Monday, February 13, 2012

A Recipe and remember my diet that isn't a diet?

I made these Cranberry-Orange Muffins yesterday for the first time and was pleasantly surprised at how tasty they were.


Cranberry-Orange Muffins
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1 cup skim milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
2 egg whites or 1/4 cup cholesterol-free egg product (those liquid eggs in the cartons)
1 cup all-purpose/plain flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 to 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, chopped


Heat oven to 400 oC.  Line or spray a 12 muffin/cupcake pan.  I always use paper cupcake liners myself. (did find though they stuck to the paper a lot on the bottom?)


Beat milk, oil, orange peel and egg white in a jug.  Sieve together both flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large bowl.  Mix in wet ingredients just until flour is moistened (batter will be lumpy)  Fold in the cranberries.


Divide batter evenly between the 12 muffin cups, they will be quite full.  Sprinkle with some sugar if desired and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.  Immediately remove from pan........no idea why?


Each muffin has 150 calories.  3 g Protein, 23 g Carbohydrate, 5 g Fat, 2 g Dietary Fibre.

They are not an overly sweet muffin and the whole wheat flour gives it a good flavour, will make them again.


Also remember my diet that isn't a diet.  Thought I'd check in with you all about that.  It's actually going quite well.  I am making better choices and am trying to reduce my carb intake, as I love bread, potatoes and pasta.  I have got the not eating on a night after my supper pretty much down pat and if I do have something it's generally a fat free yogurt.


I have upped my fruit and veggie intake considerably which is a good thing regardless, and I haven't had chocolate in ages!!!  I like to have a Motts Fruitsations apple sauce snacks in the afternoon, which I count as my treat.

I am "suffering" in a morning at the moment, as I bought a box of Rice Krispies as they were on sale and I had a coupon for a free box of Rice Krispie snacks when you bought the cereal.  They taste of nothing, I added a banana to them on Sunday morning to try and give them some flavour.  I am used to the more "adult" flavour and textured cereals I think.  Luckily it's only a small box of cereal, so I should have it all finished this week.

Still have a long way to go with this diet change in the way I eat but I do feel as though I am making progress.  As I said at the beginning of the month, baby steps.

22 comments:

Fat Dormouse said...

Hello! I've come to you via Fraise Lachrymose - nice to meet you, Gill. I don't tend to "follow" blogs, per se, but I'll certainly add you to my ever growing list of blogs I visit! I've enjoyed reading your blog.

I thought that, with your diet-that-isn't you might be interested in my blog over at fatdormouse.blogspot.com. I'm trying to cook all the recipes in Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's "River Cottage Veg Every Day!"...and I'm posting/linking to the recipes, and then commenting on the success or otherwise of them. There'll be plenty of veggie recipes there which may add to your repetoire of less meat more vegetables diet. Hope to see you there!

Nancy said...

Orange and cranberry is a delicious combination, Gil. I bet these taste great!

And good for you on the diet. I've lost about 5 pounds so far on mine. :)

EG CameraGirl said...

The muffins sound very good to me as I don't like muffins to be be very sweet.

frugal freesia said...

They look yummy:)

Debby said...

Wow the muffins look so good, I have lots of fruit still canned and in the freezer I need to use up, I bet this recipe would be fine for any fruit. Good luck on you undiet!!

Cindy@NorthofWiarton said...

Awesome choice of muffins, Gill, compared to the Blueberry Crunch I made at 367 Calories ! Although they were good. Glad you are doing so well on your (diet) good eating habits. I see it as a good way of living our life with a good "lifestyle". It is very hard some days. I love either the Source or Astro No Fat Yogurts, eat them like there is no tomorrow !

lanniedee said...

The muffins looks yummy..I tend to make a lot of banana muffins as we don't get our bananas eaten fast enough and I love oatmeal scones all winter..your blog site is so colorful and interesting..I'll have to try and learn how to make mine more interesting..great work...Lannie

SmilingSally said...

Hi Gill,

Thanks for your visit and comment. Your counter top would make a good Blue Monday!

Sally

Karine said...

Wow, those muffins sounds tasty!

Good for you on the 'diet' progress! I used to eat Special K for breakfast with a banana in it, but ended up starving way before lunch and feeling sluggish, so now I have Vector with a banana. What a difference!

Miss Holly said...

oh ...do these ever look good! I think they will be in my oven shortly!

CannedAm said...

Nifty format!

The muffins sound good :) I have dried cranberries...I think I'll try plumping them in hot water and make this using them.

(Haven't been posting much to my own blog because I'm writing for others out there. Check out questionandplanter.com -- they have some great give-aways, too. Also, I want to find an editor that works outside of blogger, as I really hate blogger's editor. I get that taken care of and I'll be posting more frequently.)

Janet said...

I could just eat one of those -this is cruelty -will have to settle on making my own -thanks for the recipe !

Anonymous said...

Hello, just found you. I am also a British woman, soon to move to Nova Scotia. That's not all we have in common. I'm also not on a diet. Trouble is, I keep lapsing. Why is it that everything looks so delicious when you are trying to say 'no'? I bought a piece of C-A-K-E today after an 11 mile walk. I deserved it didn't I? It turned out to be as stale as old boots....did I eat it? Answers on a postcard.........

Lena said...

Yum! I need to try this recipe!

Jane said...

And only 1/3 of a cup of sugar and only 1/4 cup of veg oil - I like this recipe!! I love cranberry and lemon flavors together too so one could zest a lemon as opposed to an orange if they wanted to. Thank you!

simplicityinthemaking said...

Those muffins look better then the McDonald's ones. They are full of cals! But man they are good. Those Rice Crispy squares taste good dunked in chocolate! I like the none-diet which has some chocolate in it. A food catagory all itself. My rules!!

DaxingCujo said...

Heya Gill...Muffins look great and can't wait to try them. I too am trying to adjust my eating habits to more healthier versions. Good luck with that cause I know how difficult finding that happy road with flavorful things ( like you mentioned the cereals). We been using more yogurts and I like applesauce with cottage cheese as a snack ( wierd I know).

Fran said...

They look delicious and very healthy, will give them a try xxx

Fran said...

They look delicious and very healthy, will give them a try xxx

michael said...

i'm amazed by how little sugar they need. definitely worth a try :)

Rose said...

Another thing I need to do...change my way of eating.

Unknown said...

I'm working on losing weight as well. Down 8lbs so far in 2 weeks. I joined Weight Watchers. Follow my journey with me on my blog.

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