Banana & Macadamia Muffins (Grain Free)

It's school holidays in Melbourne and so far this first week has been miserable weather. Luckily today the sun is shinning and I can actually see blue sky! For some reason this makes me want to bake so I've just made up a batch of these yummy muffins to have with a cup of tea this afternoon and some extras to put in the freezer for school snacks. They are a bit healthier then your average muffin so great to have on hand.

Enjoy xxx



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I cant believe its not Nutella!

Sugar Free Nutella

As part of my campaign to cut back on the amount of processed snack or convenience foods that my children have access to after school I became fixated on Nutella. Mmmmm, sweet, silky smooth Nutella. Choc full of healthy fats from hazelnuts right? WRONG. Have a look at the ingredients list next time your dipping your spoon in to the Nutella jar. The first ingredient listed is sugar, the second is vegetable oil, hazelnuts don't come in until number 3, and then there is all the preservatives and emulsifiers. Now don't get me wrong I wont be banishing Nutella from my house forever, there is definitely a place for Nutella in baking and as an occasional treat straight from the jar. But in my house it had gotten to the point that I was buying a large jar of Nutella a fortnight, that was a bit excessive.

So to replace the Nutella sandwiches and toast that was consumed in copious amounts of a morning and after school at my place I now have what I like to call - 'I cant believe it's not Nutella'.

So here it is a sugar free Nutella recipe for you to try out. Feel free to add some stevia, argave syrup or a little but of caster sugar if you don't want to settle for my extreme sugar free version.

Enjoy xxx

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Protein Packed Banana and Flaxseed Muffins

 

Today we are discussing healthy baking options. I know ..... shock, horror, there will be no butter, sugar or (shudder) frosting involved! (insert gasp here)

You see I've been on a bit of a health kick of late and although I indulged in a range of sugary and buttery delights on Sunday whilst celebrating my daughter Emily's 6th birthday I knew that come Monday morning it was time to get back on track.

I have committed myself to a 14 day slim down challenge. This involves completing regular exercise challenges and completing a 'clean eating' program.

If your wondering what exactly I've gotten myself into, Clean eating is about eating foods in their most natural state.  This means avoiding processed foods, foods with loads of preservatives, foods with lots of added sugar, and foods with high levels of bad fats (some saturated fats/all trans fats).  Its about eating unrefined, whole-grains, lots of fresh vegetables, drinking plenty of water or other no-calorie drinks and making healthy cooking choices, such as baking, steaming, and light sauteing whenever possible.

I know, I know, sugar is not exactly clean. But, I am allowed one free meal a week so I'm just going to  have to make do with some experimental healthy 'clean' baking until the weekend.

So last night I began my experiments. My aim was to come up with a muffin that I could use as one of my high protein snacks post workout. I had visited my local health food store and bought a few ingredients not really knowing what I intended to create but purchased them more based on the health benefits of the items. I left the store with whole flaxseed (otherwise known as linseed), chia seeds, raw cacao nibs and no added sugar apple sauce.

After much thought I decided on 2 flavour combinations, banana and flaxseed, and orange, cacao and chia.

The banana a flaxseed was a complete success although the orange, cacao and chia muffins were made with oat flour (ground rolled oats) and were a little to dense for my liking so I will keep working on them because the flavour combination was a success.

Back to the banana and flaxseed muffins. Considering they have no butter, no flour and no sugar they are delicious, filling, and the exact same texture as a regular full fat, full sugar muffin.

Flaxseed is known to assist in burning body fat, being high in omega-3s and charged with fibre, these little seeds can really fire up your metabolism. Bananas are a storehouse of essential nutrients like potassium, magnesium, dietary fibre and B vitamins and with the added benefit of protein powder these muffins fill you up.

So make yourself some of these fantastic healthy muffins, even my children love them!

Enjoy
xxx

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