healthy sweet potato apple muffins

For the past 3 years I've been hosting a Hudson Harvest Retreat in my hometown. It's a day filled with some of my favorite things: yoga, apple picking, delicious vegetarian food, market browsing and lots of fresh country air. Everyone goes home with a bag of organic apples ready to be eaten.

If you've read my blog before you know that we love muffins in our house. They're great for snacks, and kids love them, so I'm always on the look out for new healthy recipes. With a fresh bag of apples in my fridge and some homemade applesauce, I searched for a new recipe and found a sweet potato muffin recipe from Haute and Healthy Living on Yummly. Yummly is an amazing source for recipes, it's easy to use, and allows you to save recipes, rate them, etc. I altered the sweet potato recipe I found and came up with this...

 

Ingredients

• 1 large sweet potato
• 1/2 cup of unsweetened almond milk
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup sunflower oil
• 1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 3/4 cups of pure maple syrup
• 1 tbsp. of chia seeds
• 2 cups of kamut flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt
• Top with a light sprinkle of chopped walnuts (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400F.
2. Peel and chop sweet potato into small chunks. Boil for 10 mins. Mash the sweet potato well in the mixing bowl.
3. Add the milk, vanilla, oil, maple syrup and applesauce (wet ingredients). Add chia seeds and let sit.
4. Combine all of the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl.
5. Fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients until well mixed.
6. Take a muffin tray and spray each muffin round with cooking spray. Pour the muffin mixture evenly into 12 muffin rounds.
7. Bake at 400 for 20 to 25 minutes.
8. Bake another 5 minutes until nothing sticks to a sharp knife when inserted into the center of the muffin.
9. Enjoy when cool enough to bite into. Let them sit a good 10 minutes and they'll lose some of their moisture. At first they may seem very dense.

Nutrients per serving (for one muffin):
Servings: 12 • Calories: 178 • Fat: 5.6 g • Carbohydrates: 31 g • Fibre: 3.4 g • Protein: 3.2 g • Sugar: 14.3 g • Sodium: 227 mg • Cholesterol: 0 mg

Culinist: recipes + fresh ingredients delivered to your door

The Culinist is an amazing concept. They create meals using fresh, seasonal ingredients each week, then deliver the exact ingredients + recipe to your door. The recipes are created by chefs, then put up online for you to choose from. Most take less than 35 minutes to prepare. Once you've chosen your recipes, the ingredients are carefully selected and sent to your door weekly. All the packaging is recyclable or biodegradable. It comes out to approximately $8-10 a meal (per person), and you can cancel at any time.

I love the idea as I often find the toughest part about cooking is choosing what to make, and then making sure I have all the ingredients. The only downfall for us is that there are only 2 vegetarian options. If there was a vegan version (or just more vegan options), I would be totally into it!

If you're interested in trying it out, let me know and I can send you a coupon for 2 free meals, that's how I found out about it from my friend Marissa!

www.culiniste.ca

Vegan EnerChia Bars

I'm definitely a snacker, and have tried many healthy bars in my lifetime, but I never found one that I really liked until now... My husband came home a couple of weeks ago and said a guy came into our yoga studio selling healthy bars that were locally made and vegan, so he bought a box to resell. I rolled my eyes and questioned whether he'd made a good decision. I'm on maternity leave, so he's in charge. People come into the studio to try to sell us stuff all the time. Most of it we either don't like, or we don't need. We don't have a huge retail section, and many of our students are rushing out after class so they don't have time to 'shop'. We've also tried selling granola bars in the past, and I ended up eating most of them.

The following week I went to the studio for our Mom & Baby Yoga class. I grabbed one of the bars (with the lowest expectations), and was so pleasantly surprised, that I stocked my purse with a couple extra ones. They are moist, chewy and delicious! The fact that they are vegan and locally made only makes them that much better. I thought the peanut butter chocolate one would be my favorite, but I've been addicted to the chocolate coconut & almond one. Apparently the almond, cranberry & goji berry is very popular amongst yogis, but I have yet to try it.

We are proud to support EnerChia, and now sell all 3 flavors at Luna Yoga.

vegan juicer pulp muffins

Since we started juicing, we've been testing out recipes to use up our leftover juicer pulp. We've tried soup, veggie burgers and several muffin recipes. So far this is the best one. It's adapted slightly from Eat Yourself Skinny blog.

I'm hoping to find a good veggie pate recipe that incorporates leftover juicer pulp... Let me know if you have any recommendations.

vegan juicer pulp muffins
3 cups flour (my favorite is kamut)
1/2 cup flax seed meal
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp baking powder
1tsp cinnamon
2 cups veggie pulp (leftover from Immune Boast Juice)
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 banana
1/2 cup almond or soy milk
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine dry ingredients. Mix in wet ingredients. Pour into oiled muffin tray. Bake for 20-25 mins.

*try them served with almond or peanut butter (I started doing this while I had gestational diabetes to help increase my protein intake, and loved it!) 

Ingredients

• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup flax seed meal
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 2 cups fruit/veggie pulp (I used approximately 1 bunch kale, 4 carrots, 2 green apples and 1 large chunk of fresh ginger)
• 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1/2 banana, mashed
• 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1/2 cup maple syrup or honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• Handful of rolled oats

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, flax meal, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg together. Then add in the pulp followed by the yogurt, banana, almond milk, maple syrup/honey and vanilla extract.
3. Mix until just combined and add more almond milk if too thick.
4. Add batter to lightly sprayed muffin tins and sprinkle with rolled oats. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Muffins will be done when a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Enjoy!

Nutritional Information

Serving Size: 1 muffin • Calories: 98.1 • Fat: 0.8 g • Carbs: 20 g • Fiber: 2.8 g • Protein: 3.5 g • WW Points+: 2 pts

- See more at: http://www.eat-yourself-skinny.com/2014/10/juice-pulp-muffins.html#sthash.VR0xsTEv.dpuf

Ingredients

• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup flax seed meal
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 2 cups fruit/veggie pulp (I used approximately 1 bunch kale, 4 carrots, 2 green apples and 1 large chunk of fresh ginger)
• 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1/2 banana, mashed
• 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1/2 cup maple syrup or honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• Handful of rolled oats

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, flax meal, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg together. Then add in the pulp followed by the yogurt, banana, almond milk, maple syrup/honey and vanilla extract.
3. Mix until just combined and add more almond milk if too thick.
4. Add batter to lightly sprayed muffin tins and sprinkle with rolled oats. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Muffins will be done when a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Enjoy!

Nutritional Information

Serving Size: 1 muffin • Calories: 98.1 • Fat: 0.8 g • Carbs: 20 g • Fiber: 2.8 g • Protein: 3.5 g • WW Points+: 2 pts

- See more at: http://www.eat-yourself-skinny.com/2014/10/juice-pulp-muffins.html#sthash.VR0xsTEv.dpuf

Ingredients

• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup flax seed meal
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 2 cups fruit/veggie pulp (I used approximately 1 bunch kale, 4 carrots, 2 green apples and 1 large chunk of fresh ginger)
• 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1/2 banana, mashed
• 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1/2 cup maple syrup or honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• Handful of rolled oats

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, flax meal, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg together. Then add in the pulp followed by the yogurt, banana, almond milk, maple syrup/honey and vanilla extract.
3. Mix until just combined and add more almond milk if too thick.
4. Add batter to lightly sprayed muffin tins and sprinkle with rolled oats. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Muffins will be done when a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Enjoy!

Nutritional Information

Serving Size: 1 muffin • Calories: 98.1 • Fat: 0.8 g • Carbs: 20 g • Fiber: 2.8 g • Protein: 3.5 g • WW Points+: 2 pts

- See more at: http://www.eat-yourself-skinny.com/2014/10/juice-pulp-muffins.html#sthash.VR0xsTEv.dpuf

Immune Boost Juice

Although juicing has been popular for quite a while now, I only got into it recently and finally bought a juicer last month. After doing a bit of research on juicers, a friend recommended the Omega 8006, so I checked it out and ordered it on Amazon. My intention was to start with green juices, but with cold season in full swing we've been addicted to the Immune Boost Juice from Jae Steele's Get it Ripe cookbook. It's so easy to make, and turns out a delicious red! 

Immune Boost Juice: 3 carrots, 1 beet, 1 apple, 1 chunk ginger root, half a lemon

The juice is a little spicy for Levi, but he loves feeding the veggies into the juicer.

 

The only downfall to juicing is all the leftover pulp... So why not turn it into muffins! There are tons of recipes online, or check out Jae's Get it Ripe cookbook for the Juicier Pulp Muffins.

ViraOne’s Chocolate Chaga Mushroom Nutrition Mix

I've never really been into shakes or nutritional powders, but with pregnancy, gestational diabetes and
now breastfeeding, I felt like I needed a little boost. I started adding some protein powders to smoothies, but often found they left a 'powdery' taste, and/or I was just trying to cover up the taste of the powder with other ingredients. Then I remembered Mark Brown had sent me some taste testers from his company ViraOne. Since the label had the word 'chocolate' in it, I decided to add it to soy milk (normally I would use Almond Milk, but with the gestational diabetes I had to switch to soy to increase my protein intake). It turned out to be delicious! It reminds me a bit of the chocolate milk we used to have as kids, made with Quick (except this is like a much healthier, not-so-sweet version). Since I had to limit my sugar intake, this also makes for a nice dessert.

The second time I added the ViraOne Mix to the "Truth Smoothie" from Sharon Gannon's Simple Recipes for Joy cookbook. It turned out to be the perfect addition, with a hint of chocolate flavor.

ViraOne’s Chocolate Chaga Mushroom Nutrition Mix is full of Good Stuff. The nutrient-dense formula is based on superfoods and superherbs. All ingredients are raw, vegan, gluten-free, sustainable, and non-GMO. Plus it's a Canadian company!

ViraOne was created in nature, not in a lab. The nutrition mix was formulated by Adele Engel in the mountains of British Columbia. When faced with a life-threatening illness, Adele used her knowledge of superfoods and herbs to create a delicious tasting and highly effective super-mix, and began to heal herself. As a nutritionist, health coach, and yogini, Adele’s work caught the interest of others, and so she started to share it.
After many years of perfecting the formula, tried and tested on a devoted clientele, Adele passed on the recipe to Mark Brown. Mark now runs the company from both Huntingdon, QC and Oshawa, ON. Mark is sticking to Adele’s original recipe, offering optimal nutrition and vibrant health to even more Canadians.
Most importantly, he continues to use only the Good Stuff in ViraOne: organic herbs, whole foods straight from the wild, nutrient-rich sea algaes, and more.
http://www.viraone.com/