Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

A new spin on an old favorite! These muffins have about half the calories and fat of the muffins you will find in places such as Starbucks, but they still taste fabulous.

Cast of Characters:
- 1/2 cup unbleached flour
- 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 Tbs baking powder
- 1 Tbs poppy seeds
- 1 Tbs grated lemon zest
- 2 egg white (or 1 whole egg), beaten
- 3/4 cup nonfat milk
- 1/4 cup canola oil (vegetable oil would work, too)
- 1/3 cup lemon curd (raspberry preserves would also probably work if you cannot find lemon curd)

Directions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line a 12-cup muffin tin with baking cups.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together unbleached flour, whole-wheat flour, sugar, and baking powder. Stir in oats, poppy seeds, and lemon zest as well.
3. In a separate bowl, combine egg, milk, and oil.
4. Add the egg mixture into the flour mixture. Stir just until incorporated (If you stir for too long, you will in up with rubbery muffins).
5. Divide the batter evenly into the 12 baking cups. Put about 1 tsp. of lemon curd on the top of the batter in each cup.
6. Bake for 15-17 minutes or until the tops are lightly browned.
7. Enjoy!

Nutritional Info:
Servings: 12
Calories: 165
Fat: 6 grams
Carbs: 25 grams
Protein: 4 grams
Fiber: 3 grams

Miss Amy's Cinnamon Banana Bread

When I was a little girl, one of my favorite things to bake (and eat) was banana bread. I learned early on that the riper the bananas the better (and sweeter) the bread. Fast forward to last week--> I bought some bananas and then managed to totally forget about them. I managed to stumble upon them in my kitchen on Friday, but by then they were all brown and over-ripe. Well, my forgetfulness turned out to be a blessing because I decided to continue poking around my kitchen to see what else I might have on hand. I ended up coming up with this recipe from the ingredients in my fridge and pantry.

Cast of Characters:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), room temp
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup mashed very ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt (1 single serving container)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2-3 tsp cinnamon (depending on your preference)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Using an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy
3. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until incorporated.
4. Mix in Greek yogurt.
5. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
6. Alternate mixing in the mashed banana and the flour mixture. DO NOT OVER MIX! The bread will be tough and rubbery if you do :(
7. Bake for about 60 - 70 minutes. Test to see if the bread is done by inserting a toothpick into the middle of the bread. If it comes out clean, you're good to go. If it comes out with batter on it, keep the bread in a bit longer.

If you really like banana nut bread, try folding in about 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans into the batter before baking. Enjoy!

Spiced Chai Latte Mix

Some day in November while my mom was shopping with my grandmother up in Indiana, she came across these adorable little Ball jars. We decided that I needed to find something to fill them with to hand out as presents this year. While at home for Thanksgiving, I was looking through some of her old Taste of Home magazines and I came across this easy spiced chai latte mix.

Cast of Characters:

• 3 Cups nonfat dry milk powder
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup unsweetened instant tea (like Nestea)
• 3/4 cup Powdered nondairy vanilla creamer
• 1 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp cardamom
• 1/2 tsp cloves

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients together in a food processor or blender. (I actually just sifted all of the ingredients together and it turned out just fine.)
2. Mix 3 Tbsp of mixture into 3/4 cup hot water.
3. Enjoy!

Nutrition Info:

Servings: 24

Calories: 85

Fat: 1 g

Carbs: 18 g

Protein: 1 g

Strawberry Smoothie

Summer is the perfect time for smoothies. When in a hurry, I used to run by somewhere like Smoothie King to get a liquid lunch. Little did I know, the smoothie I typically got was 400 calories! And some of their smoothies are more than 1,000 calories for a small! After this little discovery, I thought it may be best to stay away from smoothies, but that's easier said than done, so instead I created my own healthier alternative.

Cast of Characters:

• 1 cup frozen strawberries
• 1/2 cup nonfat milk
• 6 oz fat free vanilla yogurt

Directions:

1. Blend well in your blender (works best if frozen strawberries are on the bottom)
2. Pour into awesome reusable cup with straw.
3. Enjoy delicious summertime bliss! :)

I'm sure this could be done with many other frozen fruits (mango, pineapple, raspberries, blackberries, etc.), but I don't currently have the time to experiment right now. Let me know if you try another combo that works!

Nutrition Info:

Calories: 188

Fat: 1 g

Carbs: 34 g

Protein: 12 g

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love Starbucks! They have a banana chocolate chip muffin there that I absolutely love, so I just had to try to create my own.

Cast of characters:

• 1 1/2 cups of mini chocolate chips
• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup granulated white sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 3 large ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.
2. - Cut butter into small pieces and melt in the microwave (about 30-45 seconds should do it) and then set it aside to cool
3. - In a large mixing bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nuts using a fork or a whisk. Set aside.
4. - In a medium mixing bowl, combine the mashed bananas, eggs, melted and cooled butter, and vanilla.
5. - Using a rubber spatula, fold banana mixture into your flour mixture just until combined. Do not overdo it because then you'll end up with tough muffins.
6. - Spoon batter evenly into 12 paper-lined or greased muffin cups and bake for 18-22 minutes.
7. - Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Nutrition Info:

Calories: 328

Fat: 15g

Carbs: 48g

Protein: 4 g

Banana Nut Muffins

Apparently I'm on a bit of a muffin kick, but these are DELICIOUS!

Ingredients:

- 1 cup pecans (you can also use walnuts)

- 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

- 3/4 cup granulated white sugar

- 1 tsp. baking powder

- 1/4 tsp baking soda

- 1/4 tsp salt

- 1 tsp ground cinnamon

- 2 eggs, lightly beaten

- 1/2 cup unsalted butter

- 3 ripe large bananas (the riper they are, the sweeter the muffins will be), mashed

- 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

- Cut butter into small pieces and melt in the microwave (about 30-45 seconds should do it) and then set it aside to cool

- In a large mixing bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nuts using a fork or a whisk. Set aside.

- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the mashed bananas, eggs, melted and cooled butter, and vanilla.

- Using a rubber spatula, fold banana mixture into your flour mixture just until combined. Do not overdo it because then you'll end up with tough muffins.

- Spoon batter evenly into 15 paper-lined muffin cups and bake for 18-22 minutes.

- Allow to cool on a wire rack.

These muffins are fabulous right out of the oven! Enjoy!

Nutrition Facts:

Calories: 233

Total Fat: 13g

Carbs: 28g

Protein: 3.4g

Blueberry Streusel Muffins

Ingredients:

- 1 cup milk

- 2 eggs, lightly beaten

- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

- 3 cups all-purpose flour

- 1 cup granulated white sugar

- 1 Tbsp baking powder

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1/2 cup unsalted butter

- 2 cups fresh blueberries (frozen blueberries can be used)

- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Muffin Batter:

- In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

- Cut cold butter into small pieces and blend in using your hands (using a mixer will result in a big mess) The mixture should look like coarse crumbs.

- Remove one cup of the mixture and set aside to use as streusel topping.

- Add milk, beaten eggs, and vanilla to the mixture and blend just until combined (blending for too long will make baked muffins tough)

- Finally, gently fold in blueberries.

Streusel Topping:

- drizzle melted butter over the flour mixture you set aside earlier

- use a fork to mix together (mixture should be crumbly)

- Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners

- Spoon muffin batter into cups evenly

- sprinkle a couple of teaspons of the streusel mixture over each muffin

- bake for 18-22 minutes

- Enjoy!

Nutritional Info:

- Calories 197.7

- Fat 7.2 g

-Carbs 30.1 g

-Protein 3.5 g