Now that I am home for the summer I have a real life kitchen and I was inspired with boxed baking mixes. I know, not so interesting and definitely not healthy right? Well right, the brownie cupcakes I made were definitely not healthy. So to make up for that treat I thought I would try to lighten up for my next recipe. I saw caramel cake and thought it looked like a fun box mix but I ended up getting spice cake on accident. Oops. I was bummed thinking spice cake didn't sound half as good as caramel cake! But I experimented and I came up with these banana muff-cakes. Why the combination name? Well I have to credit my friend with the name :) but these cute little cakes are made with cake mix but they look like muffins (partly because they have no frosting) and let me tell you they were delicious! I thought they tasted like cinnamon crumb cake. Yum! I lightened them up by changing the box instructions a bit. I used only one egg and substituted a smashed banana and plain greek yogurt for the oil. Try these guys out, they are awesome!
Banana Muff-Cakes
1 Box Spice Cake Mix (I used Duncan Hines)
1 Egg
1 Banana Mashed
1/2 cup plain yogurt (I used Greek yogurt, but I'm sure regular would be fine too and if you wanted to used vanilla that would be fine)
1 cup of water
Preheat the oven to 350. Line a regular sized muffin tin with paper liners or spray with non stick spray. (I used the muffin liners) Combine the dry mix, egg, banana and yogurt until it is all mixed. Add water little by little until the consistency is think and moist. I ended up using the whole cup of water, but you may need less. I checked them after 15 minutes and then every 5 minutes after that, they took about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean (you know the trick :)
Yield: 12 Big cupcakes (with some batter left over)
Enjoy!
TRIED AND TRUE:
One friend used chocolate cake mix with the same recipe- yum.
Another friend used the caramel cake (that I meant to get)- pretty good :)
This same friend used a mini muffin pan and the baked in 15 minutes.
Thanks for the tips! :)
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Monday, May 30, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
The Most Important Meal (In honor of Finals Week)
Hey everybody!
I am going to take a little study break and write a quick little bit about, you guessed it, the most important meal of the day. So if you have never heard this saying let me fill you in. The most important meal is breakfast! Since it is finals week for me I have been thinking about breakfast a lot. I had a super early final so I had to get up a whole extra 15 minutes early to eat some breakfast before my exam but I know there are many out there that either wait until after class or an exam to eat breakfast or just skip breakfast all together. So I am here to say that you should always eat breakfast!
First a little scientific info. Breakfast is so important because during the night when your body is sleeping the body goes into hibernation mode and is less depended on energy from glucose (sugars) that come from food. In the morning when your body comes out of that hibernation it is in need of fuel for the day. Without this fuel the body and mind will not have enough energy to get through daily activities of the day. Research shows that people who skip breakfast are often more tired, cranky, and irritable (not something you want ever and especially during an exam!) However people who eat breakfast are more productive, have a more positive attitude, and it can also encourage weight loss. How you ask? Well have you ever felt so hungry by lunch that you need to rush out and grab fast food immediately at noon? Did you skip breakfast? If you think about it, you haven't eaten anything until dinner the night before and you are starving your body! Eat breakfast and you will be less likely to gorge at lunch.
So for those of you who have exams this week, would you rather be tired and cranky or productive and positive? Thats what I thought, looks like breakfast is the best choice! So let me tell you some of the best breakfasts you can find in the cafeteria. What you are looking for is an ideal mix of carbohydrates, fiber and protein. The fiber will keep you full and the protein and carbohydrates will keep you going until lunch time. So some of the best breakfasts involve eggs, peanut butter and yogurt. All of these things have lean protein and not a ton of saturated fat. Peanut butter does have a lot of fat, so limit the serving to about 1-2 tablespoons. This is great spread on toast, bananas, apples, english muffin, etc. Now I don't like peanut butter so this is out of the question for me.
So let's move on to eggs. In my cafeteria everyday they serve scrambled eggs, hard cooked eggs and made to order omelets. Let me guide you in the right direction with these three egg variations. The scrambled eggs are a good option if you like them cooked this way. Eat them with whole grain toast, a piece of fruit and salsa (as much as you want!) and this is an awesome combination breakfast. The disadvantage here is the potion, a lot of times the cafeteria servers will give you a huge portion which can contain up to 3 eggs and a ton of saturated fat. Beware of this. At home scrambled eggs are also a quick option in the morning and can be taken on the go wrapped up in a whole grain tortilla or english muffin. The next option are hard cooked eggs. These are a great portion controlled option. You can eat them plain and again are great on the go and can also be boiled ahead of time and be ready for you in the morning. Finally, if your cafeteria offers if made to order omelets are one of the best options. Omelets get a bad rep. for being oversized, stuffed to the brim with cheese and hash browns and pretty much terrible for you. But that is not always the case! Ask for a egg white omelet (or if you can't stand it half and half or EggBeaters if you like that too) and add all kinds of veggies- spinach, tomato, broccoli, onions, green pepper, whatever you like. The veggies provide carbs and you can sneak an extra serving into your daily count.
Lets talk about yogurt now. A lot of times you can find this on the salad bar. The best type of yogurt is plain or vanilla because the added fruit usually adds sugar as well. If you are grocery shopping for yourself the ultimate yogurt is fat free greek yogurt because it is loaded with protein. Now you can add your own fruit and a little bit of granola and this is another great breakfast option. If none of these sound good to you and you are heading straight for the cereal let me give you a few pointers. Stay away from sugary cereals. They only thing they have going for them is well sugar and that isn't going to keep you running for very long. Just because a cereal has a low calorie count does not mean it is the best choice. For example, Rice Crispy cereal has about 100 calories per serving but zero grams of fiber which is what you are really looking for. So what are the best cereals? The best is shredded wheat (not frosted), Fiber One Original, and original Kashi GoLean cereal (not the crunch kind). But I know that these are not the most interesting cereals to eat. If you think you can handle them add some fruit to add texture and sweetness. Other good cereals are Grapenuts, Cheerios (my personal favorite), Kix (if you like more sweetness), and Kashi makes some pretty good ones too. Make sure you are adding skim, 1/2% or 1% milk to the cereal bowl to avoid extra fat and calories.
Last I want to give you a few breakfasts to avoid. I already mentioned sugary cereals. What you want to avoid here are empty calories and carbohydrates. Without fiber you will get a sugar buzz and crash from empty carbohydrates. So you want to avoid sugary cereals, bagels, white bread, muffins (even if they are bran muffins- it doesn't cut the sugar content), donuts and other pastries.
I hope this helps encourage you to eat breakfast! I have included the nutrition facts for (1 extra large) wonderful egg so you know how much of a perfect little breakfast package it is!
Thanks for visiting!
Emily
Where did I get all this info?
http://www.eatright.org/Public/content.aspx?id=3261&terms=benefits+breakfast
http://www.eatright.org/Public/content.aspx?id=6442453049&terms=breakfast
http://eatthis.menshealth.com/slideshow/great-cereal-spectrum
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/dairy-and-egg-products/111/2
I am going to take a little study break and write a quick little bit about, you guessed it, the most important meal of the day. So if you have never heard this saying let me fill you in. The most important meal is breakfast! Since it is finals week for me I have been thinking about breakfast a lot. I had a super early final so I had to get up a whole extra 15 minutes early to eat some breakfast before my exam but I know there are many out there that either wait until after class or an exam to eat breakfast or just skip breakfast all together. So I am here to say that you should always eat breakfast!
First a little scientific info. Breakfast is so important because during the night when your body is sleeping the body goes into hibernation mode and is less depended on energy from glucose (sugars) that come from food. In the morning when your body comes out of that hibernation it is in need of fuel for the day. Without this fuel the body and mind will not have enough energy to get through daily activities of the day. Research shows that people who skip breakfast are often more tired, cranky, and irritable (not something you want ever and especially during an exam!) However people who eat breakfast are more productive, have a more positive attitude, and it can also encourage weight loss. How you ask? Well have you ever felt so hungry by lunch that you need to rush out and grab fast food immediately at noon? Did you skip breakfast? If you think about it, you haven't eaten anything until dinner the night before and you are starving your body! Eat breakfast and you will be less likely to gorge at lunch.
So for those of you who have exams this week, would you rather be tired and cranky or productive and positive? Thats what I thought, looks like breakfast is the best choice! So let me tell you some of the best breakfasts you can find in the cafeteria. What you are looking for is an ideal mix of carbohydrates, fiber and protein. The fiber will keep you full and the protein and carbohydrates will keep you going until lunch time. So some of the best breakfasts involve eggs, peanut butter and yogurt. All of these things have lean protein and not a ton of saturated fat. Peanut butter does have a lot of fat, so limit the serving to about 1-2 tablespoons. This is great spread on toast, bananas, apples, english muffin, etc. Now I don't like peanut butter so this is out of the question for me.
So let's move on to eggs. In my cafeteria everyday they serve scrambled eggs, hard cooked eggs and made to order omelets. Let me guide you in the right direction with these three egg variations. The scrambled eggs are a good option if you like them cooked this way. Eat them with whole grain toast, a piece of fruit and salsa (as much as you want!) and this is an awesome combination breakfast. The disadvantage here is the potion, a lot of times the cafeteria servers will give you a huge portion which can contain up to 3 eggs and a ton of saturated fat. Beware of this. At home scrambled eggs are also a quick option in the morning and can be taken on the go wrapped up in a whole grain tortilla or english muffin. The next option are hard cooked eggs. These are a great portion controlled option. You can eat them plain and again are great on the go and can also be boiled ahead of time and be ready for you in the morning. Finally, if your cafeteria offers if made to order omelets are one of the best options. Omelets get a bad rep. for being oversized, stuffed to the brim with cheese and hash browns and pretty much terrible for you. But that is not always the case! Ask for a egg white omelet (or if you can't stand it half and half or EggBeaters if you like that too) and add all kinds of veggies- spinach, tomato, broccoli, onions, green pepper, whatever you like. The veggies provide carbs and you can sneak an extra serving into your daily count.
Lets talk about yogurt now. A lot of times you can find this on the salad bar. The best type of yogurt is plain or vanilla because the added fruit usually adds sugar as well. If you are grocery shopping for yourself the ultimate yogurt is fat free greek yogurt because it is loaded with protein. Now you can add your own fruit and a little bit of granola and this is another great breakfast option. If none of these sound good to you and you are heading straight for the cereal let me give you a few pointers. Stay away from sugary cereals. They only thing they have going for them is well sugar and that isn't going to keep you running for very long. Just because a cereal has a low calorie count does not mean it is the best choice. For example, Rice Crispy cereal has about 100 calories per serving but zero grams of fiber which is what you are really looking for. So what are the best cereals? The best is shredded wheat (not frosted), Fiber One Original, and original Kashi GoLean cereal (not the crunch kind). But I know that these are not the most interesting cereals to eat. If you think you can handle them add some fruit to add texture and sweetness. Other good cereals are Grapenuts, Cheerios (my personal favorite), Kix (if you like more sweetness), and Kashi makes some pretty good ones too. Make sure you are adding skim, 1/2% or 1% milk to the cereal bowl to avoid extra fat and calories.
Last I want to give you a few breakfasts to avoid. I already mentioned sugary cereals. What you want to avoid here are empty calories and carbohydrates. Without fiber you will get a sugar buzz and crash from empty carbohydrates. So you want to avoid sugary cereals, bagels, white bread, muffins (even if they are bran muffins- it doesn't cut the sugar content), donuts and other pastries.
I hope this helps encourage you to eat breakfast! I have included the nutrition facts for (1 extra large) wonderful egg so you know how much of a perfect little breakfast package it is!
Thanks for visiting!
Emily
Where did I get all this info?
http://www.eatright.org/Public/content.aspx?id=3261&terms=benefits+breakfast
http://www.eatright.org/Public/content.aspx?id=6442453049&terms=breakfast
http://eatthis.menshealth.com/slideshow/great-cereal-spectrum
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/dairy-and-egg-products/111/2
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