Mom invents new, healthier muffins

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers GOOD FOR YOU- Kathy Lemmon baked these nutricious muffins for Conejo Valley Unified School District students. The district is emphasing healthy diets with fewer sweets and less junk food. When Kathy Lemmon became aware of the benefits of omega oils and B vitamins, she started incorporating flaxseed and nuts into her morning oatmeal. When it got tough to put the concoction together before every workday, Lemmon started thinking about various ways she could attain the same nutritional benefits but more quickly.

That's how Lemmon invented her muffins, which are chock full of flaxseed and nuts, and are sweetened with dates instead of sugar.

"It was portable and healthy and I could make them ahead and freeze them," Lemmon said.

Soon, elementary school-aged kids from all over the Conejo Valley would munch on her muffins too. After speaking with Joe Cook, the Conejo Valley Unified School District's director of child nutrition, Lemmon got the district on board with a healthy snack students will want to eat.

"We love them," Cook said.

"It's a great way to introduce healthy eating in a form the children are already comfortable and used to, e.g., muffins and chocolate- you can't really beat that.

"And given everything else Kathy is also putting into those muffins, it's a win-win both for us and the children."

The kids sampled them at a Nutrition Awareness Day- monthly events at schools to transition students into more healthy foods- and the response was great, Lemmon said.

Lemmon used a quick-bread recipe from her grandmother that was low in fat and sugar. After experimenting with it to substitute oats and flax, a muffin was born. The dates keep the muffins moist and sweet with only a little added sugar.

"They do contain a few chocolate chips, but I think a little chocolate is important each day to curb cravings," Lemmon said.

The muffins are low in fat and calories, high in fiber and have a low glycemic index.

"The health claims of flax are many- helps lower cholesterol, regulates digestion, reduces inflammation, stabilizes blood sugar, helps concentration, even helps reduce hot flashes," Lemmon said.

"I think my muffins are especially good for school children for all of the reasons mentioned above, but especially because they are filling and satisfying.

"They stay with you, helping to curb midmorning hunger and blood sugar fluctuations that can contribute to concentration problems."

After sending the muffins with her teenaged son, Lemmon's muffins started to gain in popularity.

"Pretty soon (his friends) were asking him every day, 'Where're the muffins?'" Lemmon said. "I knew I had a success when teenage boys were asking for a healthy muffin."

Friends encouraged Lemmon to start a business, and eventually one suggested taking them to the schools. She spoke to Cook, and it turned out the timing was good.

"Coincidentally, there has been recent legislation regulating the nutritional content of the foods served in the schools," Lemmon said. "The regulations are very strict and many of the snack foods previously offered would no longer be compliant.

"He told me (the district's) bakers had been anticipating this, but none of their food is any good. It all tastes like cardboard. My muffins are really tasty."

Lemmon said the most difficult part was finding the right size baking company. Many were too small to handle the volume- the schools need about 5,000 per month- and others required minimum orders in the hundreds of thousands.

After "running all over L.A.," Lemmon said she found a little Thousand Oaks bakery willing to take the job.

"It was great because the muffins are produced locally for our local district," Lemmon said.

The muffins will start out as a side item kids can choose with their main dish, and may expand to middle and high schools.