The BEST Healthier Blueberry Muffins

One of my Saturday morning traditions is to start the morning with a cup of coffee and the Food Network. A couple of my favorite shows come on at this time and I love watching them for the creativity of their recipes, the simplicity in most of the recipes created, and the fact that I’ll actually probably make the recipes that they cook! I’m not in culinary school and so, with the exception of a few cooking classes here and there, I’ve found these shows to be a great way to learn about different cooking techniques, the pairing of different ingredients and, of course, new recipe ideas!

A few weekends ago, I watched Ina Garten make these Blueberry Bran Muffins. I loved the ease of the recipe and the fact that she was using some healthier swaps to make these muffins, while keeping them seemingly delicious! So, fast-forward to this past weekend when I decided to make these guys and they absolutely, 100% did not disappoint! Kyle and I both loved them and the remaining muffins have been stored on our counter for more enjoying this week!

Baked and ready to go!

A little bit about these muffins - they use the main basic baking ingredients, including flour, sugar, egg, baking powder and baking soda, but, instead of tons of butter, Ina uses vegetable oil and plain Greek yogurt to keep them moist and crumbly and she adds wheat bran (although I couldn’t find wheat bran at the store and used oat bran), which adds some texture without drying them out and gives them a big boost of fiber! I really think the yogurt is what makes these muffins so incredibly moist and it also bumps up the nutrition profile of theses muffins by increasing the protein and calcium content. To seal the deal I found some incredibly sweet fresh blueberries at the grocery this past weekend, which packs in even MORE flavor and sweetness and nutrition with every scrumptious bite!

Of course you could add in some whole wheat flour for 1/2 the regular flour, but I would make it this way first. It’s a healthier boost to your typical blueberry muffin and something healthier that your kids and athletes might actually want to eat in the morning! Pair it with a scrambled egg if you need an extra boost of protein (will get you about 7 additional grams). This past weekend we paired the muffins with cheesy eggs, a perfect Saturday morning brunch for us. I’ve also made them and used fresh raspberries and blackberries and they were just as delicious!

We paired our muffin with some deliciously simple cheesy eggs. I sauteed mushrooms in the skillet. Whisked eggs with milk and fresh thyme. Then added the egg mixture to the mushrooms and scrambled until almost done, tossing in sharp grated cheddar at the very end and sprinkling with salt and pepper and a little more fresh thyme

I hope you give these muffins a try! I’ve got the remainders packaged on our counter for some quick breakfasts on the go and maybe another slow Saturday morning coffee with Kyle or a girlfriend. Kyle and I have both already grabbed one on a busy morning at least once this week :) You can find the recipe on the Barefoot Contessa website. I made it exactly as written, except I used oat bran instead of wheat bran and they were excellent!

Happy Fueling!

Taylor

The Best Blueberry bran muffins

Original recipe by Ina Garten found here

Look at that blueberry goodness!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil, plus more to grease the tops of your muffin tin

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 7 ounces of Greek yogurt (I typically use 1 1/2 of my 5.3 oz Nounos plain Greek yogurt containers that are regularly in our frige)

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1/2 cup honey

• 2 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• 2 1/2 cups wheat or oat bran

• 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries (8 ounces)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Brush the tops of the muffin tin with vegetable oil and line with 12 paper liners.

2. Stir together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and ground cinnamon in a small bowl.

3. In a large bowl whisk together the yogurt, sugar, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, honey, eggs, and vanilla.

4. Add the bowl of mixed dry ingredients to the bowl of wet ingredients and stir until well combined.

5. Gently stir in the bran and blueberries until just combined.

6. Scoop the batter equally into each muffin tin. I use an ice cream scoop to do this, which works really well.

7. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. These are really dense muffins, so I have found that these need to be cooked on the longer side but, remember, every oven is a little different!

8. Allow sit for about 5 minutes and enjoy!

Serve It Again!

I’ve found that these muffins can be stored in an airtight container for the week and be reheated in the microwave for about 20 seconds before serving again. Or they can be enjoyed room temp if no time to reheat. Enjoy!

Sunbutter Banana & Chia Seed Oatmeal

This month I have decided to focus my thoughts and recipes mainly on calcium and vitamin D for the athlete. This is probably the topic I talk about with young athletes most frequently. I know calcium and vitamin D probably do not seem like a big deal when new to your sport or injury-free, but it can really be a big deal if you are cutting it out of your diet completely! Not getting enough calcium can lead to low bone mineral density, and not only osteoporosis later in life, but stress fractures now if the athlete is overtraining and not resting and eating adequately.

When I meet with athletes, the hardest meal to pack nutrition into always seems to be breakfast. So, for that reason I started looking at what I eat for breakfast and what clients eat for breakfast most frequently and then see if I could make these breakfast choices more valuable to an athlete’s nutrition and training plan. Today’s recipe is an oatmeal recipe. I am an oatmeal fan because you can easily pack a lot into it. This oatmeal can be made the morning of or prepped the night before and then heated up in the microwave while getting ready for work or school in the morning. I love it because it’s hearty, it’s super satisfying and it packs in protein, quality carbohydrates, fiber and healthy fats in just one little bowl. For those athletes who have morning practices, it can also be stored in a small airtight container in a lunchbox with a cooler and heated up in the microwave after practice. I have really been enjoying this for breakfast these last couple of months and hope you enjoy it as well. I use a sunflower butter typically but, of course, you can use any nut or seed butter that you prefer. Here you go - the recipe for my Sunbutter Banana & Chia Seed Oatmeal…

Happy Fueling!

Taylor

SUNBUTTER BANANA AND CHIA SEED OATMEAL

Makes 1 bowl

INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 cup dry rolled oats

• 1/2 cup milk

• 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar

• 1 teaspoon flaxseed or chia seeds

• 1 teaspoon Sunbutter (or nut or seed butter of choice) + about 1 teaspoon more drizzled over the oatmeal*

• 1/4 cup mashed banana (about 1/2 medium banana)

• The other half of the banana, sliced over cooked oatmeal

• Dash of cinnamon, to sprinkle over the top after cooked.

  I like this Sunbutter and this Sunbutter because they are super simple and doesn’t have added sugar and lots of other added ingredients (not sponsored at all. I’ve just discovered these to be my preferences after lots of trial and error of different products).
  

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine first 5 ingredients in a cereal bowl or travel container and stir together.

2. Microwave 2 to 2 1/2 minutes.

3. Stir in the mashed banana until well incorporated.*

4. Microwave another 30 seconds to 1 minute.

5. Stir together and top with sliced banana, extra bit of nut or seed butter and sprinkle of cinnamon.

6. Enjoy!

• If taking to the office or school, you can go ahead and add the mashed banana in with step one. I think it just mixes in better if you add it once the oatmeal has cooked some.

NUTRITION INFO (per bowl)

294 cal; 10.75 g protein; 6.38 g fat; 48.5 g carb; 6.6 g fiber; 22.75 g sugar; 1.38 mg iron; 205 mg calcium; 0.53 mg zinc; 250 mg vitamin A; 50 IU vitamin D; 27 mg magnesium; 22 mg phosphorus, 326 mg potassium; 1 mg sodium; 20 ug folate

A Simply Stress-Free Christmas Brunch

Hello friends! It’s pouring here in Memphis and dad and Kyle are at the duck club, which makes it a perfect day for writing and recipe testing. Thought I would do a little post to tell you about our Christmas brunch and how I tried changing it up this year to keep things stress-free and with more time to sit around the Christmas tree!

Usually for Christmas my family drinks coffee and exchanges gifts first thing in the morning and then we tidy up and start making brunch. This year, however, I decided to try mixing it up a little and seeing if we could enjoy breakfast and each other’s company around the table in the den while doing our gift exchange, leaving more time to sit and chat and not hear our stomachs growling while we open gifts! After thinking about what I could prep ahead, I landed on my Crustless Sage and Sausage Quiche. Because it’s only me, dad and Kyle on Christmas morning, we don’t need to go overboard on the food and so we bought some in-season fruits and our favorite whole grain bread to pair with it. The fruits I selected included grapes, oranges and pears and they were so sweet and juicy diced up as a fruit salad. Our bread of choice these days is Dave’s Killer Bread and it was hearty and nutty, toasted up and served with butter. And that was our Christmas brunch! Both dad and Kyle loved the quiche and I’m assuming they were telling the truth because it was almost all entirely gone by the end of Christmas morning!

The quiche is super savory and so really complemented the sweet winter fruits served along side it. I always have a starch of some sort with a meal and the toasted Dave’s Killer Bread was perfect. I love having home-cooked meals at the table but I don’t think everything has to be homemade, especially if that means sacrificing time with family or friends. I know I could have made some homemade biscuits or bread or sweet rolls but dad doesn’t eat many sweets, and I didn’t want to spend all of my Christmas Eve in the kitchen. So the quiche was my home-cooked item that I prepped on Christmas Eve and placed in the oven Christmas morning and the other items were easily assembled Christmas morning while the quiche baked. It was a fun, relaxing and delicious Christmas morning.

And What About the Leftovers?

That’s another great thing about the quiche! It can be refrigerated and reheated for breakfast, lunch or dinner on any of the days to follow. I cut the remainder of the quiche into small squares, wrapped each square in plastic wrap and stored half of them in the refrigerator and half in the freezer so dad can have a quick protein-packed breakfast once Kyle and I are back in Dallas.