As Christmas day approaches, I have been experimenting in the kitchen baking a few recipes. My kids and I tend to bake the night before Christmas Eve and serve our creations the next morning. After trying these Orange Cranberry Muffins, I fell in love with their flavor and texture. I can’t wait to share the recipe with my family—and you!

Not only are these super easy to make, but they are perfect for the holidays. Orange and cranberries are the perfect combo!

Muffins are one of my favorite things to serve with breakfast. I tend to make them on the unsweetened side, since my kids don’t like super-sweet baked goods. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t have flavor! I mixed orange juice into the batter – my favorite is not-from-concentrate Florida’s Natural^® Brand Orange Juice – and its sweetness pairs so well with the tart-yet-sweet dried cranberries. It is the only type of orange juice we buy, since it truly tastes like fresh-squeezed. Plus, it is made entirely in the U.S., by citrus farmers who care deeply about the quality of their product. And it tastes delicious!

I also used whole wheat flour, which it is a healthier alternative to the conventional white flour. The glaze is optional, but I’d recommend adding it to take these muffins to the next level. (Plus, it has an awesome orange flavor!)

I love doing something special with my kids around the holidays every year. As they get older, they are getting into cooking and baking so I know that getting in the kitchen with them is something they enjoy doing! (However, I must say that I am not a huge fan of the messes my kids make when we get in the kitchen.) I love seeing their faces when we are done with the recipe. They are so proud of their creations!

If you are looking for something to do with the kids around the holidays, try baking a batch of these Orange Cranberry Muffins.

Enjoy!

Orange cranberry muffins

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 12 muffins

Total Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1/2 cup Florida's Natural Orange Juice
• 1/2 cup unrefined sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 2 tsp aluminum free baking powder
• 1/2 tsp aluminum free baking soda
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries

Glaze

• 1/2 cup confectioner sugar
• 2-3 tbs Florida's Natural Orange Juice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin tin with paper cups. In a large mixing bowl add oil, sugar, eggs, and orange juice and combine.

Add in flour, baking soda baking powder, cranberries and mix in. Spoon about 2-3 tablespoons of batter into each muffin cup, about 2/3 of the way full.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove muffins from the muffin pan and cool them in a wire rack.

In a small mixing bowl, mix together the ingredients for the glaze. Drizzle 2 teaspoons of glaze on each muffin.

Serve.

The post Orange cranberry muffins appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

This post has been sponsored by Santa Cruz Organic. I received product and compensation, but all opinions are my own.

I have just gotten done making these Blueberry Ginger Protein Bites for the kids that are starting school this coming Wednesday. I wanted to make something that would keep them satisfied for a while during the morning so since these are also easy to pack, I thought they would be the perfect snack.

These Blueberry Ginger Protein Bites are also really easy to make. From start to finish you will be done in just 15 minutes since all the ingredients are added to the food processor and mixed until you obtain a mixture that holds together. No complicated baking skills required!

Besides these bites being easy, these are also gluten free and vegan. Making things of this nature allows me to have access to healthy items to have on the go. These are perfect to grab when I don’t have time to have breakfast, and I have to run out the door.

Instead of using eggs, I used Santa Cruz Organic Apple Sauce Cups. This way it keeps the bites vegan, and you don’t have to worry about keeping them out of the fridge when you store them. They will keep in the counter in an airtight container for up to one week.

You can also boost your kids’ lunch boxes this back-to-school season with delicious, easy-to-pack items like Santa Cruz Organic Apple Sauce Cups. They are available in classic Apple and Cinnamon Apple.

To also increase the protein content of these Blueberry Ginger Protein Bites, I used Santa Cruz Organic Dark Roasted Creamy Peanut Butter. You can also find inspiration for the perfect PB&J with Santa Cruz Organic Dark Roasted Peanut Butters. They taste great!

Take the stress out of after-school snacking with products your kids will love and ingredients you can feel good about from Santa Cruz Organic.

Another awesome thing about these Blueberry Ginger Protein Bites is that they are extremely versatile. You can substitute any type of dried fruit or nuts you like. I have made these before using other combo of ingredients and they work really well. Try your favorite mixes.

If you are looking for a new snack this back-to-school season look no further. These Blueberry Ginger Protein Bites are the perfect solution.

Enjoy!

Blueberry ginger protein bites

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 12 bites

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 3 cups rolled oats, gluten free
• 1/2 cup pecans
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1 cup dried blueberries
• 1/4 cup crystalized ginger
• 1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
• 1/4 cup Santa Cruz Organic Dark Roasted Creamy Peanut Butter
• 4 oz Santa Cruz Organic Apple Apricot Sauce
• 1 tsp aluminum free baking powder
• pinch of salt

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Spray a muffin baking pan with oil. Set aside.

Add the nuts, coconut, and dried fruit in your food processor and pulse until they are fine. Add the remainder of the ingredients and pulse until the mixture starts to come together.

With your fingers, press about 3 tbsp firmly to pack and flatten each muffin space.

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the sides begin to brown. Let the bites cool in the pan at least 10 minutes before releasing them from the pan. Store in an glass airtight container for up to 1 week.

The post Blueberry ginger protein bites appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Truvia as a member of the Healthy Aperture Blogger Network. The opinions and text are all mine. The end!

I have also used quinoa to make these bites in the past but this time I skipped the quinoa. Instead, I used more rolled oats and the recipe worked beautifully.

I have seen many versions of the Aussie bites also use flaxseed meal as well as chia seeds. Don’t get me wrong, I love both of these ingredients but I just don’t like using them when they require baking. Their healthy oils become rancid upon heating and their nutritional properties are therefore lost.

These bites are great for on the go, however, I normally have them for breakfast with a smoothie. I love how they keep me full for quite a while.

I have an extremely sweet tooth thus making all my sweet treats allows me to control the amount of sweetener I add to them. For this treats I was able to use Truvia® Natural Sweetener. If you are concerned with your calorie intake and sugar content, especially when it comes to consuming sweet treats, using Truvia will help you manage these. Truvia is a natural, zero calorie sweetener made from the stevia leaf so it is a win win situation, after all, “life with less sugar is just as sweet.”

These Aussie protein bites are also great for freezing. If you would like to double the batch, like I did, and freeze some of them they will keep in your freezer for at least 1 month. I have only done this once before since they don’t last much in my house.

Anyways, I hope you get to make these awesome Aussie protein bites. They are just plain sensational and way better than store bought.

Enjoy!

Aussie protein bites

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 11-12 bites

Ingredients:

• 3 cups rolled oats, gluten free
• 1/2 cup raw pistachios
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup dried apricots
• 1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
• 2 tbsp almond butter
• 1 ripe banana, puree
• 2 tsp Truvia spoonable
• 1 tsp aluminum free baking powder
• pinch of salt

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Spray a muffin baking pan with oil. Set aside.

Add the pistachios, coconut, apricots and dried cranberries in your food processor and pulse until they are fine. Add the remainder of the ingredients and pulse until the mixture starts to come together.

With your fingers, press about 2-3 tbsp onto each firmly to pack and flatten each muffin space.

Bake for 15-18 minutes or until the sides begin to brown. Let the bites cool in the pan at least 15 minutes before releasing them from the pan.

Enjoy!

 

The post Aussie protein bites appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

I am able to also freeze many of the muffins I make so that I don’t have to eat them all at once. Sometimes I even double the batch so I can have them for a while.

Making your own muffins allows you to be able to alter the ingredients and make them healthier. This is what I do all the time as well as using less sugar, healthier fats, whole grains and dairy free milk are great options for my family to make them better.

You can also make endless variations so always make your own muffins. It is a much better option than getting store bought.

For the milk of choice I used Silk Unsweetened Almond Milk. I always use unsweetened varieties so that I can control the sweetness plus I really don’t like tasting any sweetness when having a plane glass of it. They have great products and a variety of flavors as well as different nut milks.

You can also sign up to receive the Silk newsletters for coupons. If you use their products you should take advantage of the many coupons they offer. They have a wide variety of new products so I am sure you will put them to good use.

If you like making muffins you will love these jumbo pumpkin muffins. You can use a regular size muffin pan however the time for baking would be different.

Well I hope you like these muffins. If you like pumpkin you will love these.

Enjoy!

Jumbo pumpkin muffins

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 8 muffins

Total Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup unrefined sugar
• 1/3 cup coconut oil
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 3/4 teaspoon aluminum free baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon aluminum free baking soda 
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 rolled oats, to sprinkle

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a Jumbo muffins pan with muffins liner. You can also use a regular size muffin pan.

In a mixing bowl cream coconut oil, and sugar. Add eggs, milk and pumpkin.

Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and combine. Transfer batter to the prepared muffin liners filling 3/4 of the way. Sprinkle with some rolled oats.

Bake in a preheated oven for 25-35 minutes, or until golden brown.

Remove from oven and cool in a wire rack.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Silk. The opinions and text are all mine.

The post Jumbo pumpkin muffins appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

I wanted to keep the sugar content low so I only added 1/4 cup of sugar and also used bananas to sweetened the cups naturally. You can also use maple syrup or even honey in place of the sugar, anything goes.

I also added a few scoops of protein powder to increase the protein content. I will be having this as a snack for school or even for breakfast. Nowadays I pretty just have time to make a quick smoothie in the mornings and get going for school so these high protein baked blueberry oatmeal cups will be the perfect compliment to my smoothie.

My kids actually take them to their camp and have them with their milk. Since they are also high in fiber these keep them full longer until lunch time so I make sure that I always double the batch when making these and freeze some.

I used Silk Unsweetened Almond Milk. I always use unsweetened varieties. You can use almond coconut blend or even cashew milk. Any variety will work just fine. I never use dairy milk because I prefer the taste of nuts milk and so do my kids.

You can also sign up to receive the Silk newsletters for their coupons. If you use their products you should take advantage of their many coupons they offer. They have a wide variety of new products so I am sure you will put the coupons to good use.

I will be making these high protein baked blueberry oatmeal cups for time to come. Like I mentioned before, you can customize these to your liking, add any dried fruit, fresh fruit, chocolate chips….anything goes.

Enjoy!

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 18 cups

Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 3 1/4 cups old fashioned oats, gluten free
• 1/4 cup unrefined sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp aluminum free baking powder
• 2 mashed ripe bananas
• 2 tbs coconut oil, melted
• 2-4 scoops of protein powder, I used vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups Silk unsweetened almond milk
• 1 cup fresh blueberries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 12 cup muffin pan with cooking spray or line with paper liners.

Add the mashed bananas, oil, eggs, milk and vanilla to your stand mixer and mix until combined. Add the oats, cinnamon, protein powder and baking powder and mix through with the wet ingredients.

With a spatula fold in the blueberries. The batter is going to be sort of liquid like, this is normal. With a medium cookie scoop fill the prepared muffin cups all the way to the top.

Bake for about 25 minutes or until set and just lightly brown on the edges. Transfer muffing pan to a wire cooling rack and allow the cups to cool completely on the baking pan for easiest removal.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Silk. The opinions and text are all mine.

The post High protein baked blueberry oatmeal cups appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

I have been looking to experiment with new flours lately. I have had coffee flour in mind for a while and today I was able to use to make these gluten free coffee chocolate muffins.

Because coffee is a bit bitter and I used both coffee flour and drinking coffee for the batter I had to use a bit more sugar.

Coffee flour gives the muffins a very delicate texture. It is similar to coconut flour so if you are into gluten free flours you will love this type.

I am sure you can also make different flavors. You can mix this batter and make a banana chocolate flavor muffin. You can also use any type of nuts or even chocolate chips. Anything goes!

To obtain the coffee chocolate muffin recipe make sure you visit my friends at Nuts.com You will be able to purchase the coffee flour and shop for any other healthy ingredients you may need for your cooking and baking such as nuts, dried fruits, grains, flours and much more.

This recipe is sponsored by Nuts.com The opinions and text are all mine. The end.

The post Gluten free coffee chocolate muffins appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.