Chocolate Carrot Mini Muffins

I’m always making really oat-y snacks for myself and Ryland, but I thought we could use a break from that and decided to switch it up with some chocolate-y goodness in the form of mini muffins. But being a nutritionist-in-training, I had to throw in a healthy twist. I went with carrots, which I really do like, just not with my chocolate. Good news! You can’t even taste them. But they’re there and that’s what counts :D. And look at what they can do for you! 

In addition to the carrot goodness, they were also light, fluffy, moist and just the right amount of sweet. The recipe I used called for buttermilk, which I didn’t have, so I used vanilla yogurt instead. If that made any difference, it was definitely a good difference. Not too mention the added protein, calcium and B vitamins. Two thumbs up for that.

Chocolate Carrot Mini Muffins ~ makes 24

Ingredients

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 2/3 cups sugar
• 1/3 cup unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
• 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg
• 2 medium sized carrots, finely ground in food processor

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400° and grease a mini muffin tray or line with mini muffin liners.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together first 6 ingredients.
3. In a small bowl, whisk the egg and mix in the yogurt, coconut oil, vanilla and carrot. Add mixture to dry ingredients. Gently mix until well blended.
4. Fill each mini muffin cup about 2/3’s full.
5. Bake 12-14 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of muffin comes out clean.
6. Let cool for about 10 minutes in pan before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

These are good for about 3 days and they freeze well. I got 20 muffins in my batch, but I also filled the cups up almost to the top. If you fill them 2/3’s, you should definitely get at least 24.

I’m not crazy about the amount of sugar that went into these. Based on how they turned out, and the vanilla yogurt in place of the buttermilk, I think they would’ve been fine with 1/2 the amount so I’ll keep that in mind for next time.

The carrots were a great addition, but i’m thinking I’ll give zucchini a try for the next batch. You can call me the Sneaky Veggie Bandit ;).

Enjoy the rest of your day!

 

Halloween & 60th Birthday Celebrations

The cutest little cow I ever did see.

Moo.

We spent the Halloween weekend at my parent’s house on Vancouver Island, and what a great weekend it was. My mom & dad are just over the moon when they’re hanging out with Ryland. He can do no wrong in their eyes. Also, my mom puts chocolates on our pillows. Reese’s PB Cups for Duncan, Aero for me. Speaking of which, I ate every single mini Aero bar that Ryland scored while trick or treating…and I’m way too embarrassed to reveal the exact number. Never mind my dad’s birthday cupcakes, the waffles and whipping cream for breakfast, and a few (ok, more than a few) crisp apple ciders. But I worked extra hard at my spin class last night to get rid of some of the guilt and excess calories so I’m even. Yeah, sure thing.

On Friday we did some exploring and came across this little gem along the water:

There are so many beautiful lakes, beaches and trails on the Island (us British Columbians call it “The Island,” as if it’s the only island on the planet). And they’re never jam packed the way everything here on the mainland is. What do they say about life on the Island…”twice the fun, half the pace.” Totally true. I’m instantly in relaxation mode the second we get off the ferry. I sleep better, too. Must be something in the air.

We celebrated my dad’s 60th birthday on Saturday before heading out for some trick or treating with our little cow. We had these t-shirts made, which we all wore, and they were a pretty big hit.

It totally looks like Ryland on the shirts, but it’s actually my dad when he was 5 months old.

We had some ribs for dinner and cupcakes for dessert, (a HUGE hit with a certain toddler), and then my dad opened his presents. He got a bit choked up when he opened the little book that I made him. That’s saying something because I think my dad has cried twice in my lifetime, each lasting for about 12 seconds. I did good! And he loved Ryland’s finger-painted masterpiece. It went up on the wall immediately.

Now let’s go get some caaaaandy!!! I have the sweetest sweet tooth ever. I try to satisfy it with fruit as much as possible, but on Halloween, all bets are off. I’ll take ALL the Starburst & Skittles PLEASE.

Cowpokes

And this, my friends, is why you have kids.

There was a small pack of goldfish which we let Ryland have, but other than that, alllll ours. We won’t be able to get away with stealing all his candy next year so we took full advantage this time around. But before that, we let him sort through it all, and I had a huge proud mama moment. He was putting all the Smarties in a little pile off to the side! You’re probably thinking “ok….and???” But in my eyes that makes him a little sorting genius. *Gush.* Ok, enough.

The one downside of the weekend was that Ryland came down with another cold. I swear, ever since he started going to daycare, it’s one after another. I’m told that’s the way it is at this age, but still. I hate seeing him not feeling well. He was still his usual party animal self all weekend, but nighttime was pretty rough. We all know how hard it is to sleep when we’re stuffed up, but it must be a hundred times worse when you don’t know how to blow your nose. Breaks my heart. Our one saving grace is this stuff:

Abundance Baby Balm

It’s meant for diaper rash, but I also put it under his nose and on his chest and feet when he has a cold. It really helps him settle down and it has a very soothing smell, sort of like Vicks Vapo Rub. I love it because it’s all natural and the little tin we have is lasting forever. We also put a pillow under the top end of the crib mattress which seems to help a bit…but Ryland moves all over the place when he’s sleeping so it doesn’t last long. On Saturday night he slept on top of me for most of the night and it was heaven. My shirt was drenched from his sweat and I was in a really awkward position, but there’s nothing better than having your baby sleep on you. I wish it didn’t only happen when he’s sick, but I’ll take what I can get. Thankfully, our little guy is on the mend now, and maybe, just maybe we can go a whole month before the next cold :/. You wouldn’t even know he was under the weather with big smiles like this:

Alrighty, there’s laundry to be folded, a dishwasher to be unloaded, etc., etc., ETC., (it’s never ending!) so I better get to it. Have yourself a really great day :).

How I Tricked My Toddler Into Eating Broccoli

I know the title of this post sounds really deceitful, but after a million failed attempts at trying to get Ryland to eat “yummy little trees,” I had to resort to trickery. And my method could not be simpler. I steamed up some broccoli, blended it into pasta sauce, and voila! There are a few other steps in there, but bottom line – he finally ate it. I don’t even want to post this picture because I know it doesn’t look the least bit appetizing, but it was actually really good.

And we only ever eat brown rice pasta, which this is. The ingredients are 100% organic brown rice and honestly, once you sauce it up, it tastes no different than regular white pasta. At least in my opinion. You can buy it in all of the usual pasta shapes; this here is spiral macaroni. A few of the many benefits of brown rice include it’s high fiber, nutrient and anti-oxidant content while also stabilizing blood sugar. Win, win, win. If you love pasta but feel guilty and 9 months pregnant every time you eat it, give this stuff a try. It’s not to be confused with whole wheat pasta though, which I think it awful.

Brown Rice Pasta & Broccoli Marina

Ingredients

• 2 cups dry brown rice pasta (any shape)
• 1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1/4 chopped cooking onion
• 2 cups of broccoli florets
• 1 tbsp olive or cold pressed coconut oil

Instructions

1. Cook pasta according to instructions on package. Be sure not to overcook.
2. Steam broccoli until tender. Place in blender with entire jar of pasta sauce and blend until smooth.
3. Place oil, garlic, and onion in a skillet and heat over medium/high heat on the stove for about 30 seconds, or until onions become tender.
4. Pour blended pasta sauce into skillet, reduce heat to low and simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper if you like.
5. Pour over pasta and serve.

It’s not the most exciting meal, but it’s healthy, filling and most importantly, my toddler ate broccoli!!! I might sneak some cauliflower in there next time, as he wants nothing to do with that either.

We had some plain rice cakes with Nutella for dessert, which isn’t pictured because rice cakes are not picture worthy, but since we’re on the topic, look what we had on the weekend!

We went to a farmers market and had the BEST strawberry frozen yogurt on the planet. We won’t talk about the (delicious) waffle cone nutritional content, but the fro-yo itself consisted of organic strawberries and organic vanilla yogurt. That’s it. Totally healthy so basically, it would be unhealthy NOT to eat it. Again, we won’t talk about the waffle cone.

 Wine Wednesdays are an official thing at my house. I tell myself it’s well-deserved for making it halfway through the week.

You’ll notice I put ice cubes in my white wine. I’m pretty sure that’s breaking all kinds of wine rules, but I only like it ice cold. Hey, at least it’s in a wine glass!

With that being said, happy {Wine} Wednesday!

And an obligatory picture of my kid, because I’m obsessed. And because fall colours are so pretty.

3 Ingredient Granola Bars

Well Thanksgiving was a total write-off on my end. I woke up on Saturday morning feeling like absolute garbage. Every muscle from head to toe hurt, I was cold and sweaty, dizzy, and totally useless. I could barely pick up my kid. Speaking of said kid, he’s been fighting a pretty nasty cold for the last week so both of us were extremely whiny, needy, grumpy and impossible to deal with. Poor Duncan & Parker. Thankfully, we’re both on the mend and feeling a million times better. As much as I was feeling sorry for myself, it absolutely breaks my heart when this little guy is under the weather.

But the selfish part of me loves the extra cuddles I get. He’s been extra needy lately and only wants mom…the selfish part of me loves that too. It can be a little exhausting, but it’s also really sweet. And definitely won’t last forever! Soon enough, I’ll be chopped liver :(.

On Monday I was feeling ok enough to make use of some ripe and baking-ready bananas. My goal is to make things that are nutritious and tasty enough to include in Ryland’s lunchbox for daycare. This time around I decided to go with some super easy, quick and healthy granola bars. There are only 3 base ingredients, + whichever add-ins you like.

3 Ingredient Granola Bars

• 3 ripe bananas
• 1/4 cup raw honey
• 1.5 cups quick oats (you can also use old fashioned oats if you like)

Optional add-ins

• 2 tbsp *pumpkin or sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips, *raisins or dried cranberries
• 1 tsp. *cinnamon

(* denotes add-ins that I used for this particular batch)

1. Preheat oven to 350º
2. Grease an 8″ x 8″ baking dish
3. Mash bananas with a potato masher
4. Stir in honey
5. Stir in oats (and cinnamon if desired)
6. Fold in any additional add-ins
7. Pour into baking dish and flatten surface with a spatula so that it is level and evenly spread to all corners of the dish.
8. Bake for 15-20 minutes. It is ready when the edges are slightly browned.
9. Let cool in pan for at least 10 minutes. Remove and let cool completely.

I cut them into bars once cool, and individually wrap them in plastic wrap so that they are very “grab & go.” They’re good for about 3 days so freeze any that might not get eaten within that time.

Ryland loves them, I love them…Duncan is stubborn as a mule and assumes they taste like bird food, so that’s fine. More for us!

Have yourself a lovely day! As my dad always says, be good and do right ;).

Seriously Healthy Chocolate Chip Banana Bread. Seriously.

Hey there! Hope you’re having a great day so far. Duncan and I went on a 3 night cruise and got home yesterday so my days are a little mixed up. Feels like Monday so it’s really exciting every time I realize it’s already Wednesday :).

Our cruise ship was docked in Seattle all day Sunday so we decided to get off the boat and go on a little adventure. Although we’re Packers fans, (apparently), Duncan really wanted to check out Century Link Field since it was game day. We ended up walking to the stadium in the middle of a massive procession of Seahawks fans…Fan Walk? 12th Man Walk? I think it has a name. Anyway, that brought us to the parking lot where we had our first taste of real, live tailgating! It was so cool! The energy and atmosphere was electric. You can tell that a lot of these people really do live and breathe the game. I’m pretty sure we were literally the only ones there without any Seahawks gear on.

LITERALLY.

How cool are they??? I can’t believe all four dogs were ok with wearing sunglasses. No way Parker would let that happen! You can’t see it in the picture, but the lady dog in the far back corner was wearing a pink jersey and had a little pink bow in her hair. So sweet!!

The rest of our trip was really good. We missed Ryland like crazy, but I think it’s important…vital, actually, to have a little break once in a while. We get so caught up with being parents, work, life in general, so sometimes you need a chance to get away and reconnect. We didn’t realize how much we needed that until we were actually there. Of course I had a little mom guilt going, wondering if being away from him for that long was the right thing to do or totally selfish, but I know deep down it was a good thing. The best thing we (as in all parents) can do for our kids it to be happy ourselves. And I know he had a blast with his Grama while we were away and didn’t sit there feeling abandoned by his mean old mom ;).

OK, so let’s talk Banana Bread. Seriously. Healthy. Banana Bread. I’ve tried so many variations which have all been OK…but not great. Until now. So here’s what I did:

Seriously Healthy Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

• 3 very ripe bananas
• 1/4 cup vanilla Greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp olive oil or melted coconut oil
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 cups oat flour (can be made by grinding up 2.5-3 cups of oats)
• 2 tbsp chia seeds
• 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chunks or chips

1. Pre-heat oven to 350º
2. Grease a 9″ x 5″ loaf pan (I use coconut oil cooking spray)
3. Place first 5 ingredients into blender and blend until smooth
4. Add baking powder, baking soda, chia seeds, and about 1/3 of the oat flour. Blend until smooth and add remaining oat flour in small amounts until thoroughly blended.
5. Fold in chocolate chunks/chips.
6. Pour into loaf pan and bake on middle rack in center of oven for 35-40 minutes.
7. Let cool for about 10 minutes before removing from pan. I place a plate on top and just turn it upside down and it comes out easily.
8. This is good for about 3 days so freeze any that might not get finished. Although there was no possibility of that in my house ;).

I’ll be honest…nothing beats my moms classic banana bread with tons of calories and butter and whatever else, but for a guilt-free option, I think I did pretty well here :).

Enjoy the rest of your day!!