healthy zucchini & banana muffins

Summer in the Midwest is in full swing and I had high hopes that my garden would be too. Unfortunately, I have a family of chipmunks that does not share my gardening philosophy. Thankfully, my father-in-law has an amazing critter-free garden, that is producing freakishly large zucchini.

I have been on a muffin kick lately, largely due to the fact that my kids love them and I can stuff them with fruits/veggies etc, so when I was gifted two very large zucchini, we made these delicious low fat zucchini banana muffins.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup applesauce
1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup shredded zucchini
1 banana, mashed
1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease 12 muffin cups, or line with paper muffin liners.
Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl. Mix egg, oil, milk, applesauce, lemon juice, and vanilla extract in another bowl; stir into dry ingredients until just moistened. Fold in zucchini, banana, chocolate chips, and walnuts. Fill prepared muffin cups 2/3 full.

Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes

3 year-old fingers cannot resist the choco chips