Mango blueberry protein muffins

Tags

baking, blueberries, body for life, chia seeds, clean diet, clean eating, healthy treat, mango, muffins, protein muffins, snack, sweet, yum

More protein muffins!  Can you stand it?!  I love them. I eat them every day! Things like these make life enjoyable nowadays.  You can have your frosting covered cupcakes, I am not the least bit jealous.  Actually I’ve never really liked these new cupcakes with tons of frosting anyway, too much frosting. Now a yummy scone on the other hand? Now I’m jealous. But I can have those on my cheat day.

Here’s the back story…awhile back I made a mango, candied ginger quick bread.  I took it to work and everyone loved it. One lady in particular loved it so much she asked for the recipe.  But somehow hers did not turn out which was disappointing as she wanted to make it for her new daughter-in-laws bridal shower.  So I offered to make if for her…turns out she needed at least 10!!!  So I made 10…in my tiny little kitchen….in the middle of my clean eating 12 week challenge…and they smelled heavenly.  I won’t lie, I made one for my cheat day and ate 3 pieces and didn’t feel one bit guilty.  But I still had lots of mango puree left over.  I thought about recreating the quick bread in a protein muffin but it’s crystalized ginger, which means lots of sugar. Back to the drawing board.  I had plenty of wonderful blueberries! That would be a winning combination. Oh and I added Chia seeds, what’s the big deal about Chia seeds?  They are good for you….and they remind me of poppy seeds.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 1/2 cup protein powder (I use Whey)
• 1T baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 T Chia seeds
• 1 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
• 1 cup mango puree
• 3 egg whites
• 3 T honey (if you like it sweet, you should use more)
• 1/2 c blueberries

Preheat oven to 375. Combine all the dry ingredients in one bowl and all the wet ingredients in another, except the blueberries.  Fold the wet into the dry and do not overmix.  Gently fold in the blueberries. Separate the batter between 12 greased muffin tins (or use silicon cups) and bake for 20 mins.

The pictures below are courtesy of my beautiful step daughter.

Pumkin Pistachio Protein muffins and a new leaf.

Tags

clean diet, muffins, pistachio, protein, pumpkin

What is this?  What am I doing adding protein powder to a muffin?!  Is this sacrilege?  Well, yes and no I would say.  I’ve been entering the whole new world (for me) of clean eating.  What does this mean?  It means I’m on a diet….I hate and despise that word….I’m on a new way of life!  that sounds much better and less sacrificial. I’ve posted about having gained weight recently and I just can’t stand it anymore.  I’m in my 40s and I refuse to accept that this is just what happens when you get older.  I don’t believe it.  I’ve seen women my age who look fantastic and I want to join their ranks.  Vain? Ok, you can call me that but why not look as good as you can for as long as you can?  But what about baking?!  and my sweet tooth?  Well I’ve discovered that there are some recipes out there that will fulfill my needs and that I can still play around with.  I found a great blog by someone named Janetha , she has tons of recipes on her blog, mealsandmovesblog.com,  which have the combination of protein, carbs and fats that I’m trying to follow.  I adapted one of her muffin recipes to make the following:

Pumpkin Pistacio Protein muffins

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup ground pistachios
• 1/2 cup protein powder (I use a whey powder)
• 3/4 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
• 3 egg whites
• 1 cup pumpkin
• 2 Tb applesauce
• 3 TB honey
• 1 TB baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp powdered ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground clove

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Combine the dry ingredients in one bowl. Whisk the egg whites and add the wet ingredients to them.  Add the wet to the dry and just combine. Grease 12 muffin tins or use silicon. Bake for about 20-25 mins depending on your oven.

Pumpkin, Pistachio, Protein muffins!

How do they taste you might ask?  Well in the middle of a “clean” diet, they are not too bad!  Not super sweet but these were moist, and tasty and definitely hit that sweet spot so I will stay motivated.  I will keep posting on my progress for anyone who is interested.

Meyer lemons, how I love you, let me count the ways.

Tags

almond, baking, blueberry, food, Meyer lemon, muffins, snack, sweet, yum

My little dumplings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They caught me the instant I walked into the supermarket.  Meyer lemons I squealed! (yes unfortunately I did let out a squeal)  J. grabbed a bag without my even asking, he is quite aware of my Meyer lemon obssession.  I had no idea they were available.  If you have never had one you just must.  When they are available I use them constantly, fish, chicken, I slice them thinly and bake them with the dish and then eat them up.  You can eat the peel and all.  And desserts….oh desserts.

 

I had been considering an orange, blueberry, almond recipe from the cookbook “Baked, new frontier in baking” by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.  I really enjoy their cookbooks.  Anyway better than orange would be Meyer lemon muffins! 

MMMMMMMMMMMMeyer!

 

      Just my luck that it snowed

      today so I got to stay home

      and bake the muffins!

      I changed a few things

      besides adding the Meyers.

      I added more ground

      almond and almond extract.

      J said these were the best

      muffins he’s ever had. 

      He doesn’t care for cakes

      and muffins that much so

      it said alot.  I will be making

      these again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

zest of 1 Meyer lemon

1/2 cup fresh orange juice, next time I will try lemon juice (Meyer of course)

1/2 c milk

2 egg whties

4 Tb melted butter (let cool)

1/2 tsp almond extract

 

Whip the above ingredients together.  In a separate bowl mix together:

 

1/2 c ground almonds

2 c flour

3/4 c sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp soda

1/2 tsp salt

 

Add the wet ingredients to the dry until just combined.  Add 3/4 c blueberries to the batter.  If you are using frozen blueberries, rinse well and toss with flour.   Preheat the oven to 375 and grease 12 muffin tins.  Fill the tins 3/4 with batter and decorate the top with sliced almonds if you want.  Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden and a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool in the pan for 15 mins and then remove to a wire rack.

 

Lovely flavor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I’m off to make lemon curd!  Meyer lemon curd that is!  And then…I’ve heard that you can grow citrus trees inside……