Out of the shadows comes a glimmer of lemony light (muffins)!

PEOPLE!!!  I’ve earned one of my baking stripes!  I’m not sure how many there, but I definitely earned one of them Monday night when I perfected these zucchini muffins.

But before I got any further, I need to give a HUGE shout out to the folks over at Chobani for being so kind as to choose me as their featured blogger of the week!  Little did they know that when they sent me a case of different flavored Chobani ‘gurt that I’d go so far as to perfect healthy gourmet muffins using their product!  Well, I did tell them on twitter that I’d go crazy with recipes and I can safely say I lived up to my word.  AND…. they have a whole case of it for me to give away to one lucky reader!!  More about that towards the bottom….

Did you know that oil and butter isn’t always necessary in order to make a tasty muffin?  When I was looking through pages and pages of different zucchini muffin recipes, I was shocked at the amounts of sugar and oil that people put in their muffins.  One could easily amount to 9 PP and that’s just RIDIC.  Who wants to waste 9 of their daily points for a freaking muffin??  Not me.  Not unless it’s a gourmet muffin made by a world renowned chef using pure ingredients and it comes slathered in freshly churned butter (like the Amish person who churned it is just now sitting down in their porch rocker to wipe the sweat from their brow).  Even then, I might have to pass.

Black and White Cake Cookies using Chobani Honey ‘gurt! Click for the recipe.

You may need to pass on the copious amounts of butter and oil, but you do NOT need to sacrifice flavor when you are dieting.  That’s one of the reasons why, although I’m the “reluctant weight watchers foodie”, I ultimately flipped the switch when a joined Weight Watchers; I can eat whatever I want!  It’s just about making better choices and being conscious of your portions.  I haven’t had to sacrifice flavor at all.  I’m a spice junkie anyway, so I ain’t giving it up!

Flavor was definitely not sacrificed with these muffins.  In fact, these are some of the most delicious muffins I’ve ever had (especially when heated up)!  Seriously, I never considered myself a baker.  I’ve never created my own baked-good recipe before.  I just followed directions from other ones.  But this was an experiment, a challenge and ultimately, a HUGE success!  And because I lurve you all so very much, I’m sharing with you not one, but TWO muffin recipes!!

There’s no butter, no oil and no applesauce in these puppies.  The secret to the moistness and the ultimate flavor comes from one 6-oz container of Chobani Greek Yogurt in each batch.  These are just two of my creations.  I have no doubt that I am well on my way to becoming a muffin queen… and I have no doubt I’ll be using Chobani in every single batch.  It’s chocked full of protein, it’s rich and creamy and each different flavor holds it’s own.  So take a look at these recipes and make sure to proceed to the bottom so that you can find out how to win a free case of flavored Chobani ‘gurts!

Nuked and buttered… oh. so. delish.

Black Cherry Zucchini Muffins OR Lemon Walnut Zucchini Muffins
Servings: 12
PointsPlus Per Serving: 3!

Dry Ingredients (same for both muffins)

• 1 cup all-purpose unbleached flour, 11 PP
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 5 PP
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp baking soda

Berry Banana ‘Gurt Smoothie made with Chobani Pineapple ‘Gurt. Click for the recipe!

Wet Ingredients for Black Cherry Zucchini

• 1 6-oz container of black cherry chobani, 4 PP
• 1/2 cup sugar, 11 PP
• 1 1/2 cups grated zucchini, drained
• 1 egg, 2 PP
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract, 1 PP
• 1/4 tsp almond extract

Wet Ingredients for Lemon Walnut Zucchini

• 1 6-oz container of lemon chobani, 4 PP
• 1/2 cup sugar, 11 PP
• 1 1/2 cups grated zucchini (I didn’t have enough zucchini so I threw in some grated carrot too!), drained
• 1 egg, 2 PP
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract, 1 PP
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts, 6 PP

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Grate zucchini (and carrot if you’re using it) and drain. I used my awesome food processor for quick grating and squeezed it all by hand to get out as much liquid as possible. You don’t want the extra juices, believe me!

3. Put all the dry ingredients in one bowl and mix with a wooden spoon. Then put all the wet ingredients for your muffin of choice in another bowl and mix with the same wooden spoon. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients just until fully blended. No need to over-mix!

Greek Style Burger with Tzatziki Sauce using Chobani Plain ‘Gurt! Recipe coming soon!

4. Spray your muffin pan with some Pam and scoop the batter evenly into the pan. Cook for 40 minutes. They should be perfectly done once the timer goes off, so take em out and enjoy! I highly recommend heating them up if they’ve cooled down before you got a chance to eat one, then slice apart and put a little bit of butter on each side. It just brings it all together!

I also have to give a shout out to Brackett Farms, my local CSA, for providing me with a BEAUTIFUL Romanesco zucchini that I used for both of these muffins.  Romanescoes are the “original” zucchini.  They have a milder taste and a slightly nutty flavor.  You can use any kind of zucchini, or even yellow squash for these muffins so don’t worry about having exactly the right one.

Think these sound tasty? How about winning your own case of Chobani?? That sounds even tastier!! How can you win, you ask? Why, there are multiple ways to enter. Just make sure to leave a separate comment for each one! The winner will be chosen on Tuesday, July 19th using www.random.org, so all entries MUST be recieved by Monday, July 18th at MIDNIGHT!

Perfect Parfaits made with Chobani Peach and Pomegranate ‘Gurts! Click for the recipe.

1. “Like” Chobani on Facebook and leave a comment on their wall telling them how you found their page and what product you’re trying to win and then leave a comment on this blog post telling me that you did.
2. Follow @ReluctantFoodie on Twitter and leave a comment on this blog telling me that you did or already do.
3. Subscribe to my blog through RSS feed or through email and leave a comment telling me that you did or already do.
4. Share my blog post link on Facebook with the following in the comment box, “Win a free case of flavored Chobani ‘gurt on The Reluctant WW Foodie blog!” and leave a comment on this blog telling me that you did.
5. Tweet the following message “Win a case of flavored Chobani ‘gurt from @ReluctantFoodie! Enter here – http://wp.me/p1cn3Q-mh” and leave a comment on this blog telling me that you did.
6. Leave a comment on this blog telling me what flavor you are super excited to try!
7. Leave a comment on this blog telling me what combination of flavors you’d like to try in a muffin using their product (ie. lemon walnut zucchini, pineapple banana coconut, strawberry pecan, etc)!