Recipe of The Day: Whole Wheat/Oat Blueberry Muffins

In an attempt to create more healthy recipes. I tried my hand at some Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins.

I found some Whole Wheat Flour today at Wal Mart. After purchasing the flour, I was walking around the house trying to figure out what I could do with it. Pancakes came to mind. The box even had a pizza dough recipe that looked good. I searched the net for ideas. I finally decided to try and make muffins. I found a simple recipe on Sparkpeople. I tweaked it a bit. I will say these are semi healthy, because I had to use real sugar. I didn't have enough Splenda. I also had to use Canola Oil instead of applesauce. Both of these things can be substituted to make an even more healthier version.


Prep Time: 15-20 Minutes
Cook Time: 20-25 Minutes
Serving Size: Makes 18 Muffins

Ingredients:

1 cup Oats (I used plain quick oats)
1 cup Frozen Blueberries
1 cup 2% Milk (or a lower percentage)
1/2 cup Pure Canola Oil (or applesauce)
1 large egg
1 cup sugar (or sugar substitute)
1 tbsp Lemon Juice
2 cups Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Graham Flour
1 tbsp Vanilla extract
1/2 tbsp Ground Cinnamon
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp baking powder
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix milk, blueberries, and oats in a separate bowl and set aside. In another large bowl mix the rest of the ingredients. Add in oats, milk, and blueberries. Mix until it is well combined. I used 1 regular metal 6 cup pan and 1 12 cup silicone baking pan. If you are using a metal pan spray with a cooking spray. I used an Olive Oil cooking spray. Fill pans. Do not fill to the top, about 3/4 of the way. Place in oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove muffins and let cool.

That's it. This recipe was extremely simple. The muffins taste really good too. The kids loved them! I can barely tell they were made with wheat flour or oats. I will try these again with the other healthier ingredients. Enjoy!




~Feather


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Food Review: Minute Khana and Emerald Dark Chocolate Flavored Almonds

So we been MIA. Sorry :( We have done a total life change with our new eating habits. With that said, I've decided to do some food reviews on some things we've purchased and our trying in our new diet.

JP and I really love food! I mean really really looove, that's why we started this site. It's also the reason why we put so much weight on in the past. Changing your eating habits and lifestyle is a difficult task already. Loving food makes that hard. We like to think we have a very diverse palettes. It really keeps things exciting for us eating different types of ethnic foods.

JP's absolute favorite cuisine is Indian food. If he could, I bet he'd live at the Indian restaurant! LOL One day on his day off he suggested we cruise the local Indian grocery store. While we were there we found some ready made meals. They were pretty cheap. The pictures on the boxes looked good, plus they were giving you a free package if you bought two. There were so many selections it was hard to choose. We chose three meals to try. The brand is called Haldirams's Minute Khana. We got Amchi Pao Bhaji, Purani Dili Ke Chloey, and Kashmriri Duh Aloo. One was Chickpeas in a curry sauce, a mixed vegetable in another curry type sauce, and Whole potatoes in a tomato based curry sauce. I really had my apprehensions about these, because they are microwavable and they are in a box. Those two factors alone never quite work out to good! LOL

I prepared some brown rice and cooked some chicken breast to go with the meal. We ate the chickpeas and mixed vegetables. The food comes in a sealed bag, which kind of resembles a MRE. You literally empty the contents into a dish and heat for 2 minutes. Our microwave is extremely powerful, so 2 minutes was a little long. I plated the food and that was it. The aroma was wonderful. It smelled sooo good. The box claimed it was authentic Indian food. It smelled authentic. But did it taste authentic? That was the question.

We mixed the chicken in and ate over our brown rice. First bite was like,wow! It was delicious! Didn't even taste like it came out of a box. It had a serious kick to it. It was really spicy and very flavorful. We almost wanted to say it was slightly better than our favorite spot. I enjoyed every bit of the meal. The calories weren't to bad as well. Half a package only had 152 calories. Not bad. The sodium was a bit high. Both of the dishes we tried were very good. The chickpeas were a lit hard for me, but the overall dish was great.

JP and I loved these meals. We still have the whole potatoes to try, but I'm sure we'll enjoy those. We definitely are going back to get some more.

Here is a link to the brands website, it looks like you can purchase some online.

Minute Khana


The last thing I will show today is Emeralds Dark Chocolate Flavored Almonds.



Almonds are a staple for us. They are a great quick healthy snack. They aren't cheap by no means. But, if you can get some I highly recommend you do. JP picked these up for us the other day. All I can say is these are awesome! They almost taste cookie like. I told JP they almost tasted like Cocoa Puffs. The flavor is light with a hint of sweetness. Then you got the flavor of the almond which is great. You would assume being it was Dark Chocolate the flavor would be bitter. It's not. It works really well and these almonds are amazing. I love them. 1 serving is 1 ounce, which is about a handful or 1/4 cup. Only 150 calories. Very yummy. You have to be careful and stick to the serving these bad boys are dangerous! lol Anyhoo, this wraps up my food review for today hope you enjoy!

~Feather
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