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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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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Chocolate Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

These cupcakes have not been 'dressed up' for Christmas but they taste great.

Whenever my bananas are over ripe in the fruit bowl and if I don't have time to bake I just put them in the freezer where they turn completely black. Then when I'm ready to use them in my baking I take them out and within an hour they are ready to use.

This super moist cupcake recipe is lovely. It combines the sweetness of ripe mashed bananas with cocoa powder and to make it even more heavenly, the cake is frosted with a smooth and creamy  cream cheese frosting. These cupcakes are very popular in my house and I'm sure you will love them to.

Enjoy xxx

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Yummy Banana Bread

Reasons to teach your son to cook:

1. Helps develop intellect.Mathematics (as in measurements, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and fractions). English (as in vocabulary and reading comprehension, language development). Chemistry or science (as in cause and effect).


2. Develops self confidence and self esteem. Just knowing that he can perform some tasks in the kitchen from the start to finish enables him to develop self  esteem and self confidence.


3. Teaches the importance of following directions or instructions. 


4. Teaches him to eat healthy foods and teaches him a sense of responsibility. When your child knows how to cook, he will eventually learn about the nutritional value and the health benefits that he gets from a particular food. 


5. Teaching your child how to cook can develop his passion for cooking that can be financially rewarding for him in the future. 

My reason for teaching my son to cook......I'm teaching my son to cook because his father hasn't got a clue!

On Saturday I took my son and godson to the movies. Before I left I let my husband know that I had banana bread cooking in the oven and asked him to listen out for the oven timer beeping. I also told my daughter (5 years old) that when she hears the oven timer beep to get Daddy as the banana bread will be cooked.

During the movie I looked at the time. It was about 15 minutes after the banana bread should have been cooked.  So I sent my husband a text message asking him to tip the banana bread out of the pan and on to the wire rack I had left out on the bench.Later that night I met up with my husband and daughters for dinner and asked  him if he had taken my banana bread out of the oven. He replied, 'no, but I turned the oven off'. He didn't see the need to actually take the banana bread out of the oven , in his mind turning the oven off was sufficient. It didn't occur to him that it may continue to cook in a hot oven!  This is a man that runs his own very successful business but clearly he has no idea in the kitchen.

Anyway, I made another yummy banana bread on Sunday  morning.

Enjoy xxx

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