Did you know June is National Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Month? The beginning of summer, when gardens and farmers' markets are bursting with freshness, is the ideal time to appreciate the goodness of real, wholesome foods! 
I'm raising my kids to appreciate the simple taste of foods like organic carrot sticks. We frequently take them along in lunches or for snacks. And one of our most popular convenience foods is organic yogurt. When Stonyfield Farm Organic and Earthbound Farm Organic challenged me to create a recipe from some of their products, it became a fun way to combine some of our favorite flavors and put a twist on an old favorite of ours: the homemade muffin! My youngest daughter is intrigued by the hand crank on the flour sifter, so she helped me in the kitchen. Then my oldest ended up being my videographer for the video demonstration. Forgive the slight shakiness toward the end; I thought she did a great job.
Flour Sack Mama's Carrot-Coconut Muffins:
Dry Ingredients:
2 cups organic, whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
Wet Ingredients:
2 organic eggs
1 cup organic cane sugar
1/3 cup organic coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla
Fold-In Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups chopped Earthbound Farm Organic carrots
3/4 cup organic coconut flakes (unsweetened)
1 1/3 cups Stonyfield Organic Greek yogurt (plain)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease stainless steel muffin tins with coconut oil.
Sift flour, mix in baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
In separate bowl, beat eggs, beat in sugar, then mix in coconut oil and vanilla.
Mix wet ingredients, half at a time, into dry ingredients until thoroughly combined.
Gently fold in chopped Earthbound Farm Organic carrots, organic coconut flakes and Stonyfield Organic Greek yogurt.
Pour batter into muffin tins and bake for approximately 15 to 18 minutes, until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into muffin comes out clean. Cool on baking rack. Makes 18 muffins. Serve fresh or within a day of baking.
I'd love to hear what you think about this recipe. A friend was suggesting that we add a little pineapple to the batter, or maybe even one of the flavored Greek yogurts from Stonyfield. Wonder what these would taste like with only a half-cup of sugar and Stonyfield's Peach Mango Greek yogurt? If you try it first, let me know how it goes.
I don't know if I'm allowed to do this or not, but I'm asking if you'd let the folks at Earthbound Farm Organic and Stonyfield Organic know they should pick our family's recipe to win this Summer Recipe Challenge! You can hop over to their Facebook pages and tell them FlourSackMama.com sent you.
Thanks,
- Anne
*I originally made this recipe with 1/2 cup coconut oil, but I have modified it to 1/3 cup, which still leaves the muffins very moist and cake-like.
*Disclosure: I received some free food vouchers to use for the promoted ingredients in this recipe challenge and have a chance of winning a promotional prize.