Blueberry Bran Muffins and my apologies...

I have been absent from my blog lately and I do owe an apology to the friends that visit me here. Believe me, I do miss posting and even more so the comments you all leave (they reeeally cheer me up!), but sometimes I get these days when I don't feel all that inspired to write, or make many different things.
Well, I am glad to say that the latest phase is over and I intend to be back for real now! :o)
Summer is finally here and I am truly happy with the warm days, it is soooo nice outside!
With such sunny days we have been grilling a lot (yum!) and already using the ice cream machine, so I better get my camera ready and take some time to come here to share the recipes with you all.
And what a better way to start my June posts than with a new muffin recipe?? You all know by now that we love muffins here at our house. I make them weekly and freeze for breakfasts and snacks, so I am always looking for different healthy muffin recipes to try.
Well, the summer fruits are here and one of my favorite started to show up at the farmers market this past week: blueberries!!
Yay, I love blueberries, the plump purple spheres are so sweet that you don't need anything else to go with it. I am a happy camper to sit down with a bowl of fresh blueberries, to me it is the perfect snack. Heck, I will even have a bowl of blueberries for dinner if you let me!
So, with some of those beauties around I decided to look for a muffin recipe and as I typed "blueberry bran muffins" on the google website I was sent to a recipe at the allrecipes website. It was the first one I took a look and it won me over immediately. I knew it could only be good, and I wasn't wrong... it was great!!
I loved the muffins, it is certainly one of the best bran muffins I have made. Easy, simple, and better yet, low fat, healthy and good for you. I used blueberries but can see these being made with apples and cinnamon, raisins, or even chocolate chips. I really enjoy bran muffins and these were delicious!
If you like bran muffins to then make sure you try this recipe, believe me, it is that good!
Enjoy!
Ana









Low-Fat Blueberry Bran Muffins
(adapted from www.allrecipes.com. Original recipe can be seen here)

1 1/2 cups wheat bran

1 cup nonfat milk (I used soy milk)

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 egg

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup blueberries

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease or line muffin tins with paper cups.
Mix together wheat bran, milk, and applesauce and let rest for about 10 minutes. To this mixture add egg, vanilla, and sugar and mix well.
In another bowl mix together flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix just until incorporated. Fold in blueberries.
Portion batter into the prepared muffin cups and bake for about 18 to 20 minutes.

Blueberry Muffins

We are back home, a short visit to the family, and as always it was very nice! Matheus had lots of fun with the grandparents and even more because I enrolled him in swimming lessons, so he also had an activity to do every morning that he loved: going to the pool!
We got here yesterday morning and, although a little tired from the flights, went blueberry picking in the afternoon. It is blueberry season and since I love the fruit I like to make sure I enjoy every bit of it this time of the year. There is nothing like fresh blueberries and since all the muffins I left in the freezer for the husband were gone I went ahead and whipped up this super quick recipe for our breakfast today. Easy and very good! Not the most nutritious of the muffins, but more of a treat for a welcome home breakfast with the three of us together!
You can certainly use whole-wheat flour for part of the flour in this recipe, and I would definitely do that if I had some in the house today. Also, fresh or frozen blueberries could easily be used with nice results here, just make sure to not thaw them if using frozen, that way you avoid getting unappetizing greenish-colored muffins.
I made a few recipes during my trip and will be posting them soon!
Enjoy!
Ana

Blueberry Muffins
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
1 egg
½ cup milk
½ cup yogurt
¼ cup oil
½ cup sugar
1 cup blueberries

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. In another bowl mix together wet ingredients. Add flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix just until incorporated. Fold in blueberries. Pour batter into greased muffin tins, sprinkle sugar on tops if desired, and bake at 400F for about 18 minutes, or until golden.
Yields 10 muffins.