Eat Well, Be Well, Live Well

We all experience days, sometimes weeks, when it does not feel like time is on our side, and a long list of “to do’s” piles up on our countertop, laptop, etc.

I had one of those weeks last week, and found myself waking on a Saturday morning to two hungry children and a hungry husband, and a near-empty refrigerator. Because time had eluded me the prior week, I did not manage to make a new batch of granola, and the current container offered just a sprinkling of crumbs. I did not manage to make it to the store, and found that just one lonely egg remained in the carton. The fruit bowl contained a slightly shriveled clementine and one overly ripe banana.

We could have piled into the car and gone to a restaurant, but I rarely do this for breakfast anymore. The sugar and gluten load in most restaurant breakfasts make me loathe the idea of paying $40+ for food I know isn’t good for me and my family.

Well as luck would have it, one of our darling “girls” had laid an egg the evening before, giving me not just one, but two eggs to work with!

I chose to whip up these yummy oat bran muffins and a kale smoothie (always keep washed, chopped kale in the freezer), and we all enjoyed a fresh, healthy breakfast that no one got up from hungry.

I have to say, I’m not a big bran fan, but I make an exception for oat bran. One, it’s not wheat and two, it is much lighter and creates a cake like texture. I used gluten-free flour and non-dairy milks, because that’s my preference, but use the recipe as you see fit.

Ingredients

2 cups oat bran

1 cup all-purpose gluten-free flour

1/3 cup lightly packed brown sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 1/4 cups milk (I used half almond milk and half coconut milk)

2 eggs

1/3 cup safflower oil (or coconut oil melted)

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup raisins

Preparation

Preheat oven to 425F. Lightly oil a standard 12-muffin tin.

In a large bowl, mix together the oat bran, flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs lightly. Whisk in the milk, oil and vanilla extract until smooth. Add to the dry ingredients and stir until just barely blended. Fold in the raisins.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin, filling each cup equally. Bake 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Let cool in the tin for 3-5 minutes. Serve warm plain, with a little butter (or faux butter) and/or a drizzle of honey.

Enjoy!