Mighty Muffins

From the kitchen of Engine 2 Diet
 

Ingredients:
3 cups of oat bran (I found this at Winco- super cheap)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
4 tablespoons of sweetener (I used agave, honey works too)
Juice of 1 lemon
1 large apple, grated- I cut it in half, take out seeds and stem and use my cheese grater!
6 slightly browned bananas, lightly mashed- leave some chunks
1/4 cup of walnuts, chopped or halved
1/2 cup of raisins (I omitted these, but you can use any small fruit. I might try blueberries next time)
3/4 cup of water

Directions

1. preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Combine dry ingredients
3. Squeeze the juice of the lemon onto the combined apple and bananas
4. Add walnuts, sweetener, fruit and water
5. Combine the wet and dry ingredients into one bowl
6. Pour into sprayed muffin tins and bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown
7. Let cool before removing from tins, store in dry container- they don't last long so eat'em up!


Variations:
Bake batter in loaf pan, and enjoy as slices
Add three thinly sliced pears or 1 cup of 70 percent pure cocoa chips to the batter (I WILL be trying that!)

Forks Over Knives

My sister in law Haley told me about a really great documentary a few weeks ago and told me to check it out. The easiest way to watch it was on Netflix. Well, we don't have Netflix (probably one of very few people that don't have it). Any way, she decided it was so important for me to watch (I am glad that she did) that she bought it on amazon and had it delivered to us!



The name of the documentary is, "Forks Over Knives." The documentary gives medical, statistical and physical (like people who have tried it) evidence to prove that a plant and whole foods based diet without meat or dairy is the best way to prevent diseases and cancer (the main disease being heart failure or coronary heart disease). I recommend everyone watch this documentary. It's amazing what lies we are being fed about the meat and dairy industry.

I am not 100% sure how this is going to be applied to my families diet yet, I know we will purchase less dairy, and meat- but we don't consume much meat to begin with. Haley has been a full on Vegan for a month now and loves it. She is coming to visit next month and has offered to show me some recipes and tips that she finds helpful for her. She has more energy, knowledge of what she is eating and seems to be overall much more healthy.

My goal is to provide the best foods/meals for my family and myself within our budget of course. I am looking forward to learning new- healthier recipes to help prevent obesity, heart failure and diabetes (along with cancers) in my family. I'd rather prevent the illnesses than pay later to treat the symptoms. I hope you all will at least watch the documentary and decide for yourselves if this is something that you need to apply.

Some cool links to check out:

http://www.forksoverknives.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Forks-and-Knives/106082370159
http://www.facebook.com/Engine2Diet

Blessings!
Mindie G

A yummy low cal- high protien lunch

OK- I am trying to get really serious about the foods I put in my mouth. I have six different nutrition books (provided by beach body from 6 different workout programs) to spice up my meals. Today as I was looking through the lunches I found one I sorta copied, but changed a little bit.

Chicken Wrap- most of recipe is from the Brazil Butt Lift Menu

 Ingredients:
-3oz of  boneless skinless chicken breast 100 calories
-1tsp lemon juice zero calories
-1 leaf of cabbage chopped about 8 calories
-1 string cheese 80 calories
-1 tbsp pesto hummus 25 calories
-1 tortilla, I recommend whole wheat tortillas, but I don't have any at the moment about 80 calories

293 calories, loaded with protein and not so many carbs (sorry, I don't count that as much because I still have to work out with the FIT CLUB tonight at Sun Ridge Community Church in Temecula!

Directions:
1. Cook chicken on stove in Pam cooking spray and lemon juice until lightly browned.
2. Heat tortilla if desired.
3. Place pesto on tortilla, and string cheese in middle.
4. Cover with cooked chicken.
5. Lay chopped cabbage over the top and fold.

Yummy!!