Blueberry oatmeal muffin

Another camping recipe!

This is another one from Skinny Taste. Gina, over there, has got her recipes on and poppin, folks. 

• 1 1/2 cups Quaker quick oatmeal
• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk (or skim milk)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 tbsp agave (or sugar, honey) (I used honey)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 2 egg whites
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour (I used regular whole wheat flour. It was cheaper.)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• baking spray

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°. Line a muffin tin with liners and lightly spray with oil. (I didn't do the oil part, because I felt like it was redundant. MISTAKE. They stuck pretty well to the liners. I STILL think it's redunant, so I might just spray the pan and skip the liners next time.) 

Place oats in a food processor or chopper and pulse a few times. Soak oats in milk for about 30 minutes.  


In a medium bowl combine brown sugar, agave, apple sauce, vanilla, egg whites, oil and mix well.

In a third bowl combine whole wheat flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and whisk to combine.

Combine oats and milk with sugar, applesauce mixture and mix well. Slowly add in the dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Fold in blueberries.

Spoon into the muffin tin (I filled the liners about 3/4 of the way. They didn't rise much, so I think I'll fill them a bit more next time) and bake for 22-24 minutes

When I took these out of the oven, the blueberries were all bubbly and blueberry-y. Looked SO good. 


Ok, technically I haven't had one yet, but they LOOK fantastic. I took one to my dad this morning for a taste test. "Why haven't you blogged about these yet?!". Because I haven't tried them! What if they suck! He assured me that they didn't and that they were really moist and "interesting" tasting. I'll update when I've had one or twelve myself.


Update: Pops is cray. These are AWESOME.

Breakfast of champions

I made a discovery this  morning that BLEW MY MIND.

1/2 c. dry oatmeal
a little less than 1c water
6 frozen strawberries

Nuke it all together! Mine takes 2-ish mins.

When most of the water is absorbed, toss in a splash of almond milk, 1 Tbl flax seed oil, and half a scoop of protein powder. My protein is cookies and cream flavored. Mixed with the strawberries? OMG. Dessert.

This is the perfect breakfast! Carbs, protein, fruit and a little healthy fat.

Pumpkin Spice Protein Pancakes

I found this recipe on Dashing Dish (also her pic).


This is another recipe that I thought I'd give a whirl to take camping. I'm so not opposed to snacking on cold pancakes. I was drawn to these because they have protein powder and oatmeal in them. No flour or bad stuff!

• 1 scoop protein powder ( I used vanilla)
• 1/2 cup pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon (or 1/4 tsp pumpkin spice + 1/4 tsp cinnamon)
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 cup oats (I might add a touch more next time to try to thicken them up a bit)
• 1/2 cup + 2tbs water
• 3-5 packets stevia (or 1/2-1 tbs sweetener of choice) (I used one packet of Splenda, but it didn't need it. I would omit this entirely next time. Might have been too much because I used flavored protein)

Method:

1. Put all of the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth!
2. Meanwhile, heat a nonstick griddle (or large nonstick skillet) coated with cooking spray over medium heat. Spoon about 1/4 cup of batter per pancake onto griddle. Turn pancakes over when tops are covered with bubbles and edges look cooked. Serve warm!

My pancakes turned out a lot thinner than hers in that picture, for some reason. The first two were a little mushy inside, so I turned the heat down to a little below med. I think next time I'll leave out the sweetener and maybe add a little more pumpkin pie spice on top of the cinnamon. Overall, these are definitely a keeper, though.

Roasted Chickpeas

I found this recipe on Skinny Taste (also her picture below).

I'm going camping this weekend and wanted to pack some healthy snacky things, since I wouldnt be able to stick strictly to my usual meal plan. I tried roasting chickpeas before, but they were fairly soggy. They didn't sog up until the next day, so I'm hoping the same doesn't happen to these tasty morsels.

• 15 oz can chickpeas, drained (aka garbanzo beans)
• olive oil spray
• salt
• 1 tsp chili pepper powder (to taste) (I used maybe half a tsp and it's plenty hot for my liking. might use even less next time)
• 1 tsp cumin (I'd use 1/2 tsp for this and the following spices. 1 tsp each is WAY too much)
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp coriander
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder

Preheat oven to 375°. Drain chickpeas in a colander and let them dry completely. Pat dry with a paper towel if needed.

Arrange on a baking sheet in a single layer and roast for about 30-35 minutes, shaking the pan every ten minutes. All ovens are different so make sure they don't burn. They will be golden brown and crunchy on the inside when done, not moist (when I tested one to see if it was crunchy, it was SO tasty just plain!).

In a medium bowl, combine all the spices. Remove chickpeas from oven when done and spray with olive oil spray. Immediately toss with spices while hot. Eat at room temperature. 


Super easy and super healthy. I think the last time I tried to make these, I might have used regular old olive oil. I liked the spray with this, because I felt like it didn't saturate the chickpeas as much. There was a LOT of spice, just in quantity, so I think I'd cut back to a little under 1 tsp for each next time.

Slow Cooker Bacon-Wrapped Apple BBQ Chicken

Part 2 of my epic cheat meal, served along side roasted grape, goat cheese and honey stuffed sweet potatoes. The title of this one was just....yes. Bless you, Pinterest.

• 3-4 boneless chicken breasts (I used 2 giant ones)
• 1/2 cup BBQ sauce
• 1-2 apples, peeled and grated (I used 2)
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 6-8 slices bacon

Directions:
1. In small bowl, combine BBQ sauce with grated apple and lemon juice.
2. Wrap 2 pieces of bacon around each chicken breast. Place chicken breasts in base of crock pot, pour BBQ/apple mixture over the chicken.  Set to low and cook for 8 hours.


It doesn't specify which type of apple you're supposed to use! I went with fuji. It's pretty much the only red apple I'm familiar with, and it didnt really seem like a green apple would go with this. Because I would know...


The prep? Took about 3 mins. SO easy, and SO amazing. The chicken could have been cut with a fork. I love my crockpot! Throw crap in it in the morning and dinner is ready when you come back from doing laundry at your parents being out all day! Maybe one apple would have been plenty, as there was a ton of juice. I have no regrets, though. I have a feeling this will make another appearance. 


(It doesnt LOOK that appetizing, I know! I swear it tastes 1000x better than the turd it looks like in the pic!)


(recipe)

Roasted grape, goat cheese and honey stuffed sweet potatoes

Ever since I started my diet, I look forward to nothing else like I look forward to my cheat meal every week. We mostly go out, but this week I wanted to cook. And cook I did. Just seeing the pic (which is WAY better than mine, below!) from this recipe about knocked me off my chair. Looked phuh-nomenal. Plus, it's from How Sweet It Is, a blog that I adore. She's funny and eats all the things. Bestie material. I paired it with bacon wrapped apple bbq chicken, for a meal never to be forgotten.

makes 4 potatoes (I only made 2)

4 sweet potatoes

2 cups red, seedless grapes

1 teaspoon grapeseed oil (or another high heat oil)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

4 ounces goat cheese

2 tablespoons honey + additional for drizzling

pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Poke holes in sweet potato with a fork, then wrap each tightly in aluminum foil. Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until potatoes and tender to the touch (Mine were still a little solid. It would have been much easier to mash everything if I'd left them in a bit longer so they were nice and mushy). Unwrap foil and cut a slit down the middle of each sweet potato. Let sit until cool enough to handle.

Increase oven temperature to 450 degrees F. Lay grapes on a nonstick baking sheet and drizzle with grapeseed oil and a pinch each of salt and pepper, then toss to coat. Roast for 20-25 minutes, or until grapes begin to burst (I didn't notice mine bursting. Sad face. ). Remove from the oven and let cool.

Once sweet potatoes are somewhat cool, gently remove the flesh with a spoon, trying to keep the potato intact. Add the sweet potato to a large bowl, then mash with 3 ounces of goat cheese, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, pepper and honey. Taste and adjust seasonings if desired, then scoop flash back into the potato skins. At this point you can re-warm the potatoes (if you let them cool completely) in the oven, then top with remaining goat cheese. Add grapes on top and serve with additional drizzled honey.

YOU GUYS. 

This was amazing. The grapes were like candy, the goat cheese is so nice and creamy. They were really pretty easy to make, too. Do yourself a favor and make this RIGHT NOW OMG IMMEDIATELY. That is all.