February 26, 2013
Sunflower Butter Bran Muffins with Catherine McCord
Today I am thrilled to share an article and recipe from my friend Catherine McCord of Weelicious. As you might remember, earlier this year I chatted with Catherine about her new cookbook and shared a recipe for her awesome Baked Ziti. Her next book all about school lunches is coming out this summer (yay!) and I can’t wait to get a copy. It is perfect timing for me since my daughter starts kindergarten next fall. I’ll be sure to alert you when it hits shelves! In the mean time, check out these amazing muffins that are completely allergy friendly and great for kids and adults alike.
Sunflower Butter Bran Muffins by Catherine McCord
When it comes to lunch, especially school lunch, nut butters can be a lifesaver. They’re inexpensive, have a long shelf life, are a great source of protein, and loved by most kids, so they can be a life saver for parents.
But with so many nut allergies in school, many have banned nuts all together. I wanted to understand more about the subject of nut allergies so I started talking to Doctors and doing some investigating. The first thing I learned was the difference between airborne and non-airborne nut allergies. Children with an airborne nut allergy can get extremely sick from just being in the proximity of a peanut. Children with non-airborne nut allergies are generally OK to sit next to a child with nuts in their lunch, but could have an averse reaction if they ingest them. Non-airborne allergies get even trickier since nut butters can easily smear on a table or spread to common classroom objects via sticky fingers and if a child with a nut allergy accidentally ingests nuts by touching something contaminated and putting their fingers in their mouth, they could become ill or worse. What you realize very quickly, is that whether airborne or not, the risk of a child getting sick is almost equal.
The good news for parents of children with nut allergies (as well as parents of non-allergic children in nut-free schools) is that many seeds — sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, and flax among them — are fantastic, high in protein substitutions for nut-free classrooms and can be used in most recipes calling for nut butters. I’ve used sunflower butter for years in recipes like World’s Greatest PB&J, PB&J yogurt and Banana Dog Bites.
These Sunflower Butter Bran Muffins are packed with tons of fiber and are protein-rich to keep kids sated during the day. And since sunflower butter tastes very similar to peanut butter, most kids won’t be able to tell the difference. That’s good news for everyone in the classroom!
Click here for the recipe for Sunflower Butter Bran Muffins on Weelicious
