Yay, I love cookbooks . . . I devour them like fiction and use them as inspired fodder for my own recipe creations.  Recently, Southern Living sent me a new one by Carolyn O’Neil, MS, RD called The Slim Down South Cookbook.  It’s all about eating well and living healthy in the land of bacon and biscuits. The title really spoke to me because I DO consider myself a southern girl with an extreme fondness for the regional cuisine. I remember my grandmother making FRIED chicken the traditional way, in a cast iron skillet filled with lard, and gobbling up gooey pecan pie with nuts harvested at home right under the trees.

But, as dang tasty as it is, southern–style food has a reputation for being (errrr) less than healthful. This bad rap gets me madder than a wet hen — there are plenty of healthful southern recipes if you can see past the two-stick of butter ones. Thankfully, this on-point cookbook shares loads of healthy recipes, shows you how to make-over signature southern dishes with a lighter profile, and even how to tackle tricky eating situations (such as celebrations) with grace and grit.

You bet your biscuits – southern women are strong!

I’ve been provided a copy of the cookbook to review and another to give away (entry at bottom of post)! Of course, this healthy cookbook is loaded with 120 nutritious recipes including creative spins on signature dishes of the South – my favorites include everything from Fried Green Tomato Sliders and Hoppin’ John Parfaits to BBQ in a Jar and Carrot Cake Muffins.  I’m sharing the recipe for Carrot Cake Muffins, hope you enjoy – and don’t forget to enter the cookbook giveaway!

Carrot cake reminds me of birthday celebrations for aunts and uncles when I was young. My mother always told us kids we had to have “grown up “ tastes to enjoy this veggie and fruit packed dessert but I now realize it was a ploy to keep  more of the scrumptiousness for the adults.  Yes, I’m up with the jig and have greedily learned the ropes — even my own recipe for Caramel Apple Carrot Cake is one that is downplayed with the young-uns.

breakfast carrot cake muffins

However, I do like to make (and share) Carrot Cake Muffins with my whole crew of baked goods gobblers. This recipe, from the “Southern Living: The Slim Down South Cookbook,” sneaks in carrots for my veggie-avoider and pineapple for my fruit-avoider and is actually a quite sensible snack for a healthy diet considering there’s no cream cheese frosting in sight! If you are looking for more dietary modifications, you can always swap out half the flour for whole wheat flour or substitute an egg white equivalent for the whole eggs – I’ve done both with success.

Carrot Cake Muffins Recipe

From Southern Living: The Slim Down South Cookbook

• 1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 2 (8-oz) cans crushed pineapple, drained
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups shredded carrots

1. Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Mix first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; make a well in the center.
2. Whisk together the next 3 ingredients; add to flour mixture, stirring until just moistened. Fold in shredded carrots. Place paper muffin cups in 18 tins and coat with baking spray; spoon batter into cups; filling two-thirds full.
3. Bake at 350 F degrees for 20 to 25 minute or until a wooden pick inserted into the middle pulls out clean. Cool in pans on wire rack for 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 18 muffins.

For a chance t win your own copy of “Southern Living: The Slim Down South Cookbook,” follow the rafflecopter entry instructions below:
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