Have you ever combined beets and strawberries in the same recipe? This might surprise you, but they are meant to be together – a match made in joyous heaven! Why? The strawberries soften the strong “earthiness” of the beets and lend a lovely natural sweetness to this recipe. Surprisingly, the strong taste of the beets does not overshadow the strawberries. This recipe made me giddy with excitement to share with you because the muffins are SO GOOD. As you can see in the photos, the batter was so vibrant and rich thanks to all those phytonutrients (more on that in a bit). These muffins were a food stylists dream to shoot because the gorgeous colour looked great with any set of dishes. Walker and I had so much fun shooting them, as evidenced by the ridiculous amount of shots we got (we could only post a few here)!! As for the taste, I knew they were be going incredible when I dipped my finger in the batter to taste test it and I was like “wowza.” When I pulled them out of the oven, my test-tasting-buds were correct. They were AMAZING – moist, flavourful and the beet/strawberry combo was perfection. You’ll be happy to know these muffins are gluten-free and digestion-friendly because I used Genuine Health’s Fermented Greek Yogurt Proteins+. You can learn more about this protein by checking out this cool infographic. As for the benefit of fermented foods, you’ll already know them all if you’ve read my previous posts and watched this video, but here’s a little reminder.
- Fermented foods help feed the good bacteria in your gut. These little guys help produce certain vitamins and keep bad bacteria in check.
- Fermented foods are easier to digest and help prevent bloating.
- When fermented foods boost the levels of good bacteria in your gut, they also boost your immune system.
(And yes, those are chocolate chips in the photo above. I made half the batch with chocolate chips and the other half without. I know I mentioned beets and strawberries are a wonderful flavour combo, but add chocolate and it’s next level good.) Check out the highlights on beets and strawberries below after the recipe card!
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- ¼ cup Genuine Health fermented greek proteins+ (vanilla flavour)*
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2/3 cup roasted beet puree**
- 1/2 cup strawberries, finely chopped
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
- 5 eggs, whisked
- 3/4 cup almond or coconut milk milk
- Optional: 1/4 cup Mini Chocolate Chips
- Combine the dry ingredients together in a large bowl: flour, protein and baking powder. In a separate bowl, combine all the wet ingredients in a separate bowl: beet puree, strawberries, maple syrup, coconut oil, eggs, almond milk.
- Combine wet and dry ingredients into a large bowl. Fold in chocolate chips if using.
- Place batter into muffin tin cups.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes or until a fork inserted into the middle of the muffin comes out clean.
- Makes 15 muffins. Or 12 if you make them larger.
- *If you don’t have this brand of protein powder, you can substitute another brand of protein powder. Just keep in mind this protein is sweetened naturally with monk fruit and stevia so you’ll want to be sure the batter is sweet enough if you make a substitution. Alternatively, you can substitute 1/4 cup brown rice flour. I haven’t tried the recipe with brown rice flour, but it should work.
- **To make the pureed beets, cut 2 medium organic beets into chunks and roast for 45 minutes at 350F in a dish with a lid or until fork tender. Once cooled, puree in a food processor until smooth (see photo below).
Nutritional Highlights of Beets
- Beets contain anti-inflammatory phytonutrient betalains that support phase 2 liver detoxification.
- They are high in detoxifying fibre.
- Beets are a great source of folate, which is important for cell growth and metabolism.
You can use the whole beet if it’s organic, but if you’re using conventionally grown beets, make sure you peel them first to get rid of extra pesticide residues.
Nutritional Highlights of Strawberries
- At 91% water, strawberries have the highest water content of all the berries, and are therefore the most hydrating.
- Strawberries have the most antioxidant vitamin C of all “berries” (even thought strawberries aren’t technically berries, they’re drupes).
- Strawberries are also a great source of folate.
Remember that strawberries are right at the top of the EWG’s 2016 Dirty Dozen list, so you’ll want to make extra sure to buy organic if at all possible! You can enjoy these as part of a healthy breakfast with this Sunshine Juice or as a mid-afternoon powersnack.
I hope you love them as much as Walker and I do.
Have a joyous rest of your week!
Joy
Joy McCarthy is the vibrant Holistic Nutritionist behind Joyous Health. Author of JOYOUS HEALTH: Eat & Live Well without Dieting, professional speaker, nutrition expert on Global’s Morning Show, Faculty Member at Institute of Holistic Nutrition and co-creator of Eat Well Feel Well. Read more…
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