Carrot Zucchini Muffins #MuffinMonday

Sweet and tender, these carrot zucchini muffins are baked with a mix of white and whole wheat flour, sweetened with honey and full of healthy vegetables!

It’s the last Monday of the month AGAIN. You’d think after this many years of participating in Muffin Monday it wouldn’t be able to sneak up on me but you would be wrong. It happens almost every month. 

To complicate matters further, I am traveling today, in anticipation of a wedding party in London this weekend. I am all aflutter, packing and planning! We can’t wait to see the happy couple and the friends and family as well. It should be a lovely weekend of celebrations and catching up. 

Carrot Zucchini Muffins

These guys didn’t rise as much as I thought they would and I’m not sure why because they were light enough, just not very big. The important thing is that they are tasty, right? This recipe was adapted from one on Cupcakes and Kale Chips.

Ingredients

1 cup or 125g all-purpose flour

1/2 cup or 60g whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 cup or 180g finely grated zucchini, lightly pressed to get rid of excess liquid

1/2 cup or 75g finely grated carrot

1/2 cup or 120ml honey

1 large egg

1/4 cup or 60ml canola or other light oil, plus extra for greasing the pan

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare a 12-cup muffin pan by oiling it or lining it with paper muffin cups.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.

Add the grated vegetables to the flour mixture and toss to coat. I use a fork to lightly separate any clumps.

In another mixing bowl, whisk together the egg, honey and canola oil until homogeneous. 

Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and fold until just combined.

Divide the batter between the muffin cups.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Let cool in pan for a few minutes before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely before storing in an airtight container. 

Or serve them warm! Everybody loves warm muffins.

Enjoy! 

As I mentioned above, it’s time for Muffin Monday! Check out the muffins my baker friends are sharing with us today: 

• Carrot Zucchini Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Cheese and Chive Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Coconut Lime Sourdough Muffins from A Messy Kitchen
• Ham and Cheese Rye Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

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Dirty Bloody Mary Martini

The arranged marriage between Ms. Bloody Mary and Mr. Dirty Martini, this Dirty Bloody Mary Martini should please the lovers of both savory cocktails. No need to choose the bride’s or groom’s side. Sit on either side of the aisle. We are all family here. 

There are probably as many Bloody Mary recipes as there are bartenders but the classic contains tomato juice, vodka, hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Likewise, a dirty martini contains the same ingredients as a classic one, vodka or gin and a hint of extra dry vermouth with the lovely, in my opinion, addition of olive juice. 

Individually, they are two of my favorite drinks. Married together I love them even better! 

Dirty Bloody Mary Martini

I like to use the olives stuffed with anchovies for an extra boost of savory flavor. You can use your favorite cured green olives, of course.

Ingredients

2 oz or 60ml vodka

1 tablespoon olive juice (preferably from green olives stuffed with anchovies)

2 teaspoons tomato paste

1 1/2 teaspoons extra dry vermouth

Dash or two Worcestershire sauce

Dash or two hot pepper sauce

2-3 cubes ice

Options for garnish: Stuffed olives, cherry tomatoes, pickled onions, cornichons, etc. 

Method

In a cocktail shaker, combine vodka, olive juice, tomato paste, dry vermouth, Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce.

Add ice, cover, and shake vigorously. 

Strain the mixture into a martini glass.

Add a skewer filled with your favorite garnishes/snacks.

Enjoy!

It's Sunday Fun Day so my friends and I are sharing summer cocktails and mocktails to make your day more special. Check out the links below: 

• 2 Ingredient Strawberry Slush from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Acqua Santa Spritz from Culinary Cam
• Dirty Bloody Mary Martini from Food Lust People Love
• Elderflower Martini from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Meyer Lemondrop Martini from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Pink Lemonade Vodka Cocktail from Sneha's Recipe

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Korean Barbecue-style Meatballs

These tasty Korean barbecue-style meatballs are made with both pork and beef, seasoned with garlic, ginger, brown sugar, soy and gochujang paste. Roasted in a hot oven, they caramelize beautifully! 

Serve these delightful sweet and savory bites simply with forks or toothpicks as an appetizer or with rice and/or vegetables as a main course. I like to drizzle the rice with kecap manis – sweet soy sauce – or just more regular soy sauce. Either way, the meatballs are wonderful and bursting with flavor.

Korean Barbecue-style Meatballs

The meatball mixture can be made ahead, covered and refrigerated for three hours or even overnight. You can use all beef for the mixture but make sure it is at least 80 lean/20 percent fat so you don’t end up with dry meatballs. I prefer the mix of beef and pork. This recipe is adapted from one in New York Times Cooking. cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019763-korean-barbecue-style-meatballs

Ingredients

8 oz or 225g ground beef 

8 oz or 225g ground pork 

4 whole green onions/scallions

2 in or 5cm knob fresh ginger, peeled

5 cloves garlic 

1/2 cup or 38g panko 

2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

2 tablespoons gochujang paste

2 tablespoons, firmly packed, dark brown sugar

2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

A few generous grinds of black pepper

Optional to garnish: chopped cilantro or parsley leaves

Method

Heat your oven to 425° or 218°C. Use a small food processor to mince the ginger, garlic and the white parts of your green onions. Chop the green part of the green onions with a sharp knife.

In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients, including the minced items and the chopped green onion.  

Use your hands or a firm spatula to gently mix it all together till homogeneous.

At this point of any meatball or patty recipe, I always recommend you cook just a little of the mixture to see if it needs more salt. This pan is my tiny one for frying a single egg so you can see how little I cooked. Add more salt, if needed. 

Use a spoon or small cookie dough scoop to divide the meat mixture on to a baking pan lined with foil or a silicone liner. With damp hands, shape the meat into balls. As you can see from the baked photo. I made 27 bite-sized balls.

Bake until golden and cooked through, about 10-12 minutes. Broil for a further 2-3 minutes if you’d like them darker brown. The pan looks like the juices burned but I am here to tell you that once it cooled, we were scraping that off with our bare fingers and eating it! So good! 

Serve warm, sprinkled with a little chopped cilantro or parsley, if desired.

If you are going the rice route, pop the meatballs on top with a little extra soy or sweet soy sauce. 

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 11th edition of the 2024 Alphabet Challenge, brought to you by the letter K. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the K recipes below:

• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Kwasnica (Polish Sauerkraut and Pork Soup) 
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Key Lime Pie Cocktails 
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Khamang Kakdi 
• Sneha’s Recipe: Kala Chana Batata Chaat 
• Culinary Cam: Purple Napa Kimchi 
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice Kalamata, Mozzarella, & Tomato Couscous Salad 
• Blogghetti: Key Lime Mousse Tarts 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Kung Pao Chicken 
• Food Lust People Love: Korean Barbecue-Style Meatballs 

Here are my posts for the alphabet challenge, thus far:
A: Anchovy Deviled Eggs
B: Spicy Braised Ginger Pork Belly
C: Cecilie's Favorite Coleslaw
D: Cajun Chicken Eggplant Dressing
E: Everything Pizza Tartin
F: Baked Chicken and Feta Meatballs
G: Grape Juice Jigglers
H: Crispy Bacon-wrapped Chicken Hearts
I: Raspberry Rhubarb Ice Cream
J: Java Dry Spice Mix Chops 

K. Korean Barbecue-style Meatballs - this post!

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