Blueberry Muffins

Once upon a Thursday I felt like baking something, so I delved into my file of recipes I've been wanting to try and came upon the blueberry muffin recipe from Cooks Illustrated. In an effort to make them healthier and after talking with Ashlee, I decided to sub 1/2 of the flour for a mixture of whole wheat flour and ground oatmeal.

This recipe is super simple to throw together, and the muffins came out super moist. And even better, they taste like a healthier muffin, but not in an "eww this is freaking nasty" kind of way.

BLUEBERRY MUFFINS, a little bit healthier

Adapted from Cooks Illustrated

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 ground oatmeal

1/2 tsp table salt

1 egg

1 Tbsp baking powder

1 cup granulated sugar (7 ounces)

4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

1 1/4 cups fat-free sour cream (10 oz.)

1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries

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1. Adjust oven rack to middle position in oven and heat to 350 degrees.

2. Spray a standard muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.

3. Whisk flour, whole wheat flour, ground oatmeal, salt and baking powder in a medium bowl.

4. In a second medium bowl, whish egg until well combined and light in color (about 20 seconds).

5. Add sugar to egg and whisk vigorously until thick and homogenous (about 30 seconds).

6. Add melted butter to wet mixture in 2 or 3 steps, whisking to combine after each addition.

7. Add sour cream to wet ingredients, whisking just to combine.

8. Add frozen berries to dry ingredients and toss gently to combine.

9. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and fold gently until batter comes together and berries are distributed evenly (about 20-30 seconds - small spots of flour may remain and batter will be thick).

10. Use an ice cream scoop or large spoon to drop batter into greased muffin tin.

11. Bake 25-30 minutes until light golden brown and toothpick inserted into center of muffin comes out clean.

12. Invert muffins onto wire rack, stand muffins upright, and cool at least 5 minutes.

Yield: 12 standard muffins

Eating clean?

This is sort of a new concept for me. I sort of get it. I might just be overthinking it. Either way, my friend, Jess, was looking for a clean way to prepare tilapia and came across this blog and recipe. Jess raved about it, and of course I was leery, because avocado is something that I'm just learning to experience, all thanks to Jess for that one. But I decided to give it a try - I figured beans and rice and sour cream make everything better.

So I did my research on how to pick an avocado, and I think I did a pretty good job. And for a first timer, I had no trouble at all extracting the avocado from the pit and the skin. And considering that the dish ended up being fresh and fabulous, I can say that my first experience with using avocado was a hit.

I made enough for 3 meals and now have enough for 2 lunches after I had it for dinner tonight. And let me tell you - this was amazingly easy and FAST to cook up.





Ingredients (estimated):
4-6 Tbsp fat-free sour cream
4-6 Tbsp salsa
1 cup black beans
3/4 - 1 cup rice (I used brown rice)
3 tilapia fillets
1/2 avocado, diced
1 small tomato, diced
salt and pepper





1. Season your fish with salt and pepper. Coat a large pan lightly with a spray of EVOO (courtesy of Misto) or whatever you have on hand (the original recipe posted uses coconut oil). Lightly brown the fish on both sides until cooked through, them with a spatula, break up the fish into bits.

2. While your fish is cooking, mix up the sour cream and salsa in a medium sized mixing bowl.

3. When fish is done, toss all ingredients into the mixing bowl with the sour cream and salsa and stir gently to mix. Season with salt and pepper to taste.