Chocolate Chip Blueberry Muffins

Chocolate Chip Blueberry Muffins

(makes 12 muffins)

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup oats

1 tbsp flax seed

1tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

.75 cup milk (I used almond milk, but any will work)

.5 cup greek yogurt

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup agave

1 cup fresh blueberries

.5 cup chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet, but I’m sure dark chocolate would be great!)

.5 cup walnuts (optional)

 Bake 425 15-20 min

Pre-heat oven to 425

In a bowl, mix flour, oats, flax, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon together

In a separate bowl, mix milk, yogurt, vanilla and agave together

Slowly stir dry into wet (or wet into dry), fold in blueberries, chocolate chips and walnuts if you are adding them.

Be sure not to over mix, or the muffins will get tough.

Grease muffin pan (or put in cupcake liners) and fill up with batter.

Happy National Blueberry Muffin Day!!

This Week’s Weekly Challenge: Exercise Daily

I’ve been crazy busy the past couple weeks and have not been making exercise a priority in my schedule. This week I want to change that! I will be doing some form of exercise everyday, whether it’s for 10 minutes or an hour. I think it’s really important to always put some time in your day to workout, not only for your health, but to make you feel good! I’ll be posting my workouts everyday to keep record. You’re all welcome to join me!

Questions:

What’s your favorite kind of muffin? 

How are you celebrating National Blueberry Muffin Day?

How do you find the time to schedule workouts into your busy life?

Sunflower Butter Obsession

First of all, welcome those of you who found me this morning through my guest post at Beautiful Busy Bee! I’m so happy you all enjoyed that post!!
Breakfast:

After I woke up with a terrible migraine yesterday, I decided to set my alarm a little later for this morning. My yoga class was at 10:30 so I set the alarm at 9:30. Of course I decided to ignore my alarm so I woke up at 9:55, not leaving much time for breakfast. Luckily my mom had picked up a couple gourmet bagels yesterday, so I split a spinach parm. bagel with her as I was running out the door.

Yoga was fantastic. I haven’t gone in a couple of weeks because I’ve been busy with work and being out of town, so I think that might be why I’m getting migraines again. This morning’s class was a Hatha Yoga with Guided Meditation, which I never usually go to. The “guided meditation” part of the title has always kept me from going to the class because towards the end of yoga classes I get pretty antsy and I thought the ending 15 minute meditation would drive me crazy, but I actually liked it! I really needed to stretch, I had no idea how tight my muscles were! Taking this class just reminded me I need to make more time for yoga in my life because it’s too easy to save workouts for “the next day” and never do them.

Lunch:

After yoga I drove straight over to one of my favorite stores.

I could spend hours walking around TJ’s and WF. And sometimes I do.

I grabbed chocolate chips, organic blueberries (only $4!), sunflower seed butter (which I didn’t even wait until I got home to open up and try. Um….yum.), and TJ’s brand “Almond Smooth” almond milk (which I’ve never tried before). Luckily, I stopped myself from buying more before I went too crazy. I was actually really surprised by the taste of sunflower butter. I’m not really sure what I expected, but this was a great surprise. I used to eat handfuls of the super salty Ranch Sunflower Seeds, so I forgot how original sunflower seeds taste. It’s funny how our taste buds change, I actually really enjoy plain sunflower seeds now rather than salty flavored ones.

I was starving by the time I got home, so I whipped up a yogurt bowl.

In the Mix:

Greek Yogurt

Strawberries

Blueberries

Honey Almond Granola

Drop of Agave

Drizzle of Sunflower Butter (mmmmmm)

This felt extra filling for some reason, which is a good thing! Maybe it was the addition of my new bff Sunflower Butter?

Dinner:

I’ve been baking away alllll day so I was really ready for dinner! I wasn’t really in the mood for anything specific, so I just grabbed a piece of fish out of the freezer and whipped up a quick meal.

The Mix:

1 piece fish

.5 cup white wine

2 tbsp olive oil

1 clove garlic, crushed

handful cherry tomatoes

salt & pepper

cumin

lemon zest

Throw lemon zest, tomatoes, olive oil, wine and garlic into heated skillet

Poke tomatoes and squish tomatoes with back of fork. Be careful, they explode.

Add fish & let simmer in sauce

Enjoy!

Shout Out Sunday: 

I’m starting a new series on the blog called “Shout Out Sunday.” Every Sunday I will post 5 posts from other blogs that I really enjoyed/thought were funny/found thought-provoking that you might enjoy too! To start off the series here are the 5 posts:

Oh She Glows- 10 Ways to Live in The Present

Healthy Tipping Point- Small Ripples

PBFingers- When the Money Isn’t Worth it

How Sweet Eats- Dark Chocolate Macaroon Toasted Almond Butter

Meals and Moves- The Great Fundraising Act

I just found out about this fundraiser today, and I thought it was really important to mention. Janetha of Meals and Moves is hosting a fundraiser for Susan of The Great Balancing Act, who was recently diagnosed with Lymphoma. As you can imagine, hospital bills are ridiculously expensive and the blogging community is coming together to raise money for Susan. Basically, there is a bake sale/auction happening on Monday, July 25th, as well as monetary donations being accepted. There will be around 100 fantastic items up for auction including baked goods, gift baskets from major companies, autographed books and cookbooks and a ton of other awesome items. For more information, visit the Fundraising Page. There are so many ways to help this cause, so I encourage you to donate something, bid on one of the great prizes or promote this fundraiser. I’ve contacted Janetha & will be donating a baked good.

I’ve had several family members diagnosed with cancer, so this cause is really important to me. Please spread around the word of this fundraiser, you can make a difference!

Lastly, today is National Pina Colada Day, so be sure to end your day with an icy cold Pina Colada tonight. See you tomorrow with a blue recipe!

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @ThatDeepBreath and “like” me on Facebook! I’ve been neglecting the Facebook lately but I’m trying to actually use it now! Also, I would like to get my Q&A page together so if you have any questions for me, be sure to comment on my Q&A page or email me at thatdeepbreath@yahoo.com. I would love to answer any questions!

Strawberry Cheesecake Bites with Gingersnap Crust

Do you know what today is? It’s a very exciting day of the year. A day where ginger and molasses are celebrated for creating a delicious cookie. A cookie I’ve been obsessed with since I was little. It’s National Gingersnap Day! To celebrate this fantastic holiday, I have a super delicious recipe for you. It’s a little crispy, a little gooey, a little crunchy, a little soft. Are you confused? Good.

These pretty-in-pink cheesecake bites are delicious. As in one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. They’re creamy and crunchy, tangy and sweet. The perfect combination of confusing words to describe this amazing treat.

For the Crust:

1.5 cup crushed ginger snap cookies (about 25 cookies)

.5 cup melted butter

1 tbsp brown sugar

1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees

2) Spend 5 minutes trying to open packaging before realizing you can use scissors. Reward yourself with two cookies

2) Crush 1.5 cup cookies (I throw the cookies in a plastic bag and crush them with a rolling-pin)

3) Mix with .5 cup butter & brown sugar in food processor until it resembles wet sand

4) Line square pan with parchment paper because we hate doing dishes & don’t want to clean up more than we have to

5) Press mixture tightly into pan and bake for 12 minutes at 325 degrees

For the Strawberry Cheesecake Mixture:

1.5 boxes 8 oz packages of cream cheese

about a cup & a half pureed strawberries (chop up strawberries before putting into food processor)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

dash of vanilla

1) In the same food processor bowl (we hate doing dishes, remember?) add chopped strawberries

2) Blend until pureed, add cream cheese & blend again

3) Add 1/2 cup sugar & vanilla, combine

4) Pour mixture onto cooled crust

5) Bake for 40 minutes at 325 degrees

6) Store in refrigerator overnight (or freezer for a couple of hours) to set. Store in refrigerator when not eating

Mix with .5 cup butter & brown sugar in food processor until it resembles wet sand

Line square pan with parchment paper. Press mixture tightly into pan and bake for 12 minutes at 325 degrees

Add chopped strawberries. Blend until pureed.

Add cream cheese, sugar & vanilla. Blend until combined.

Pour onto crust & Bake for 40 minutes at 325 degrees. Refrigerate overnight.

You have to try this. I promise, you will not be disappointed.