I ask my preschool kids this everyday. I don’t know why. I suppose it’s just small talk like when you ask someone how they are doing. Sometimes you don’t hear the answer but it’s almost like you are saying “hey, how are ya?”. Anyway, their answers are always spaghetti. I can relate because sometimes after working as a preschool teacher by day and health counselor in the evening, I am pooped so I am looking to make something easy in the evening. Lord knows if I left it up to bf then it would be frozen pizza or oatmeal (sometimes it is). I really only have time to make new meals and experiment on the weekends. This year I decided to make a greater effort to share my love of food with everyone and finally all of the pieces are coming together so that I can do that. It’s slowly but surely coming along and….I love it. If I had to do one thing for the rest of my life, it would be to make food for people. I love to put ingredients together and create and for me, it’s all about the presentation. I love to celebrate holidays and have themed food to go along with the decor of a party. I love it all! Now, if my pesky jobs wouldn’t get in the way of that now. I am truly grateful to have a job that I love but I don’t want to do it forever. I would rather be in my kitchen with my apron, spatula and notebook experimenting much like a scientist with his beakers and lab coat. Yes, that’s me. Of course, I love to eat the food too. I suppose that would be the job I would pick, to be a professional food taster, then baker/cook/blogger would come in close second. So, what’s for dinner tonight? For me, frozen organic ravioli, salad with organic sprouts and steamed broccoli. Not too creative but easy, clean and still delicious. You gotta do what you gotta do when you are a hard working lady.
In other news…here is a picture of a cat (my baby. rescued feral. Leela aka Baby Lee)
food
Blueberry Citrus Breakfast Muffins
Blueberry Citrus Breakfast Muffins
My mom is coming into town tomorrow for a short visit. I know that when she visits me, we run around like crazy. We always say that we are going to just “chill” and go with the flow but we don’t. We run to every store, festival, bakery and we watch movies, go for walks…you get the picture. It has been that way since I went away to college. A very fun filled yet exhausting get together. Well, I know that if she is coming then we need to be able to start our day our right. Personally, I always make an organic protein shake for breakfast but I eat something along with it or I take something with me for a snack about mid morning. I thought since I had just bought organic blueberries that muffins would be a great treat to wake up to in the morning. I used frozen blueberries in this recipe because there was a sale on organic fruit at the market last week. We have fresh in the fridge but the frozen blueberries were huge and perfect to make these muffins just the right consistency.
These muffins are low sugar, packed with protein and vitamins. They are a must for mom’s visit!
Blueberry Citrus Breakfast Muffins
serves 12
1/3 cup of plain coconut milk
1/4 cup organic coconut oil (melted and cooled)
1/2 cup organic plain greek yogurt
1 egg
1 tsp of vanilla
1 3/4 cup of whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup of coconut sugar
1 organic lemon
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of sea salt
3/4 cup to 1 cup of frozen blueberries
Heat oven to 375 degrees and line muffin tin with unbleached muffin cups.
Mix together the milk, coconut oil, greek yogurt, egg and vanilla until the mixture is smooth.
Then add the whole wheat pastry flour, coconut sugar, peel from the lemon, juice from 1/2 of the lemon, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix until everything is integrated and the dough resembles pancake batter. Do not overmix.
Fold in the frozen blueberries.
Ice cream scoop for scooping the batter makes for pretty and clean muffins.
Scoop the batter using an ice cream scoop into each muffin cup. Whether you have heard of this trick or not, I highly recommend this for muffins or cupcakes. I love the look of homemade muffins so I don’t need them to be perfectly round but it helps the batter stay off of the muffin tin.
Ready for the oven!
Place the muffins into the oven, blow them a kiss and bake them for 15-20 minutes.
Fresh from the oven!
Warning!!! You will want to eat these immediately in which I did. I had to make sure they were good enough for you! If you could smell this picture, you would die. I wish blogs were scratch and sniff, don’t you? This recipe is perfect and super easy so if you are having guests come and stay, I would suggest you make these to show off. They take no time at all and it will impress your guests by the smell of warm blueberry muffins in the sunny summer mornings.
The frozen blueberries were huge.
You can see the size of the blueberries I used really well in this picture. If you have the freezer space, you can buy frozen organic fruit for a great price in the summer. It keeps for a long time and it is usually cheaper than buying it fresh. I always buy fresh organic fruit but when it comes to baking and smoothies, I use the frozen fruit. It is great because you can eat it even if it is not in season. If you are really thrifty and have some time on your hands, freezing your own fruit can save time and money in the long run.
Blueberry Citrus Breakfast Muffins are moist and sweet.
These muffins were the perfect amount of sweetness. They are also really moist. I am storing them into a glass sealed casserole dish in the fridge until mom comes tomorrow. If you are eating immediately then no need to put them into the fridge but after a few days, they may become soggy. This is only from experience so I don’t know if these muffins would do that but I will be keeping mine in the fridge. It has been really humid here all summer so I don’t want to take any chances with these babies.
Also, I want to share some health benefits about these muffins with you. No chemicals were used in the making of these muffins. I used only organic ingredients so I am sure there were no chemicals. What about the muffin tins and muffin cups? Did you know that most muffin or baking dishes have chemicals? This is true. Check when buying your products if they are free from harmful chemicals. The most common chemical added to bakeware is PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid). Yikes, that is hard to spell. There are other chemicals used as well so just be sure when buying that the label is free of them. I found my bakeware at TJMaxx. I also used Unbleached Muffin cups that I found at my local market. They are chlorine free and safe to compost.
Health Benefits
Blueberries- Vitamin K & C, phytonutrients, antioxidant, fights inflammation, fights colon and breast cancer.
Coconut Oil- energy enhancer, cancer fighter, aids in digestion, reduces inflammation
Coconut Sugar- low glycemic, contains amino acids, contains B vitamins, iron, potassium
Whole Wheat Pastry Flour- fiber, has not been bleached
Lemon- regulates blood sugar, fights cancer, good source of vitamin C, antifungal
Plain Greek Yogurt- protein, vitamin D
In other words, make these muffins. They are a great alternative to the pastries or baked goods that you buy on the go at a local shop. You can make a big batch and freeze them for later use.
Easy Caprese
Ooooh Caprese Salad is one of my favorite summer dishes and I have been making it for years. I use to grow my own basil for it and thought that made me a regular Martha Stewart until I saw what basil was actually suppose to look like at a local market. It made my basil look so puny. I still enjoyed making it and, of course, eating my Caprese. For this recipe, I used basil infused olive oil that I purchases at a local shop called The Olive Leaf. I also am using a vinegar made by a local artisan. As well as local grown cucumbers that have not been sprayed with pesticides. I LOVE putting together a meal with little details that I appreciate such as local and organic!
I know that in the summer my body craves fresh fruit and vegetables but I also need protein to keep me full and grounded. Trust me, you are going to want to try it!
CAPRESE SALAD
serves 4-6
10 oz organic grape tomatoes
2 small organic cucumbers
fresh mozzarella- rbst free
2 tbs of basil olive oil
1 tbs of flavored vinegar (I used tart cherry)
1/2 tsp of Himalayan sea salt
1/2 tsp of black pepper
Caprese Salad Ingredients
Cut the grape tomatoes in half and cut the cucumbers into bite sizes. Tear the mozzarella with your hands. Place all of the ingredients into the bowl. Toss the salad and season to your preference.
You can eat this salad immediately after making it but I prefer to let it sit overnight or at least for a few hours in the refrigerator. This helps the flavors to come together.
Introducing…ME!!!
Hello! My name is Brianne and I am an empath. I have been wanting to do this blog for some time but as we all know, life unfolds at the perfect time, even if it seems like it is a long time. So, this is finally my time. I am ready to share with you all of the wonderful things I know about what it means to be an empath. I knew that I wanted to do a food blog but I was bothered by the amount of food blogs that were out there. “What is going to make mine unique”, I pondered. I figured what was the point of having a food blog when there are millions of others out there. Well, after some soul searching I realized that food is my passion. I love to cook, bake, eat, read cook books, try different foods, think of recipes,etc. So, no matter if there were other food blogs out there or even food blogs about health and cleaning eating, I am going to write abouwhat I love. My blog is going to be a fun adventure. I want to share recipes, tips, spiritual practices, diet and health information and random tidbits about my life as an empath. If you have been struggling to learn and accept yourself as an empath or just want to be with a like minded person, then this is the place for you. Heck, if you just like to cook/bake and learn new things then please come along. Everyone is welcome here at The Clean Eating Empath.
Well, let’s start by defining some terms! Note: each term has a broad definition that may not mean the same to everyone. These definitions are what I believe the terms mean for me and my blog.
CLEAN EATING-being mindful of the food that we put into out bodies. Eating foods that do not contain anything artificial or any chemicals. Fresh and natural foods are the main focus. Usually foods or recipes in which nothing is added to the food from its natural state or nothing is taken away to diminish the foods nutritional value.
For my blog, I focus on organic, hormone and antibiotic free, no chemicals, non GMO, no artificial colors or flavors.
EMPATH- a highly sensitive person, usually effected by or feeling others energy, intuitively feeling others emotions and perceptions of the world around them. Empaths can feel on different levels, some more extreme than others.
Want to learn more about being an empath? Please check out http://www.drjudithorloff.com
Clean Eating Empath 