Whole Wheat Honey Applesauce Muffins

We needed a snack for a group in a hurry today, these were quick and easy to put together, and delicious.

Whole Wheat Applesauce Spice Muffins
Yields: 12 Muffins 24 mini-muffins

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/3 cup honey
2 Tbsp butter, melted
1 cup unsweetened applesauce


Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease muffin pan or place muffin liners. Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt in a large bowl, set aside. Melt honey in a med bowl.  Whisk in eggs, honey, and applesauce until combined well.  Then fold in flour mixture until flour is just moistened. Divide batter among muffin cups. Bake until muffins are puffed and golden brown, about 18-20 minutes (13 for minis).  Adapted from this recipe.

Honey Wheat Zucchinni Muffins

I tried a recipe from Me and My Pink Mixer for honey wheat zucchini muffins.  I chose her recipe, though it looked almost exactly the same as another, because hers used 3/4 instead of a full cup of honey.  (I'm trying to wean us from the need for everything to be super sweet--a little sweet is enough)

This recipe is made with 100% whole wheat flour.  Because muffins use chemical leaveners to rise, instead of yeast and gluten, there's no reason to use anything but the wheat.

Honey Wheat Zucchini Muffins

3 cups whole wheat flour

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 cups shredded zucchini

1/2 cup butter, melted

3/4 cup honey

2 eggs

In a large mixing bowl combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and baking powder.  Stir and then add zucchini and toss together.  In a separate bowl, melt butter, stir in honey and eggs.  Make a well in the dry ingredients, pour in the wet, and mix just until moistened. Scoop dough into paper-lined muffin tins. Bake at 400 degrees for 16-20 minutes.

This recipe made 1 dozen muffins plus 1 dozen mini muffins.   We cooked the minis for 10 minutes and the regular for 16 min. 

Breakfast Sausage

We enjoyed the homemade sausage links with biscuits for Sunday morning breakfast. The sausages tasted just like they should. So flavorful with fresh herbs, but no artificial ingredients or nitrates or anything we didn't choose.



We used instructions from Alton brown--going all out with a meat grinder and sausage stuffer.  It was great, but we've now made this a number of times using just plain ground pork and adding the seasonings as well..  I just try not to overwork the ground pork, and it has turned out fine and easy.



Breakfast Sausage Recipe-adapted from Alton Brown

2 pounds pork butt (2 1/2 pounds with bone), diced into 1/4-inch pieces
1/2 pound fat back, diced into 1/4-inch pieces
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh sage leaves
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Combine diced pork with all other ingredients and chill for 1 hour. Using the fine blade of a grinder, grind the pork. Form into 1-inch rounds. Refrigerate and use within 1 week or freeze for up to 3 months. For immediate use, saute patties over medium-low heat in a non-stick pan. Saute until brown and cooked through, approximately 10 to 15 minutes. 

Banana Oat Drops

When we could tell Wyatt was ready for some food of the teething biscuit variety I started looking for recipes. I found some recipes on this baby food website which is also where we got the info on making the rice cereal.  I wanted a non-wheat recipe, no extra sugar, and having no eggs was a good thing too.

The recipe we tried out recently --Oat and Banana Drops-- was a hit.  It made a biscuit that was soft and mushy in the baby's mouth (as opposed to the type that is hard and dissolves as the baby sucks on it).  They were delicious--tasting similar to a banana-walnut-type muffin but with 753 less calories a piece (estimated) and containing only happy baby ingredients.  And they made for one satisfied baby.

This is the only picture I have because the entire family ate up the half batch within 12 hours.  (Had to let the baby share his nourishing snack with the rest of us--we need it too!)


Oat and Banana Drops -- Baby Biscuit Recipe:


1 c old-fashioned oats
1 c ground oats (oat flour)
1/4 t salt
1/4 t cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg
1 t baking powder
1 c (2-3) ripe bananas, mashed
1 t vanilla extract
3 T oil


Mix dry ingredients together, set aside.  Mix wet ingredients, pour into to dry mixture. Drop by the spoonful onto parchment paper or greased baking sheet, or use a piping bag to make long bars. Bake 12-15 min at 350.

This is (before cooking) how I made mine.  I piped them into bars because Wyatt likes to be able to grab on and have something sticking out of his fist to chew on.  This was a half batch and made 16.  A full batch should make about 32 bars or 64 drops and should hopefully last more than a day. 

Sourdough Banana Bread

1/2 C shortening
1 C sugar
1 egg
1 C. ripe soft bananas, mashed
1 C sourdough starter
1 tsp vanilla
2 C flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
(optional 3/4 C walnuts)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream together the sugar and shortening. Add egg and mix until well blended. Stir in the bananas, starter and vanilla.

In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients. Create a "well" in the dry ingredients and pour the wet mixture in. Stir just until combined.

Pour into a greased 9x5 loaf pan. Bake one hour, or until a toothpick poked in the center comes out clean