Grain Free Broccoli & Carrot Muffins For Baby Led Weaning
If I’m being honest, I don’t love the term baby-led weaning (or “baby food” for that matter). And yes, I did just write a baby food cookbook (debuting this summer!) The idea behind my upcoming cookbook and this blog is to treat “kid food” the same as “real food.” Or as my toddler puts it- “baby food is kid food.” And then I jump in and say “kid food is adult food.” It’s all just food and my family gets to enjoy the same meals starting when the kids are babies.
These muffins are a wonderful thing to have on hand if you have a young baby starting solid foods. They are easy to grip and your babe can guide a large piece of muffin to their mouth. My 8 month old will hold a whole muffin and bring it to her mouth and then gnaw off a piece. These are soft so they aren’t a high risk choking food (though ALWAYS sit with your baby while they eat). They are packed with fiber, protein, vitamins and minerals that will help your baby thrive. I’m also a big fan of serving savory muffins to my children before introducing sweeter muffins so that they don’t always associate a muffin as a sweet food.
I love these muffins almost as much as my kids do. I think they taste best lightly re-heated in the oven before slathering a healthy dollop of butter and a sprinkle of sea salt on top. For my baby I just serve this as is, and for my toddler I usually smear a little butter on top with a sprinkle of nutritional yeast (she’s into that as a “topping” these days!)
These muffins freeze really well and are a great thing to meal prep and have on hand to throw into your diaper bag or a school lunch box. I hope you and your little ones enjoy these as much as we do!
Before I jump to the recipe I’ll break down some the the nutritional information for ya!
Broccoli is chock full of antioxidants and has been thought to prevent different types of cancers. Broccoli also contains vitamin C and vitamin K along with iron and potassium. It also has more protein than most other vegetable per serving.
Carrots are extremely high in antioxidants and offer a variety of vitamins and minerals. One serving of carrots offers 73% of your daily value of vitamin A!
Cassava flour is made from cassava root (a tuber). It’s gluten free and doesn’t have a high nutritional value but is thought to help regulate blood sugar.
Almond flour is a good source of fiber and contains a small amount of protein, minerals and antioxidants.
Eggs are a wonderful source of some of the harder to get nutrients like vitamin D and B12. They’re also a great source of the essential mineral iodine. Eggs are a complete protein as they contain all essential amino acids.
Yogurt contains a variety of vitamins and minerals along with protein and is a great source of probiotics which are wonderful for gut health.
Nutritional yeast is a great source of vitamin b12, and contains amino acids and fiber. It’s great tasting too!
Alright, now that we know what all goes into these muffins, let’s get baking!! This recipe makes 12 standard size muffins or 24 mini muffins. Because my toddler likes variety, we made a mix of small muffins and regular muffins. If you make mini muffins, reduce the cooking time by about 4 minutes.
Grain Free Broccoli & Carrot Muffins
PREP TIME: 10 minutes COOK TIME: 20 MINUTES SERVES: 12 standard size muffins
1 cup cassava flour
1 cup almond flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoons dried thyme
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup whole milk plain yogurt (I used goat's yogurt but any plain yogurt will be fine)
1/4 cup melted ghee
1/2 cup finely minced broccoli (see note)
1/2 cup finely minced carrots (see note)
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a standard size muffin tin with paper liners and set aside.
In a large bowl combine the flours, baking soda, salt, dried herbs and nutritional yeast. Add in the beaten eggs, yogurt and melted ghee. Mix well. Stir in the minced broccoli and carrots (see note).
Bake in the oven until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of a muffin, about 25 minutes. Start checking the muffins at the 20 minute mark as cooking times may vary from kitchen to kitchen
Notes
Use a food processor or blender to finely mince the broccoli and carrots together until they becomes the consistency of “rice.” Cooking times will very from kitchen to kitchen. Store muffins in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 3 months
