Low-Fat Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins-Ultimate Food Storage Recipes
We’re moving up in the world! My good friend sent me this recipe, it was like it was meant to be! Not only have I tried a MILLION (okay, maybe a slight exaggeration) muffin recipes trying to find one that is light and fluffy but I was also in the middle of all my freeze dried berry experiments. With a couple of modifications this recipe became PERFECT for food storage….AND delicious (as in the BEST homemade muffins I’ve ever made/eaten). I even brought these to a luncheon and they were devoured-whole wheat, oats, beans, freeze dried berries and all! p.s. I’m pushing you guys and only listing the beans for the recipe, if you haven’t tried it by now-you’re entirely missing out! If you’re still nervous, you can watch a video of how I cook my beans and store them in smaller amounts for baking by clicking HERE. And remember, using beans in place of oil and butter doesn’t change the taste and it actually IMPROVES the texture, making it very moist, light, and fluffy!
Low-Fat Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
4 eggs (1/4 c. dry egg powder + 1/2 c. water)
2 cups sour cream
1/2 c. + 2 T. bean puree
2 cups light brown sugar
2 cups rolled oats
2 cups blueberries (1-1/2 c. freeze dried blueberries, hydrated and drained)
2 tbsp. sugar
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two 12 cup muffin tins with paper liners. (This recipe won’t work without them.) In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.
In a large bowl, beat the eggs with the sour cream until thoroughly combined. Add bean puree and brown sugar. Stir in the oats. Fold in the flour mixture and then, very gently, fold in the berries. Fill the muffin cups 2/3 full. Drop a generous pinch of sugar onto the top of each muffin.
Bake the muffins for 25 to 28 minutes, or until the edges are medium brown and the tops are firm. Cool for 5 minutes; then remove muffins (in their papers) and finish cooling them on a rack. Makes 2 dozen muffins.
Freeze Dried Berries and Cereal: Freeze Dried Berry Food Storage Recipes
Alright, so if you didn’t have the time to try the blueberry pancakes, you’ll definitely have time to try this one! Freeze dried berries are a perfect compliment to almost any cereal. My personal favorite is the corn flakes with freeze dried raspberries. It reminds of my summer trips to visit my brother in Portland where we would just go out to his backyard and pick raspberries and add them to our cornflakes. The best thing is that you don’t need to rehydrate them first because your milk will do it for you and the flavor is so fresh! If this sounds like a weird concept, just walk down the cereal aisle because this idea isn’t new. But you’ll notice that those cereals with the freeze dried fruit (which usually tastes bland) costs a whole LOT more! These berries are full of flavor and taste great!
Here are some of my family’s favorite combinations:
Cream of Wheat with freeze dried Blueberries (we call this purple cereal, since my 2 year old is obsessed with colors)
Cheerios with freeze dried Strawberries and fresh banana slices
Frosted Mini Wheats with any of the freeze dried berries
Special K with Blueberries (they actually have a version of this with little (and I mean little) blueberries specs on the flakes…this is soooo much better!)
Whole Wheat Blueberry Pancakes-Freeze Dried Berries Food Storage Recipes
Okay, I figured we’d start out easy and this is definitely one of the easiest ways to start using those freeze dried berries…especially since you already make my blender wheat pancakes, right? I had assumed these freeze dried berries would taste different from fresh (probably, because dehydrated vegetables taste a little different). So-long story short I left them sitting on my shelf until one day I had a HUGE craving for blueberry pancakes (probably, because I had a sample at Costco the day before with whole wheat blueberry waffles) and had no fresh blueberries. I remembered I had some freeze dried so I gave it a try (well you know me, I had my husband try it first and then I tried it once he said it was good…I know, I’m such a chicken 
Anyway, I was amazed when I tried the blueberry pancakes and it tasted EXACTLY (not exaggerating here) the same as if I had used fresh. I was sold from that point on and since them have been enjoying the taste of fresh berries in the dead of winter. SO DIVINE!
Blender Whole Wheat Blueberry Pancakes
1 Cup Milk (translation for powdered milk is 3 T. Dry Milk Powder + 1 C. Water)
1 Cup Wheat Kernels, whole & uncooked
2 Eggs (2 T. dry egg powder+ 1/4 C. Water)
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
2 Tbs. Oil
2 Tbs. Honey or Sugar
1/2 -3/4 Cup Freeze Dried Blueberries
1 -1 1/2 Cup Water (for hydrating berries)
Hydrate your freeze dried blueberries in warm water and allow to sit while you’re making the pancake batter (you’ll want twice as much water as you have blueberries, i.e. if you are using a 1/2 C. blueberries then you’ll hydrate them in 1 C. warm water) Put milk and wheat kernels in blender. Blend on highest speed for 4 or 5 minutes or until batter is smooth. Add eggs, oil, baking powder, salt and honey or sugar to above batter. Blend on low. Pour out batter into pancakes from the actual blender jar (only one thing to wash!) onto a hot greased or Pam prepared griddle or large frying pan and top with desired amount of blueberries. Cook; flipping pancakes when bubbles pop and create holes.
Coming up next…
I’m so excited, I just couldn’t hold off on this post any longer! I’m going on vacation (and while I’m very excited for that, I’m embarrassed to admit that I’m equally excited about what I’ll be talking about for the next couple weeks) and when I get back I’m going to share a lot of ways to use freeze dried berries. This may not be exciting to you, but it is to me. I’ve had these sitting on my shelf (again…embarrassed to admit it) because I haven’t known what to do with them. But in the bleak mid winter, I’ve gotten tired of eating apples and oranges and have been craving more summer type fruit. Thus, my sudden inspiration to use my dehydrated berries. Let me tell you that they tasted much better than I thought (just like the real thing in recipes!) and have saved me from the lack of variation in fruits during the winter here in Utah. So check back on Monday, February 23 to start learning WHY and HOW you should be using your dehydrated berries!
