Currently Browsing: Muffin of the Week
Nov 30, 2011
Posted by Jennifer on Nov 30, 2011 in breakfast, dessert, Muffin of the Week | 4 comments
I haven’t made muffins in a long time! I used to make a different kind of muffin every week. Since it’s an easy go-to breakfast on a busy morning, I love creating new recipes that are lower in calorie, but still taste good so I can avoid the bakery on my way to work!
These muffins taste amazing, moist and chocolatey!
Makes 12 regular size muffins
Ingredients
2 cups bread flour (all purpose flour could work here too)
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1/4 cup Canola oil
1 egg
1 cup skim milk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 medium ripe bananas, mashed
I actually just put all the ingredients into a bowl and mixed it by hand using a wooden spoon. Just stir until all the ingredients are incorporated and there are no patches of flour anywhere.
Bake in a muffin tin coated with cooking spray. Bake for 15 minutes at 375 degrees or until a toothpick comes out clean.
I will definitely make these again! 
On the bottom of this page, under categories, I have a category for “MUFFIN OF THE WEEK” where I have at least 20 different low/cal healthier muffins.
What’s your favorite kind of muffin?
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 83 g
Amount Per Serving
Calories 213
Total Fat 7.0g
Saturated Fat 1.9g
Trans Fat 0.0g
Cholesterol 2mg
Sodium 120mg
Total Carbohydrates 34.6g
Dietary Fiber 1.5g
Sugars 15.5g
Protein 3.7g
(calories figured out from www.caloriecount.com)
Oct 27, 2011
Posted by Jennifer on Oct 27, 2011 in breakfast, eggs, kid friendly, Muffin of the Week | 7 comments
You all know how much I love muffins and I wanted to make some for breakfast for my family. I’ve made all sorts of muffins, mostly exchanging less healthy ingredients or amounts to something healthier – but for these I made them just as the recipe intended.
I used to not be such a huge fan of Nigella – but as I’ve watched more and more of her shows, her cooking is really simple – but looks amazing. I remember watching an episode where she made this really simple pasta dish called Slut’s Spaghetti. (I somehow don’t remember her calling that in the show, but that’s the recipe I found at Food TV! ) She made it and served up a huge bowl and then walked into her bedroom and got all comfy and ate the pasta in bed! I thought that was pretty awesome
Here is the recipe, approved by all three of my kids
Ingredients
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons best quality cocoa powder (I didn’t have that so I left it out)
3/4 cup superfine sugar
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips, plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling
1 cup milk
1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Put the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa, sugar, and 3/4 cup of the chocolate chips into a large bowl. Pour all the liquid ingredients into a measuring jug. Mix the dry and wet ingredients together, remembering that a lumpy batter makes the best muffins. Spoon into the prepared muffin cases. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips on top and then bake for 20 minutes or until the muffins are dark, risen and springy.
Amazing. What is your favorite kind of muffin and if you’ve got a recipe for one – post a link in the comments, I would love to check them out!
Aug 11, 2011
Posted by Jennifer on Aug 11, 2011 in breakfast, Muffin of the Week, recipe make over, Successes!!, vegetables | 5 comments
Do you have a ton of zucchini in your garden and you are running out of ideas of what to make with them? Make these muffins – you won’t be disappointed! I haven’t made these in a long time I forgot how good they are.
This recipe is my adaptation of Heidi from 101 Cookbooks. I printed out the recipe, but then gasped when I saw it called for 1/4 cup melted butter + 3/4 cup of oil! Not figure friendly! So I decided to tweak the recipe to make it healthier. This is my version I made 6 Giant muffins + 24 mini muffins. Each giant muffin is only 217 calories!
Chocolate zucchini muffins by Jenn/Adapted from 101 Cookbooks
1 cup unpacked brown sugar
1/4 cup Canola oil
1 egg + 2 egg whites
1 banana, mashed
1 container yogurt (the one I used was vanilla at 90 calories)
1/4 cup ground flax seed
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups grated zucchini (squeezed of excess moisture)
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. banking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
In a mixer, mix together the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl add the dry ingredients. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet batter and mix until incorporated.
For the mini muffins, I baked those at 375 for about 10 minutes.
For the Jumbo muffins, also bake them at 375 for 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
These muffins taste like chocolate cake!
Things I did to make them healthier:
Lessened the brown sugar by 1/2 a cup and did not pack down the brown sugar
Used only 1/4 cup canola oil vs. butter and 3/4 cup oil
Used 1 egg + 2 egg whites instead of 3 eggs
Used skim milk in place of whole milk
Cut the chocolate chips in half
Added the banana
Added yogurt
Added ground flax seed
Cut the cocoa in half
You won’t miss the changes at all!
Are you growing zucchini? What is your favorite thing to make with it?
May 18, 2011
Posted by Jennifer on May 18, 2011 in breakfast, Muffin of the Week | 9 comments
I saw this recipe on another girl’s blog and I wrote her site down wrong – so I can’t give proper credit. 
. All I know is that she comments on my twin sister’s blog – so if you posted this recipe recently – please speak up
Basically, all you have to do, is mix some ingredients together in a plastic tupperware container and microwave for 3 minutes! That’s it. Out came this nice and moist muffin!
I altered the ingredients to what I had on hand
Serves 1
1/2 container yogurt (I used Aldi fit and active)
2 egg whites – or you can use 1/2 cup egg substitute
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 tablespoons Ovaltine powder
pinch of sea salt
pinch of cinnamon
Combine together in a microwave safe bowl or Tupperware container. I used a Tupperware container since I was going to bring it to work. I have a 1200 watt microwave oven and I cooked it for 3 minutes. It started to puff up really big, so I would stop the microwave to make sure it wasn’t cooking over the container.
I topped this with sliced strawberries, a banana, and 1 cup of blueberries. By the time I got to work, the blueberry juice had soaked into the muffin, it was AMAZING!
For the muffin it’s 217 calories.
***
Now onto the Biggest Loser. I love the episodes where the contestants go back home and see their families for the first time. The reaction is so awesome when the contestants walk through the door. As soon as one of their family members starts to cry, I start to lose it!
If you don’t know on tonight’s episode, two contestants would be above the yellow line, and two of the contestants who fall below the yellow line will have to wait to see who America picks to find out if they are in the final three.
The weigh in started and Irene lost 3 pounds, so in 5 months she lost an amazing 112 pounds! Jay lost 4 pounds and in 5 months has lost 158 pounds, Hannah and Olivia lost 4 pounds which was enough to get them into the finale. I thought it was interesting how when Olivia was on the scale, her sister Hannah said by looking at her you would never know she was overweight. She was true, seeing Hannah, or Irene and Olivia walking down the street, you would never guess all three of them used to weigh 100+ pounds more than they do today.
Next week is the finale and while I originally thought Irene would win if she were in the top three, even if she does get voted back in I am switching my vote to Olivia.
Who do you want to win?
May 9, 2011
Posted by Jennifer on May 9, 2011 in breakfast, Muffin of the Week, recipe make over | 6 comments
This recipe is my version of a recipe I saw on my friend Celine’s site Have Cake will Travel Banana Chocolate Muffins. I changed a few things. I didn’t have chocolate chips, so I subbed Ovaltine.
I actually made these for the first time at the beginning of my blog way back in April of 2008 and I think I’ve only made them once since. I don’t know why because they are awesome!
2 ripe bananas
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 small container of applesauce (like the single serve kind)
1/4 cup Canola or safflower oil (I used Canola oil)
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup white flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
4 tablespoons of Ovaltine!
The original recipe asked for chocolate chips, of which I had none, so I looked in my cupboard and saw Ovaltine!
To my surprise it has only 70 calorie for 4 tablespoons, so I decided to throw that in to make it chocolaty. The other thing is the recipe said it made 8 muffins, but since I like huge muffins like you get in the bakery, I decided to make 6 in my Jumbo Muffin Pan.
Each muffin tallies in at 312 calories, 6 fat and 5 fiber.
I really liked them because it was really moist on the inside, it reminded me of cake!
Mix all the ingredients and bake at 350 degrees for 15 -18 minutes. Insert toothpick to make sure it comes out clean before removing from the oven.
How was everyone’s weekend? I hope all the Mom’s out there had a great day. It was great weather in Chicago – sunny skies and beautiful out
We stopped by my Mom’s for dinner, here is a picture my sister BIZ took of our kids. Mark, Paul, Hannah and Claire.
And, check out my friend Jacky’s site - she hosted BSI this week and made awesome cherry scones with saffron – fancy Jacky!!
