Catch Up Sunday

Happy Sunday! I apologize for being MIA lately that is a story for another post. I have a lot to catch up on and so many new recipes to share! 

Thursday I made a trip out to the county farmer's market and walked away with delicious produce. I got the freshest green beans I've ever seen! The green beans in the grocery store are never this fresh or tender. My mom cooked them up for me with my dinner tonight and needless to say I will be going back to get more soon! I also picked up four gigantic tomatoes. They are the sweetest tomatoes I've had in a long time. Nothing beats farm fresh!

Does the summer heat zap anyone else's appetite? When it's 85 degrees out and 95% humidity (hello hair frizz) my appetite makes itself scarce. For lunch I made myself a cool treat to beat the heat. 

Peanut Butter Almond Parfait Bowl

• 1/2 cup vanilla greek yogurt
• 1/2 small banana sliced
• 2 tablespoons prepared PB2
• Vanilla Almond Crunch Quest Bar, diced
• 1 teaspoon organic honey drizzled over top

I love the combination of peanut butter, banana and almond. The honey on top added a sweet bite to the bowl. It made a nice low key lunch with lots of protein to hold me over, but it wasn't heavy so it made a great meal to beat the heat.

Banana Bread Oatmeal

YUM!! I love bananas in any form and I really love banana bread (have you seen my recipe index with all kinds of banana bread muffins?!). Today I took my banana love to the next level and made banana bread oatmeal. OH MY GOODNESS!! It was so delicious! It tastes exactly like banana bread, but only takes a fraction of the time to make!

Banana Bread Oatmeal

• 1/2 cup oats of choice
• 1/4 cup vanilla greek yogurt
• 1/2 small banana, mashed
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• OPTIONAL: 1.5 teaspoon walnuts

In a small container or bowl combine greek yogurt, mashed banana, cinnamon, vanilla and walnuts (if desired).

In a separate microwave safe bowl microwave oats with 1/3 cup of water for half of the recommended cooking time. 

After half of the cooking time remove from the microwave and add in combine banana and greek yogurt mix. Microwave for the remaining cooking time.

Garnish with additional banana slices if desired.

Healthy Blueberry Muffins- No Added Sugar, Oils or Butter

It felt so amazing to be back in the kitchen baking! Over the holiday weekend I was grilling or making up quick and easy salads, so baking again felt great. Not to mention my house smells amazing! 

This is a recipe I am super pumped to share with you because it is so healthy and delicious! Brainstorming a recipe can be a difficult task especially when trying to take food allergies into consideration. I am happy (and proud) that this recipe turned out amazing and on the first try (first round successes can be rare)! 

These delicious blueberry muffins contain no added sugar, butter or oils. As an added bonus they are low carb, low fat, low sodium and low sugar! When I first tried a muffin when they came out of the oven I seriously thought I was eating a dessert muffin because it was so moist, tasted like cake and was exploding with delicious blueberries. Besides the amazing taste they are completely guilt free at only 57 calories per muffin and contain only 3 grams of sugar you have got to taste them for yourselves!

Healthy Blueberry Muffins

• 1.5 cups GF flour- gluten free or regular all purpose or whole wheat flour all work
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• cinnamon, to taste
• 2 cups organic fresh or frozen blueberries, use 2.5 or 3 cups if you like extra blueberries
• 1 egg
• 1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
• heaping 1/2 cup mashed banana, about 1 banana
• 1/2 cup unsweetened organic applesauce
• 2/3 cup vanilla greek yogurt- I used Dannon Light and Fit
• 1 cup milk, any kind- I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk

In a large mixing bowl combine all dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and cinnamon.

Add in all wet ingredients except for the blueberries: egg, vanilla, mashed banana, applesauce, greek yogurt and milk. 

After a dough forms, it will be a very wet and runny dough, stir in the blueberries.

Heat oven to 375 degrees and line muffin tins with liners if desired (it does make clean up WAY easier).

Depending on how many muffins you wish to make fill muffins 1/2 to 3/4 full. If you make smaller muffins you can easily make 24 muffins. I made slightly larger muffins and got 18 muffins.

Bake at 375 degrees for 15-23 minutes. Check muffins at 15 minutes. Insert a toothpick and if it comes out with batter still on it bake for another 5 minutes and check again. Baking time depends on the strength of your oven. 

After baking allow muffins to cool for a few minutes before serving or allow them to cool completely before freezing.

Nutrition per muffin (based on 18 muffins):

Calories: 57

Carbs: 11

Fat: 1 gram

Protein: 2 grams

Sodium: 71 mg

Sugar: 3 grams