Pineapple and Carrot Muffins

Sorry I've been M.I.A. this week. I've been sick, bleh. Luckily though, I didn't get sick until after we got home from a pretty great trip to Phoenix with the kids last weekend. It was so nice to see family and friends and live life outside our regular little box. The kids did great and it is nice to know that even if we do have a pretty strict schedule here at home, they can be adaptable sometimes too. I mean these guys slept twelve hours a night in tiny pack n plays! Talk about awesome. Anyway, enough bragging....

I finally mustered up some strength yesterday evening and decided to make some muffins for the kids' snack. I had planned on making either the applesauce ones or the banana zucchini bread but then Mr Pears went to the grocery store....for one thing. Yeah. Mr Pears never comes home with one thing. He just can not do it. Yesterday, the random item to come home from the store with him was a can of pineapple, for the kids. Of course the kids do love (fresh) pineapple, but he bought crushed...oops. Plan B, pinterest search for pineapple muffins.

I found a recipe which not only included the crushed pineapple but carrots as well, yeah! Plus, this recipe uses honey as the only sweetener. I added a bit of whole wheat flour and baked up some very healthy and very tasty muffins. I hope you like them!

Pineapple and Carrot Muffins, adapted from Life is Sweet 
1/2 cup honey
2/3 cup canola oil
2 large eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup grated carrots (3-4 carrots)
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained

Preheat the oven to 375 F and line a regular size muffin pan with paper or silicon cups.

In a large mixing bowl combine the honey, oil, eggs, and vanilla. In a smaller bowl combine the dry ingredients, everything except for the pineapple and carrots. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet and then fold in the pineapple and carrots. Make sure to just stir ubtil combined. You never want to overmix muffin batter or your muffins will be dense.

Fill each muffin cup about 2/3 full. You may have a bit of batter left over, my recipe made 14 muffins (using silicon liners). Bake for about 17-20 minutes if you are using paper cups. My muffins cooked in 15 minutes in the silicon.

Remove them to a wire rack and cool completely. Enjoy your guilt free snack!

**On a side note...don't you love the cute little muffin liners?  If you are on the fence about buying some of these very popular new little kitchen toys, I would totally recommend them.  The muffins practically jumped out of them!  No stuck on paper, they are very easy to clean, and they turn a regular baking sheet into a muffin tray.  Love them!