The last two weeks have been crazy busy with my kids schedules from volunteering at their school to driving them to and from school and not to mention driving them to and from their after school activities. With all of this craziness I have very little time to prepare foods from scratch on a daily basis. Instead I’ll cook and bake foods in batches to help me out throughout the week, usually it’s on Sunday’s and Wednesday’s.
Last Wednesday on my baking day, I baked a few batches of blueberry apple muffins. Of course on that day my boys had their friends over and everyone was in and out of the house including my mischievous one year old. Some how my one year old escaped out of the locked yard and over to my neighbors front porch. Luckily, my neighbor was out walking her dog. She suggested I put a leash on my one year old so he doesn’t escape! Honestly, some days that sounds like a good idea so I can get some things done around the house (don’t worry I’m just kidding!)
Anyhow, while all of this was going on I forgot to add the sugar to my dry ingredients and didn’t realize it until they came out of the oven! I didn’t tell the kids and wondered if they’d notice. I called them over to try the muffins, I was studying their face as they took the first bite, so far so good. I had my five year old nephew over and had him try some too, he said he just liked the topping and that it had too much fruit inside it (can’t please everyone, especially since he loves to add sugar on everything). On the other hand, my picky four year old loved them and asked for seconds as did my other two boys. 
I shared this recipe over at Mis Pensamientos (aka Junia’s blog site) for her October 2011 Bloghop! Head on over there to check out other recipes!
Blueberry Apple Muffins (w/ sugar)~Lisa’s SMART recipe
Servings: 12/ Serving Size: 1/ Wt. Watcher pts: 2/Pts Plus: 3
Calories: 176/ protein: 5 g/ fat: 3.5 g/carbs: 32 g/ fiber: 3.4 g
Blueberry Apple Muffins (w/out sugar)~Lisa’s SMART recipe
Servings: 12/ Serving Size: 1/ Wt. Watcher pts: 3/Pts Plus: 5
Calories: 123/ protein: 5 g/ fat: 3.5 g/carbs: 19 g/ fiber: 3.4 g
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Dry Ingredients
1cup of oat flour ( I used old fashioned oats in the blender to make oat flour)
¼ c. wheat germ
¼ c. flax meal
¾ c. whole wheat flour
2 ½ tsp baking powder
*3/4 cup sugar (I unintentionally left the sugar out, later realized it was a success!)
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Wet Ingredients
1 whole egg + 2 egg whites
1 c.light vanilla soy milk (add more if the batter is too thick about a tablespoon at a time) – I used light vanilla soy milk by Silk
1 ½ c. frozen or fresh blueberries
1 small apple finely chopped (1 cup)
Topping
2Tbsp. oatmeal
1 Tbsp Earth Balance natural buttery spread or just plain old butter
1 Tbsp sugar or 1/3 of stevia pakcet depending on how sweet you like it and may want to add another tablespoon of oatmeal to add some bulk to the topping
1 tsp ground cinnamon
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*you can substitute stevia powder in place of granulated sugar for low calorie-low sugar recipe and still get the sweetness. 1 cup sugar = 1 tsp stevia powder and add some bulk like diced apples, the stevia works well in this recipe due to the extra bulk from the fruit….another serendipitous success!
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Directions:
1. Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl, until blended.
2. Add wet ingredients into another bowl, using a fork whisk well.
3. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, mix and fold in the ingredients until blended about 25 strokes is good.
4. Carefully fold in the blueberries and diced apples. Drop a spoonful of batter into a greased (I sprayed it with vegetable spray) muffin tin.
5. This is the best part of the muffin, the cinnamon sugar topping! Using a fork to mix and blend the ingredients until they look like small clumps of crumbs. Add about 1 teaspoon of the crumb mix on top of each muffin.
5. Bake in a pre-heated oven of 350 F for about 25-30 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean with toothpick test.
I like to double the batch and freeze some for later.
Believe it or not my picky preschooler loves these muffins! It’s the perfect afternoon snack! Hmm, thanks mom!
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Nutritional Analysis for blueberry apple muffins without 3/4 cup sugar: calories: 123/ protein: 5 g/ carbohydrates: 19 g/ fiber: 3.5 g/ sugars: 5 g/ total fat: 3.5 g/ saturated fat: 0.8 g/ monounsaturated fat: 1 g/polyunsaturated fat: 0.8 g/ cholesterol: 18 mg/ sodium: 145 mg
% Daily Value:
I know this is not your typical dessert cookie but you’ll be surprised how tasty these power cookies really are! Did I mention that I made these cookies with my picky eater in mind. You see, he is not one to have a big appetite in the morning, so I made these PB Banana Power Cookies for those mornings when we are litterally running out the door! These also make a great post wokout snack too!
Speaking of workouts, I have been working out at home the last few months to save on time. By the time I get my toddler son out the door and drive to the gym, I could have done a workout! So instead, my workouts are short and super challenging. For today’s workout, all you will need is a jump rope and a gymboss interval timer . Set your timer to 2 minutes on, 30 secionds rest for 10 rounds. If you don’t have a gymboss interval timer, you can use a stop watch.
warm up for 5 minutes
Lisa’s PB Banana breakfast cookies
Servings: 12/ Serving Size: 1 cookie
Weight Watcher pts plus: 5
Calorires: 190/ protein: 8 g/ fat: 9 g/ carbs: 19 g/ fiber: 3 g
Dry Ingredients:
1 ¾ cups rolled oats
4 Tbsp hemp seeds
2 Tbsp flax meal
2 Tbsp chia seeds
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 scoop protein whey vanilla powder
1/2 cup crunchy natural peanut butter
Wet Ingredient:
1 cup banana puree (1 large or 2 small banana’s)
¼ c to ½ cup brown sugar or honey, agave, etc. (depends on how sweet you like it ~ I used 1/4 cup agave nectar)
2 tsp vanilla extract
Directions:
1. Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl, set aside.
2. Mix the wet ingredients in a separate bowl, add the dry ingredients until combined well.
3. Bake for about 12-15 min at 350 degrees
Makes 12 large cookies
