Baking up some comfort

It is cold here. Like, really cold. And, I don't know about you but, when it is really cold I like to eat warm, comforting things. Like lasagna. Or spaghetti. Or enchiladas. Or chicken wild rice soup.

Funny thing about comfort food in Minnesota: It is generally not terribly healthy and we are trying to do that whole crazy healthy thing. So I have had to go searching.

I picked up some Coconut Oil at Trader Joe's last week which I have been wanting to do for a while. I would walk down the aisle, pick it up, look at it and set it right back down and move on. I am not sure why I wouldn't actually just buy it. It isn't expensive. It's pretty shelf stable. It is made of coconut! And I love coconut! So I finally made it home with some.

And then I went to town on the internet. I figured if I couldn't have something cheesy and creamy and totally soul satisfying, I would have to settle for the next best thing: warm from the oven muffins!!

It didn't actually take that long to find the first recipe I tried. My mom had mentioned making banana bread and that sounded so perfectly satisfying for my mood that I went out in search of a suitable substitute. That is where these Banana Coconut Muffins come in. They are sweetened only with banana and honey and get their structure from whole wheat flour and unsweetened coconut. And they use coconut oil instead of butter or vegetable oil! Healthy, healthy, healthy.

They aren't terribly sweet and I think if I made them again I would leave out the lemon zest or add a little more honey because those two ingredients kind of compete with one another. The recipe made 11 muffins and they were gone in 36 hours and my daughter (who is not fond of new foods) declared me "the best cooker"-- so they were good ;)

And this recipe serves as the perfect base for other kinds of muffins! As I was falling asleep a few nights ago, all I could think of was muffins and apples and cinnamon and oatmeal-- Enter my version: Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Muffins!

They are still sweetened with a ripe, mashed banana and honey and contain only white whole wheat flour and rolled oats for structure. Add in a little coconut oil, some apples, cinnamon and a few other essentials and you get a tasty, comforting, house warming muffin with only 160 calories!

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Muffins
Recipe makes 6 muffins- could easily be doubled
Adapted from Cookie+Kate

2 Tbl. Coconut oil, melted
1/4 cup honey
1 ripe banana, mashed
1 egg
1 tsp real vanilla extract
1 small apple, peeled and diced small
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 F. Mix oil, honey, banana, egg, vanilla and apple in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Either spray or line a 6 muffin tray (or half of a 12 muffin tray!) and scoop the batter in using an ice cream scoop.
Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool slightly on a baking rack and enjoy!

Clean Eating

Alex and I started the Advocare 24 day cleanse/challenge this morning! Along with drinking a somewhat unpleasant fiber drink right away in the morning and other herbal supplements throughout the day, the diet is totally unprocessed food. This means no coffee, no sugar, no flour, no butter, no milk, no yogurt, no cheese, no bread, no crackers, no chips, no unhealthy oils, no pasta. 

Whoa- its crazy how much of my diet previous to the New Year contained so many of those things! No wonder the holidays were not so nice to me ;)

So anyways, Alex and I decided to do this challenge with my mom, dad, younger sister and her husband. Alex actually talked me into doing it on my birthday (the 31st) and we decided to start the clean eating part of the program right then! We wanted to make sure we could maintain that type of eating after we were finished with the program and no longer on the supplements. I actually think he is only doing it so I will do it and I love him so much more for that-- he knew I would never be able to handle it without him!

We cleaned out the pantry and haven't looked back! Well that is kind of untrue-- Alex hasn't looked back... I may have eaten a few unhealthy things before we actually started the cleanse-- but for the most part I have done great as well!

So we are eating clean! And I actually think that we are eating cleaner than clean if you look at the definition. Our diet consists of hard-boiled eggs, fruit, dry roasted lightly salted nuts, vegetables, chicken and fish. All ingredients have to be scanned to make sure there is no sugar or unhealthy oils in them. And trust me- those ingredients are in EVERYTHING!

But the funny thing is-- I thought it would be much harder than it is. I mean, trust me, handing my children a bowl of cheesy chickadees or cutting up their chicken nuggets or turkey sandwiches or dishing out a snack of popcorn puffs is kind of tough to do without wanting to sneak a bite; but I'm overcoming the urges!

I think the thing that helps the most is putting together flavors that make you think you aren't eating health food. I made a Spicy Thai Peanut Salmon for dinner and I had to keep checking and re-checking all the ingredients to make sure it actually fit all the criteria for the cleanse. And it was DELICIOUS!!

I got the inspiration from a recipe I found on foodgawker.com. It was for a spicy sriracha peanut encrusted salmon. If that sounds good, you can find it here. I changed it up a little, however, because the second ingredient in Sriracha is sugar. I decided to use Thai Red Curry paste in place of the sriracha because it has no sugar but still kind of the same flavor and a little kick. Then I decided to add a bit of natural peanut butter and low-sodium soy because they are delicious. And then because I was worried it wouldn't have quite enough kick, I mixed a little more soy with some chili garlic paste and poured it over the peanut crust topping.

Drooling yet? I made only enough for one meal and I am really kicking myself now! I will definitely be making this again and I hope you try it too!

Spicy Thai Peanut Crusted Salmon

2 servings- but easily doubled (or tripled!)

2 salmon filets (about 5 oz.)

2 tsp thai red curry paste

2 tsp all natural peanut butter

1 1/2 T low-sodium soy sauce, divided

1/2 cup finely chopped peanuts

1 tsp chili-garlic paste (Sambal Oelek)

Lime wedges

Mix curry paste, peanut butter and 2 tsp soy sauce together. Add salmon and massage the marinade into the fish. Refrigerate for a few hours. Preheat oven to 450. I did 430 because it was convection. Line baking sheet with foil and spray with olive oil spray. Pour peanuts on to plate and press salmon filets into the peanuts on just the top side. Place salmon filets on baking sheet, peanut side up. Combine remaining soy sauce with the chili-garlic paste. Drizzle over peanut topping. Bake for 10 minutes and then cover with foil and bake for another 3-5 or until salmon flakes easily with fork. Serve with fresh lime wedges.