Eat Skinny Be Skinny: Vegan Blueberry Muffins
PIN IT!Is there anything more delicious than a handful of plump, juicy blueberries?
After a day of eating nothing but dry toast and Campbell’s chicken noodle soup, these bright, juicy berries were a welcome addition to my diet. Each tangy little berry made me feel a little more alive, a little healthier and a whole lot more satisfied. I would have eaten the entire carton had it not been for their intended purpose, vegan whole wheat muffins. Which, let me add, were equally delicious.
I am so happy to report that I have regained the ability to smell the wonders of the world and taste all the delicious foods I’ve been forced to just stare at with weepy, tear filled eyes. This morning, I bit into one of these moist, soft and perfectly tangy muffins and rejoiced! This audible rejoicing caused my husband to run upstairs from his home office to ensure I was alive and sane. Alive, yes. Sane? The jury’s still out. Regardless, I can taste food again!
And not just any food, I can taste this delicious muffin. Blueberry muffins are a favorite of mine. I could eat them everyday if allowed, and my weight would certainly reflect that. Knowing, full well, I would consume more than one of these aromatic wonders, I made them super healthy by omitting all the dairy and using whole wheat flour.
Even though these are my absolute fave, I still enjoyed one and that was all I needed. I think I’m really getting a hold of this portion control thing. Which is awesome because I have two pairs of sassy 7 jeans and R&R jeans I am just DYING to fit into again.
Recipe adapted from Pot & Kettle.
Vegan Blueberry Muffins
Yields: 12 muffins
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 22 minutes
What You’ll Need:
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 cup rice milk (or soy)
- 3 tablespoons applesauce
- 1 lemon, zested
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
How to Make Them:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or line a 12 inch muffin pan with liners. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix flours, sugars, baking powder and salt with a whisk. Add milk 1/2 cup at a time and mix with a wooden spoon. Mix in lemon zest, vanilla and applesauce and stir until fully combined. Gently fold in blueberries.
- Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling about 3/4 full. Bake muffins for 22 – 25 minutes until fully baked. Let cool and enjoy!
Like that? Try this: Pan Fried Bruschetta
Happy Tuesday everyone! Sadly, this post is going to be a bit short because I’m still feeling really, really crappy. Even after two nights binging on NyQuil, I’m still sneezing, sniffling, coughing and can’t breathe to save my life. I honestly think it’s’ because two days ago it was 70 degrees and yesterday IT SNOWED.
I love snow but seriously? This limbo weather is going to kill me. But, snow? So pretty. I’d rather have snow all day than this crazy back and forth.
So pretty, right? Except I’m pretty sure I should not have spent an hour playing in it, given my current state. It was worth it though. When I look out the window all I see is slushy mud puddles and missing patches of snow. It may have made me sicker, but it was so worth it.
When I wasn’t getting sicker outside, I still had a full days worth of work to do. 3 articles to write, recipes to create and test, pictures to take. Plus, I needed to create something tasty to share with y’all, even if I can’t taste or smell a darn thing. So, I made bruschetta.
But not just any ol’ bruschetta. I was inspired by the movie Julie & Julia (surprise, surprise, right?) Julie makes an INCREDIBLE looking bruschetta that was pan fried (probably in a ton of butter) and topped with amazing fresh tomatoes, peppers and mushrooms. Honestly, every time I watch that movie, I salivate a bit and think “I have got to make bruschetta like that.” And guess what? I finally did. And, of course, on the day I have absolutely no taste buds.
You have NO idea how bad I wanted to taste this. I ate a piece, because, I’m sick not stupid, and it was crunchy, but soft and had absolutely NO flavor to me what so ever. I think that’s what they call “evil”, “torture”, “horrible luck?” So I had to stare, longingly, at it until my husband could get home so I could watch him eat it, and then with perked ears, ask how it tasted.
He honestly thought I was crazy, which, as we all know, is not new. And, as I suspected, he said it was delicious. Fresh, crunchy, with the perfect blend of spice and oil.
Thank you darling for being my taste tester. And for giving me NyQuil while I lay on the couch. And for the doing the dishes that were spewing out of the sink and for not punching me when I’ve whined for countless hours because I can’t stand being sick. You rock. I love you.
I think I’m still drunk from NyQuil.
Pan Seared Bruschetta
Yields 8 pieces
Prep time: 10 – 15 minutes
Cook time: 5 minutes
What You’ll Need:
- 8 pieces of french bread (whole wheat preferably)
- 1 tomato, finely chopped
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- 1 basil leaf, chopped
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 1/2 tablespoon crushed red pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup of finely chopped mushrooms
- Fresh mozzarella
How to Make It:
- Heat one tablespoon of oil in a frying pan over medium high heat. Add onions, garlic and mushrooms and cook about 2 -3 minutes. Add tomatoes and cook until vegetables are soft, about 3 more minutes. Add spices, salt, pepper and basil and remove from heat. Stir until just mixed.
- In the same pan, heat the second tablespoon of oil over medium heat. Add the bread and cook until browned on each side, about 3 – 4 minutes. Remove from heat. Repeat until all the bread is toasted.
- Add topping to bread. Grate fresh mozzarella over the vegetable topping and enjoy!
Nutritional information per piece: 100 calories, 3 grams of fat, 15 grams of carbohydrates, 3 grams of protein and 1 gram of fiber.
Eat Skinny Be Skinny: Salted Chocolate Brownies
In addition to struggling with portion control, I also have another food based nemesis that always seems to get the best of me. And it’s name is chocolate. Now, add a dash of sea salt to said chocolate and I’m quivering at my knees and face planting into the cake, cookie or brownie batter.
I do have 20 pounds to lose, I am trying to control my portions and eat better, so I can’t just eat a bowl of brownie batter anymore and choc it up to a bad day (or a Tuesday). But, I’m not going to give it up. Elimination diets don’t really work and I’m not about completely cutting out a food group. So instead, when my craving came a-knockin’ last night for a sweet, salty chocolate brownie, I gave in. But did some magic in the kitchen first 🙂
World? Meet my new love, skinny salted chocolate brownies.
We met last night and it was love at first bite. The brownie is SO FUDGEY, so chocolaty, so rich and has just the right amount of saltiness. I can’t even talk about it, they are so good.
Aren’t they just the prettiest, most delicious looking things you ever did see? I found the original recipe for low fat brownies on Baking Bites and of course, had to make them salted. Honestly, is there a better combination than salt and chocolate? I don’t know how on earth I went so long before I tried this incredible combination.
Thankfully, I have a husband whose sweet tooth is even greater than mine so these delicious devils will be gone before I can eat them all. Even if he ate all of them, he’d somehow lose weight. Where as I gain weight just by looking at a french fry. Le sigh. But that’s another point entirely.
Skinny Salted Chocolate Brownies
Yields: 12 – 14 brownies
Prep time: >10 minutes
Cook time: About 22 minutes
What You’ll Need:
- 3/4 cup of all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup of semisweet chocolate chips
- 2 tablespoons of butter
- 1 cup of sugar
- 3 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk*
- 1 -2 tablespoons water*
- 1 egg
- 1 egg white
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon of sea salt
*I remade these since many of the readers said it came out dry. The extra tablespoon of milk and water helped make it more fudgy.
How to Make Them:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease an 8 inch x 8 inch glass pan with cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt and cocoa. Make a well with a spoon and set aside.
- In another medium bowl, add chocolate and butter. Microwave on high for one minute, stir, and microwave for another 30 -60 seconds. Add sugar and mix until creamed. Add in condensed milk, egg, water, egg white and vanilla, stirring until fully combined. Pour the chocolate mixture into the well of the flour mixture and stir until there are no flour streaks.
- Pour batter into the greased pan. Sprinkle additional salt over the batter and bake for at least 22 minutes. Chill brownies for at least an hour so they firm up. Enjoy!
Nutritional information per brownie: 125 calories, 2 grams of fat, 31 grams of carbohydrates, >1 gram of fiber and 1.8 grams or protein.
Eat Skinny Be Skinny: Creamy Asparagus Soup Shooters
Portion control is one of the biggest things I struggle with on a daily basis. The reason behind this is the fact I make too much food for just E and I. Growing up with 3 brothers, there never seemed to be enough food to go around (they all ate 3x the amount I did) and my mother was always preparing big roasts, pots of soup, 2 boxes of pasta. Since I learned how to cook from her, I adapted how much she made, even though we are far from a family of 6.
Plus, I just love food.
So when something is REALLY good, like this amazing pizza I had in Italy, it’s hard for me to just say “okay, I’ve had my 2 slices, I’ll walk away.” Actually, it’s damn near impossible. As much as I love food, I hate being the weight I am right now more. I want to be happy and enjoy my food, and that my friends, is done by portion control.
So yesterday, I made a creamy asparagus soup. And to keep myself from overeating it, I served them in shooter fashion.
Not only are they freakin’ adorable, each shooter is perfectly portioned with 1/2 cup serving.
I was inspired to make shooters by the butternut squash shooters I made back in November. Not only was the soup DELICIOUS, I found that I didn’t eat 6 servings when they were tiny like this. Instead, I had 2 shooters and I was done. Happily, I followed such constraint yesterday and was completely satisfied after 2 shooters.
And trust me when I say this, eating just one serving of this soup was hard. It was so creamy and flavorful, and on a night like last night (20 degrees F), it was warm and cozy too. I paired this soup with simple croutons made from toast. I didn’t add any butter or cheese since the soup was so creamy. The croutons added just the right amount of crunch and paired so well with the asparagus flavor.
I have got to find a way to serve all my meals in a shooter fashion. How cute would that be?
Recipe adapted from Simply Recipes.
Creamy Asparagus Soup Shooters
Serves: 6
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 15 – 20 minutes
What You’ll Need:
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 tablespoons of butter
- 1 clove of garlic, chopped
- 1 batch of asparagus, chopped
- 3 cups of organic chicken broth
- 1 1/2 cups of dry white wine
- 1/3 cup light cream
- 2 tablespoons of fresh thyme
- 2/3 cup Parmesan cheese
- Salt and pepper to taste
How to Make it:
- In a pot or Dutch oven, heat butter over medium high heat. Add onions and cook until slightly browned, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook another 2 minutes. Add in asparagus and cook until asparagus is browned and a little soft, about 3 more minutes.
- Reduce heat to low. Add broth, wine, salt and pepper and thyme. Cover and simmer until asparagus is VERY tender, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Pour mixture into a blender and add cream and cheese. Blend on low until mixture is smooth and velvety. Serve with croutons or enjoy alone!
Nutritional information per 1 cup: 160 calories, 6 grams of fat, 22 grams of carbohydrates, 12 grams of protein and 4 grams of fiber.
Eat Skinny Be Skinny Breakfast: Banana Muffins with Peanut Butter Streusel
Like the rest of the world, one of my goals this year is to lose weight. I’ve been content with my appearance this past year, despite an upward fluctuation, and it wasn’t until I saw this photo from my friend’s wedding that I realized how big I’ve gotten.
This might not look big to many of you, but compare it to my wedding day, just a few months earlier. There is a major difference in tone and lbs [8 to be exact].
This coupled with the horrendous number staring back at me on my bathroom scale and the pants I have to squeeze into is more than enough motivation for me. But I don’t want to just lose weight, I want to live a healthier life. I don’t eat unhealthily, by any means, but I can’t say I eat like a saint either. The past few months have been a roller-coaster of emotions for me and when things get hard, I fall into the loving arms of bacon, cheesecake and wine. And those three things have never been synonymous with a healthy body and mind. So I’m starting over, determined to make this my best, and fittest year yet.
How does one start over? Why, with a healthy breakfast of course!
A whole wheat banana muffin with peanut butter streusel topping. Easy, delicious and oh-so-healthy. Plus, is there any better combination than that of peanut butter and banana? One of my favorite parts of my new job is being able to eat breakfast. And I don’t mean gulp down a couple cups of coffee and shove a banana in my mouth (that’s what he WISHED]. I mean the ability to sit down to a proper breakfast, read the newspaper [or watch Lifetime] and actually taste my food. It’s a marvel concept.
I’ll be honest, what I really wanted this morning was NOT a muffin. I wanted two eggs over easy, some bacon and buttered toast. But, as I stared at the love handles hanging from my waist, my cravings changed. Sure bacon would be great but so would waking up with a flat abdomen and zero cellulite. So instead, I came downstairs and whipped up these muffins, which were even more delicious than I thought they’d be [their smell alone was enough to make me drool.] I promptly ate one and a half before I realized I needed to photograph them.
I guess that’s a sign of a delicious muffin. I should probably hide these before I eat the rest of them. I’d say that would defeat the purpose of them being healthy, don’t you think?
Banana Muffins with Peanut Butter Streusel
Yeilds: 12 muffins
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 22 minutes
Ingredients:
For the muffin:
- 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour
- 2/3 cup of white sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons of baking powder
- 2 cups of mashed bananas (about 2 ripe ones)
- 3/4 cup of low fat milk
- 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg
Streusel topping:
- 3 tablespoons of oats
- 2 1/2 tablespoons of brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons of whole wheat flour
- 2 tablespoons of peanut butter
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease muffin cups with canola cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, mix flours, sugar, baking powder, salt and nutmeg with a whisk. Make a well in the middle. In another bowl, mix banana, egg, milk, oil and vanilla. Pour wet mixture into the dry well and mix carefully.
- Pour batter into muffin cups about 3/4 full. Meanwhile, mix sugar, oats, flour and peanut butter with a pastry blender until mixture is coarse. Carefully sprinkle muffin batter with strusel topping.
- Bake muffins for 22 minutes or until golden brown and enjoy!
Nutritional information per muffin: 225 calories, 7 grams of fat, 6 grams of protein, 35 grams of carbohydrates and 3 grams of fiber.
