Vegan Banana Muffins with Chia Seeds - Delicious Source of Omega 3

Grandson Xavier enjoying vegan muffin

My grandson, Xavier, is visiting for a few weeks so I get to experiment on getting a six year old to eat healthy food. For this morning's breakfast, we decided to make banana muffins. In this recipe, I use white whole wheat flour to get more fiber into each muffin, only a small amount of organic cane sugar and raw chia seeds, my favorite "power food", to deliver some good omega 3 essential fatty acids. With soymilk and Ener G egg replacer, this recipe is completely vegan.

The muffins came out light and fluffy and, as you can see, Xavier loved them! He ate them with my low sugar strawberry jam that I made this month and posted on June 15th, 2009. Each muffin only has 127.5 calories, delivers almost 4 grams of fiber and half a gram of omega 3 fatty acid! By using egg replacer, they are free of cholesterol. And, best of all, your kids will love them!

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Vegan Banana Muffins with Chia Seeds [makes 12]

1 2/3 cups white whole wheat flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

2 tablespoons organic cane sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons raw chia seeds in 1/4 cup water

1 teaspoon Ener G egg replacer in 2 tablespoons water

1 medium ripe banana, mashed

1 1/4 cups unsweetened Silk soy milk

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Put 2 tablespoons of raw chia seeds in 1/4 cup of room temperature water. Stir well and set aside until the water is absorbed and it forms a gel (around 15 to 30 minutes). Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and grease a muffin pan that holds 12 muffins. Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and cinnamon in a bowl. Mix 1 teaspoon of Ener G egg replacer in 2 tablespoons of water and stir well. (If you eat eggs, you can replace this with one egg). In a separate bowl, combine banana, soy milk, egg replacer mixture, oil and chia seed gel. Mix wet and dry contents together and place in the greased muffin pan. Cook for 18 to 20 minutes or until a tooth pick can pierce the muffin and come out clean. Remove from oven and let cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Gently run a butter knife around the edges and remove each muffin. Serve warm with your favorite low sugar jam.

Per muffin: 127.5 calories, 5.9 g fat, .8 g saturated fat, 0 g cholesterol, 3.4 g protein, 15.5 g carbohydrates, 3.6 g fiber, .5 g omega 3 and .9 g omega 6 fatty acids.