Clean Eating #74: Carrot Cake Muffins with Yogurt Cheese Icing

Carrot Cake Muffins with Yogurt Cheese Icing

Ingredients

(Note:  my son Jaedin made these, and he's not half as concerned with seeing messes during the process.  He did clean up afterwards, though.)

7 cups whole wheat flour 2 tablespoons and 1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 3 tablespoons baking soda 1 tablespoon and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 2 teaspoons sea salt 15 eggs 2 1/2 cups agave nectar 2 1/2 cups xylitol 2 cups coconut oil

2 cups ground flax seed 1 tablespoon and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 12 cups grated carrot

	Grease and flour the bottoms  of 60 muffin cups, or mini loaf pans. Mix together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and sea salt; set aside.
	In a separate bowl, mix the eggs,xylitol,and agave nectar. Stir in the coconut oil, vanilla, flax seed and grated carrot; blend into the flour mixture.
	Bake in preheated oven at 350 until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 15 to 25 minutes. Remove to cool on wire racks.

You can find the recipe for yogurt cheese icing here Yogurt Cheese

And then... he went fishing.  For two hours.  It was more fun than baking.  So was my fitness date with my hubby on the biking trails along that same river!

Clean Eating #48: Blueberry Almond Oats Protein Muffins, Bars or Cookies

Blueberry Almond Oats Protein Bars

These have a lot of ingredients, but they freeze well and they are honestly DELICIOUS.  Even Squatch, my picky boy, gobbled them up.  It would make a great lunchbox snack or a great bar to grab and go.  You can vary the ingredients to your taste.  Let me know how your experiments turn out!

I actually started with our favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe for this one.  I ended up adding several things, and by the time it was all said and done had a VERY yummy cake like textured cookie, rather than a typical 'bar'.  However, they were so delicious, I think I'll still call this one a keeper!  They are very portable as muffins, and I did bake some in mini loaf tins, with a very shallow amount of batter and those turned out more "bar like" but wouldn't hold up the way a typical protein bar would.  My hubby took these to work with him this week and loved them.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup melted coconut oil
• 2 cups agave nectar
• 5 egg whites
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups of whole wheat flour
• 2 cups blended oatmeal
• 1 cup plain old fashioned oats
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup wheat germ *optional
• 1 cup protein powder (I used French Vanilla)
• 1 cup chopped, blanched almonds
• 1/2 cup chopped blueberries (I used frozen berries, thawed and drained first)
• 1/2 cup chia seeds *optional

My mini loaf pan "protein bar"

Directions
Blend together wet ingredients, add dry ingredients and mix well.
Bake at 350 for... well depending on the form you use:
I actually preferred these in cookie form (rolled 1 inch balls and baked for about 8 minutes)
My hubby liked the 'bar' form because it was easy to grab and go (mini loaf pan for about 9-10 minutes)
The mini muffins... not so much.  I much preferred the loaf or cookie form. The muffins were too.. hard.

The kids ate them all, regardless, even the pan I burned.

What I'd do differently next time:
MORE BERRIES...  I would at LEAST double the berries.  Actually, since we're going on a little road trip today, I plan on making another batch to take with us... since all of my rotten children gobbled these all up in one day.  I might also try adding more protein powder.  I loved the nuttiness of the almonds and all the different crunchy textures, so I might add some more of this and that, too.  I'll let you know!

I'll also not bother with any muffins, and just make cookies and bars!

I will also try more varieties:
Cranberries and Almonds
Bananas and walnuts
strawberries and our berry protein powder
Raisins & leave more of the oats unblended

Any other ideas?

Clean Eating #44: Black Bean Brownies w/Cocoa Yogurt Cheese Frosting

Black Bean Brownies w/Cocoa Yogurt Cheese Frosting

I saw this recipe on Angie's Healthy Living Blog and decided that I had to try it.

 Ingredients:
Brownies:

• 1 1/2 Cups soft cooked black beans
• 2 ripe bananas
• 1/3 Cup agave nectar
• 1/4 Cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda

Ingredients for the Icing:

• Yogurt Cheese (drain Plain yogurt overnight with cheese cloth and a strainer OR use Greek Yogurt)
• 1 Tbsp Cocoa
• 2-4 Tbsp Ideal Xylitol Substitute (to taste)
• Mix well, store in the refrigerator between uses. *frost when ready to eat... I'm not sure about using the frosting ahead of time. 

 Verdict:  I liked them, Paris and Jaedin liked them.  My hubby, Squatch & The Bean didn't care for them.  Jaedin kept saying, "Are you SURE there are black beans in this?" but the other kids went, "Ooooohhhhh, that explains it."  They almost reminded me of a protein bar.

Basically, if you're looking for something to ease your chocolate craving, and not kill your diet, this might do it for you, it worked for me (but only WITH the "icing").  Is it 'as good' as a "real" brownie... Of course not, silly.  However, if I wasn't a sugar addict (Ie:  If I could EAT just ONE "real" brownie without downing the whole entire pan and gaining ten pounds as well as giving myself a crushing head ache), then I wouldn't be eating so clean in the first place, now would I?  Probably not.

What I'd do differently next time:  Since I know that more fat equals more flavor, I will definitely mess with this recipe and add some coconut oil or milled flax.  It definitely needs a little something.  Also, next time I won't forget the nuts that were in the original recipe.  It is a keeper, though, even if only three out of 6 of us eat them.

Clean Eating #31: 100% Super Easy Whole Wheat Pita Bread!

Whole Wheat Pita Bread!

Ingredients: 

1-2 pounds of refrigerated Whole Wheat bread dough

*I used my Whole Wheat with Flaxseed Dough from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day

Seeds/ground nuts of choice

tiny bit of water

• Take about 1 pound (small grapefruit size) of dough from your refrigerated dough.
• Sprinkle table with flour, adding some to the top of your dough
• Use a rolling pink to roll out to 1/8th inch circle. DO NOT poke any air holes, this is what make the pita naturally puff up and have that nice "slice" in btween layers when finished.

• Spray or brush top lightly with water & top with seeds/nuts of your choice (I used ground flax & chia seeds)

• Place on floured cookie sheet/flat pan
• Let rise for 15-30 minutes while oven & pizza stone heat.
• Slide onto on pre-heated baking stone for 5-7 minutes.  The pita will be puffed up and slightly brown

• Remove from oven and poke an air hole so the bread can flatten
• After it cools, cut in half and viola!  You have the nice, naturally separated Pita! 

• Fill with your favorite clean ingredients and have a wonderful snack or quick lunch.  These can be wrapped in plastic wrap and stored for later use.

We like to fill them with veggies and a little cheese and use them as "calzones" that we dip in our Clean marinara sauce.  I know my boys would love them with spicy sauteed veggies and we all love them with clean chicken pot pie type filling.

What do you like in your pita bread?

Clean Eating #25: Breakfast or Snack Cranberry Almond Quinoa Oat Porridge

Cranberry Almond Porridge with Quinoa & Steel Cut Groats

*topped with brown sugar substitute/agave nectar and chia seeds. This was our favorite so far!  The chocolate banana groats are moving down the list:)

The kids loved it too. Paris and I put this at the top of our favorites list for sure!
I used a 4 Quart Pan about half full of water (I know, I know, so sue me for my crappy measurements)
1 1/2 cups steel cut groats (this makes a LOT) Oat Groats, Steel Cut - 25 Lb Bag Each
3/4ths cup of Quinoa Ancient Harvest Organic Quinoa, Traditional, 12-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 12)
Bring to a boil, then add
I just used my mini blender and ground all the stuff at once:
1/2 cup Chopped Cranberries (You should be able to find some on sale this time of year, chop and freeze for quick use later)
3/4 cup ground/chopped almonds
1/4 cup Brown Sugar sub/Agave Nectar
1/8 cup ground flax seed (I keep whole flax in the freezer and grind it in small batches as I need it so it stays fresh)
2 Tbsp of Cinnamon
Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes until tender.

Both Quinoa (good source of protein) and Steel Cut Oats retain a bit of crunchiness, but should be fairly tender.
Serve hot, topped with extra chopped almonds, cranberries & chia seeds. DELICIOUS, nutty, crunchy, and since I ground up the nuts, even my kids who don't "like" almonds ate it without noticing. All the textures are wonderful together with just a hint of sweet.

This was a HUGE HIT.  A great, filling breakfast, one dish meal with all the fiber and protein we needed for a great breakfast.  There is a bit leftover, but I imagine one of us will eat it before we get a chance for any other oats recipes.

Clean Eating #24: Four Banana Muffin Variations & Super Supreme Pizza

Banana Muffin Variations:

I took our OMG Banana Crunch Muffin recipe and not only made some fantastic improvements to the texture (baking powder and soda changes ftw!  Add 1/2 tsp baking powder per cup of flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda per RECIPE)  These were THE cutest looking muffins.  They would make a fantastic thing for a gift basket for someone who eats clean!  You can NOT tell that these are whole grain "healthy muffins"... really!), but I also made these variations (all have the banana base).

Double Chocolate Walnut Muffins...
LOVE.  These made my hubby literally groan outloud they were so good.  And the texture... perfection!  I added 2 o of chopped unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped walnuts and an extra 2 Tbsp of brown sugar Xylitol to sweeten the chocolate.  I topped with coarsely chopped walnuts.  

Blueberry Almond Muffins... AMAZINGLY fantastic blend of flavors using dried blueberries & ground almonds.  Topped with ground almonds.  Again, the baking powder & soda made the texture perfect.

Banana Coconut Muffins...  These were exquisite as well.  Seriously a really fun combination of flavors.  I just added some raw flaked coconut.  I topped the muffins with some and slightly pressed it into the batter before cooking.

Mixed Berries Banana Muffins... These needed some tweaking, mainly because I used frozen berries and then my batter was too wet. I mixed up some more dry ingredients (1 c. whole wheat flour, 1. tsp baking powder & 12 tsp baking soda) and it helped tremendously. I topped these with slivered almonds and some chia seeds for a wonderful crunchy top.  The chia seeds were amazingly crunchy, I loved them.

Time Saver Tip:

Shredding your fresh apples with a cheese grater makes for super quick and easy applesauce for your recipes.  Applesauce replaces some of the oil, saving on calories and fat.

Super Supreme Clean Whole Grain Pizza

Using the pizza crust that Squatchmo made last week, Patrick made this divine pizza:
 We didn't care for this recipe as bread so much, but as pizza, it was heavenly!  I even ate some and I am not a supreme pizza kind of girl.

If I had the time, I'd photoshop out our old decrepit pan, but I decided not to, because I'd rather go cuddle with my hubby and watch a movie:).

Clean Eating #17: Inexpensive Crock Pot Granola, a fantastic snack or lunchbox food!

Crockpot Granola

A year or so ago, I found this blog where a woman made it her goal to cook something new in her crockpot every day.  It not only inspired my own blog, but it is full of some awesome, amazing recipes.  Including Crockpot Granola.  That's what began our love of homemade granola.  Cooking it in the crockpot almost ensures you don't burn it.  Almost!  You have to keep an eye on it and stir it occasionally, but it is a LOT easier than trying to not burn it in the oven.

Here is what our granola has become (And we vary it a lot, I'll post variations below):
Amount varies depending on my mood:
Pretty much just filled my 6 quart crock with varying amounts of the following:
Old Fashioned Oats
Puffed Millet (I got it at Akins, our healthfood store for cheap)
Kamut Puffs (again, an inexpensive grain I got in the cereal aisle at Akins)
Sliced Almonds (my preferred nut in general)
Sesame Seeds
Then I sprinkled almost 1/4th - 1/2 a box of Wheat Germ
2ish tablespoons of Cinnamon
1/2ish cup of Hershey's Cocoa
1 to 2 cups Agave Nectar
1/2 cup Ideal Brown Sugar Xylitol

Cook on high in your crockpot for a couple of hours, stirring occasionally. to keep it from burning.

I usually don't make our granola sweet because we generally eat it with nut butter dip & apples *pictured above, which, in my opinion are already plenty sweet)


Variations:
Once its done, you can add dried fruits.
You can add grain sweetened chocolate chips while its cooking to help it clump together more, but that makes it more of a treat, so don't gobble down a bunch of that kind.
Protein powder
Nuts, seeds, milled flax
 
It isn't as "chunky" as storebought granola because there isn't as much sugar.  Adding more honey/agave nectar, nut butters or coconut oil will help it clump a little more.

Brands I have found that I really really love:
Ideal Brown No Calorie Sweetener
Arrowhead Mills Whole Grain Puffed Millet Cereal, 6-Ounce Bags (Pack of 12)
Hodgson Mill has been the best priced pastry flour I can find.  If anyone has another source that is cheaper, please let me know!  We use a lot and I'm not growing any money trees around here!
Whole Wheat Pastry Flour I also need a cheaper source of grain sweetened chips.  Thos things were so expensive.  I think in the future, I'll just use a good quality chocolate bar and grate it into treats for the kids, for a not quite clean eating treat.

Clean Eating #15: Carrot Zucchini Muffins, a Great lunchbox snack

Carrot Zucchini Muffins

Verdict:  Yummy.  Ironically enough, although I thought the pumpkin ones were sweet enough and the girls thought they weren't sweet enough, they loved these... whilst I found them to be lacking a little sweetness. I'm not sure I'd change anything though, since the kids liked them.  Less sweetness to combat sugar cravings sounds good to me!  **ETA:  Now that I've eaten several of these (the downside of good food, I need to stop eating it!!) I think the sweetness is just right.

I bake my muffins in mini muffin pans at 375-400.

Blend Dry Ingredients:

3 cups of whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup whole wheat white flour.

4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 Tbsp Cinnamon

Mix Wet Ingredients:

10 egg whites

1 1/2 cups of melted coconut oil

2 cups of dark agave nectar

1 cup of applesauce (unsweetened)

4 cups of shredded zucchini

2 cups of shredded carrots

4 tsp vanilla

2 tsp lemon juice

Blend mixture together... put into muffin tins.  This batch filled our 24 count mini muffin pans 4 times.  A lot of muffins... which is great, because if my kids don't devour them all right away, they freeze really well for lunches later!

The Bean helping me out.  She loves shredding veggies.

What I'd do differently next time: 
I'm not sure if I'd change much.  They were really moist and turned out really well texture wise.  I think I'd want a little more... spice or something.  Any suggestions?  Nutmeg?  Is there a cinnamon-type spice that has maybe a little 'kick' to it?

At some point I want to try making yogurt cheese and using it for making some icing for the kids muffins.  Right now we're all trying to get off sugar, so anything extra sweet needs to just stay away!

Clean Eating #14: Pumpkin Chocolate "chip" muffins

Clean Pumpkin Chocolate Muffins

Verdict:  Delicious!!!  The girls said they should be sweeter, but I honestly liked them just the way they were.  I pretty heavily modified the recipe we've used for years. 

Mix together Dry Ingredients:
2 cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
1 cup Whole Wheat White Flour
3/4 cup Xylitol Brown Sugar blend
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Mix together Wet Ingredients:

3/4 Cup dark Agave Nectar (you can use honey or light nectar just as well)
6 Egg Whites
1 cup unsweetened applesauce (I didn't have any again, so I made some right quick)
1/4 cup of oil
Unsweetened Chocolate Baking squares, shredded

I tried using our grater for the chocolate... but found that "slicing" it with a knife was much faster and gave me slightly bigger pieces.

I was a little worried that the unsweetened chocolate was going to be too 'harsh' in the muffins, but I thought it was a nice compliment to the sweet pumpkin flavor. 

What I'll do differently next time:
Maybe use a little more chocolate... or melt the chocolate and blend it in.  All in all, though, I thought these turned out REALLY well.  Definitely a nice treat with my coffee this afternoon! 

Hold the phone.  I decided to melt another 2 oz of unsweetened chocolate and mix it in with my second pan of muffins.  Not so much.  If you try it, add some extra sweetener.  They were almost... savory at that point.