Life is Good

All these rainy gloomy days have made for good baking days, but I am missing the sunshine! Last night I posted a picture on instagram of the blueberry chia seed muffins I made and I had a few requests for the recipe. I have both a gluten full and gluten free version posted in the recipe index, but I will post it again to make life easier.

Blueberry Chia Seed Muffins

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour OR gluten free all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup old fashioned or steel cut oats (GF)
• 3 tablespoons chia seeds
• 1 teaspoon baking soda 
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2/3 cup blueberries- fresh or frozen (I used a combination of both)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons safflower oil or vegetable oil
• 1 cup milk, any kind
• 2 medium bananas, mashed- should equate to 1 cup

In a small bowl combine chia seeds and milk. Allow to sit and thicken. 

In a large mixing bowl combine dry ingredients first- GF flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon.

Once the dry ingredients are mixed together add in the wet ingredients- egg, vanilla, safflower oil, mashed banana, and thickened milk/chia seed mixture. Make sure everything is completely mixed.

After a batter forms add in blueberries and chocolate chips. If you don't like blueberries strawberries work well too and are just as good! 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line muffin tin with aluminum tins- DON'T USE PAPER TINS! The batter is sticky and makes getting the paper tins off muffins a nightmare. So unless you feel like eating paper do yourself a favor and us aluminum! 

Pour batter into tins. It will make 12 large muffins, or 18 smaller muffins.

Bake at 375 degrees for 18 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into a muffins comes out clean. 

These muffins freeze great! I usually make a giant batch to keep me a couple weeks. If you're going to freeze the muffins allow them to cool completely and then place in a gallon ziploc bag or airtight container in the freezer. Just remember to peel off aluminum muffin tin before microwaving! 

The crummy weather forced me to do my entire workout inside at the gym. When the weather is nice I like to do the cardio portion of my workout outside. This morning I laced up my sneakers and hit the treadmill for a run. After running I walked to cool down and then hit the weights for half an hour.

After hitting the gym and the grocery store on the way home I treated myself. I love almond milk so when I saw dark chocolate almond milk I knew I had to try it! Normally I do not like chocolate milk- it's too sugary and gives me a really bad stomachache, but this didn't! And OH MY GOSH IT WAS GOOD! I'm basically chugged the entire thing. I highly recommend trying dark chocolate almond milk!

Cora has not been liking being cooped up in the house all day with the rain. She loves her stuffed bear, currently her favorite toy, but she is getting more than a little stir crazy with all this rain.

Tuesday I posted my favorite creation of all time healthy banana split and I really didn't think it could get any better, but it did! Hard to believe I know. 

I made a smaller version today, only using half of a large banana, but I smeared PB2 on both slices of the banana. I still used 1/2 cup vanilla greek yogurt, strawberries, blueberries, granola and chocolate chips. I did not add the cherries because I opted for a nectarine instead.