Less Muffin Tops more Muffins

Lately I've been trying to figure something out to have to eat in the morning before I go to work super early to get me though until my first break at work. I tend to get so hungry that I get grumpy so I wanted to find something to hold me over till then but not totally blow my calories for the day. I tried some poppy seed muffins, and they were great, but I thought I'd try something a little different… So i went searching online and got two recipes to try….. SAVORY and SWEET Muffins….. I think I've got something here!

Savory

11 Muffins
Calories: 90.2

Protein: 9.4g

Carbohydrates: 9.1g

Fat: 1.6g

60g Garbanzo Bean Flour (any combination to equal one cup)
30g Quinoa Flour
30g Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Black Pepper
1 Tbsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1 1/4 Cup Egg Whites (~276g or 6 eggs)
1/4 Cup Applesauce
2 oz Almond "Jalapeno Jack Cheese"
6 pieces Jennie-o Turkey Bacon
Copped Parsley

This recipe called for quick cooking oats, but in all of the confusion of measuring the flours and not being sure about how the quinoa was going to taste with this one. (I had a mishap with the poppy muffins and quinoa) I accidentally forgot to add the oats, it called for 1/3 cup and I'm sure it would have added good texture but I think they taste fine without them.

The oven should be pre-heated to 375. All the try ingredients can be mixed together in a large bowl. Separately mix the eggs and applesauce. Once they are combines add them to the flour mixture, it shouldn't be over mixed. Lastly add the bacon, cheese and parsley until they are fully incorporated.

Evenly distribute the mix into pre-greased/pam'ed muffin tins and bake for 20 minutes.

These really ended up being super easy and I was pretty happy with the end result. BUT I was in kind of a baking kick and had bought the makings for a sweet muffin too, so I did BOTH.

Recipe Source: http://www.incredibleegg.org/recipes-and-more/recipes/baconcheddar-breakfast-muffins

Sweet

16 Muffins
Calories: 89.9

Protein: 7.6g

Carbohydrates: 14g

Fat: .8g

20g Oatmeal Flour
120g Whole Wheat Flour
90g Garbanzo Bean Flour (~2 Cups Total)
2 Scoop Cake Batter Muscle Gauge
1/2 tsp Salt
2 Tbsp Baking Powder
1 Tbsp Baking Soda
2 Tsp Flax Meal

3/4 Cup Sugar-free Almond Syrup
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
3 Tbsp Egg Whites (1 Egg)
1 Cup Fat Free Greek Yogurt
1/4 Cup Apple Sauce
1tsp (per muffin) Sugar-Free Jam (~1/2 cup)

Topping
1/4 Cup Sugar-Free Amaretto Syrup
1 tsp Cinnamon
35g Spelt Cereal
A few sprays of "I cant believe its not butter" Spray.

The oven should be pre-heated to 400 degrees and the tins should be sprayed with pam or greased in some way.

Whisk all of the dry ingredients together in a large bowl (protein, flours, salt, baking soda and powder, and flax meal). In a smaller bowl evenly mix the syrup, vanilla, egg, yogurt, and applesauce. Mix the two together in the larger bowl until everything is incorporated but not over stirred. Distribute all of the mix into the tins and add 1 tsp of jam to the top of each muffin. The dough was too wet to make indents in with a utensil. I added the jam to the top of each and just pushed it into the muffin a little with my finger.

I always like a strudel top to muffins, but this can easily be omitted and shaves off 8 calories per muffin…. Its your choice. I just took some of the spelt hot cereal mix and mixed it with some cinnamon, butter spray and sugar-free syrup to make a topping and evenly distributed it on top of each muffin.

These muffins take not time to cook. The suggested time was 12 minutes and they were defiantly done in that time.

I think these are my favorites…. I had to have two right away just to make sure.

Recipe Source: http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/bread-recipes/muffins/jam-muffins-687863/

I dedicate these to Monica…. who's been waiting ever so patiently for me to post something again. Mony--- this is worth the wait!

An early start for my Birthday Cake recipe....

Carrot Cake!

My mom always made me carrot cake for my
Birthdays so I was keen to try and make
something with less fat/calories. I got a box of prunes from Walgreen's and it had a recipe so I thought I would try it out... Why not? Keep in mind that this is (secretly) my second attempt at these muffins (its much easier to portion into a muffin tin). In other words, this is a fantastic recipe because I took away some of the things I screwed up on the first time and I got a few pointers from Chef James Gibson at Salty's. Try them out... I really like them....

Carrot Muffins (Made 26 Muffins)
Calories: 85.6
Protein: 5.6g
Carbohydrates: 14.1
Fat: .6

6 oz Shredded Carrots
8 oz Can Crushed Pineapple
1 Cup Egg Beaters
2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
1 1/3 Cup Stevia for Baking
8 oz Prunes
1 Cup Water
200g Bob's Red Mill Oatmeal Flour
40g Bob's Red Mill Buckwheat Flour
2 Tsp Cinnamon
2 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp Salt
3 Scoops Muscle Gauge "Cake Batter"

First thing to do is to soak the carrots. I weighed out as many as I wanted and then soaked them in water while I went to the store. James says that this makes them cook quicker in the oven and not come out so hard. I start out with a medium sized bowl and put in the whole can of crushed pineapple liquid and all and the preferred sugar. I do use less than the recipe I found calls for because the protein does have a little sweetness to it.

Next you make a puree with the prunes by throwing it into a food processor with one cup water. This will be helpful with keeping your batter wet enough. To make things easier on myself when scrapping out the prunes I just mixed in the eggs and vanilla too. This makes the eggs a little fluffier and incorporates the really wet ingredients. Add that mixture to the pineapple and sugar. Since I like to make sure I get everything out of the food processor I add the shredded carrots to it with the leftover egg/prune puree to pick up any last bits of it and also make it so that the shreds aren't so long. This is much easier to scrape out of the food processor then the prunes alone....

Now we add the dry ingredients. Add the cinnamon, salt, baking soda, protein and flours. The measurements for the flour is 2 Cups or 240g. I did not like the consistency of the muffins with just the buckwheat flour so I thought I would use only oat because of its soft airy texture it gives to baked items but I wanted to have at least a little structure and integrity to the cake so I added a little buckwheat. Plus the buckwheat is a little higher in protein which helps out overall. I add the Muscle Gauge "Cake Batter" because its great to bake with and it makes what were enjoying a little more well rounded.... Not just chocked full of carbs!

For the muffins I use a 1/4 Cup to measure into the pan. I found when I was attempting to devour my first creation that the batter really sticks to the liners. I felt like I was only getting half of my muffin because it was stuck to the paper. So, I suggest not using them like I did to be lazy and not have to wash the pan.

Cook these on 375 for 18 minutes or until you can poke them with a toothpick and it comes out clean.

Happy Eating!!

If you are interested I'm sure a fat-free cream cheese with some equal or sugar-free vanilla syrup would be fantastic as a frosting on top of these..... I would try but I don't think my tummy would like it..... So I stick to the plain ones.....

I got this recipe from the back of a Deerfeild Farms box of Dried Prunes.

In the beginning there was chocolate cake...

Chocolate cake or anything else that I wanted. I never realized how much I was consuming and how much I was indulging, in anything let alone sweets. So when I started meeting with my trainer and tracking my calories I soon realized what I had been doing to myself. I stuck to my 1500 calorie day pretty regularly but I really kept feeling like I was restricting myself SO MUCH. All I wanted was to be able to have something NORMAL. Something that anyone else would have. I'm around a lot of people during the day that eat and drink anything else they wanted. I got a little perturbed and annoyed by this. It took a while but I finally voiced my frustrations to Kristen, my trainer, and she made a suggestion to try French Toast. I hadn't even thought to try and have something like that. So much bread, sugar and calories I wouldn't be able to have it, enjoy it AND get to have another meal that day. Kristen made it sound so easy. Use egg whites and a lower calorie bread and it becomes a more evenly balance meal. I felt so enlightened by this idea. I can have something "indulgent" while still being able to follow my newly established eating habits.

I've set out to help spread my "enlightenment". Now I'm trying to make things that are lower in calorie than its counterparts while still having good flavor and trying to keep a good ratio of carbs, protein and fat. My goals are to stay within a 1500 calorie diet and my ratio of 40% Carbohydrates, 40% Protein and 20% Fat. My attempts have really just tried to keep the fat and the calories low. Well see what happens, I don't guarantee all successes and at this point have already had some duds. But I want to share them..... This is my attempt to make some great food while indulging consciously.