ROUND THREE REBUTTAL: Strawberry Muffins

These muffins would be a great addition to Jamie's healthy smoothie. I can just imagine sitting out on a patio, reading the Sunday paper, while enjoying a nice warm muffin and a chilly smoothie!
I made these muffins last week after our first trip to the strawberry patch. I halved the original recipe because I didn't want to use up all of our strawberries and I didn't have 4 eggs at the time. I don't have a picture though but they were a hit!

1c strawberries, sliced
1 1/2 c + 1T all-purpose flour
1 c sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2c + 1/8c applesauce (instead of oil)
2 eggs

1 Preheat oven to 350.

2 Slice strawberries and place in a medium bowl. Sprinkle with sugar (not the cup of sugar called for in the recipe, but just a tablespoon or so) and set aside.

3 Combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt and baking soda in a large bowl. Mix well. Blend applesauce and eggs into strawberries. Add strawberry mixture to flour mixture, blending until combined. I followed Alton Brown's muffin instructions and tried not to over-mix but I ended up under-mixing and had a few clumps of dry ingredients in my cooked muffins. As he would say, not good eats...so watch out for that!

4 I used my large scoop to put the perfect amount of batter in each cup. Bake in muffin tin with paper liners for 20 minutes. Yield 12 muffins.

ROUND THREE: Strawberry Blueberry Smoothie

Since it was my turn to get the next round started, and since the last two rounds have been filled with decadent desserts, I decided that a nice healthy entry might be a good idea. So, it is Sunday morning, my husband is hours away from waking up, that means actual food is hours away...so I decided to make myself a smoothie! Now, I do have the ultimate smoothie machine ever built and I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone - The Magic Bullet. I use it everyday for something. Like last night I used it to make a paste out of chilies and ginger...this morning I used it to make a healthy smoothie!

Strawberry Blueberry Smoothie
(single serving)

1 c. nonfat vanilla yogurt
¼ c. blueberries
½ c. frozen strawberries
1 t. lime juice
1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder (optional)

Combine everything in a blender and let ‘er rip. I use frozen strawberries instead of fresh strawberries because that way, it makes the smoothie cold and I don’t need to add ice cubes. In my opinion, the fruit sweetens the smoothie enough that sugar is not necessary. Now how healthy does that sound!?