Banana Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins

When you have extremely ripe bananas what do you do with them? Why you make banana muffins of course!

I am currently in the middle of preparing for a bikini competition so I couldn't eat one of these muffins, but you can bet I had my in-home taste tester (aka my boyfriend) give me feedback on them. From the time they came out of the oven to being slathered in butter they looked and smelled so good! Albert was in the middle of an afternoon long en-devour to hang the curtains in the bedroom so as a treat I brought him one of these muffins.  It was the perfect pick me up he needed to finish the curtains (They look fantastic!).

These muffins whipped up super fast with little prep involved. One thing I loved about these muffins is the base mix is very generic so you can make a lot of different flavor combinations! I decided to add peanut butter, chia seeds, and chocolate chips to this batch. You could easily switch out the ingredients and instead substitute in peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips, blueberries, almond butter, etc.

These muffins are perfect for breakfast, a mid afternoon snack, and store perfectly for those on-the-go days. I would even go as far to warm one up and put a scoop of ice cream on top!

Check out the recipe below and get baking!

Ingredients:

- 3 very ripe bananas, mashed
- 1.5 cups of white flour
- .5 cups of melted creamy peanut butter
-1/3 cup of unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1 egg
- 2/3 cup of honey (or sugar)
-1 teaspoon of vanilla
-1 teaspoon of baking soda
-2 teaspoons of chia seeds

-1 cup of chocolate chips
-Pinch of salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Spray muffins tins with nonstick spray (Do not use muffins liners).
3. Mash bananas in a bowl until its a smooth puree.  Add in melted butter and mix until combined.
4. Add honey, egg, and vanilla to bowl and mix until well combined. 
5. Add in salt, baking soda, and flour and mix just enough until everything is combined. Do not over mix!
6. Fold the chocolate chips into the batter.
7. Divide evenly among the muffin tins. Fill each tin about 3/4 full.
8. Bake for approximately 18-20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. If you see the edges darkening gently place a sheet of aluminum foil over the top to prevent burning.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 7 days.  Enjoy!

Protein Chocolate Chip Muffins

I love muffins just as much as the next person, but lets face it, when you're trying to eat healthy muffins don't usually make the cut. I mean, what is so unhealthy about eating a huge muffin the size of your 2 fists, toasted and then slathered in butter?? Yup, you got me, nothing!

Unfortunately, we can't all be in denial. A fresh blueberry muffin from the bakery can have upwards of over 400 calories, 18 grams of fat, 61 carbohydrates, and 37 grams of sugar. I can't imagine what the nutrition would be for a double dark chocolate or a apple cinnamon sugar muffin! 

Enter Kodiak Cakes Power Cakes. I had heard of this brand before, but I didn't want to buy it from the grocery store because a tiny box of their pancake mix was over $5. So when I saw Costco had a HUGE box of sale for $7 I grabbed it right up. Their Kodiak Cakes it mainly for making waffles and pancakes, but you can also make pizza, pot pies, and many other food items with their mix. Their mix can be substituted as a healthy alternative in recipes: swap 1 cup of flour with 1 cup of Kodiak Cakes Mix and omit the salt and baking powder. When I saw that you could make muffins, I was all over it.

Before I dive into the recipe, there are some substitutions I wanted to share with you. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 1/4 of melted butter. I did not follow that and instead I added 1 tablespoon of brown sugar, 1/2 cup of applesauce, and 1/4 cup of honey; that way I was still getting the sweetness without the extra processed sugar. 

Ingredients:

2 cups Power Cake Mix
1 cup of milk (I used Unsweetened Almond Milk)
1 egg
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
Handful of chocolate chips.

Directions:

Mash 2 bananas in a bowl until they looked pureed. Combine all other ingredients in the bowl. Grease all muffin cups with cooking spray to prevent sticking (Even if you use the muffin liners spray them as well). Fill each muffin cup 3/4 full. Bake at 350 for 14-18 minutes (I cooked mine for 16 minutes and they came out perfect). Makes 16 muffins. 

Note: I did not add chocolate chips to the batter. I filled each muffin tin 3/4 full and they I add 3 chocolate chips on top and then pressed them into the batter. Either way is fine though. 

Servings Size: 2 muffins have 12 grams of protein. 

Enjoy! 

Vegetable Egg Cups

Eating breakfast during the week can be challenging. I usually start my day off with my daily dose of Shakeology because it provides all of my nutrient needs, but sometimes I want to switch it up! I started flipping through one of my cookbooks called FIXATE, it provides recipes based on the 21 Day Fix portion control container system, and it has some great recipes. I turned to a page labeled Vegetable Egg Cups and thought perfect!

These little vegetable egg cups are perfect to put together on Meal Prep Sunday or Monday. They are great for a quick breakfast or packed in your lunch for a mid-morning snack. The vegetables I chose for my egg cups were spinach and diced orange peppers. You could also add chopped mushrooms, diced green or red peppers, broccoli, maybe a little cheese...anything you would put in your omelet! Also, you could make these with meat by adding crumbled bacon pieces or crumbled sausage. 

What you will need is a muffin tin, cooking spray, and the following ingredients below:

12 Large Eggs

1 medium orange pepped, diced

3 cups of fresh spinach

Salt and Pepper to taste 

Medium Salsa (Optional)

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 375.

2. Coat a twelve-cup muffin tin with non-stick spray

3. Crack eggs into a large bowl and whisk until blended. 

4. Add in your chopped vegetables (and meat preference is you desire). Season with salt and pepper to taste.

5. Evenly pour egg mixture into muffin cups (See below for desired level of fullness).

6. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a fork inserted into the middle comes out clean. 

7. Top each egg with 1 tbsp of salsa if you desire. 

Reheat Directions- Place on a microwaveable plate and microwave for 45 seconds. If using a toaster oven, set to 350 and bake for 3 minutes. 

If you are following the Beachbody portion control container system, 2 egg cups equals 1 red container. 

Enjoy!

7 Halloween Themed Recipes

Pumpkin, Jack-O-Lanterns, Costumes, Witches, Trick-or-Treating, 13 Days of Halloween, Spider Webs, Hocus Pocus, Candy, Candy, And MORE candy. That pretty much sums up what I think of when I think about Halloween!

Halloween is the first holiday that kicks off the holiday trifecta...followed by Thanksgiving and Christmas. Holidays bring unexpected amount of refined sugar, fat, alcohol, and lots of baked goods (not trying to make you depressed, but it's the truth!). Having all of that in the mix is what inspired me to come up with 7 healthy-ish Halloween Recipes. They're fun, spooky, and appeal to your sweet and savory taste buds without having to eat a whole bag of snickers.

Check them out below!

7 Healthy Halloween Recipes:

1. Jack-O-Lantern Stuffed Peppers
2. Sweet Potato Witches Fingers
3. Candy Corn Bark
4. Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread
5. Pumpkin Coffee Swirl Smoothie
6.Gluten-Free Protein Pumpkin Pancakes
7. Graveyard Taco Bake

Feel free to save your favorite recipe! If you make it, give me a shout out! Have a Spooky Halloween Season!

Gluten Free Protein Pumpkin Pancakes

Halloween Themed Recipe #6- Countdown to Halloween!

There is nothing better than waking up on a Saturday morning and making pancakes, am I right?!

A few weekends ago one of my girlfriends, Annie, was in visiting from out of town. Whenever I have friends over I always like to make a fun and delicious breakfast, one because I am Italian and that is how my mom taught me to entertain and two because I like to make elaborate breakfasts on the weekend. 

So we started prepping everything. Before I go on any further I should preclude that my friend Annie doesn't cook a lot nor does she know how to cook {these are her words not mine!} so it was fun teaching her how to make pancakes. We made the batter and I showed her how to make pancakes on the stove. We were making chocolate chip pancakes for her and my boyfriend.  

Funny Story. About halfway through cooking the pancakes I had to use the restroom and I knew the pancakes were going to need to be flipped, remember she doesn't really know how to cook. So she says excitedly "go ahead! I will watch the pancakes." I had this overwhelming sense on panic because all I could think was "oh my gosh she doesn't know how to flip the pancakes...they are going to get ruined!" But I walked away and let her do her thing. A few seconds later I hear "Uh oh!" and then an excited scream. So I rushed back into the kitchen only to find that she accidentally flipped one of the pancakes on top of another one, but she had also successfully flipped her first pancake. It was a great moment :-) 

While the pancakes were finishing up I realized I wanted to try and make a batch of healthy pumpkin pancakes. So I threw some ingredients together and hoped it worked! Which it did by the way and that is how you have come to be blessed with this delicious recipe!

Gluten Free Protein Pumpkin Pancakes

Ingredients:

3 tablespoon of Libby's Pumpkin Puree
1 egg
1 scoop of Vanilla Shakeology
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 dashes of pumpkin pie spice

Directions:

1) Whisk all ingredients together until everything is wet.
2) Set skillet on stove top and turn dial to medium heat. Spray pan with cooking spray.
3) Using a small serving ladle make 3 silver dollar size pancakes.
4) Cook 2 minutes on each side or until edges begin to bubble. Repeat process until all the badder is gone.

Recipe should yield 6-8 silver dollar pancakes. Serve with fresh fruit, a little maple syrup, or pumpkin butter! 

Pumpkin Coffee Swirl Smoothie

Halloween Themed Recipe #5- Countdown to Halloween


I love having smoothies for breakfast. It's quick, it's easy, it's simple. 

I don't have a lot of time in the morning to make a nice breakfast, as I am assuming many of you reading this are in the same boat! I can throw everything in a blender and in less than 5 minutes I have a delicious breakfast. 

Since it is fall time I use a lot of pumpkin puree in my recipes. Costco sells big cans of Libby's Pumpkin Puree in packs of 3, which definitely last me through the season. Now when you buy pumpkin puree make sure it is the real stuff (like Libby's) and not just pumpkin pie filling. The pumpkin pie filling can have extra sugar and preservatives in it compared to the pure puree. 

One of the ingredients I love adding to my smoothies is cold coffee because I am able to get my caffeine for the day without adding the flavored creamer or half and half, which equates to extra calories. Another ingredient I add to my morning smoothies is a nutrient dense protein powder called Shakeology. It is packed with my daily dose of vitamins, minerals, fruits, and vegetables. By adding it to my smoothie it helps me stay fuller longer throughout the day as well as makes my smoothie more substantial.

The Pumpkin Coffee Swirl Smoothie was created on a morning when I couldn't make up my mind of what to put in my smoothie, I know we have all been there before! I wanted to add coffee, pumpkin puree, chocolate Shakeology, Vanilla Shakeology....so I decided why not throw it all together?! And that is exactly what I did. 

And the Pumpkin Coffee Swirl Smoothie was born.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of iced coffee (I use Starbucks brand)*

1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk

1/2 scoop Chocolate Shakeology**

1/2 scoop Vanilla Shakeology**

1/4 cup Libby's Pumpkin Puree

1/2 banana (not pictured)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Dash of cinnamon

Add everything into the blender along with 4-6 ice cubes. Blend until smooth. Pour into your favorite cup and whalah! You have an amazingly nutritious breakfast!

*Starbucks iced coffee can be swapped for any cold coffee. Do NOT add hot coffee to the smoothie, it will cause the smoothie to not blend smoothly.

** If you do not have Shakeology this can be swapped with any protein powder you have at home, although I do have to say it might not be as delicious! Or if you don't like protein powder you can omit it all together!

Happy Blending!