Secretly Healthy Chocolate Cherry Muffin Recipe

Secretly Healthy Chocolate Cherry Muffin Recipe

The motivation for this Secretly Healthy Chocolate Cherry Muffin Recipe comes from the same place as most of my muffin collection… it’s was our turn to bring snacks at Lil Dude’s school.  This recipe is 100% whole grain, but that isn’t the only thing that makes this recipe healthier.  Pumpkin puree makes them moist,  flax meal adds healthy omega’s,  oat bran adds  fiber, and the chocolate yumminess comes from cocoa powder… meaning we get the antioxidants, without the extra fat.  All combined, these Secretly Healthy Chocolate Cherry Muffins are perfect for the preschool set!

These muffins are not too heavy, they have a light almost cupcake like textures, so they’d also make a healthier cupcake for a birthday party or special occasion treat.  Especially if you added the chocolate chips!

 

I love to bake muffins in the mini bundt tins, the shape makes any muffin a little more interesting!

Preheat the oven to 375 Degrees

Ingredients For the Secretly Healthy Chocolate Cherry Muffin Recipe

1 1/4 Cups of Whole Grain Pastry Flour
1/2 Cup of Oat Bran
2 tablespoons of Flax Meal
1 Cup of Cocoa Powder
1/2 Cup of Sugar
1 Teaspoons of Baking Soda
1 Teaspoon of Baking Powder
1/4 Teaspoon of Salt

3/4 Cup of Yogurt
3/4 Cup of Milk
I cup of Pumpkin Puree
2 Eggs
1 Tsp of Vanilla
1/3 of Cup of Grapeseed Oil

1 Cup of Frozen Cherries — Chopped Chunky

Going for an extra special treat?  Add 1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips!

Chocolate Cherry Muffin Recipe Instructions

Sift the cocoa powder – or things will be a lumpy mess!  Combine the dry ingredients together in a large bowl, the mix the wet ingredients together in a separate bowl.  Form the dry ingredients into a well-like shape.  Pour the liquid in the middle and blend all the ingredients well.  Once everything is almost mixed add the chopped frozen cherries.

Spoon the batter into an oiled mini bundt pan or lined muffin tins.

Bake for 12 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out dry.  Another way to test if they are done… press down lightly on the muffins.  If they are done, they will bounce back, not done, your finger print will remain.

This recipe makes 24 smaller muffins!

Tip:  If you are going to dust in powdered sugar, do it just before serving… otherwise it will just absorb into the muffin… leaving none of the pretty finish!

Come back and comment when you make these Secretly Healthy Chocolate Cherry Muffin Recipe, we love your feedback!

Community Supported Agriculture

 

A Closer Look at Community Supported Agriculture

Today nearly everyone is looking for new ways to eat better.  Between busy schedules, fast food restaurants, and junk food at the checkout, there are endless temptations to eat badly.

How about a temptation to eat better?  My favorite is Community Supported Agriculture.

Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA for short, is an arrangement between subscribers (also called members) and a local farm.  The members join for a season and make a monetary payment in exchange for a share of the harvest.  Typically you receive a weekly box, delivered locally, often to another member’s garage.  CSA members share in the risks and benefits of the harvest.  This means that in a good year there may be additional bundles of corn while in a bad year, corn may be absent–but there may be extra cauliflower.

Your Community Supported Agriculture Dollars at Work

 

CSA’s typically offer good value for your food dollar and the foods are often grown without chemical pesticides.  By “eating local” you help the local economy, support family farms, and reduce the impact of packaging and shipping cross country.   And you get some really fresh, amazing food.

One of the surprising advantages of joining a CSA is that it is a commitment.  With one burst of resolve you sign up–and are in it for the season.  Since you have already paid for a weekly box of vegetables, you are more likely to eat them.  And let’s be honest, if you have a bad week at work, you are going to need something more motivating that a simple commitment to eat better.  Sounds challenging, but  the (really fresh) produce is so beautiful, it feels like you are getting a weekly present.

 

Beyond the food itself, joining a CSA may offer additional benefits.   Often there is a newsletter with healthy recipe suggestions and connections to other providers like grass fed beef producers.  There may also be farm events like canning classes or member parties, where your kids can see a real, live chicken.  I’ve had a great time and gotten delicious recipes at my CSAs annual harvest party.

Most CSAs are getting ready for the new season and signing up members now.  If you are serious about eating better, this is one of the best commitments you can make.  To find one near you, check out the Local Harvest website.

Let Us Know About Your Experiences with Community Supported Agriculture!

Healthy Banana Muffin Recipe

Healthy Banana Muffin Recipe

I made this whole grain Banana Muffin Recipe to send with little diva for her snack day at pre K. They do have some sugar, but I cut it down as much as possible. They have whole wheat flour, oatmeal, flax, and banana.

One of my favorite tips is to get creative with your presentation.  I love using mini-bundt pans – it makes the muffins look almost like little donuts.  When it comes to little eaters I always find it helps to think outside the box!

Serves 24
Heat oven to 375°F

Banana Muffin Recipe Ingredients

DRY
4 cups whole wheat flour
2 cup quick-cooking oat
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 tablespoons flax meal

WET
3 cups bananas, mashed (6-7 ripe)
4 eggs
1/2 cup of Agave Nectar
2/3 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions For the Banana Muffin Recipe

Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. When well mixed create a well for the liquid ingredients.
In a separate bowl, combine the mashed bananas, eggs, vanilla, agave and butter.
Add the wet mixture to the flour mixture, stirring just until the dry ingredients are moistened.

Spoon batter into greased muffin cups or I like to use mini bundt pans.

Using convection and the mini bundt the muffins were done in 12 minutes. Regular oven or muffin pans may take up to 18 minutes.

Check to see if muffins are done by inserting a toothpick into the muffin, when it comes out clean the muffins are ready.

Let cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes.

Please let me know if you try our Banana Muffin Recipe!

Healthy Blueberry Muffins

The recipe for these yummiliscious healthy blueberry muffins were tested by 16 picky preschoolers.  When they eat it up, you know you’ve got the mix right.

What makes this a Healthy Blueberry Muffin Recipe?

This recipe is made healthier by using 100% whole grain pastry flour, oat bran and flax meal, less sugar, reduced saturated fat content and adding lots of antioxidant rich berries.  I’ve used blueberries, but feel free to substitute your favorite berry!

These muffins make a nice addition to the lunch box, a quick breakfast or a nice snack with a cup of tea.

This recipe makes about 18 small muffins or 12 larger muffins.
Preheat oven to 400F

Line  muffin cups with recycled paper liners.

Ingredients List for Healthy Blueberry Muffins

1 Cup milk
4 Tablespoons of Grapeseed Oil
1 1/2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
2 Large Organic Free Range Eggs
1 1/2 Cups Whole Grain Pastry Flour
1/2 Cup of Oat Bran
1 Tablespoon of Flax Meal
1/2 Cup of Sugar
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
2 cups Fresh Blueberries or 1 1/2 cups Frozen Blueberries (defrosted – drain excess liquid)

Recipe Instructions

Combine wet ingredients: milk, oil, butter and eggs, and vanilla.  Super time saver tip – measure your milk in a jumbo measuring cup and add your other liquid ingredients in the same cup.  Saves dishes!
Combine dry ingredients: Sift flour, add sugar, oat bran, flax meal, baking powder and salt into large bowl.  Shift the dry ingredients into a well shape.

Pour wet ingredients into the well you made with your dry ingredients.   Fold in blueberries.

Scoop muffin mix into the prepared muffin cups. Bake until golden and toothpick comes out clean, about 15-20 minutes.

Hot Tip:  Using frozen berries may result in “black-ish” dark purple muffins… not so pretty.

Prevent this setting aside  1/3  of your batter.  Fill the tins with 2/3 of the dark “berry batter”.  Then  over top of the “berry batter” pour the reserved “berry-free batter”.  Voila.  Golden topped, berry filled muffins even a toddler will eat.

Thank you to my loyal twitter follower @crvjim for requesting this recipe on behalf of his wife!  How sweet is he?

Please leave a comment after you’ve made the recipe – reader feedback ALWAYS makes my day!  I have a number of gluten free friends – so if you make any tweaks please share them here.

Please let us know these healthy blueberry muffins go over with your peeps!

Healthy Shepherds Pie Recipe

Healthy Shepherds Pie Recipe

Shepherds Pie is one of Dude’s favorite dishes. It’s a little bit more labor intensive than I’d normally like for a casserole dish (it takes me about an hour to put together, but it’s very tasty, and did I mention it was Dude’s favorite? So that makes it worth it.

This year I made it for Valentine’s day, thus the heart shaped mashed potato topping!  The fact that this is a healthy Shepherds Pie Recipe will be our little secret.

Make this recipe healthier by sticking with all organic ingredients.  Did you know that free range, organic beef has more omega 3 and less saturated fat than conventional beef!   The recipe also calls for a lot of veggies (6 cups!) and I sneak a little bit of flax meal in the gravy.  I promise no one will notice!

Ingredient for Healthy Shepherds Pie Recipe

Mashed Potato Topping

8 Potatoes Peeled and chopped for boiling
1/4 – 1/2 Teaspoon of Salt to taste
1/8 Teaspoon of White Pepper
1 Tablespoon of Butter
1/4 Cup of Milk
optional 1/2 Cup of White Bean or Cauliflower puree

Meat & Veggie Bottom

3 Cups of Diced Mixed Vegetables
1 lb of Ground Beef, Organic & Free Range
2 Tablespoons of Whole Grain Flour
1 Cup of Frozen Peas
1 Cup of Cut Carrots
1 Cup of Frozen Corn
optional 1/2 cup of sweet potato puree
1 1/2 – 2 Cups of Beef Broth
3 Tablespoons of Worchestcheshire sauce
3 Tablespoons of Catsup
1/2 Teaspoon of Paprika
2 Teaspoons of Onion Powder
1/4 Teaspoon of Pepper
2 Tablespoons Flax Meal
1/2 Tablespoon of Parmesan Cheese.

Instructions

Mashed Potatoes
If I use russet potatoes I peel them entirely, if I use red potatoes I peel 1/2 of them and leave the rest of the skin to be mashed – extra vitamin C.

Peel & boil your potatoes until they are soft when pierced with a fork.  Drain and set aside.  I use my Kitchen Aid to make the mashed potatoes, goes so fast!  Mash Potatoes with the milk, butter, salt & white pepper – and sent aside.

 

Gravy Base
Saute the diced mixed vegetables & carrots, when the onions are clear and glass like add the beef, cook until browned.  Sprinkle with the flour and stir until mixed.  Add 1/2 of the broth.  Add seasonings.  Then add the peas & corn (organic corn to avoid gmo!).  Be sure to taste now so you can adjust the gravy flavor to your liking.   When it is done, mix in the flax meal.

Pour the mixture into the bottom of a 2 1/2 quart casserole dish.  Then pipe your mashed potatoes using a pastry bag with a large tip opening.  I pipe two layers of mashed potatoes to get the right meat, veggie, potato mix for my family.  Sprinkle with a little bit of parmesan.  Place the casserole in the oven and broil until the potatoes start to brown.

 

Done.  Comfort Food yum with a little less guilt.

Serves 4 with leftovers

Let Us Know How This Healthy Shepherds Pie Recipe Goes Over with Your Family?

100% Whole Grain Waffle Recipe

There is nothing yummier than waffles on a weekend morning, except perhaps the leftover waffles you get to eat the rest of the week.

We make our recipe healthier by adding flax meal, grapeseed oil, oat bran and using whole grains.  It took a while to find the right combination… I’m confident you’ll find this recipe doesn’t sacrafice flavor and isn’t as heavy as the waffle iron you are cooking them on!

Ingredients

Dry Bowl

1 1/2 Cups of Organic Whole Grain Pastry Flour – Sift before measuring.
1/4 Cup of Oat Bran
2 1/2 Teaspoons of Baking Powder
1/4 Teaspoon of Salt
1 1/2 Tablespoons of Flax Meal
1 Tablespoon of Organic Sugar

Liquid Bowl

1 1/2 Cups of Milk
3 Egg Yolks
2 Tablespoons of Grapeseed Oil
1 Tablespoon of Melted Butter
1 Teaspoon of Vanilla

3 Egg Whites – Beat these babies till they are stiff!

Instructions

Pre- Heat your waffle iron.

Combine all your dry ingredients in a large bowl, make a well, and set aside.

Separate your eggs.  Place the egg whites in your mixing bowl.

Add your yolks to the milk, combine with you other liquid ingredients.

Pour your liquid ingredients into your “flour” well and mix gently… you want the mixture to have a slightly lumpy look without having large dry patches of flour.

Beat your egg whites till stiff.  Fold the egg white mixture into the batter.

Brush the waffle iron with Grapeseed oil.

Spoon – I use a measuring 1/2 cup – onto the hot waffle iron gently pulling the batter into the coners.

Clean up while you wait!

Tip:  You’ll know it’s time to check your waffle when you see the steam STOP piping out of the side of your waffle iron.  DO NOT lift the iron while it is steaming.  I sometimes have to go a little longer to get the more golden color I prefer from my waffle iron.

Make a double batch so there will be leftover waffles to freeze or enjoy for fast weekday breakfasts.  This recipe should make about 6 waffles depending on your iron.

Stupid Simple Chicken Drumsticks Recipe

Preheat oven to 425

4 lbs of large organic free range chicken drumsticks
1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil
6 Tablespoons of Worchestishire Sauce
1 Teaspoon of Onion Powder
1 Teaspoon of Paprika
1 Teaspoon of Salt
1/2 Teaspoon of Pepper

Lay drumsticks in the pan, drizzle with the olive oil, splosh on the Worshcesthier Sauce, and evenly distribute seasoning. Cover with Foil. Bake for 40 minutes. Uncover for 5 – 10 Minutes, switch to broil and brown for . When I pull them out of the oven they are typically sitting in a good amount of fat, drain that into a can, so it doesn’t absorb back into the drumsticks.

Serve with your favorite sides.  You can also prepare this dish using other chicken parts other than drumsticks.  That was how I originally prepared the dish, then I realized my family was only eating the drumsticks.

5 Tips for Getting Kids To Eat Heathier

One of the key building blocks of a health is good nutrition.  Getting children started on the right path couldn’t be more important – they are being bombarded from every corner with marketing for foods that are not the best choices.

Yet sometimes it can be challenging to get the Lil ones to cooperate with our best intentions.  Hopefully you will find one or two of these tips useful!

Don’t Give Up

Children can reject a food over and over and over again… experts say over 20 times, and then magically accept it.  In our home – instead of saying “I don’t like that” we say that “we don’t like “X food NOW”.

Note – This is especially true with infants and first foods.  Continue to re-introduce rejected foods and don’t give up.

We have discussions about the examples of foods that we didn’t like at one time, but now love.  It helps the Lil’s learn to understand our tastes are ever changing.

Don’t underestimate the power of talking with them about the food and nutrition.  Keep it age appropriate – but get them involved!

Get the Lil’s Involved in the Kitchen

Cooking with your children gets them involved in the process and in my experience they are more likely to expand there palette with something they’ve been involved in creating.

This tip does take a little — LOT of patience, so don’t overuse it for the sake of maintaining your own sanity!  Keep their tasks age appropriate, set the rules up clearly, then let them help measure, mix, wash and spin away.  The whole point is to get them connecting with wholesome food.  Talk about what part of the body the food is good for during the process – just the basic

Take them to the Farmer’s Market

The farmer’s markets are so much fun for children!  It’s like a festival to them, much more exciting that the grocery store!

My Lil’s graze on the samples the vendors put out like it’s a buffet – and I love it.  They get to try foods they wouldn’t normally taste. I make sure they are doing most of their grazing from vendors I frequent – so they don’t get upset.

 

Taking them to the market also  exposes them to foods you don’t like and aren’t likely to buy for them to try.  You might be surprised to find out what they love.

Be sure to buy a few of their choices too – they love having control – this is a great place to give them choices!

Tip – Don’t get too excited and overbuy when you find out they like something new!  I can get a little excited when my children like something new and buy way too much!

Find a Dip They Love

Never underestimate the ability of Ranch Dressing or Hummus to get you lil’ happily munching on a raw or cooked carrot!  Don’t reserve the dips for raw foods… they can work on steamed selections too.

My lil’s eat salad – with a lot of ranch dressing – It’s much easier to wean them off of the ranch dressing than it is to get them eating a bare salad.

Experiment. Find out what healthy choices they will eat without a fuss and accommodate them in those areas.  Lil Diva likes her red peppers on the side… not mixed in with her salad – fine.

Dice It Up

Every week I dice up a batch of Veggies that I use for cooking meals the entire week!  The key is that I use a  fine dicer that let’s the specific vegetable become unidentified. Learn all about the dicing technique HERE.

This mix goes into everything – the lil’s get the taste and texture of an assortment of veggies – without being able to reject any one in particular.  Not to mention the extra servings of fruits and veggies they are getting every week with no extra effort.

There are so many other ways to get nutritious foods into our families diets – I hope these tips fuel your creativity.  Don’t be shy!  Share some the techniques that work for you & your family!

Thank you to Babycenter for Sponsoring this Post!

This post was sponsored by First Five California – they are calling on parents to take a month long pledge prevent childhood obesity and feed five servings of fruits & veggies every day for one month  First 5 group on BabyCenter.  We make it our goal to get 10 in the diva home – that way when we don’t get to 10 – we still hit the basic requirement of 5!  First 5 is a California organization dedicated to helping educate parents and caregivers about the importance of fitness, nutrition and reading during the first 5 years of life. In their BabyCenter group, you can also pledge to remove chips and soda for a month.

Have a new baby?  Pledge to introduce fruits and veggies and don’t forget to skip the white rice cereal altogether!

FDA Disclosure – This was a sponsored post – I was compensated for my time & effort.  All opinions and beliefs – as always – remain my own and are not for sale.

Healthier Whole Grain Spritz Cookies: Diva Recipe

I love it when I find a way to make conventional recipes healthier, even if it’s just a little bit better as in the case with this recipe. Spritz cookies are perfect for the holidays, but they are so much fun and so easy to make that once you get the hang of making them you won’t want to relegate them to the holidays!  This recipe is 100% whole grain and the addition of oat bran adds to their flakiness.

Ingredients

•    2/3 cup Organic Butter
•    1/3 cup of Grapeseed Oil
•    2/3 cup sifted Organic Confectioners’ Sugar
•    1 Organic Free Range Egg – separated
•    1 teaspoon Vanilla
•    1 teaspoon of Baking Powder
•    1 Cup Organic Whole Grain White Flour
•    1 Cup of Organic Whole Wheat
•    3/4 Cup of Organic Oat Flour
Organic Decorating Sugar or Confectioners’ Sugar for decoration

Directions

1.  Bring Butter to room temp and blend with oil, cream together with the confectioner’s sugar in bowl until light and fluffy, using electric mixer at medium speed. Beat in egg white, then add egg yolk and vanilla; blend well.

2.  Gradually stir flour into creamed mixture, mixing well.
3.  Choose your design and place into cookie press. Place about 1/3 of the dough in cookie press at a time. I found it worked best when you made a nice tube out of the dough first then plop it in and press. Line up the press “grips” to engage the pressing action. Place the press on the cookie sheet, press and quickly but gently remove the press. Space cookies about 1 inch apart, on parchment or an ungreased baking sheets. The press takes time to get used to and get going… so don’t worry when you have a couple that don’t work, just toss them back in with your unpressed dough and have a redo.

4.  If decorating with colored sugar, cherries, or jelly – add that before baking.

5.  Bake in 400 degrees F  oven 7-10 minutes or until set, not browned.

6 .  Remove from baking sheets; cool on racks.

7.  If decorating with confectioners sugar.  Lightly dust once cool.  Enjoy.

Let’s Talk Turkey: Choosing Your Holiday Bird

Thanksgiving is around the corner and plans are in the works for your holiday meal. A meal that will most likely center around a turkey.

Do you always wonder how big the turkey needs to be?   CLICK HERE to use this convenient tool to calculate the amount of Turkey, Stuffing and Gravy you need to make for your gathering. It allows you to specify adults, children, and eating style!

Many supermarkets offer free turkeys as a holiday promotion.  I now splurge and  buy a free range organic turkey for our Thanksgiving Meal.   It’s a couple of times a year so I feel it’s worth spending a little extra to know how it grew and what it ate.

Like most areas of grocery shopping these day, consumers have many choices. Within each type of turkey – you may want to learn about the individual farm that raised your turkey.  Each farm has their own set of standards.

Kosher – Kosher Turkeys are blessed by a Rabbi, they will be rinsed and salted, cleaned with fresh water.  The Kosher process tends to be a more time consuming way of processing meat and the process will typically produce a higher quality product.

Brined – Brined Turkey is prepared in a salted solution.  I’ve never purchased a brined turkey, but I’ve had good results brining a turkey and it was delicious.

Free Range – Free range is a bit of a nebulous term due to the fact that the USDA only requires the animal have access to the outdoors, due to this it can pay to learn a little bit more about the actual farm raising the turkey to ensure the turkey you are buying has actually roamed the range free.

Certified Organic – Certified Oraganic Turkeys should be truly free range, humanely raised with plenty of room to roam, with access to fresh water.  They should be fed an all vegetarian organic diet without GMO.  They should be raised free of antibiotics, growth stimulants, or chemical fertilizers.

Conventional – Convential Turkeys are raised in a confined space, about 1/4 of that of a free range turkey, will be given growth stimulants that will cause them to mature significantly faster than it would on it’s own.

What’s It Going To Cost Me:

We did a little shopping around to find out what prices are in the marketplace, this should give you an idea of what you can expect to pay.

Whole Foods:

Mary’s Certified Organic – ate an organic diet $3.69 per pound.
Mary’s Natural Free Range $2.29 per pound.
Diestel Free Range $2.69 per pound.
Heidi’s Organic $3.99 per pound.

Delivered:

Check out Local Harvest to find local Turkey Farms. Prices range from $59 – $150+.

Spud Delivery also offers Turkeys with their organic grocery delivery service.
Organic Turkey’s $4.49 per pound.
Free Range Turkey’s for $3.22 per pound (Delivered to your door!).

Spud has extended the following offer to PND readers – use code PureNaturalDiva in the promo code field to get $25 off your first  4 orders with Spud ($6.25 will be taken off each order).  Delivery with Spud is free with a minimum order (in LA $32).

Spud delivers to: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, & in Western Canada, Vancouver, Vancouver Island & Calgary.

The Farmer’s Market!

If you are lucky enough to have a farmer’s market with a poultry vendor, chances are good that they will offer turkeys. Our local vendor was pre-ordering for $3.99 per pound.

Hopefully this gives you more information for your turkey shopping this Thanksgiving.

Check out the Diva Thanksgiving Menue – for all the recipes that we’ll typically serve for Thanksgiving & Christmas Dinner.

« Previous Page — Next Page »