DIY Wednesday: Better For You Banana Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins

January 13, 2016January 12, 2016 / ktbuchs87

DIY Wednesday: Better For You Banana Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins I was watching Friends the other day, a normal happening in my house and the two random episodes that I watched mentioned mini muffins. This then made me think of the little packages of Hostess mini muffins that were all the rage in middle school. You were someone if you had mini muffins.

Yeah, it was weird.

I usually did not have mini muffins because they were expensive and my mom wasn’t going to waste money on junk food. Because let’s face it, muffins, even in mini form, are generally not a health food. Especially when they’re made by Hostess. DIY Wednesday: Better For You Banana Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins

But boy are they delicious. And something about them being mini made them even better. Little food is always better. That’s just science. I decided to attempt to make a better for you mini muffin that would still taste good but wouldn’t be full of all this stuff. That’s what’s in those little bites of happiness. Yum….

My favorite muffin was always banana walnut but I decided to switch the walnuts for chocolate because duh, chocolate. My version uses dark chocolate, but you can use whatever you have on hand. I also decided to add just a few chips to the top rather than mix them throughout because I thought they would be just a little too big for mini muffins. But you do you. And you should do these mini-muffins.

Banana Chocolate Mini Muffins- gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, and egg-free. I promise there is something in there!

1 1/2 cup almond meal
3 tbsp coconut flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 flax eggs (2 tbsp ground flaxseed and 5 tbsp water mixed together)
1 large banana, very ripe
4 tbsp almond milk
3 tbsp maple syrup or honey
1 tbsp coconut oil, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
handful of dark chocolate chips, optional

Preheat your oven to 350 and mix together your flax egg and set aside. Line a mini muffin tin with muffin cups or grease with a little coconut oil.
Put all of the dry ingredients into a large bowl and whisk together so there are no clumps.
In another bowl, mash the banana so it is fairly smooth. Add in the rest of the wet ingredients, including the flax eggs, and whisk with a fork to combine and smooth.
Pour the wet into the dry and use a spatula to combine everything. Drop about a tablespoon of dough into each well. These won’t rise a ton, so you don’t have to worry about them spilling over. If you’re using chocolate chips, press about 3 or 4 into the top of each muffin.
Bake the muffins for about 10 minutes and pull them out to check. If they are brown around the edges and fairly firm in the middle you’re good. If not, bake for another 2 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for a few minutes and then place on a cooling rack to cool completely.

These will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for about a week or you can make a bunch and put them in the freezer to pull out whenever you need a mini muffin!

What were some of your favorite middle school snacks?

Being Brave And Making The Change

January 11, 2016January 11, 2016 / ktbuchs87 / 1 Comment

I have been mulling this post over in my head for awhile now. I guess it’s been at the back of my thoughts for at least a few months, but I kept pushing it away. I didn’t want to deal with it and ignoring things always makes them go away, right?

If only it did. Being Brave And Making The Change | Life Healthfully Lived

So last week when I wrote about my theme for 2016, I knew that I would finally have to deal with this issue. If I really want to grow and mature I have to actually grow and mature. Profound thoughts guys, I know. But for me, it was kind of profound.

I’m not dying, in fact, no one is dying. No one is sick, nothing is horribly or awfully wrong. So don’t worry about that. But there is a big change coming for me and I’m a little nervous. I’m putting on my big girl panties and telling myself, “What’s the worst that could happen?”

I’m taking a break from running.

All of you reading this are probably cursing me because who cares if I’m taking a break from running? It doesn’t affect the vast majority of people and this isn’t a life-altering announcement. Except that it is. For me. Being Brave And Making The Change | Life Healthfully Lived

You have heard me rave about running and how it has given me so much. I am proud to call myself a runner and join the ranks of thousands who log their miles with their feet. I have talked about finally running a marathon, I love watching races, and I love getting outside and hitting the trail.

Until a few months ago that is. Lately, I have been struggling with my running. Instead of waking up excited to head out for my run, I’m dreading it. I find myself dawdling longer and longer before finally motivating myself to get out the door. At first, I thought it was just a down week. All runners have them. Those days or weeks where it’s just a little tougher to get out the door than usual. I thought it would pass, I would get back to my usual enthusiasm soon enough. But that enthusiasm hasn’t returned. Being Brave And Making The Change | Life Healthfully Lived

My immediate reaction was to just push through. I’m a runner. This is what I do. This is what I have done for the past eight years. This is how it is. I was just going to keep running and ignore that little voice in the back of my mind that was telling me something just isn’t quite right. And then Adam got a cold right before the new year.

He took a week off from running because he is much better at resting when he knows he needs it most. And because he likes to take any excuse to not run :). I still kept up with my normal running schedule, but I started to sleep in a little with him and go on my run later in the morning. Then I started to get the sniffles on my rest day and when I woke up on Monday, I did not feel like running. Even more than I had in the past few months. So I did something that I rarely if ever do: I decided not to run.

It was a little tough at first and I found a different workout to do inside just so I had some movement. But it wasn’t horrible and I found myself feeling ok about my decision. As it stands right now, I haven’t run in over a week. That’s the longest I’ve gone since I hurt my knee a few years ago. And I’m going to keep not running for the foreseeable future.

Am I giving up running completely? No. I am eternally grateful for everything that running has given me. It totally changed me inside and out and that is truly amazing. It’s because of that that I’m taking this hiatus. I don’t want to keep running until I totally hate it and I give it up for good. I want to find that feeling that I used to have and in order to do that I have to let go. Being Brave And Making The Change | Life Healthfully Lived

I’m also not giving up exercise altogether. This decision is opening doors for me to explore other areas of fitness that I had previously neglected. I’ve been doing Fitness Blender’s 5-Day Fit Challenge and I have been excited for every new day. I’ve missed that excitement when it comes to working out.

So what can you take away from this really long winded post? Just because something scares you or you’ve been doing something for years doesn’t mean you can’t change. You are not a tree. If you don’t like something get up and move. Switch directions. Try a new approach. I have no idea what my relationship with running will look like in the coming months but it will always be there, waiting for me.

Besides, what’s the worst that could happen?

Being Brave And Making The Change | Life Healthfully Lived

The best is yet to come…

Roasted Pepper Vegetable Tomato Soup

January 8, 2016January 7, 2016 / ktbuchs87

Roasted Pepper Tomato Vegetable Soup | Life Healthfully Lived You guys know I’m having a thing with soup lately. Especially now that Christmas and New Year’s are over. Brothy soups chocked full of vegetables, herbs, and spices sound pretty amazing right now. Plus, winter has finally decided to come out to play and cold temperatures always make me crave warm meals like soups or stews.

This is my soup of the moment because of two reasons. 1. It is absolutely delicious and 2. It is quick and versatile. While the base always stays the same, I can change the vegetables up to whatever I have in my fridge. Sometimes that includes mushrooms or leeks, other times it’s more peppers and some corn. Roasted Pepper Vegetable Tomato Soup | Life Healthfully Lived

If you can’t or don’t want to do a certain vegetable I have in this recipe, then don’t put it in your soup. If you want to add a vegetable that I haven’t included, go for it! That is the beauty of this meal. As long as the main components are there, you can play around with the other flavors.

If you’re looking for a lighter meal that will still fill you up, give this soup, or any soup for that matter, a try!

Roasted Pepper Vegetable Tomato Soup

2-3 red or orange bell peppers
1 cup carrots, peeled and sliced
1 cup celery, sliced
1 cup onion, diced
1 leek, green top cut off and white part sliced thin
8 oz package of bella mushrooms
1/2 cup corn kernels
2 cans fire roasted diced tomatoes
6 to 8 cups vegetable broth or water
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp roasted garlic or 3 cloves minced
2 tsp Mexican oregano (regular if you can’t find Mexican)
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 and arrange the peppers on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat. Roast the peppers until the are slightly brown and starting to collapse. Remove and let them cool. Once they are cool, remove the skins and slice into strips.
If you would like, you can toss the mushrooms with a little oil, salt, and pepper and roast those for 15 minutes.
Heat a little olive oil in a large dutch oven or stock pot. Saute the carrots, onions, leeks, and celery until they are soft and starting to brown on the edges. Sprinkle with a little salt and add the roasted peppers, mushrooms, and corn. Stir everything together.
Add in both cans of roasted tomatoes and then the vegetable broth or water. Make sure all the vegetables are covered with liquid. Add all the seasonings and bring the soup to a bowl.
Once boiling, cover with a lid and lower to a simmer. Let it simmer for 20 minutes. Taste the soup and adjust the seasonings as needed.

DIY: Lemon-Ginger Tea

January 6, 2016January 5, 2016 / ktbuchs87

We almost escaped the holidays without getting sick. Almost. It’s tough because during the holidays you’re around so many people and eating foods that might not be the healthiest and not sticking to your normal exercise routine. It’s almost like inviting germs to take up residence in your body. DIY: Lemon-Ginger Tea | Life Healthfully Lived

The Monday after Christmas, Adam started feeling a little funny and by Tuesday was knocked out with a cough and cold. He had the works, stuffed nose, sore throat, nasty cough, and achy all over. The doctor said it was a virus, but not the flu, and only gave him a nose spray to relieve congestion. So he pretty much had to ride it out on the couch for a week.

While taking care of him and seeing his misery, I knew that I had to take action to make sure I wasn’t the next visitor to the sick couch. I upped my intake of vitamin C with oranges and lemons, made sure I got turmeric in as many dishes as possible, and tried my best to exercise and eat well to make sure that I stayed healthy. DIY: Lemon-Ginger Tea | Life Healthfully Lived

I have a little congestion, but I think I missed the worst of the virus and I’m going to chalk that up to the steps I took to ward it off. One of the things that I did was down this tea every morning first thing. You can buy lemon-ginger tea at the store, but it is so easy to make and I think that fresher ingredients make a bigger impact on your immune system.

So if you’re looking to make sure you don’t get sick this winter, try this tea in the morning and if you do feel something coming on, up your self-care routine. Take extra rest, don’t go run a marathon, but do move a little, and try to eat as much real food as possible. Your body will thank you!

Lemon-Ginger Tea- if it’s available and you can afford it, try to get organic ingredients. If not, don’t stress too much over it, this tea is still better than no tea.

One-quarter of a lemon (half of a half)
3 thick slices of ginger
8 oz hot water
Optional add-ins- honey, sprinkle of cayenne, fresh or powdered turmeric (fresh tastes a little better if you can find it because powdered might not dissolve as much and leave a gritty feeling)

Boil the water. While the water is heating up, slice and peel the ginger and put into the bottom of your mug. Slice the lemon and get any add-ins that you want.
Once the water has boiled, let it sit for a few minutes. Then, pour it over the ginger slice and squeeze in the lemon juice. I like to put the whole lemon wedge in the water after I’ve squeezed it. Add in the honey, cayenne, or turmeric if you want and stir everything together.
Let it steep for a few minutes and cool down before you drink it/

What’s The Worst That Could Happen?

January 4, 2016January 4, 2016 / ktbuchs87

What's The Worst That Could Happen? | Life Healthfully Lived Ahhh. A new year. Can you smell it? The resolutions, the goals, the promises, the hope. It’s all still pretty fresh just four days into 2016. I’m all about setting goals and intentions for a new year, but I want them to be something more fulfilling than lose weight, exercise more, be more organized. I want them to be specific. I want them to have steps that I can take to reach them.

I want them to be something that will make me and my life better.

So whether you call those resolutions, goals, or intentions, make sure you choose something to direct your attention at. It can really help motivate you to do new and better things.

Last year I chose a word to define my year. I picked one word and tried to make my decisions and choices with that word in mind. I chose passion and I think I did a fairly good job of putting passion into everything I did. I’m going to do a fairly similar thing this year, but instead of one word I’m going to use one question to frame my goals. What's The Worst That Could Happen? | Life Healthfully Lived

What’s the worst that could happen?

This isn’t a nonchalant “Eh, what the heck, let’s give this a go” type of attitude. I frequently don’t do things because I’m afraid of what might happen. Mainly failure. I hate to fail and that fear has held me back from trying or doing new things.

Not anymore. What's The Worst That Could Happen? | Life Healthfully Lived

I want to approach this year with the idea that even if I do fail at something it isn’t the end of the world. At least I tried something new. And there is a really good chance that I won’t fail, that I’ll excel at my new endeavor and find new strengths and happiness.

So with that in mind, what do I want to do this year?

Dive deeper into yoga (maybe even become certified)
Expand my writing (maybe even some non-fiction works)
Be stronger (physically and mentally)
Nurture face-to-face relationships (the internet is great but so is being with someone in persn)
Create new things (recipes, art, love…. anything)

There are plenty of things that I am ready to dive into and some of them scare me a little, but hey, what’s the worst that could happen?