Make More Muffins
Posted by Gina Petracca on Monday, September 12, 2011
The concept of combining vegetables with baked goods has never sat well with me. When I started my AmeriCorps year with Cooking Matters MA and the culinary instructor decided that we would be making Pineapple-Carrot Muffins, I was less than enthused.
The participants of the course seemed just as wary as me, but in my attempt to model open-minded behavior, I enthusiastically declared that the muffins would be delicious and that everyone would love them! During that fateful class, the participants - eager to cook regardless of the recipe – carefully shredded the carrots, popped the can of crushed pineapple, measured the oil and vinegar (after all, Cooking Matters teaches healthy cooking, so this muffin recipe doesn’t use eggs, milk, or butter – simply good old fashion oil, vinegar, and baking soda to create the rise in muffins), combined the whole wheat flour with the cinnamon, allspice, salt, and baking soda, mixed them all together and placed the muffin tin in the oven.
Twenty-five minutes later, we smelled the aroma of cinnamon and allspice. Despite my predisposition to hate the muffins, I eagerly waited for them to cool down so we could try them. The classroom’s anticipation soared, and after 10 minutes of patiently waiting, the culinary instructor and I divided them onto plates and passed them around to everyone to taste. I closed my eyes, took a bite, and to my astonishment, the muffins were incredible! Everyone in the room silently agreed – too busy enjoying the muffins to vocalize. At the end of class, all the participants received the ingredients to try the recipe at home.
The following week, everyone reported that not only had they made the muffins at home, but they had shared the recipe with their neighbors and friends. In the weeks to follow, all the other recipes we made in class produced similarly enthusiastic responses (and similar tales of sharing with friends). Almost every course I’ve coordinated has featured the Pineapple-Carrot Muffin recipe. Our participants, their children, friends, family, neighbors, and even co-workers, love these muffins. That is the beauty of the Cooking Matters program; not only do we affect the lives of our participants – helping them make healthy eating, exercise, and lifestyle changes – but we also affect the lives of all the people involved in our participants’ lives.
Healthy changes happen in small steps and I’ve come to see Cooking Matters’ Pineapple-Carrot Muffins as the catalyst that inspires our participants to start making healthy behavior changes.
September 12, 2011 | 1 comment(s) | Tags: class, cooking matters, no kid hungry, recipe
Comments
1 reader comment so far.
Your awesome! I'm glad that there are people like you who help kids to know what food is healthy for them. Good Job with the program!
Posted by Marc Azada on September 26, 2011
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