Coconut whipped cream

I made some Banana Pumpkin Chocolate chip muffins two days ago and there were a couple more left today. I wanted to jazz them up a bit, because honestly I was in the mood for a cupcake (true story). But, cupcakes really aren't a staple in my lifestyle, so I decided to make a healthier version of a cupcake, and made up a quick batch of coconut whipped cream to put on top of my healthy muffin. It was simply divine and I highly recommend you doing the same the next time you make up any of my muffin recipes.

Here are step by step instructions on how to make coconut whipped cream.

There are many brands of canned coconut milk out there, but this is my favorite one. It's non-GMO and organic and it whips up very nicely. It's imperative that you buy the full fat version and NOT the light version.

Place the unopened can in the refrigerator and let it sit overnight. I actually had this can in the fridge for over a week in anticipation of making some whipped cream at some point.

When you are ready to make the whipped cream, remove the can from the refrigerator and flip it upside down. The reason for this is because while the coconut milk is in the fridge it will separate. The coconut milk liquid will fall to the bottom and the hardened cream will be hanging out at the top. Simply pour the liquid into another container and save it for another use. I put it in a lidded container in the fridge and use it added to my smoothies. Delicious!

 

Scoop out the hardened cream from the can and place in a bowl to be whipped up.

I added 1 tsp of vanilla and 1 tsp of pure maple syrup to the bowl before mixing on medium speed for approximately 2 minutes with a hand mixer. (Other alternatives you could add to the cream would be cinnamon or liquid stevia for example.) 

Here is your yummy finished coconut whipped cream!

Really kicked my muffin up A LOT and curbed my sweet tooth with no problem at all!

Have a YUMMY DAY folks!!!

Be Fit! Be Healthy! Be Inspired!

~Debbie

Banana Pumpkin Chocolate Chip muffins

While my Banana Oatmeal breakfast muffins have taken off on Pinterest over the past two years, reaching almost 800,000 pins (crazy I know), my Pumpkin protein muffins have always been my personal favorite.  Today I decided to take the best of both worlds and create a new muffin recipe combining these two favorites. I'm pretty sure that right here, and right now, I have created THE PERFECT MUFFIN, free of refined sugar and flour. Make these and see for yourself.

Be Fit, Be Healthy, Be Inspired,
~Debbie

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups old fashioned oats (use GF oats for this recipe for GF diet)
1 cup plain 0% fat Greek yogurt
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 ripe banana
2 eggs
1/2 cup honey
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
3 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
Dash of nutmeg
2 TBSP ground flaxseed
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips (optional but recommended)


Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray or line 12 muffin tins with muffin liners. If you use liners, make sure to spray the liners with a bit of non-stick cooking spray as well, as these muffins tend to stick a tad bit.

Place the oats in the food processor and process for about 20 seconds. Add remaining ingredients (minus the chocolate chips if using) to the food processor.

Process until everything is mixed together, about 30 seconds.

After processed,at this point, you can add in approximately 1/4 cup of dark chocolate chips to the batter before placing batter into muffin cups. I highly recommend this step :-)

Divide batter among liners, about 2/3 the way full and bake for 18-20 minutes. 

Let muffins cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 15 minutes, then remove from the muffin pan and continue to cool.

Muffins can be stored in an airtight container for a day or two and then placed in the refrigerator or put into a freezer bag and frozen for snack time on a later day. (I do love snack time.......) 

This recipe yields about 15 muffins.

Pumpkin Banana Protein Muffins

Here is my latest healthy muffin recipe.  I adapted it from my original Pumpkin protein muffin recipe and I have to say that it is just as good if not better!  As with most of my muffin recipes, this one contains no white refined sugar or flour and has some extra nutritional benefits as well with the addition of the ground flax seed.  I hope that you enjoy it as much as the kids, my Mom and I did! Both of my boys each had 2 muffins and some fruit for their after school snack.  I feel so much better serving them home made nutritious food over processed boxed goods. Yes, it is definitely more work, but so worth it!  Make up a batch of these delicious morsels for your next fall gathering and let me know what your friends and family think.  I guarantee you, they will NEVER believe these are considered "healthy treats!"  And you can give yourself a huge pat on the back for feeding your friends and family food that you have made with only the best intentions in mind.

 Ingredients: 

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Clean Eating Challenge grocery list

In preparation for our clean eating challenge, it will be imperative to do a little shopping to get some key foods for the challenge.  It isn't all that complicated.  We will really be eating food in it's most natural state so you will find your meals and snacks to be rather simple actually!  Our ultimate goal is to stay away from most processed foods. So, in order to get us started on the right foot, I'll give you a list of some foods that you can have on hand in order to make this challenge a success. And make sure to read my previous blog post to get a true feel for what exactly we mean by eating clean.

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Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Muffins

My friends over at Gaspari Nutrition recently were kind enough to send my some of their MyoFusion Elite Protein Powder.  Not just any protein powder, but PEANUT BUTTER COOKIE DOUGH y'all!  I couldn't WAIT to try it.  I immediately made a post workout smoothie with this stuff as soon as I got it.  I mixed a scoop of the 25g protein powder with a cup of unsweetened almond milk and 1/2 of a frozen banana with a few ice cubes.  I blended it all together and it was incredibly delicious.  Very much a sweet post workout treat.  I knew right then and there I just had to bake with it.  And today, that is exactly what I did.  I decided to use it in an existing muffin recipe to kick it up a notch.  So I took my favorite Healthier Dark Chocolate Muffin recipe and added a scoop of the protein powder to it before baking.  The result was so much better than my original recipe that I had to blog about it.....immediately!  Sadly, they are all gone because my kids had some friends over today and they enjoyed them to the end.  Must.make.more.tomorrow.

So here is the recipe for your baking pleasure:

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Pumpkin Protein Muffins

I've been working on a Pumpkin protein muffin and I think I've finally found a good combination of ingredients for the perfect, healthy, cold weather muffin. The original muffin recipe that I played around with to come up with my recipe can be found here at Dashing Dish.  As with most of my muffin recipes, this one includes no added refined sugar and it gets its sweetness from honey and dates. It is also classified under the gluten free category and it got two thumbs up from my kids and fellow "health nut" trainers at the gym. So I think we're good!! If you like pumpkin I think you will really like this, and I love that it has a good little dose of protein to it, making it a great pre or post-workout snack. Enjoy!

 Ingredients: 

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Cinnamon Chia Oatmeal bake with Coconut Whipped Cream

I made the kids and I some baked oatmeal this morning.  I adapted the recipe from a new blog I found called, Skinny Mom's Kitchen.  Her recipe looked delicious, so I just made a few changes using coconut oil, coconut milk and added some chia seeds for additional nutrition.  Since I was on the coconut theme, I played around with the coconut whipped cream as well.  Don't like coconut??  No worries!  Outside of the whipped cream, which you could omit, you will find that there is no shockingly crazy coconut flavor to this dish.  It's very cinnamony (is that a word?) and this is a basic recipe in which you could play around with all sorts of flavors.  How about almond flavoring, using a mashed banana rather than applesauce, or adding peanut butter........PEANUT BUTTER, why did I not add that??  The possibilities are really endless.  Play around with it and let me know what you come up with.

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Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Muffins

Yep, another muffin recipe!  What can I say.....I love 'em and my kids will eat them.  Score!  As I was pinning today, I came across this that I repinned from Toni, one of my facebook fans at Fit and Healthy with Debbie Reichert.  Here is the original recipe if you would like to check it out at chase and em's site!

I did not add any sugar at all, and substituted with honey, as I usually do with my muffins.  Therefore, these muffins were not overly sweet, making them truly perfect for breakfast with a cup of coffee.  Oh, who am I kidding, I just ate 2 at 2:00 in the afternoon with some skim milk......so sue me!  Since I have been eating clean, I honestly don't miss the sweetness in certain foods.  That said, if you are looking for a sweeter muffin, then use the sugar that is called for in the original recipe, OR use more honey than I did.  But play around with it and make it your own.  I found the recipe below to be just right!

Here's my variation:

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Apple oat muffins

In my effort to continue to get rid of all of our freshly picked apples, I found this recipe online, made a few changes, and it was super easy and yummy!  The original recipe can be found here if you are interested.   I'm VERY happy with how these turned out! They are not as much on the sweet side, so I'm picturing me in the morning, with my cup of coffee and one of these beauties, alongside my Greek yogurt and fruit.  My 7 year old LOVED it for his after school snack.  He had 2 of them with some yogurt. Score Mom!!!  

I try very hard to keep my refined sugar intake to a low but you'll see I did throw in a little bit of brown sugar.  To me, the combination of apples, brown sugar and cinnamon is second to none.    Try throwing some walnuts into the batter as well.  I did not because my kids are not big on nuts in their muffins.  That, however, would have made me even happier with this final product......the things you do for your kids, right??  Next time, I'll make a special "Mommy batch."

If you use gluten free ingredients, then this is another great GF recipe.  If you've been following me for awhile then you know I've chosen to decrease the amount of wheat in me and my family's diet, so I've been making quite a bit of gluten free recipes lately.  My reasoning for that are for another post, for another time.  Until then, read this fabulous recipe and then use the apples (that I know you have during this prime picking season) and ENJOY!!

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Healthier Dark Chocolate Muffins

I guess it's muffin week in my house, because this is the second batch of muffins I've made in the past 3 days.  In case you missed the post earlier in the week, you may want to head over and check out the Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip muffins that were consumed immediately upon removal from the oven by my sons and their buddies.

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Banana Oatmeal Dark Chocolate Chip Muffins

A healthy muffin?  Yep, it exists and I found the ultimate recipe on pinterest of course.  I changed it up a bit because I never follow a recipe as written (curse of being a "foodie").  And I can officially say this is one of the best health food muffins I have ever eaten.  No all purpose flour, no whole wheat flour, no refined sugar............sigh...........A clean eaters muffin paradise.  The sweetness from the banana and honey is just so special........I love you little muffin!

The original recipe can be found here on GreenLite Bites.  I now follow her on her blog and facebook and will surely be using more of her recipes in the future.

Now, although I call these muffins, due to the fact that I used almond flour, you are not going to get that standard muffin top, and these are going to be more flat.  No big deal, right??  Let's just call them a cup instead of a muffin to be politically correct.  I mean who wants a "muffin top" anyway, and at only about 130 calories/serving you don't have to feel one bit guilty about eating one of these beauties.  You've got a powerful protein punch in these little guys too! SCORE!

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