Grain and Sugar Free Blueberry Muffin Recipe

Hello! I am so thrilled to help fill in for Ashley as she takes care of her new baby girl! I remember how wonderful (and sleep deprived) those first moments were … so I am wishing her the best as she recovers and enjoys all of those baby cuddles.

My name is Laury, and I started a blog in 2009 called The Fitness Dish. After the birth of my second child I took a few years off from blogging to focus on my family and my business … but now I am back! My blog has a new name and a new look, and I am so excited to be connecting with this community again!

I am a power yoga instructor, sports nutritionist, personal trainer, and mom who teaches people how to create healthier habits in all areas of wellness. On my blog, you will find recipes for low-sugar meals, DIY beauty & skincare, wellness tips, as well as some yoga & fitness sprinkled in.  It is basically all of my passions poured into one place.

Ashley said you guys needed more breakfast ideas, so I am going to share one of my FAVORITE freezer-friendly muffin recipes with you today.

I created this a few years ago for my son when he was doing baby-led weaning, and I was nursing (and ravenous).

Many of my friends and family make this still today, and love it!

These muffins have NO added sugar, so they are best enjoyed warm, topped with some grass-fed butter, ghee, or coconut oil on top.

You can certainly add some Grade-B maple syrup (I would suggest about 1/4 cup) of you think you or those you’re serving it to would love a tad more sweetness.

If you are doing a program like The Whole 30, these are compliant (just use coconut oil instead of butter).

Adding more healthy fats in place of the added sugar for flavor was key for me in reducing overall sugar in my diet. It is satiating and keeps my belly full and taste buds happy!

I am lucky to have a flexible job, working from home and teaching yoga at the studio several hours per week.

However, there is a lot of running around and chaos that happens daily.

Mornings are full with work outside the home, afternoons I am with my 3-year-old son and 75-pound high-energy puppy (all while trying to sneak in computer work for my home-business during nap-time if it happens).

Once my husband is home from the office I am usually running off to teach yoga classes.

A flexible job where you can be home a few hours during the day has its perks, for which I am grateful, but it also presents its own set of challenges.

Having food prepped for easy grab and go is crucial for us to stay on our healthy eating game.

Picking one day to make a bunch of things ahead for breakfast and lunches (as well as planning my dinner menu) has been super helpful.

These grain and sugar-free blueberry muffins have been a staple in that rotation!

 

 

GRAIN-FREE BLUEBERRY MUFFIN RECIPE

makes 12 muffins

ingredients:

  • 1-2 ripe plantains (2 cups, pureed)
  • 1/4 cup coconut flour
  • 1/4 cup coconut milk (I like this brand: guar gum and BPA-free; you can also use raw grass-fed whole milk)
  • 3 TBSP coconut oil, melted
  • 5 eggs (pastured and soy-free a plus!)
  • 1 cup frozen organic blueberries, divided
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon

directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut the plantains skin lengthwise with a sharp knife to remove the peel (make sure they are ripe, or they will be very hard and a regular blender won’t handle them). Puree plantain in blender or food processor. Meanwhile, sift dry ingredients in a bowl (you can just add them to a bowl and whisk them together). Add half of the blueberries and milk to the blender and quickly blend. Add melted coconut oil and vanilla to a bowl with a hand mixer or stand mixer and start mixing. Add plantain/blueberry mixture and scrape down sides until just combined. Alternate dry ingredients and eggs and make sure it is combining, but try not to over-mix. Add remaining blueberries hand stir in. Pour batter into parchment muffins liners in muffin tins. Bake for about 25 minutes.

Enjoy!

Please let us know if you try them.

If you have the time and want to pop over to my blog to say hi … I’d love to “meet” you!

Thanks for reading!

XO

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Easy Buffalo Chicken Meatballs

As promised friends, I have a some wonderful guest posts lined up for you guys while Bo and I are focused on Baby Girl Diamond. Since you guys have asked for more recipes, these posts are all easy, healthy, delicious recipes that you can recreate at home! Today’s first guest post is from a Katie, a friend and fellow blogger who, until last month, lived just down the block from me in Brooklyn. 

Hi My Healthy, Happier Life readers!  My name is Katie. I am a 27-year-old New York native who recently moved to the Philly area. Since 2012 I’ve been sharing my love of running, exercise, healthy living and, of course, food on my blog, Hungry Runner. I am a marathoner and former personal trainer and on Hungry Runner my goal is to help others find the fun in exercise and happiness in living healthy. And for my fellow runners, I also to love share my training strategies, injury-prevention tips, nutrition advice and everything else I learn about running through this crazy, fun journey! 

Compared to our old apartment in Brooklyn, Mark and I have probably like 6 times the amount of counter space in our new apartment’s kitchen.

I’m not exaggerating either. In the Brooklyn apartment, we had lots of space in our kitchen, but the countertop was monopolized by the stove and the sink. Between those two things we had a tiny little space where the coffee pot and soda stream sat and that was it. Food prep was confined to the kitchen table, which wasn’t the worst thing, but it also wasn’t ideal.

Now we have counter space on either side of our stove and a ginormous island.

It’s glorious.

Easy Buffalo Chicken Meatballs

One of the reason it’s glorious is because compared to when we lived in Brooklyn, I’m now way more excited to cook and try new recipes more often. In fact, I have a goal to try at least one new recipe every week.

These buffalo chicken meatballs are the first result of that goal.

I found the recipe on Pinterest (groundbreaking, I know) and it’s by Natalie from lifemadesimplebakes.com.

One of the reasons decided on buffalo chicken meatballs was because we already had most of the ingredients needed to make them. That’s always a plus. Another reason is because the title of the recipe on Natalie’s page includes the words “30 minutes.” If there’s one thing you all should know about me it’s that I like food that’s ready fast.

Even if Bobby Flay custom designed the world’s number one, most fabulous kitchen for me, I’m not spending more than an hour (and that would be pushing it) there preparing a meal. It’s just not happening.

In other words, this recipe is nice and easy to work with, and that’s the way I like it!

Mark and I ended up modifying it a little bit and in the end we were certainly satisfied with the end result. So without further ado, here’s what you need to know to make your own buffalo chicken meatballs.

Easy Buffalo Chicken Meatballs

Easy Buffalo Chicken Meatballs

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb. ground chicken
  • 1/3 cup panko breadcrumbs
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 1 small carrot, finley grated (I used 3-4 small baby carrots)
  • 1 small stick celery, minced
  • 2 green onions, minced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 tsp. paprika
  • 1/2 tsp. sea salt
  • 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
  • Buffalo sauce
  • Blue Cheese or Ranch Dressing

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Set a side a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a baking mat. (I used a baking pan sprayed with coconut oil and that worked fine, the meatballs just left a little bit of residue behind, but it came off with soap right away.)

2. Add the ground chicken, panko breadcrumbs and egg to a large bowl. Let the breadcrumbs soak in the egg for a few minutes, then add the carrot, celery, green onion, garlic, paprika, salt and pepper. Mix everything together using your hands or a spatula until combined

3. Using a spoon, shape one meatball at a time and then place on the baking sheet. (We made larger, more standard-sized meatballs that we served over salad with quinoa, but you can make them any size you like. These would definitely make a great appetizer as smaller sized meatballs!)

4. Place the meatballs in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until cooked throughout.

5. When they’re finished cooking, remove the meatballs from the oven and place them in a bowl. Add buffalo sauce (about 1/3 cup, or more if you really like buffalo sauce!) and toss to coat.

6. Serve with blue cheese, ranch or your favorite dressing.

 

 

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How to Lose 10 Pounds in 1 Month

I am so excited to share my amazing sister-in-law’s story with you today! She is a girl who is gorgeous inside and out but is truly living and experiencing just how much a healthy lifestyle can change your life. She radiates happiness everyday I talk to her now whether on the phone, Google chat, or Facetime so hopefully some of y’all can benefit from the things she learned while making healthy changes in life!

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Hello readers! For those of you who don’t know me, I am Bo’s little sister, Meg. I’ve made a few appearances in the blog, but now I am here to tell you my own weight loss story.

It’s not one of those “I lost 100 lbs and my life has changed” kind of stories. My weight has always fluctuated and I have spent plenty of time trying to keep it where I want it. But after college, it got pretty out of control. So this is my story about reigning it back in. 

Here I am in July 2012:

I look pretty good if I do say so myself. I had just graduated from UGA and moved to NYC to take on the big bad city.

But here’s me a year later:

Instead of conquering NYC, I ate it.

The stress of moving to a new city and starting a life from scratch clearly did not go well for me. Apparently I thought the best way to adjust was to eat, drink and stop working out. Good solution right?

Luckily, a lot changed between July 2013 and January 2014. I moved into a better apartment (with better roommates), got a promotion and started dating my crush. Life was good but my body still was not.

The weight loss really started in January (where all resolutions begin). My roommate’s brother created a fitness challenge/fundraiser and invited me to participate. Without hesitation, I pledged my dollars, joined to Google doc and threw out everything in my pantry. I was finally motivated to get fit.

The entire month of February I had promised to eat only Paleo friendly foods, workout 6 times a week (for at least 30mins) and not touch alcohol. I still have the Google doc with all the rules. It’s titled “The FML Diet”. No joke – you can click here to see the actual file!

After one month of the challenge I lost 10lbs:

How to lose 20 pounds in 1 months

The workouts weren’t hard at all. I usually exceeded the 30mins limit and the more I worked out, the more I remembered why I enjoy it and the longer I stayed at the gym. I also got into the habit of going to a class once a week (usually SoulCycle, Uplift or Yoga).

So yes, “The FML Diet” worked. But like all crazy diets/month long challenges, It wasn’t going to last unless I learned from it and adapted. I had given up dairy, carbs, alcohol, sugar, all processed foods… pretty much everything except for fruits, vegetables, meat and eggs.

Some of those things I missed (*cough* alcohol). Some of them I, surprisingly, did not. The list depends on the person but here are some of the things I took away from the experience and have integrated into my healthier life:

  • I don’t need diet coke.  In fact I don’t touch it anymore except for during particularly bad hangovers.

  • I don’t need coffee.  I didn’t really miss the caffeine crazed mornings, the afternoon crashes and I sleep SO much better at night without it (which makes it easier to wake up and go to the gym).

  • I do need alcohol. Ok I don’t NEEEED it, but my point is that I’m not going to give it up. I’m just more careful and I don’t use hangovers as an excuse to eat crap.

  • Milk chocolate is dumb.  I’ve always preferred dark chocolate and I don’t know why I ever wasted my time with milk chocolate (with the exception of a few pretzel m&ms).

  • Almond butter is way better than peanut butter.  It just is.

  • Breakfast is awesome. I start every morning with a protein shake, greek yogurt or apple and almond butter. It makes eating a salad for lunch a lot easier.

  • Salads don’t need dressing.  One of my favorite lunches is a simple fresh salad tossed with a little bit of olive oil and salt.

  • Cashews are the best nuts.  Yes, they are expensive and yes they are fatty. But they are filling! I keep them at my desk for emergency situations because a small handful can go a long way.

  • Baking Paleo friendly treats are just as delicious as non-Paleo ones.  You just have to find the right recipes. Some of my favorite desserts have come from this blog. (http://lexiscleankitchen.com/ – thank you Theodora!)

  • Getting out of bed at 6:00am SUCKS.  But the rest of my day will be better if I do it.

All that said, I’m not perfect…

I like beer and pizza, I don’t always make it to the gym, sometimes I need French fries and sometimes a cookie makes my afternoon better. The point is, I know the difference between eating something unhealthy because I’m being lazy or deliberately letting myself enjoy it.

I made a lot of progress during the Paleo challenge but it wasn’t just that one month that got me where I am now. I lost 10lbs during the challenge and have lost 10 more since. I was very aware of how extreme that first month was and deliberately used it to get back into the gym and learn how to reasonably adjust my eating habits.

When the first month was over, people at work were constantly asking, “are you still doing that Paleo thing?” I always said no because they were referencing the extreme version of the diet but the truth is, most days I am. Mostly because the foods I was eating on the diet taste SO much better than what I was eating before.

I learned that a lot of foods just aren’t worth it. I used to have a hard time resisting pastries in the conference room or bagels in the morning. After week one I did not miss those things at all and realized I was eating them because I was lazy, not because I needed them. I was eating snacks because they were there, not because I was hungry. I learned how to listen to my body and reach for the right snacks, not the convenient ones.

megrusselweightloss

I would love to lose some more weight but I am so happy and confident the way I am now, I have turned my focus to maintaining my healthy lifestyle and keeping up the good habits!

To find out more about Paleo Diet or find some healthy, delicious recipes check out these links:

 

If you have any great Paleo Diet recipes or blogs you’d suggest I follow, let me know as I know that it’s a life change for me, not just a fadingwant more information about this diet  or some of Paleo’s health benefits check out this DailyBurn article or let me know in the comments and I can share the exact file I used!

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