29 Aug Sweet Potato Oat Muffins
Wise Skies Kitchen: Pisces Full Moon
In her book Full Moon Feast, Jessica Prentice says, “It is nearly impossible to synchronize a lunar calendar with a solar calendar. There are more than twelve lunations in a year, but fewer than thirteen. Many peoples that used a lunar calendar had thirteen moon names, one of which was used only once every three years or so (similar to our leap day), as a way to recalibrate their lunar calendar to the season of the solar year. In the Old Farmer’s Almanac there were twelve regular moon names. The term Blue Moon was used when a month had more than one full moon, or a season had more than three. This thirteenth moon name enabled the keepers of the almanac to bring their lunar calendar into sync with the solar one. These extra moon names are called intercalary months.”
The Old Farmer’s Almanac signifies the September 2017 Full Moon as the Corn Moon. Prentice states that while the Corn Moon meant different harvests to different cultures, the Corn Moon boiled down to the same thing for them all: survival and sustenance. Prentice shares thirteen sacred grains associated with the Corn Moon: Wheat, Corn, Rye, Oats, Rice, Quinoa, Barley, Millet, Amaranth, Wild Rice, Sorghum, T’eff, and Buckwheat.
Recipes for the Piscean Full Moon (Corn Moon): Sweet Potato Oat Muffins
This is my new power bar. I absolutely love these muffins. The recipe is derived from one I found in The Everyday Ayurvea Cookbook: A Seasonal Guide to Eating and Living Well by Kate O’Donnell. I made the recipe the way Kate describes, and then changed it to suit what I had in my pantry and my personal taste buds. Kate suggests pairing these muffins with her Gingered Apple Butter, which sounds like an amazing flavor combo. My family enjoys them served with a slab of salted, grassfed butter. You can play with adding protein powder in these as well. We love them on road trips, early mornings when we are eating on the go, or afternoon snacks. This makes roughly 18 muffins.
Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 ½ cups almond milk (I like unsweetened vanilla)
1 sweet potato, baked and mashed (skin removed)
3 tablespoons honey or maple syrup
1 ½ cups oat-based granola (I like a variety that includes hemp seeds)
extra granola for the top
¾ teaspoons baking soda
3/8 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Ginger powder
½ teaspoon Nutmeg
½ teaspoon Himalayan Sea Salt
Optional: mix in 1 cup chopped nuts, or 1 cup chopped pitted dates
Preheat the oven to 400. Line muffin tin with greased cup liners.
In a small mixing bowl, mix the egg, milk, sweet potato, and honey with a wire whisk until blended smooth.
In a separate mixing bowl add all the dry ingredients: oat-based granola, baking soda, baking powder, and spices.
In a large mixing bowl, stir the wet ingredient mixture in with the dry ingredient mixture just enough to incorporate everything. Avoid over mixing. Fold in any mix-ins you like such as nuts or dates at this stage.
Pour batter into the muffin cup liners to fill about ½ to ¾ of the way full. The batter will rise while baking. Top each pre-baked muffin with a sprinkle of granola on the top. Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the muffin center comes out clean.
Want to make this recipe vegan?
Replace the egg with a flax egg. Kate’s directions for this are: “In a blender carafe, combine 1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds with 3 tablespoons water and blend on high for 2 minutes.”