Beautiful Zucchini Scuffins

Hi Readers!

Do you ever just want to bake? I can go months without baking and then I will bake every night for a week. I read Angela’s blog and saw her Scuffins last week and knew I wanted to make them. Then, I read Janna’s blog and saw her remake of the scuffins with zucchinis – guess what, I have a bunch of zucchinis to use. Guess what: I made zucchini scuffins.

I used the same recipe Janna used, with a few changes. (original recipe)

“Healthy Zucchini Power Scuffins”

Ingredients:

1 cup oat flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp fine grain sea salt

1.5 tsp pumpkin pie spice (OR: 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp ginger)

2 tbsp canola oil

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 egg

1/2 cup regular oats

1 cup shredded or grated (approx 2 medium) zucchini

1/4 cup golden raisins – all I had in the cupboard, you could swap for craisins, regular raisins, etc

1/4 cup toasted, chopped walnuts – mine we just chopped, nothing fancy!

Directions: Preheat oven to 350F. In a large sized bowl whisk together all of the dry ingredients. Using a food processor or grater, process/grate the zucchini. In a medium sized bowl mix together the wet ingredients (carrots, vanilla, oil, maple syrup, egg). Add wet to dry and mix until just incorporated. Stir in the walnuts and raisins. Scoop mixture onto a baking sheet lined with foil or greased with oil. Scoop about 1/4 cup for each Scuffin to make 6 large scuffins. Wet hands and shape into a circle if desired. Bake for 25 minutes at 350F.

Into the oven they go:

They were huge! I probably used too much zucchini and should have made more smaller scuffins, but it is too late for that now. They turned out really good:

Look at those big shavings of zucchini! Baked goods are so beautiful, aren’t they? Speaking of beautiful…(nice transition, right???)

I picked up Caitlin’s book on Tuesday night and I was so excited to read it. If you haven’t picked it up yet, do it!!!

All through high school (and the years leading up to it) I was consumed with thoughts about my size. I felt “big”. I was uncomfortable with being in a skirt or a dress (I couldn’t even THINK about a swimsuit much less wear one). I wasn’t severely overweight, but I wasn’t at a healthy weight. I thought I was ugly, unpopular, gross, out of shape, unhealthy, undesirable, unworthy. Where did these feelings come from?

I don’t know. I can’t remember a specific instance that made me feel that way. But I have been working on getting rid of those negative feelings and replacing them with positive ones.

I am beautiful.

I am fit.

I am strong.

I am worthy.

I feel good.

I look good.

I take care of myself.

I am a good wife.

I am a hard worker.

I am a loyal friend.

I tell myself these things whenever those nasty, negative thoughts pop into my head. Do I still think negative thoughts? Yes. Am I getting better and learning to love myself more? Yes.

To me, this is what Operation Beautiful is all about. Getting positive thoughts and feelings out there – on bathroom mirrors, in dressing room stalls, on car windshields, in our hearts and in our minds.

Change the way you see – see yourself as a friend. A friend would never call me ugly, fat, pathetic, lazy, etc. But I have called myself all of those things. It is time for ME to be MY best friend. It is time to treat myself right with respect and with love.

I wish I had Operation Beautiful when I was a young girl. Instead, I had thin models and unhealthy/unrealistic actresses to admire and aspire to be. I would constantly compare my body to others’ bodies. If only I could have seen how beautiful and special I was already. I didn’t need to change to “be” anything else, but myself.

Please share a positive thought about yourself. I shared plenty of mine – feel free to choose one or make up your own. Most importantly — BELIEVE IT!