August means visitors in San Diego

August is usually a busy month at our house; friends and relatives stay with us for the beach and for music events. This past week we had Hans’ cousins, the Mohr family, in from Seattle. Luckily the weather finally cooperated and they were able to enjoy the beach, plus we enjoyed a terrific family get together in Poway, as well as a nice dinner out at Proper Gastropub.

The Mohr’s left on Friday and Frankie and the Pool Boys arrived Friday afternoon. (BIG Thanks to the Mohr’s for readying the house for the next guests--you rock!!) Frankie and the Pool Boys is a five member surf band on a California tour. They played Friday night at the Soda Bar, along with Secret Samurai and the Space Cossacks. Great show! Loud venue! Late night for this early bird! :p

Before they headed off to the Surf Guitar 101 convention in Los Angeles on Saturday we filled them up with some healthy muffins and fruit. I’d like to share the recipe for these muffins because they were exactly what I was hoping for: reasonably healthy, fruity and not too sweet.

Blueberries have been fat and juicy this summer and I was imagining them as hot, gooey pockets of moistness in carrot muffins. I found inspiration on 101 Cookbooks, an excellent vegetarian blog; Heidi’s carrot cake recipe was the perfect starting point and didn’t take much adapting to come up with what I had in mind.

Here is my take on Carrot Blueberry Muffins. This recipe probably would have made about 15 muffins but I only had one 12 slot muffin tin and I poured the remainder of the batter into a mini loaf pan. Also, I replaced the chopped pecans with some ground pecans I had on hand. These were wonderful served warm.

Carrot Blueberry Muffins

2 cups whole wheat flour
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
¾ teaspoon salt
¾ cup finely chopped pecans
4 ounces unsalted butter, heated until just melted
½ cup dried cranberries, finely chopped
3 ripe bananas (about 1 ¼ cups) mashed well
1 ½ cups grated carrots (about 3 medium)
½ cup plain Greek yogurt
2 eggs, lightly whisked
¾ cup fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a regular size muffin pan and a mini loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Mix together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Stir in the pecans and set aside.

Stir the cranberries into the melted butter.

In a separate bowl combine the bananas and carrots. Stir in the cranberry butter mixture. Whisk in the yogurt and eggs. Add the flour mixture and stir just until everything comes together. Gently stir in blueberries. Spoon into prepared muffin tin. Any leftover batter can be poured into the mini loaf pan. Bake muffins for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick tests clean. Bake the mini loaf for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick tests clean.