Snackin' on Healthy Food is What We Like to Do...

(This blog title is from a Barney song. A song I think of practically every time I think about eating healthy.)

Eating something healthy does not cancel out eating something, um, not healthy. But it makes you feel a little bit better.

Eating healthy things is difficult in the winter, when all you may want to do is huddle under a blanket and eat comforting sorts of foods. Fruits and vegetables aren't as readily available as they are in the summer.

I've been finding lots of good recipes lately, though, that help make me a little more enthusiastic about eating things that are good for me. The trouble is, making good food from scratch with fresh ingredients takes more work and more time. Certainly more time than heating up macaroni and cheese or opening a box of Oreos...

But in the long run, it's worth it. What I put into my body now affects the rest of my life. I need good fuel, not a quick salty or sweet fix.

I found this delicious recipe from allrecipes.com and modified it slightly.

Banana Bran Muffins

Ingredients:

1 cup buttermilk

1 ½ cups wheat bran

1 egg

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 ripe banana, mashed

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ cup whole wheat flour

½ cup oat bran

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ cup chopped walnuts

½ cup raisins

¼ cup coconut

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease muffin cups or line with liners.

2. In medium bowl, mix buttermilk with wheat bran. In another bowl, beat together egg, sugar, applesauce, banana, and vanilla.

3. In a large bowl, stir together flour, oat bran, baking soda, and baking powder. Stir buttermilk mixture and egg mixture into flour mixture until flour is just moistened. Stir in walnuts, raisins, and coconut. Spoon batter into muffin cups.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, until toothpick used to test comes out clean.

Next time, I'm going to add less sugar and see how that goes. The original recipe called for blueberries, but I added raisins and coconut instead because I had a bad blueberry/bran muffin experience. Also, I always use 1 cup skim milk mixed with 1 tablespoon vinegar instead of buttermilk, because we never have any around.

Enjoy!