Strawberry season is officially here! One of my goals this year is to try and eat seasonally, wherever possible. Not easy, I know, but definitely worth giving it a shot. Eating seasonally simply means eating whatever is in season right now; I want to avoid buying frozen goods every time impatience hits. [Ahem, says the girl who stocks up on frozen cherries in February!]

So, I was watching this amazing Netflix documentary the other night called “Chef’s Table” and was pleased to see world-class chefs scouring their local markets themselves on a daily basis to buy only the freshest ingredients. OK, so realistically speaking… chances are both you and I can’t scour the market every day. Who has the time? Unless of course, that’s your full-time job (the dream!!)… But, every time I do my weekly grocery shop; I will without a doubt go for local, in season produce. And my other goal is to visit my local Farmers Market once a week to buy local, organic fruit & veg.

When I think of summer I conjure visions of strawberries, cherries, blueberries, peaches and so on… And if you’ve followed this blog long enough you know fresh berries are at the epicenter of my baking. From muffins to pie to crumbles; berries have my heart. I have a soft spot in particular for strawberries! Like, yum. Seriously yum. Ripe, super sweet strawberries. The smaller the berry, the sweeter it is. I really dislike the ginormous GMO strawberries that have whites under their stems and you see in the grocery store year-round. If you have never bought a pint of farm-fresh strawberries or gone strawberry picking to a local farm, do it! The taste difference is unbelievable.

So I took to Snapchat last Saturday afternoon while Ed was out, & the kids and I baked him these muffins to surprise him on an otherwise busy Father’s Day Sunday morning. Gosh, are these good! The kids and him both loved them.. These were made with gluten-free all-purpose flour, good old coconut sugar, organic strawberries, free-run eggs, and full fat greek yogurt- among other things. I have a new baking set-up technique these days which has proved quite useful (especially when baking with toddlers & young children)! Take 5 mins to get your cups ready and go through your ingredient list beforehand, measure and leave everything ready to pour & already on the table. So much easier to accomplish, and they still feel they’re a part of it, too.

Baking with children can be messy. (Um, see above…)  But I’ve been doing it ever since my eldest, Ethan came around. I think it’s important to teach them about food, and about what’s good for their little bodies. I have also noticed my kids are far more likely to try new things when we prepare the meal together. There’s a certain excitement brewing and a pride that comes with telling their dad “We made these”.

So… let’s jump right into these muffins… It’s a super simple recipe, the use of yogurt make them so moist and fluffy. And coconut sugar gives them a nice sweetness, while still making them lower on the glycemic index than traditional muffins baked with white, refined sugar. If your strawberries are very ripe, they’ll also lend amazing sweetness to these. I also recommend using strawberry yogurt for an extra strawberry kick.

Fancy these delicious & fresh-baked muffins that are oozing strawberries? These are best served warm with a cold glass of milk for the kids and/or coffee for addicts (like me).