Oat Chia Blueberry Chocolate Chip Healthy Eggless Muffins

I love muffins. I don't eat them but I love them. Because they are high in fat, high in calories and once I start eating them, I don't think I will stop. I will need to have one for breakfast every day!

Items in my usual boring but healthy breakfast rotation include plain plain oatmeal with brown sugar and dried apricots, Fage with added honey, hemp seeds and berries,  Breakfast Chia Pudding with Berries or Overnight Oatmeal that I learned about from the The Yummy Life Blog.

When the The Yummy Life Blog posted the recipe for the "Magic Muffins", healthy muffins I became obsessed with trying them. Let me tell you, these were a huge hit. Both kids and husband approved! I will definitely be making these again. The original recipe is here: http://www.theyummylife.com/magic_muffins. So far, I tried blueberry to which I added chocolate chips. I will definitely be trying a variety of these and will report back. I had to modify the recipe a bit because I was not able to find some of the flour varieties (barley or brown rice) so I just used oat. No issue. These were moist and delicious. There were meant for make ahead if desired but I made all 12. For my gang, made ahead would only work if the recipe is doubled.

These have are whole grain and have no eggs or no butter. They get their moisture from the chia seeds which create a gel like substanace! Magic! 

Ingredients

Dry: 

2 cups of Whole Grain Oat Flour 

      (note Yummy Life's recipe uses 1 cup of oat flour, 1/2 cup of barley flour and 1/2 cup of brown rice flour but I could            not find these so substituted, no issues) 

2 tablespoons GROUND chia seeds

2 teaspoons baking POWDER

1/2 teaspoon baking SODA

1 teaspoon ground cinamon

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Wet:

1 cup lowfat buttermilk*

1/2 cup water

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/3 cup honey (my kids thought these need to be a tiny bit sweeter, will add a bit more next time)

Fruit, nuts, etc. 

Other:

Cooking Spray (I used Trader Joe's Coconut Spray) 

*Buttermilk substitute can be created by combining 1 tablespoon of vinegar with enough low fat milk to make 1 cup total liquid and letting is sit for 10 minutes. I did not try this. But if you do, please let me know how this turns out. 

1. In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients. Mix.

2. In a medium bowl, combine all the wet ingredients. Mix.

3. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Mix to combine. Do not overmix, it's fine if mixture is a bit lumpy. You will NOT BE STIRRING again when adding mixture to your muffin tin.

4. Allow to sit on counter for 30-40 minutes. Or cover and refrigerate for up to 5 days. I did not try to refrigerate. You can double or triple the recipe. 

5. Wash your fruit or berries that you will be using. I used about 1 cup of blueberries and about 1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips.

6. Preheat oven to 350. Spray muffin tin with cooking spray.

7. Add a bit of muffin mixture, add a few blueberries and a few chocolate chips. Add more mixtures till muffin cup about 2/3 full. Add a few more blueberries and chocolate chips to each.

Assembled muffins ready to bake

8. Bake about 22-25 minutes till toothpick  inserted in center comes up clean. Mine took about 25 minutes. Allow to rest for 5 minutes before moving to cooking rack.

Baked  muffins straight from oven

Baked muffins cooling! Kids waiting impatiently!

Yesterday, per my kids request, I tried two additional varieties, raspberry chocolate chip and banana chocolate chip. Both were delicious. I cut the raspberries into halves and bananas into half circles layered same way I did blueberries.

Muffins Batch 2: Raspberry, Banana, Blueberry. All have dark chocolate chips. 

Per the original recipe, these can be cooked in microwave as individual serving.

I have not tried these.The Yummy Life suggests many varieties or you can make up your own! My girls are already begging me to make more so I will review those when I do. They each devoured 2 each for breakfast. The younger one said they need to be a bit sweeter and dipped them in berry preserves.

Rainbow Bell Peppers Stuffed with Quinoa and Ground Beef

These stuffed peppers are a delicious dinner option that I don't make nearly enough. You can pretty much vary the filling here to meet your dietary preferences or the leftovers grain you have on hand.

You can make them vegetarian by omitting the ground meat, and you can add grain of choice, I have tried these with rice or quinoa and both were great. Both pictures below, proportion are similar and you can eat the leftover stuffing without the pepper for lunch the next day.

Ingredients

2 cups of quinoa OR  rice cooked per package direction

1 pound of ground beef (I use lean grass fed beef), you can use another ground meat of choice or keep vegetarian

2 finely shopped shallots

1 bulb of leek, washed and finely chopped

salt to taste

seasoning to taste (I like to use Everything Rub from Fresh Direct which contains garlic, onion, chili powder and paprika)

1 can of diced tomatoes drained (if using)--i used these with rice but not with quinoa

1 tablespoon of oil ( I use grape seed)

4 bell peppers ( for the quinoa recipe I only had 3) with seeds removed and top cut off neatly to keep intact

Directions 

In a large skillet, heat oil. Add shallots and leeks and cook for about 5-7 minutes on medium flame until they begin to soften.

Add ground meat of choice. Cook breaking up with spatula until cooked through, about 10 minutes.

Add rice or quinoa, salt and seasoning. Add tomatoes if using. Allow to come to warm temperature.

In a small or medium pot, add a few inches of water. Bring to boil.

Fill peppers with filling. Top with pepper top. Add very carefully to pot with boiling water. Cover and cook on a small flame about 15-20 minutes until peppers are soft. 

Remove carefully and serve in bowls

Enjoy! 

Stuffed peppers with quinoa, ground beef, shallots and leeks

Stuffed peppers with rice, ground beef and diced tomatoes

Roast Pork Loin with Apples--Fast and Delicious

As a working mom, I am always on the look out for healthy, delicious and fast weeknights meal. This one was a big hit, and so here I am, typing is up as soon as we finish eating so that I remember what I did.

Ingredients:
Boneless Pork Tenderloin Roast
         *I had 2 of these, about a pound each and they were already tied which makes them look           fabulous.
2-3 apples sliced, I used golden delicious
2 tablespoons oil (I used grape)
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
Chopped rosemary and thyme, about 1 tablespoon each
Salt and pepper to taste
Cooking spray ( I used coconut from Trader Joe's)

1) Preheat oven to 400. I used my Breville convection oven.

2) Wash and dry your pork. I know you don't have to but I can't help it. Unwashed meat grosses me out.

3) Add salt and pepper to both sides.

4) In a large skillet, heat your oil for about 2 minutes. Add pork and brown on both sides for 2-3 minutes per side.

5) Remove pork, add apples, begin to cook them and add vinegar. Allow to cook for about 1-2 minutes.

6) Spray your baking tray w oil. Add pork and sprinkle it with rosemary and thyme on both sides.
Surround it by apples.

7) Roast about 15 minutes, flip over and roast for another 15, approximately 1/2 hour in total till the center registers at about 140 to 150F.

8) Remove string, slice and serve with apples. We had a side of sauteed kale as well.

Sweet and Savory: Salad with Strawberries, Goat Cheese and Toasted Almond

This salad is sweet and savory and hits the spot every time. Served it at a family get together tonight and it was gobbled up.

Ingredients:

1. 6 cups of mixed greens (or arugula)
2. 1/4 red onion thinly sliced
3. 1 cup avocado cubed
4. 1-2 cups of strawberries washed, dried and quartered
5. 4-6 ounces of goat cheese crumbled
6. 1/3 cup slivered almonds pan toasted

Dressing
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons aged balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons of berry preserves (I used Sarabeth's mixed berry)
Mixed in a bowl and well mixed

In a small hot skillet, toast your almonds on small flame till golden. Set aside.

Wash and dry greens. Add onion, avocado and strawberries. Add dressing, mix well. Top with goat cheese and almonds.

Enjoy!

Salad of Warm Tarragon Garlic Roasted Portobellos over Arugula, Radicchio , Sautéed Ramps, Cherry Tomatoes, Red onions and Goat Cheese

I am really glad that summery weather is finally upon us which allows me to go back to eating one meal salads for dinner. To me, salad should be enjoyable—full of color and delicious ingredients and this one definitely fits the bill.

And of course, the beauty of a salad is that there is so much flexibility in what you put in or leave out based on your taste.

INGREDIENTS

Portobello Mushrooms:

2 large or 4 small Portobello mushroom caps

2-3 cloves of garlic sliced thin

2  tablespoons of butter

2  tablespoons fresh tarragon leaves (thyme would work as well)

Salt to taste

1)      Preheat oven to 400. I used my  Breville BOV800XL Smart Oven 1800-Watt Convection Toaster Oven with Element IQ , if you don’t have one, regular oven is fine of course.

2)      Wash and dry mushrooms. Cut them up into 2-2 ½ inch chucks.

3)      Add to a baking dish. I use this one by Le Creuset Stoneware 1-1/2-Quart 9-Inch Square Baking Dish, Cherry

4)      Scatter butter cup up into small pieces, garlic and tarragon over the mushrooms. Cover with foil. Bake for 10-15 minutes.

5)      Remove foil and bake another 20-30 minutes until mushrooms are tender, mixing occasionally and adding butter if needed.

6)      The mushrooms will release a lot of liquid as they cook. I incorporated some of the liquid into the salad dressing, first allowing it to cool off.

SALAD (add/substitute as you see fit)

4 cups of arugula

¼ red onion sliced thin

½ hear of small radicchio sliced thin

6-8 tablespoons of goat cheese

1 cup cherry tomatoes

1 bunch ramp leaves (optional but adds a nice touch)

If using ramps leaves, you will need 1 tablespoon of butter or oil

1)      Wash and dry arugula. Add radicchio, onions and tomatoes.

2)      If you are including ramps leaves, wash and dry them.

3)      Roughly chop and sauté in a skillet (I use this one by Le Creuset Enameled Cast-Iron 10-1/4-Inch Skillet with Iron Handle, Cherry in a little butter about 5-7 minutes.

4)      Add a pinch of salt. I allowed it to cool and did not dress it with dressing, just threw on top along with goat cheese and cooked mushrooms.

SALAD DRESSING;

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

3-4 tablespoons of slightly cooled mushroom liquid that resulted from the baking of mushrooms (optional)

1)      Wisk together. Toss with arugula, radicchio, onions and tomatoes. Top with ramps if using, goat cheese divided into small chunks and mushrooms.

Enjoy! This was a great dinner for my crew—filling and light at the same time.