Pumpkin Carrot Muffins

I just made THE BEST MUFFINS EVER.  They turned out so nicely - moist, flavourful, fluffy :)  I got the recipe here.  The original recipe only makes 6 muffins, so I doubled it, but kept all of the ingredients the same.  Oh, and I increased the cooking time (mine were definitely not done after 14 minutes).  Next time I might consider using applesauce instead of oil, and possibly throwing in some flax seed (or using a "flax egg" instead of eggs).  But then again, maybe I should just not mess with a good thing!

Pumpkin Carrot Muffins

Here's the recipe:

Pumpkin Carrot Muffins

Ingredients:

1 cup pumpkin
2/3 cup brown sugar
4 tbsp oil
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup grated carrots
1.5 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder

Directions:

Beat together pumpkin, brown sugar, oil and egg. 

Add in carrots. 

In a separate bowl, blend together flour, salt, soda, baking powder and cinnamon. 

Add to the pumpkin mixture. 

Fill muffin tins about 2/3 full. 

Bake at 375 degrees for 18-20 minutes. Makes 12 muffins.

100 Days of Real Food

My friend, "Mo", got me interested in this food plan: 100 Days of Real Food, so I've decided to give it a go, starting today.  I will be blogging about it, but I'm not very good at blogging regularly, so don't expect a daily thing, but I will try to do weekly at least.  In addition to this, I am also going to try to incorporate a "salad-a-day" challenge for the 100 days as well.

Here are the RULES.

However, I've decided that I am not going to be as strict as the family from this blog.  If I am going to someone's place for a meal, I will happily eat what they serve, because I think it is more important to be polite and enjoy good company than it is to strictly follow a food plan.  Also, if we are going out for dinner I will choose healthy meals, but if the salad dressing has a bit of sugar in it, who cares?  At home, however, I will strictly follow the rules!

What I like about the plan is that it's not a "diet" about losing weight!  It's simply about eating healthier.  I am not trying to lose weight at all, though cutting out sweets may result in a bit of weight loss.  I am hoping to gain more energy, and generally feel good all around.  Also, I would like to point out that this is not a "new years resolution"...it's something I do most of the time anyway, and it's a realistic, specific and achievable goal.  If doing the 100 days is too much of a sudden change for you and your family, try the 10-day-pledge or consider doing some mini-pledges.  Whatever works for you.

Along the way, I will share some recipes, photos, ideas, and thoughts.  To start, here's my breakfast today:

Plain greek yogurt, with frozen berries (thawed), and a small drizzle of maple syrup.  I also had two fried eggs (just enough olive oil to lightly coat the pan), and some herbal tea.  It was really easy AND delicious!

Tonight's dinner will be mixed whole-grain rice, with a salmon-fillet (with lemon and dill), a garden salad, and steamed veggies.  I may enjoy some fruit for dessert.  Again, EASY and delicious!

Dinner!

Update: Above is a picture of what I had for dinner.  The salad is romaine lettuce, mushrooms, tomato, and Monterrey Jack cheese with a homemade balsamic vinaigrette.  The main course is mixed grains with lemon-dill salmon and steamed broccoli.  Here's proof that eating "real food" doens't have to be labour intensive: the rice was cooked in a rice cooker, the salmon was sprinkled with dill and lemon juice and baked, and the broccoli was frozen, so all I had to do was throw it in the steamer.  The most work was chopping up the veggies for the salad.

Meatless Monday - Egg and Potato Skillet

Ahhhh - I missed Monday again!  I need to get on the ball here.

Anyway, here's your recipe for the week!

Egg and Potato Skillet

This was one of those meals where I was hungry and the fridge was getting bare, so I just looked around and made something up with whatever I had.

A great thing about this meal, is it can be made with mostly food out of your garden, and if you live in a rural area, you can probably find a local farmer to get your eggs from too!  Also, you only need one pan!

Ingredients: (makes 2 servings)

vegetable oil

2 potatoes

1 onion

1 green pepper

1 tomato, chopped - drain off some of the liquid

4 eggs

herbs (I used the epicure herb and garlic mix - you could use oregano, basil, rosemary...whatever you like!)

shredded cheese (a few tbsp) - I used parmesean, but any kind of cheese would be good!

As you can see here, I added the tomatoes before the egg, but I would recommend doing eggs first.  The tomatoes really don't need to cook that long.

Directions:

1) Chop up all of your veggies, but don't mix them together.

2) Heat the oil in a skillet (medium heat).

3) Add the potatoes to the skillet.  Fry them until they start to get soft (about 10 minutes), stirring frequently.

4) Add the onions and peppers to the potatoes.  Stir fry until the onions start to get soft.

5) Meanwhile, crack the eggs into a bowl, mix in the herbs, and whisk the eggs.  You may want to add some milk in as well, but I generally don't.

6) Add the eggs to the pan, and stir them up as they cook (making scrambled eggs).

7) When the eggs are mostly cooked, add in the tomatoes.  Keep frying until the eggs are all firm and there is no eggy liquid left.

8) Put the mixture onto a plate or bowl, then top with shredded cheese.  If you used a cast iron skillet you could just eat it right out of the pan, but I find that the pan is a little hot, so I didn't do that.

ENJOY!