Veggies in Dessert - Eggplant Chocolate Chip Muffins

If you missed my segment on First Coast Living, you can watch me talk about Veggies in Desserts here: http://www.firstcoastnews.com/firstcoastliving/default.aspx. It's not easy to find; but go to the tab for Food (click the right arrow to see more tabs) and then scroll down until you find Wednesday September 26th UNF Nutrition.

I showcased three desserts during this segment: Red Velvet Beet Cupcakes (see blog post Sept 16th), Eggplant Chocolate Chip Muffins, and Black Bean Brownies. As I mentioned, none of these recipes were my creation and you can find them at these links:

Red Velvet Beet Cupcakes: http://www.dominosugar.com/recipe/beet-red-velvet-cake-7560

Eggplant Chocolate Chip Muffins: http://sucheela.blogspot.com/2009/09/eggplant-chocolate-chip-muffins.html#!/2009/09/eggplant-chocolate-chip-muffins.html

Black Bean Brownies: http://www.pattycake.ca/node/370

The main points from my segment were:

1. Add vegetables to your day in any way you can!

Americans do not eat enough vegetables. The recommended amount for generally healthy adults is 2-3 cups per day and data shows we are eating 1.5-1.8 cups/day (2004 NHANES)! Sneaking vegetables into desserts can help us to baby-step our way towards the recommended daily amount - remember, it's still dessert so it won't get you all the way there!

2. Use vegetables to increase the nutitional content of your favorite desserts by reducing calories and fat, increasing fiber, and adding vitamins.

3. Methods (not covered in segment)

If using a puree, replace half of the fat with the puree. If it's a liquid fat (oil) use 3/4 the amount that you are replacing and if it's a solid fat (butter), use 1/2 the amount you are replacing. Reduce the oven temperature or check sooner than the recipe calls for or it might overbake.

If using chopped vegetables, some have a high water content so you may need to reduce the other liquids in the recipe.

Now, on to my favorite of the three recipes - the eggplant chocolate chip muffins!

Start by making sure you have all the ingredients you will need on hand. 

Next, figure out how to chop that eggplant! Here's a suggestion, start by cutting into smaller sections with straight edges so the vegetable will sit flat when you start chopping.

Now, peel the eggplant. Honestly, when I make my second batch of these muffins today (yes, they are that good!) I will not peel the eggplant and see how that goes... but the recipe called for peeling, so I did.

Finally, chop the section in half (again to give you a flat edge for safer chopping) and make smaller and smaller cuts. These pictures show going from the whole section, to half the section, to slices, to matchsticks, to a small chop.

Moving on to the other ingredients, you will end up with four bowls of goodies. Top left is the flour mixture, top right is the butter mixture, bottom left is the chocolate chips, and bottom right is the chopped eggplant.

The beautiful thing about making muffins is that it is so easy! Simply make a well in your flour mixture (dry ingredients) and add your liquid ingredients. Be careful how much mixing you do! Gluten develops quickly once liquid is added to flour so you want to mix as LITTLE as possible while still combining the ingredients so there are NO DRY SPOTS of flour. Then fold in the extras (chips and eggplant) and mix just enough to distribute those extras throughout the batter. The mixture should be lumpy!

This recipe yields 24 muffins. Here they are before going in the oven

And after! YUM!

Compared to store-bought chocolate chip muffins, these have 50 less calories, 4 grams less fat, double the fiber, and we've added vitamins A and C. 

Per muffin:

Calories	180
Carbohydrates (g)	26
Protein (g)	3
Fat (g)	8
Sat Fat (g)	3
Trans (g)	0
Cholesterol (mg)	30
Sodium (mg)	170
Fiber (g)	2.1
Vitamin A	3%
Vitamin C	7%
Calcium	2%
Iron	4%

The Beef on Protein

One of the jobs I have is as a wellness dietitian for a university. I love this job. I've been working on updating the Web site and thought I'd share some of the things I've been updating. Right now, I'm working on a page about the nutrients. I'll post the new sections of the page as I get them done.

First up, the *beef* on protein (because I just can't resist bad wordplay!)

Protein

Sources:

Protein comes from animal sources such as meat, dairy, and eggs and from plant sources such as beans, nuts, seeds, and even some grains. It is possible to consume enough protein for good health on a vegetarian or vegan diet if you plan your food choices well.

Functions:

Protein is an essential nutrient meaning that we must get it from our food. Proteins break down in our bodies to amino acids. Our bodies cannot make all the amino acids it needs to function and approximately 25% of amino acids are lost to other uses every day, which is why protein is an important part of the daily diet. 

Protein has many functions including:

·         Provides body structure by building and maintaining muscle, bone, and other body tissue

·         Allows for movement (40% of body protein is muscle tissue)

·         Regulates gene expression

·         Integral part of enzymes, hormones, and neurotransmitters

·         Immunity through antibodies

·         Transports of vitamins, minerals, oxygen and other substances through the body

·         Regulates fluid and electrolyte balance

·         Maintains acid-base balance

·         Necessary for blood clotting

·         Used as fuel when other sources of energy are not available – this is not an efficient use of protein!

·         Protein is satiating – it helps us to feel full and satisfied

Recommendations:

For a generally healthy adult, the range for protein intake is set between 10% and 35% of daily calories. A person consuming a 2,000 calorie diet would have a range of 200 – 700 calories. Since 1 gram of protein has 4 calories, this is a range of 50- 175 grams of protein per day.

The DRI recommendation for generally healthy adults is 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight. To convert pounds to kilograms, divide weight by 2.2. For example, a 150 pound person is (150 divided by 2.2) 68.18 kilograms.  This person would consume around 54 grams of protein per day, which is the low end of the above range.

People with specific health conditions or concerns may need a different amount of protein in their daily diet. Many Americans, however, over-consume protein in the belief that it will help them build muscle more efficiently. Any protein over what the body requires is converted to fat. A high protein diet can also overwork the kidneys. 

Reference: Nutrition Concepts and Controveries, 12^th ed. by Sizer and Whitney, 2012. ISBN-13: 978-1-1133-62818-7.

Red Velvet Beet Cupcakes

Did you know it's "Fruits and Veggies - More Matters" month?

I'm doing a media spot this month and decided to focus on sneaking in more vegetables by using them to create desserts. My first adventure in the kitchen was red velvet cupcakes made with beets. I'm happy to report no red stains anywhere in my kitchen from the beets!

The recipe is from: http://www.dominosugar.com/recipe/beet-red-velvet-cake-7560 with no alterations. I did add store-bought cream cheese icing because making these cupcakes - which is more like making cake than muffins - was enough for one day.

Lab coat, check. Hair back, check. Hands washed, check. All ingredients on hand and measured, check. And we are ready to go!

Step 1: Cream sugar and butter. Note that a husband with strong hands is helpful for this step!



Step 2: Add eggs

Other bowls of goodness ready. Note that if you don't have a sifter, you can use a wire mesh strainer. I did this and it sifted beautifully. Top left: flour mixture. Top right: sugar, butter, eggs mixture. Bottom left: buttermilk mixture. Bottom right: pureed beets - pretty!

Once mixed together = big bowl of batter and a wooden spoon that will probably always be slightly reddish...

The recipe does indeed make 24 cupcakes

These have a nice moistness and grain but are not as red as conventional red velvet cake (even with sneaking a few drops of red food coloring in the batter...shhh!)

And the final product with the icing, which I will be bringing into work tomorrow to share!

These are husband-approved so you know they must be good.

Nutritional analysis has not yet been done; but I will update this post once I've run the numbers. I don't think these will be low-calorie cupcakes... but they do sneak in a vegetable that many people dislike in it's pure form. Simply by making the vegetable into a puree, you can add beets to your diet!