My family loves to cook together; we all love to pretend do be chefs and put on “cooking shows.” If you drive by my house at any given time don’t be surprised to see us lying in the grass, flipping through recipe magazines or reading a cookbook. The girls have been asking me to make “Nutty Jumbles” for a while. We eat a lot of nuts in our home for snack time and this is a fun way to spice up the same-old, same-old snack. I am careful with the amount of sugar we eat as a family but I figure if I’m lucky enough to have two little kids that will eat so many healthy things, they deserve some sugar… “just an itty bit,” as my daughter would say.

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My favourite recipes are those that can be adapted in so many ways that they almost never taste the same. To keep it healthy (and kid friendly), whenever a recipe calls for flour I use a combination of whole wheat, all purpose, and wheat germ, plus some flaxseed. I keep a large bag of this combo flour in my fridge and use it in cookies, pancakes, bread, and muffins. My husband was recently diagnosed with high blood pressure, and was told to cut salt out. I was surprised to learn that you could buy no sodium baking powder and baking soda. We use Featherweight. 

My preschooler is going through a meataterian phase (can a phase last two years?). She won’t eat fruit or vegetables in their bare naked state. These muffins have both, plus no added sugar or salt. I call them Cinnamon Muffins, because my daughter associates cinnamon with yummy. (When it’s time to add the cinnamon, make sure your picky eater is around to help!)

Recipe for Jumbo Cinnamon Muffins after the jump.

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