurt, so I used mayo + juice from the pineapple)
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Soak raisins in hot water for 30 minutes. Drain and dry.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine the raisins, pineapple and carrots.
3. Mix together the yogurt, sugar and salt. Add to carrot mixture; mix well, cover and refrigerate.

And here is the muffin recipe if you have any leftovers, or if you just feel like a warm, delicious breakfast.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  
• 2/3 cup dark brown sugar
  
• 2 tablespoons wheat germ
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 4 medium carrots, grated (about 2 cups)
• 1/2 cup canned crushed pineapple, drained
• Special equipment: 12 cup muffin tin and paper liners

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line twelve 1/2-cup muffin cups with paper muffin liners.
Whisk the flours with the brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In another medium bowl lightly whisk the egg, then whisk in the vegetable oil, and vanilla extract .
Quickly and lightly fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula. Stir in the carrots and pineapple just until evenly moist; the batter will be very thick. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Turn muffins out of the tins and cool on a rack.