Attempting to stay healthy while begining to attack finals...

Dinners are looking more like this  : roasted brussel sprouts and broccoli along with a sweet potato and less like this:

Not that Indian food is unhealthy, but that I've resolved to only eat either potato, brown rice, whole wheat pasta or whole grains ( like barely and quinoa) as my source of carbs with meals.  As much as I like regular basmati rice and grew up on it, I will have to stay away in the interest of my waist line...

As most of you know, I am engaged but I havnt set up a wedding date -- and I refuse to do so until I am below a certain dress size. Motivation? I hope so!

 Some of you may know that Eastern Europeans often bake an Easter bread. The one Armenians make is called "Paska" and one of the most prominent flavors is that of orange. ( I should have taken a picture of one when I went home from Easter since I can't seem to find any accurate ones online).  Anyways, I wanted to make a healthy fat-free muffin that would evoke a similar flavor but me much more guiltfree than the original.

The resulting product was this batch of muffins which I made using Sweet Potatoes. When I told my dad about these, he made a face and was confused as to how a vegetable could be in a sweet dessert item, but I explained it works just like pumpkin and bananas.

They came out so cute and perfectly shaped. I was ecstatic.


The Ingredients:

1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 Tbsp fresh orange juice
The Zest of one orange
2 cups all purpose flour
3 Tbsp powdered sugar
1 1/3 cup cooked sweet potato ( I roasted it in the oven until it began emitting a sticky syrup)
3 large organic eggs ( yolks and whites separated)
1/3 cup plain fat free organic yogurt ( organic helps give it the tart bread-like flavor)
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp vanilla bourbon extract
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves

In a small bowl, combine the dry ingredients ( flour, spices, baking soda, and baking powder)  In another small bowl, place the egg white and keep them refrigerating. Finally, in a large bowl:
1) combine the egg yolks, sugar, orange, orange zest
2) Mix in the sweet potato
3) Stir in the applesauce and yogurt
4) Add the vanilla extract

Next, I chose to mix in the dry ingredients before folding in the whipped egg whites. This turned out fine, you could try folding in the egg white before adding the flour, or not separates the eggs at all -- I'm just letting you know how I made them this time :)

 Bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes in a lined muffin tin pan.

I loved these. Not only was the flavor exactly what I was looking for, but each one is fat free and less than 150 calories each. Best of all, they were very filling!! Sometimes, one muffin was even too much.

Apricot Blueberry Muffins ( Low fat, Low Cal)

Dare I say it rivals with the discontinued Starbucks version??  Except mine of course has much fewer calories (152 vs. 350)... and less fat  = less guilt and more smiles.

My Fiance's mother loved the above mentioned Starbucks muffins and requested a recipe to help fill the void. Hopefully this one does the trick !

Ingredients
1/2 cup Blueberries
1 cup diced dried Apricots
1 Oranges
1 cup White Flour
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 cup Brown Sugar, packed
1/2 cup nonfat plain yogurt
1/2 cup unsweetened Applesauce
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 large Eggs
2 tbsp unsalted Butter
2 pinches of Ground Cinnamon

   DIRECTIONS
 Preheat oven to 375F

In a small bowl reconstitute the diced dried apricot in the juice of one orange, add the zest of said orange and the blueberries to this bowl as well.

In another bowl, mix both flours, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and set aside

In a larger bowl mix the wet ingredients including the yogurt, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and butter.

Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Lastly fold in the apricots and blueberries.

                                                   Bake for 30 minutes.

50% of Your Daily Vitamin A Needs....

... IN A MUFFIN!

A Chocolately muffin at that.

This muffin has even less calories than the previous "autumn muffins" and came out to be moist, fluffly and satisfying.  When I was making the batter, it looked look chocolate mousse. Though, I'm going to need your help in coming up for a name. Any suggestions???

Ingredients

1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 cup flour
1 serving Ghiradelli 60% Cocoa chips
2 eggs
3/4 pumpkin puree
1 medium ripe banana
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 tbsp organic sour cream
1/4 cup Ghiradelli semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 tsp pumpkin spice
1/2 tsp cinnammon
1 tsp vanilla essence

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F


Melt the butter in the microwave ( preferebly a medium to large size mixing bowl)
Stir in the 60% cocoa chocolate chips until melted
Make sure the mixture is cool and whisk in two eggs ( if it is two warm, the eggs will cook, and u'll have choclate scrambled eggs)
Add the vanilla essence, pumpkin and banana and whisk
Next, stir in the sugar and sour cream
Finally, slowly add in the dry ingredients( flour, Baking powder/soda, pumpkin spice and cinnamon) .
Slowly stir until well incorperated, it should look light and fluffly ( mousse-like)
In the end, mix in the semisweet chocolate chips.

Place the batter in a muffin pan
Top each muffin with a few chocolate chips ( optional)

Bake for about 40-50 minutes checking on the muffins once the smell begins to permeate your kitchen.

Enjoy.... and please help me pick a name!! Thanks hehe

The product of law school midterms...

AUTUMN MUFFINS

INGREDIENTS

2 Eggs
1/2 cup raw sugar, Turbinado
1/4 cup butter, unsalted
1 1/2 cup mashed bananas
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp rapid yeast
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp cinnammon
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup grated carrot

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare a muffin pan by either spraying with pam, or lining with muffin wrappers.

First, cream the butter and sugar together.
Next, add in the two eggs and whisk well.
Then add the mashed banana and pumpkin puree, and vanilla extract, ensuring it has been well incorporated
Now, dilute the yeast in a few teaspoons of hot water, and add it to the batter.
In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and pumpkin spice together.
Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet batter. Do not mix the batter more than needed to incorporate flour.
Lastly, fold in the grated carrots.

Divide the batter evenly in the 12-muffin pan and bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick ( or piece of dry pasta) comes out clean.