Whole Wheat Strawberry Banana Muffins!!

So, the 11 miler this past Saturday was pretty rough...Running along Lakeshore did help because the lake reminds me of the ocean, which took my mind off the run a little. However, I had one of "those" runs, where your legs feel like sandbags, forcing you to drag them along instead of propelling you forward lol. Hopefully, the runs will be smoother from here on out, and I bought a new pair of Asics =) - new shoes always helps motivate me too. Anyways, I got the last bunch of strawberries for the season in my CSA box, so I decided to make some healthy muffins yum yum!!

Strawberry Oat Muffins adapted from Lauren Healthy Food For Living

• Ingredients:
• 1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 1/4 cups rolled oats (I used raw oats)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/2 cup banana puree (one really ripe banana mashed)
• 1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk* see note
• 1/4 cup pure vanilla agave nectar, or other liquid sweetener of choice (honey, pure maple syrup, etc.)
• 2 Tbsp grapeseed oil
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or pure vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup hulled & diced strawberries (measure after chopping)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Coat a 12 cup muffin pan with canola oil cooking spray or line with paper cups.
• In a medium bowl, combine the first 6 ingredients (through cinnamon), and set aside.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the next 7 ingredients (applesauce through egg).
• Add the dry ingredients into the wet, stirring until moistened. Gently fold in the diced strawberries.
• Use an ice cream scoop (for uniformly-sized muffins) to spoon batter into prepared muffin pan.
• Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean.

**I made my own buttermilk by adding 1/2 Tbsp of lemon juice to a 1/2 measuring cup then add in your milk of choice (I used organic skim milk). Let sit for a couple minutes. Presto, you have buttermilk =) SO EASY!! My grandma taught me how to do that. Thanks grandma!