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Food Review: Fiber One Banana Nut Muffin Mix

FitSugar — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 10:00:00 -0700

Normally, I steer clear of processed baking mixes and their artificial ingredients, but a pal of mine raves about Fiber One Apple Cinnamon Muffin Mix, so I decided to give the product line a try. I opted for the Banana Nut variation; both flavors yield muffins that contain 20 percent (five grams) of your daily fiber requirements.

Like other brands of boxed mixes, the Fiber One Muffin Mix calls for water, vegetable oil, and eggs. While the nutritional information for the packaged mix is appealing, the added ingredients double the fat content from three grams to six grams per muffin and increase the calories from 130 to 160. Find out my opinion of this product and learn how I altered my batch to make it healthier when you read more.

The box suggests replacing the oil with applesauce and the eggs with egg whites or fat-free egg product. With the recommended substitutions, the box indicates each prepared muffin contains 140 calories and three grams of fat. Since I happened to have a ripe banana on hand, I used pureed banana instead of applesauce. My batch turned out beautifully: very moist on the inside with a delicious muffin-top crust and an unmistakable banana flavor, with bits of walnut in each muffin. For sake of unprocessed eating, I'll still make my own reduced-fat muffins, but these are a tasty alternative in a pinch.

Healthy Recipe: Banana Apple Cranberry Muffins

FitSugar — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 04:00:00 -0700

I grew up loving Banana Nut Bread, and here's a twist on my mom's famous recipe. Since it includes additional fruit besides bananas I can use less sugar, so not only is it naturally sweet and flavorful but it's also full of fiber.

To see my recipe read more.

Banana Apple Cranberry Muffins
Mom's recipe

I love banana nut bread, and this is a twist on my mom's famous recipe.

Ingredients

3 ripe bananas
1 apple
1 cup of dried cranberries
1 egg
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup walnuts
oil (for the pan)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325° F.
Peel all three bananas and mash them in a bowl with a fork.

Now peel and dice the apple and add that to the bowl with the mashed up bananas.

Add the egg, cranberries, cinnamon, and salt, and mix well with a fork.

Add the flour and sugar, and stir it all up until it's all moist and looks like this.

Now use the oil to grease two mini muffin pans. Spoon batter and fill up each hole all the way. Top with a sprinkle of walnuts.

Bake the muffins for about 20 minutes.

You'll have enough batter to fill another mini muffin tin, and maybe an additional half, making a total of 42 mini muffins.

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Healthy Recipe: Oatmeal, Dark Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

FitSugar — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 05:50:36 -0700

The girls and I did a little baking this weekend and concocted a pumpkin muffin recipe that I just had to share. Using pumpkin not only gives these muffins a distinctly autumnal flavor, it keeps the muffins moist without a lot of fat. I added oatmeal for extra fiber and dark chocolate chips for a little extra zip. My daughters love them and they make for a quick but surprisingly filling breakfast - the perfect snack before heading out on a long bike ride offering five grams of protein and 4 grams of fiber. If you have a tasty dish to share, please add it to the Healthy Recipe group.

Check out the recipe when you read more.

Oatmeal Pumpkin Muffins
Inspired by Carrots-n-Cake and About: Lowfat Cooking

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin
3 tablespoons canola oil
one large egg
one large egg white
1/4 cup lowfat milk
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (optional)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and line muffin tin with muffin cups.
Whisk dry ingredients and spices together in a large bowl.
Add pumpkin, oil, milk, and egg and egg white to a medium size bowl and mix thoroughly. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredient and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.
Fill muffin cases evenly and bake for 18 to 25 minutes

Makes 14 muffins.

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Recipe Review: Banana PMS Muffins from Women's Health

FitSugar — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 03:30:00 -0700

Flipping through Women's Health, I saw a recipe for PMS muffins. How could I not be intrigued? If a muffin could help ease my symptoms, I could become a baking maniac instead of the usual PMS maniac I become.

I baked these Banana Walnut Yogurt muffins and can't tell about my mood yet, but I liked these muffins, as did my hubbie and 3-year-old. My kindergartner is a little picky and abstained from her muffin at breakfast. For a mainstream magazine, I was surprised by some of the ingredients and had to make a special stop to find rice flour and flax meal, because these ingredients were not available at my local grocery.

To see what other ingredients make these muffins PMS fighters, read more.

These banana muffins provide "cramp-busting potassium" along with calcium and vitamin D, which together can decrease PMS symptoms upwards of 40 percent.

Banana Yogurt Walnut Muffins
Women's Health Magazine

Who wouldn't want to cure her PMS, or at least alleviate some of the symptoms, with a banana muffin. I had to try this recipe and see.

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup rice flour
1/4 cup ground flaxseed
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup plain yogurt
3 medium, ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup agave syrup
1/3 cup grapeseed oil
1/4 cup walnut pieces

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°F.
In a large bowl, whisk together oatmeal, flour, flaxseed, baking powder, and baking soda.
In a separate bowl, combine eggs, yogurt, bananas, syrup, and oil. Add flour mixture and fold in walnuts.
Divide batter into paper-lined muffin cups. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes or until tops spring back when lightly touched. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 18. Per muffin: 147 cal, 7 g fat (1 g sat), 103 mg sodium, 20 g carbs, 2 g fiber, 3 g protein

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My muffins look nothing like the lovely muffins photographed in the magazine recipe. I had to seriously stretch the batter to make 17 muffins and none of the muffins rose over the edge of the muffin tray. Although they looked short and flat, they were fluffy and light on the inside. I must add that they didn't taste "healthy" but they could use a little more flavor, maybe cinnamon or some lemon zest. I will make these muffins again. Let me know if you do.

Do you have a healthy snack or recipe to share? Then share it in the Lite'n it Up - Healthy Recipe Group and I might just post it on FitSugar.

Recipe Review: Joy Bauer's Blueberry Banana Muffins

FitSugar — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 03:30:00 -0800

I love baking, and while I do my best to lighten up many of the sweet nothings I regularly make, there is a such a thing as going too healthy. When I read the recipe for Joy Bauer's blueberry banana muffins, I was stoked because I had three past-their-prime bananas in my fridge waiting to be incorporated into something tasty. When I read the ingredients, including whole wheat flour and oat bran, I should have known that my muffins would not look like the magazine photo. But my inner health nut got the better of me, and I baked away.

To see if my muffins turned out anything like those pictured above, read more.

As you can see, my muffins look nothing like the magazine's. They are not light and fluffy, but rather squat and bumpy.

For some reason the muffins did not rise at all. I used relatively new baking soda and baking powder, so it was not they they were stale. Plus, I followed the directions, filling the muffin tin 3/4 of the way. When I made the recipe, it yielded 12 instead of the six the magazine says. While the muffins are edible, they are just not very tasty. While none will go to waste, I will not be making this recipe again. Have any of you tried this recipe? If so, share your results in the comments section below.

Source

Healthy Recipe: Pumpkin Zucchini Muffins

FitSugar — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 03:30:00 -0700

It's harvest time and amazing produce is plentiful, especially zucchinis and pumpkins. Why not take advantage of these veggies with a little Autumn baking? Here's my recipe for Pumpkin Zucchini Muffins. They're a cinch to whip up and take half as long to bake as regular loaves. Plus the smaller portion size allows you to enjoy them without inhaling half a loaf in one sitting, which is always a plus in my book.

To see how I make these savory muffins read more.

Pumpkin Zucchini Muffins
Adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients

3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups Sucanat
1 cup cooked pumpkin (you can also use canned pumpkin)
1 cup butter or margarine, melted (I used Earth Balance sticks)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup shredded zucchini
1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350° F.
In a mixing bowl, combine eggs and sugar. Add pumpkin, melted margarine, and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients.
Gradually add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and mix well. Then stir in the zucchini and nuts.
Pour into muffin tins. You'll have enough batter for about 30 muffins. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until you can poke a toothpick in a muffin and it comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Then enjoy!

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Do you have a healthy snack or recipe to share? Then share it in the Lite'n it Up - Healthy Recipe Group and I might just post it on FitSugar.

Healthy T-Day Dessert: Pumpkin-Carrot Bars With Cream Cheese Frosting

FitSugar — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:30:05 -0800

Thanksgiving is fast approaching, and my love of all things pumpkin is hardly waning. From yogurt to muffins, I relish this tasty flavor of Fall. If you're looking for a pumpkin pie alternative, these pumpkin-carrot bars are delish. The bit of cream cheese frosting adds a deceptive element of decadence.

Low in calories while remaining full of flavor, these pumpkin bars make a great dessert - perfect for potlucks (much easier to share with large groups than pies) and they're relatively guilt-free. They're high in vitamin A - and trust me you cannot even taste the shredded carrot - and a bar only contains 70 calories and less than two grams of fat. With nutritional stats like that, it's OK to go back for seconds.

Check out the recipe when you read more.

Pumpkin-Carrot Bars With Cream Cheese Frosting
Modified from SparkPeople

Ingredients

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup Earth Balance (or other butter substitute)
2 eggs
2 large egg whites
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin pie filling
2/3 cup finely shredded carrot

Cream cheese topping:
4 ounces light cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon skim milk

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350° F. Spray a 15 x 10 jellyroll pan with cooking spray.
In small bowl, whisk flour, pumpkin spice, baking powder, and baking soda.
In larger bowl, use electric mixer to beat sugar, Earth Balance, and brown sugar until crumbly. Add eggs, egg whites, pumpkin pie filling, and carrots. Beat until well blended.
Add flour mixture and mix until well blended. Spread onto greased pan.
To prepare cream cheese topping: mix together cream cheese, sugar, and milk until thoroughly blended.
Drop teaspoon-fulls of topping over pumpkin batter and swirl and cut mixture into batter with a butter knife.
Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool in pan completely on wire rack before cutting into squares.

Makes 48 squares.

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Looking for more healthy recipes? Then check out the Healthy Recipe Group - the name pretty much says it all.

Food Review: VitaTops MultiBran and AppleBerryBran

FitSugar — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 02:00:00 -0700

Though some people think of muffins, especially bran muffins, as healthy, they can be as caloric as cupcakes. But if you have a weakness for muffins, the baked goods from Vitalicious might be a good way to satisfy your cravings. The company makes sweet treats - including muffins, muffin "tops," and brownies - that are packed with vitamins and high in fiber but low in calories and fat.

I recently sampled two flavors of its VitaTops muffin tops, which are about the size of cookies but have the taste and texture of muffins. I tried both the MultiBran and AppleBerry Bran; for my thoughts and to see how they add up nutritionally, read more

These VitaTops are a good quick breakfast option: I ate mine along with a banana, and it kept me feeling full until lunch. That's probably because they are high in fiber - about 5 grams per serving. I especially love them warmed up in the toaster oven.

However, I definitely prefer the AppleBerryBran flavor: It felt and tasted like a really good bran muffin, and the dried fruit was a great addition. The MultiBran VitaTop, on the other hand, had a more artificial taste and wasn't nearly as flavorful as the berry one. Nutritionally speaking, there wasn't much difference, though the MultiBran has slightly more protein.

I really want to try the Golden Corn VitaTops next, and I'm also really curious about the brownies. Have you tried any Vitalicious products? If so tell me what you thought!

Source

Weekend Well-Being: Bake Something Healthy

FitSugar — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 09:00:00 -0700

I care a lot about what I put into my body, but I still crave sweet treats. The cookies, cakes, pies, and muffins you buy at the store can be loaded with fat and sugar. Most of them are made with white flour and refined sugars, which offer you no nutritional value whatsoever.

I love to bake my own treats, but never have time during my busy week. Plus for me, baking is a time I can relax, and have fun with my girls (it gives my husband a chance to hit the gym or watch sports). Plus it's a chance to teach them about healthy eating, and also learn some math skills like measuring.

I love to bake a big batch of something on Sunday so I can enjoy it for a few days that week. I can have it for breakfast, a late afternoon snack, or pack it in my kids' lunch (the girls love that).

Want to see one of my favorite recipes? Then read more

For 1 loaf of Banana Walnut Bread you'll need:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup Sucanat
3 ripe bananas
1/2 cup apple sauce (instead of oil)
1 egg
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup chopped walnuts (save some for the top of the bread)

Preheat the oven to 350.
Unpeel and mash the bananas in a bowl with a fork.
Add the egg and apple sauce and stir well.
Mix in the flour, Sucanat, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.
Stir in most of the walnuts, leaving 2 handfuls left.
Grease an 8 x 4 inch loaf pan with canola oil spray. If you don't have the spray, just take a paper towel, pour a little canola oil on it and smear that on the pan.
Pour batter into the pan and top with the remaining walnuts.
Bake for 45 min to an hour, checking it with a knife or toothpick to make sure the inside is cooked.

Fit's Tips: For breakfast or an afternoon snack, try toasting a slice of Banana Walnut Bread for a minute, and then spread some almond butter on it. Delicious, satisfying, and between the walnuts and almonds, it's a great way to get some protein.

Healthy Holiday Swap: DIY Pumpkin Yogurt

FitSugar — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:47:40 -0800

I love pumpkin-flavored anything - pies, muffins, cheesecake, even ice cream! But gorging on too many sweet pumpkin treats can leave me with a sick stomach full of unhealthy fats and sugars. One way I've been satisfying my pumpkin cravings is by making my own pumpkin-flavored yogurt at home.

It's really easy to do, just mix plain yogurt with canned pumpkin puree. If you're trying to cut back on sugar, use 100 percent pure pumpkin puree and add your own spices and sweetener. If you want the instant flavors of pumpkin pie, mix yogurt up with canned pumpkin pie puree that's been sweetened with sugar and spices.

I sometimes use vanilla yogurt with the pure pumpkin mix just to give it a little sweetness, and if I'm craving the texture of pumpkin pie, a nice sprinkling of healthy granola or oats seems to do the trick.

Share your healthy snack ideas in our Snack Attack group!