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Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Whole Grain and Olive Oil Muffins

This is week two of the four-week Healthy New Year promotion that Virtual Potluck is doing in conjunction with California Olive Ranch and Bob's Red Mill.

Each week, we're paring a whole grain from Bob's Red Mill with with healthy olive oil from California Olive Ranch.

And each week, I'll be giving away the same olive oil and grain combo that I'm working with. Sweet, huh?

This week, I worked with Grande Whole Grains Blend from Bob's Red Mill, along with Miller’s Blend Extra Virgin Olive Oil from California Olive Ranch. 

We were supposed to make a side dish. I opted for muffins.These would be great for breakfast, or along with lunch or dinner.

When I got the Grande Whole Grains Blend, my first thought was using it for some kind of warm side dish, but I decided to cook some first and see what it tasted like before I made my final decision.

After I cooked up a batch, I changed my mind. While a warm side dish would have been perfectly fine, I went in a completely different direction.

The cooked grains had a variety of textures - because there are different grains - and there was a slightly nutty taste. I wanted to add that texture to something baked.

I considered using them in banana bread or carrot cake, but those aren't exactly side dishes.

After a lot of thought, I decided on muffins. And to make them even more interesting, I added corn flour to the mix.

Instead of butter or vegetable oil in the muffins, I used the flavorful Miller's Blend olive oil. The result was a muffin that was savory, packed with flavor, and with plenty of whole grain goodness.

Corn flour is not the same as cornmeal - it's finely ground, just like flour. You can get it from Bob's Red Mill.

Keep in mind that the grain measurement in this recipe is for the cooked grains. Cook them according to the recipe on the bag, and make sure they're cooked to your desired tenderness - or chewiness - and you'll be fine.

Grande Grain Miller's Blend Muffins

2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup corn flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup cooked and cooled Bob's Red Mill Grande Whole Grains Blend
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup milk
1/2 cup California Olive Ranch Miller's Blend olive oil
1 large egg

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and spray 12 standard muffin cups with baking spray.

In a large bowl, combine the flours, salt, sugar, and baking powder. Add the grains and stir to separate the grains.

In a small bowl combine the buttermilk, milk, and egg. Whisk to combine.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and stir to combine. Scoop the mixture into the muffin cups. Bake at 375 degrees until nicely browned, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean - about 35 minutes.

Move the muffins to a rack to cool.

To enter the giveaway: (contest is over. Congrats to Ginger Sayor!)

For your mandatory entry, visit either the Bob's Red Mill or California Olive Ranch Facebook page and retrieve the current week's Virtual Potluck code word. Use that code word in a sentence in your comment here.

For an extra entry: Follow Bob's Red Mill, California Olive Ranch, and Virtual Potluck on Twitter, and tweet a link to the contest using the #virtualpotluck hashtag. Then comment here again, telling me that you've tweeted..

More Blogs, More Ways to Win: Get additional entries in each week's giveaways by visiting our host blog where you'll find a complete list of the other participating Virtual Potluck Bloggers. You could win there, too! So let's do the math on this one. Twelve bloggers, 4 weeks - that's 48 recipes and 48 chances to win something. Not a bad deal, hmmmm?

One more added bonus! If you buy California Olive Ranch oil from their online store, you can get a 10% discount by entering coupon code BLOGFRIENDS at checkout.

Contest begins when this posts and ends at midnight, mountain time, on Sunday, January 15. Open to US residents only.

Bob's Red Mill and California Olive Ranch supplied us with the grains and olive oils to work with and will be shipping the product to the winners.

Did you miss last week's post? It's mini flatbreads with hummus and a warm olive salad.