Lemon Blueberry Muffins

As part of my undergraduate degree in dietetics I had to take some college cooking classes...ahem... food science classes. These were some of my favorite classes of college. My MOST favorite was called Experimental Foods. In this class we learned the why behind cooking. I found out all about the different cuts of meat (which I have since forgotten) and all the details of baking. I truly believe that because of this class I am confident in making the adjustments that I do in the recipes.

One thing we learned about was the "muffin method" of baking. Did you know there's a whole method to muffins? Anyway, we also learned that there are many things that can go wrong with muffins that are easily explained. Here are a few:

1. If your muffins don't rise either your oven wasn't up to temperature, you didn't mix the batter enough or you used muffin cups which are too large.

2. What causes muffins to be tough and rubbery? Probably too much egg. If you are using an egg larger than a "large" size egg, this might be the culprit. This can also occur when using dark nonstick pans.

3. Why are there tunnels and crazy peaks on my muffins instead of nice rounded tops? You probably beat the mixture too much. When the recipe says to stir until just combined, they mean it.

So why am I telling you this? Because I made this recipe from The Girl Who Ate Everything and I definitely broke rule #3. These bad boys were so ugly! They had crazy peaks and looked like the noses on the Smurfs.

The original recipe provides the following per muffin:
265 calories
12.5 g fat
35.6 g carbohydrate
0.9 g fiber
3.6 g protein

I made two small changes. I substituted applesauce for the butter. I also tried something new. I put some old fashioned oats into the blender and made them almost into a flour. I substituted 1/2 cup of the white flour with 1/2 cup of the ground up oats.

Even though these bad boys were ugly, they still tasted good. Good enough, in fact that I took a bag full of them over to a family at church when I brought a meal over.

Lemon Blueberry Muffin - BETTER

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup oat flour
1/2 cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
zest of one lemon
1 egg
1 cup skim milk
1/2 cup applesauce
1 cup frozen blueberries

Topping
3 Tbsp butter, melted
1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar

Mix dry ingredients and set aside. Beat eggs, milk and applesauce thoroughly. Add dry ingredients and stir to combine. Stir in blueberries gently. Portion into 12 paper-lined muffin cups. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Combine butter and lemon juice for the topping. While the muffins are still warm, dip the tops in the butter and lemon juice, then dip in sugar.

Makes 12 muffins. Each muffin provides:
160 calories
3.7 g fat
29.8 g carbohydrate
1.2 g fiber
2.8 g protein

Progress

Post bath hair-do, thank you Daddy!

I've been doing really well with my running lately and I think its because I've turned a new leaf. In past years when I was training for 25k's it was always about getting in xx amount of miles each day, each week, etc. It was always daunting for me because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to finish the 25k and I would crash and burn on race day.

Now that I've decided that I'm not doing 25ks anymore and focusing on my upcoming 10k my outlook is so much better! I KNOW I can run a 10k - heck my long run last weekend was more than that. I'm running now more for enjoyment, for "me" time and to feel good about myself.

This week I turned a new leaf. I took up morning running.

Might not be a big deal to some of you, but for me its HUGE. I used to hate working out in the morning but with having a kid and fulltime working parents I've decided this is what I have to do to get my running in. And SURPRISE SURPRISE the two AM runs I've had this week (in the dark along country roads and 15 degrees) have been my favorite runs in a long time. Who am I???

In food news I have a couple recipes coming up in the next few days -

Blueberry Muffins, Crockpot WHOLE chicken and homemade chicken broth.

High Fiber Enchiladas

Do you ever plan something for dinner but then when you're about to make it you realize you don't have a key ingredient? Since I started menu planning this doesn't happen to me very often but it does still occasionally occur. Much to my dismay, it happened last week. As I was driving home from work I did an assessment of the ingredients available in our house.

I figured we'd have something Mexican as I knew we had some tortillas. Have you ever had La Tortilla Factory tortillas? I STRONGLY recommend finding these in your area. They are half the calories and carbs of traditional tortillas with more fiber and protein. And still quite tasty!

This is an original recipe that I just created from ingredients in the house. They ended up being pretty low calorie yet high in fiber and protein. Each serving provides two enchiladas and the whole recipe makes 3 servings.

High Fiber Enchiladas

6 La Tortilla Factory Low Carb/High Fiber tortillas (Original size, 50 calories each)
8 oz chicken, pre cooked and shredded
1/2 cup black beans
1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream
1 cup salsa, divided
1 Tbsp taco seasoning
1 cup 2% cheddar cheese, divided
1 small onion, diced small

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a small 8x11 pan with nonstick spray.

Mix together chicken, black beans, sour cream, 1/2 cup salsa, taco seasoning, 1/2 cup cheddar and onion. Evenly scoop chicken mixture into six tortillas. Wrap up and place seam side down on prepared pan.

Spread remaining salsa over top of enchiladas. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Serve with lettuce, salsa and sour cream if desired.

Makes 3 servings of 2 enchiladas. Each serving provides:
381 calories
12.8 g fat
38.1 g carbohydrate
18.3 g fiber
41.7 g protein

Tortellini Soup

Often times we get so focused on particular qualities of healthy eating that we neglect to see the importance of other aspects of a healthy diet. In the past I have found myself so focused on cutting the fat or adding in fiber that I neglect to think about other qualities of food like calcium content or other vitamins and minerals.

One mineral that should be focused on is sodium. (Did you know that sodium was a mineral?) Sodium, when eaten in excess, can impact cardiovascular disease, blood pressure and lead to water retension. Recommended intakes of sodium range from 1500-2400 mg per day but reports indicate that the average American can take in as much as 8000+ mg each day!

Many sources of sodium are fast foods and restaurant foods, so if you're making food homemade you're already ahead of the game! But other area that a lot of sodium can come from are canned goods like canned vegetables and soups.

I decided to revamp a tasty recipe for Tortellini Soup from The Well-fed Newlyweds with my focus being on cutting down the sodium. The original recipe already calls for low sodium chicken broth but if you didn't use low sodium chicken broth you're looking at 1469 mg of sodium in each serving.

I simply used low sodium chicken broth and canned tomatoes that had no added salt. I did not add salt to the pot and cut the sodium down by over 500 mg to 911 mg per serving.

Overall it was pretty awesome! I thought it was tasty and flavorful. I was bringing a meal to a family in our church so I made a big batch of the soup base and split it in two before adding the tortellini. I put the soup base in a ziploc and then gave the spinach and tortellini on the side before giving it to them.

Tortellini Soup - BETTER

1 Tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 small onion, minced
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 qt (4 cups) low sodium chicken broth
14.5 oz can no added salt tomatoes (I used diced)
Freshly ground black pepper
9-10 oz package tortellini (I used cheese but I suppose you could try other variations!)
3 cups chopped fresh spinach

In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook until beginning to get translucent. Add garlic until softened and light golden. Add oregano, broth, tomatoes, and pepper to taste.

Bring soup to a boil and add tortellini. Cook according to time listed on package (mine was 2 minutes). One minute before tortellini are done, add spinach. Stir to combine.

When tortellini are cooked, remove the pot from the heat immediately so your tortellini do not overcook. Add additional pepper if necessary. Serve soup immediately.

Makes 4 servings. Each serving provides:
311 calories
9.5 g fat
42.9 g carbohydrate
2.8 g fiber
14.7 g protein
911 mg sodium

Snickerdoodles

Last week I ran my first 5k since my surgery/pregnancy. It was good to get out and race. I met my "logical goal" but in my head it was still disappointing that I ran it two whole minutes slower than I did two years ago. I'll get over it.... by getting faster.

Well I used the husband as a pacer since keeping a consistent pace is my biggest weakness (KINDA a big fan of going out too fast). Although he's apparently not good at pacing at my slow pace because we started out WAY TOO SLOW and ended up going super fast for the last 1.5 miles. Oh well. ANYWAY since we were both running in the race we needed somewhere for this precious child to go.



So I put on facebook that I needed someone to watch Finley on Saturday morning and would pay in cookies. Within 5 minutes I had a suitable taker! I'm not sure if its because Finley is so cute or because cookies are so tasty ;)

Anyway, I made snickerdoodles which I did not healthify in any way, shape or form. Sigh.... but they were good! I got the recipe from Martha Stewart's website.


Snickerdoodles

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 3/4 cups sugar, plus more if needed
2 Tbsp ground cinnamon, plus more if needed
2 large eggs.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees with one rack in the top third and one rack in the bottom third of the oven. Line baking sheets with silpats or parchment paper; set aside.

Mix together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine butter, shortening and 1 1/2 cups sugar. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add eggs and beat to combine. Add dry ingredients and beat to combine.

In a small bowl, combine remaining 1/4 cup sugar and the ground cinnamon. Use a small ice cream scoop to form balls of the dough. Roll in cinnamon sugar. Place about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake until the cookies are set in the center and begin to crack (they should not brown), about 10 minutes, rotating the baking sheets after 5 minutes. DO NOT OVERBAKE. Transfer the sheets to a wire rack to cool about 5 minutes before transferring the cookies to the rack. Store in an airtight container up 1 week.

Makes 4 dozen.

Nutrition facts per cookie:
94 calories
4.3 g fat
13.1 g carbohydrate
0.3 g fiber
1.0 g protein

Pistachio Chocolate Chip Cookies

My grandfather was a very active man. In the last few years of his life after my grandma had passed away, he lived with my parents. Even though he was 89 years old, he still enjoyed hiking at the local state parks and walking around the indoor track at the local high school as part of the town senior center. Every day he would drive to the track and walk at least a mile with one of the ladies from the senior center (after all, once you're 89 its mostly ladies at the center as all the men have died off). One day in December, my grandfather drove to the track, began to walk around it and had to sit down to catch his breath. It was there that he passed away quickly and painlessly from a heart attack.

I don't mean to tell this story as a sad one, but rather to show the commitment to physical activity that my grandfather had. When he passed away my parents hosted visiting hours at their house the day before the funeral. (That is a WHOLE other story - he narrated his own life video and had us show it at his funeral, talk about creepy!). At the visiting hours my brothers and I chuckled at all the ladies from the senior center who knew exactly how to work the situation. They came in, signed the guest book, walked straight to the food, filled up a plate and claimed seats around the dining room table. I suppose at a certain age going to visiting hours for a deceased friend is pretty common.

The biggest hit at the visiting hours was a batch of cookies brought over by a neighbor. They were so good that no only did myself and my sister-in-law ask for the recipe from my mom's neighbor. BUT, one of the cute little ladies from the senior center even wrote a thank you note to my mom for hosting the visiting hours and asked her to pass along the recipe if possible.

Now these cookies aren't necessarily healthy but they are a tasty treat! They are small cookies so I suppose if you can stop yourself from eating 5 of them they could be calorie controlled. The key ingredient in these is pistachio pudding mix. I've tried the same recipe with other flavor of pudding mixes and never have liked it as much as the cute green originals. Give it a try!

Pistachio Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 sticks (1 cup) margarine
2 boxes instant pistachio pudding mix
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
12 oz. bag chocolate chips

Mix together until well blended margarine and pudding mix. Once well blended, add in egg. Stir in flour and baking soda. Once well combined stir in chocolate chips with wooden spoon.

Spoon by level tablespoon (they are small cookies) onto baking sheet. They don't spread out much but give them about an inch between cookies. Bake at 350 degrees for 11-13 minutes. They should not turn brown.

Makes 60 cookies.

Per cookie (good luck eating just one!)
74 calories
4.8 g fat
7.1 g carbohydrate
0.3 g fiber
1 g protein

What's the most unusual way you acquired a new recipe?

Pizza, part II

I usually don't make much homemade pizza during track season. The team usually gets pizza on the bus ride home from their track meets every weekend between January and May. I figure that the husband is pretty sick of pizza each week so I don't want to inundate him with more pizza at home.

Last week when working on our meal plan I asked him if there was anything he was craving. To my surprise I hear "Pizza sounds good." Alrighty - pizza it is!

So over the weekend, this recipe made its way to our kitchen again! This time it was pepperoni for the husband and spinach for me. I used a mozzarella / provolone mix for the cheese and it was awesome. Honestly the best pizza I have ever made!