Healthy Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

I felt like a genius last week when it dawned on me to make muffins in my mini muffin tin. I doubt I'm the first person to think of this since it is called a mini muffin pan, after all. But, still. genius. Why didn't I think of this before?

Mini muffins are the perfect size for Tory and Aden's little hands, and perfect portion control for me. Two mini muffins = one regular-sized one, so the idea is you'd only eat half a muffin at snack-time ... or at least that was my train of thought. Plus, a regular muffin is awkwardly big for my kids to eat and half of it usually ends up wasted anyway. Mini muffins, on the other hand, are just the right size.

We had a few over-ripe bananas to use up last week, so I whipped up a batch of these healthy banana chocolate chip muffins.

Banana Chocolate Muffins
(recipe adapted from www.facebook.com/livewellwithcogswell)

Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour or gluten free cup-for-cup flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 egg whites
1/2 cup honey
2 Tbsp. coconut oil
1/4 cup almond milk
1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
3 ripe bananas
1/4 cup EnjoyLife chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Prepare a muffin tin (or mini muffin tin!) by lightly spritzing it with cooking spray.

3. Mix together dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, cinnamon) in large bowl.

4. Mix together wet ingredients (egg whites, honey, coconut oil, almond milk, applesauce, bananas) in a large bowl using an electric mixer.

5. Slowly add the mixture of dry ingredients to the mixture of wet ingredients using an electric mixer.

6. Fold in chocolate chips.

7. Pour batter into muffin tin.

8. Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

I store a few muffins in the refrigerator, and freeze the rest in quart-size Ziploc bags for later. Just pull out a quart-size bag, thaw in the fridge, and they'll be ready to go.

For those following 21 Day Fix, 1 muffin (or 2 mini muffins!) = 1 yellow

46/52: A Weekly Photo Series

Tory, Aden and I met some friends for a playdate at the Play & Learn Cafe this week. I love the concept of this place -- a space for families to meet, play and enjoy a meal together. No need to worry about kids making a ruckus through dinner or dumping every toy out of the bin; this place is as kid friendly as one could be.

I first visited Play & Learn Cafe when it opened in the spring, and quite a bit had changed since then. There's a new Discovery Room with "messy projects" for kids (on this day, it was paints) and many different toy stations in the main room -- play structures, dress-up clothes, ride-on bikes, sensory bin, dollhouse, train table and more.

Aden and Tory had an absolute blast playing here the morning we visited. They ran for a solid three hours, which is fantastic for an indoor play area. I'd say Tory was on the older end of the spectrum for children's ages, which was fantastic for keeping the rowdiness at minimum. I liked how small yet open the main room was which helped me keep an eye on the kids easily, and I also liked the many gating devices they had to keep kids safe and secure in one particular area. We arrived around 9:30am (the cafe opened at 9:00am) and the place was practically empty. Thirty minutes later, closer to 10:00am, the place had filled quickly with parents and kids. Next time I go, I'll definitely shoot to arrive closer to opening time to beat the rush.

  
We didn't eat at the cafe on this particular day, but the menu looked appetizing for both kids and parents. Tory made me promise the next time we visited we'd stay for lunch. I'm sure we'll be back. A great find in the Twin Cities for things to do with kids.

Tory's Day for Sharing

Tory's an extrovert, just like her mama. She's energized by the company of others, and thrives in social settings where she can show off her leadership skills and gift of gab. That's not to say she might change over time, but right now she loves the stimulus and interaction activities like pre-school provide.

The minute we're buckled into the car after I pick Tory up from school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, she sighs and says "So, Mom, I wasn't the leader today." It just kills her not to be first; to sit back and let someone else take the lead when she'd rather be the one in charge. I totally get it because I'm exactly the same way. And, frankly, so is her dad. So, every single Tuesday/Thursday I smile back at Tory in my rear-view mirror and say, "Ah, man, that's a bummer. Everyone deserves to have a turn though and yours will be coming up soon, I promise."

This week it was Tory's turn to bring her class' Share Bag, and she was so excited. Ms. Janna handed the bag to Tory at the end of class last Thursday with instructions to complete the enclosed questionnaire and bring it back the following week. Tory's had her share item picked out for a while now and later at home, we sat down to complete the Share Bag questionnaire together (I wrote down Tory's words exactly):

What did you choose to bring?
A horse.

Where did you get it?
I got it from my friend Ashley who lives in Kentucky.

What do you want to tell the class about it?
This horse is very special to me. She gave it to me when we went to ride horses in Kentucky. I loved it! Ashley is my best friend.

Isn't parenting the best sometimes? Seeing Tory so excited about something so simple and sweet melted my heart into a pile of parenting mush.

Yesterday (Tuesday) was finally Share Bag Day. Tory woke me up at 3:30am to say, "I'm not tired anymore. When is nighttime over? Today is Share Bag Day!" She never did go back to sleep, and laid next to me in bed chat-chat-chatting my ear off from 3:30am-6:30am. (Luckily, Andi was traveling so I just let her binge on episodes of Octonauts and snoozed on/off beside her.)

Tory was a ball of energy all morning, and adorably practiced her Share Bag speech throughout breakfast.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to stay through Tory's Share Bag presentation to the class but you better believe she filled me in on every juicy detail after school.

Me: "Ahhhh, Tory! How did your Share Bag go?

Tory: (*shrugs shoulders*) "Uh, pretty good!"

Me: "Was your class so excited?! What did they say?"

Tory: "Wow."

Huh, that was it I guess. Sounds like Tory's first Share Bag Day was a big success, and the best - and most important part - is Tory was so happy.

My Favorite Healthy Eating Recipes

I'm six weeks into "clean eating" as they say, or simply cutting processed foods from my diet, and I'm feeling good about it. Consuming something other than Doritos definitely requires planning (and will-power, honestly!), but it's worth it. I physically feel better than I have in a long time.

I've been doing the 21 Day Fix program and with that, began keeping a food journal of my daily meals and snacks. It's helped me stay on top of prepping, cooking and eating healthy foods. Unfortunately, the 21 Day Fix program doesn't come with a huge list of recipes, so I've had to rely on the support of other team members in my particular 21 Day Fix group and/or find my own clean-eating recipes online. I thought I'd share some of my favorites here:

Egg Muffin Cups*
I don't love eggs, but I'm seriously obsessed with these. I pour eggs, meat and sautéed vegetables into a muffin tin and bake them in the oven for quick, ready-to-eat breakfasts all week. It takes 30 seconds to re-heat an egg muffin cup or two in the microwave while I'm also getting the kids fed, dressed and out the door for the day. I've tried various combinations of ingredients (ham, turkey, peppers, spinach, mushrooms, cheese), but ham with bell peppers is my favorite.

*I got the original recipe from my Beachbody coach and I can't seem to find anything similar on the Internet to link to, so I think I'll write up the recipe and share it here ... if for no other reason that to Pin the recipe to my Pinterest board and subsequently delete it out of my iPhone Notes.

Creamy Chicken Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing
This recipe is from Autumn Calabrase's Fixate cookbook, and it's really tasty. It's even better after being refrigerated for 24 hours. I serve my chicken salad on fresh romaine lettuce - delish!

Slow-Cooker Steak Fajitas
What's not to love? An easy, healthy dinner recipe that's not chicken. Because, let's be honest, chicken is definitely the go-to protein choice around here. Sometimes, I sense Andi's non-verbal sigh when I announce it's chicken (again!) for dinner. He loves this steak fajitas recipe, and so do I.

Try a dab of plain Greek yogurt on top of the fajitas in place of sour cream. I seriously can't tell the difference!

Lemony Chicken Stir-Fry with Asparagus
If you like lemons, this recipe is for you! Aden and I both love it. (Turns out, Andi isn't a big fan of lemon flavor ... so I guess we'll add this recipe to the "daddy's traveling for work" rotation. And, Tory won't eat anything that "has green things in it." That's a topic for another day...). This chicken stir-fry comes together super quickly and tastes light and fresh.

By the way, I skip the last step calling for cornstarch because it doesn't seem to make a difference in thickening the sauce (at least for me).

Ginger Beef, Mushroom and Kale Stir-Fry
I'm on a stir-fry kick, can you tell? It's a fast and simple method of cooking that's big on flavor and includes lots of veggies. I don't know how I lived without making stir-fry recipes before?!

So, kale. I'm not a fan, but I decided to give this recipe a try because the superfood gets so much hype. And, guess what? This particular stir fry recipe was all sorts of amazing. Andi and I both loved it (and now I just need to find a few more recipes to use up that giant bag of kale...).

Slow-Cooker Boeuf Bourgignon*
Hole-lee-cow. This recipe was freaking amazing. I made it a few weekends ago when friends were visiting us at the cabin, and it's safe to say we all licked our bowls clean. This recipe is seriously delicious and so easy. Aren't Crock-Pots the best?

*I didn't have any bone broth on hand, of course, so I subbed beef broth and the recipe turned out just as perfect. Oddly enough, reading this recipe was the third time I'd heard mention of bone broth in context that week, so maybe that's my sign to boil up a big ol' pot of bones for later use.

I did use tapioca starch as the recipe suggests, which I found at our cabin's small-town grocery store with the specialty pantry items (near the gluten-free flour, etc.). The tapioca starch thickened up the stew in a snap, so it was definitely worth the investment. Maybe I'll use it next time to thicken the sauce in the Lemony Chicken Stir-Fry recipe above in place of cornstarch ...

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Two pre-packaged products* I can't seem to live without these days:

Justin's Nut Butter Almond Butter, Classic, 16 Ounce



I spread a .tsp of almond butter on half a whole-wheat English muffin every morning and it's such a treat.

That's it Super Sampler, Pack of 12, (2 Apple+Blueberry, 2 Apple+Strawberry, 2 Apple+Pineapple, 2 Apple+Pear, 2 Apple+Cherry, 2 Apple Banana)



These bars are great for when I'm on-the-go. They're equivalent to one piece of fruit and made of only fruit and nothing else.

*Amazon affiliated links

(Kid-Free!) Weekend in Los Angeles

I sat on an airplane (alone!) last night with my laptop at my fingertips and recapped a wonderful weekend trip to Los Angeles. Andi has business in LA this week, and suggested I tag along the weekend prior to make a mini vacation of it. The logistics of flights, lodging and babysitters don’t always fall into place so smoothly, but this time they did and we took advantage. I hopped on a flight with Andi late Friday night in route to L.A. for a leisurely weekend away.

Our family travels quite a bit, but it’d been a while since Andi and I vacationed together without the kids. Pre-Aden days, to be exact. I love that our kids are reaching ages where it's more feasible to leave them with a babysitter because time away together sure does wonders to rejuvenate Andi and I both personally and as a couple.

As always, Andi took care of all the travel accommodations for this past weekend in L.A. He booked us a hotel room at the Ritz Carlton in Marina Del Ray and researched possible restaurants and activities to fill our weekend together. He left plans open-ended though, so we could do whatever we felt like in the moment. So different than our regular life with kids in tow! Even traveling in the Minneapolis airport was fun for me. Friday night, Andi and I stopped for dinner and drinks at Syrdyks before our flight and I thoroughly enjoyed every leisurely minute of our dinner together in the airport before departing to LA. My airport trips with the kids typically include quick passes through Starbucks (if I'm lucky!) and mandatory visits to the children's play area in Terminal C. This trip was all about the two of us, and it was FAB. 

It was hard to tell upon our arrival late Friday night, but our hotel was located right on the marina with a sweeping view of sailboats and the ocean. Not surprisingly, Andi told the hotel it was our anniversary (spoiler alert: it wasn’t), so I nodded and smiled when the receptionist greeted us with well-wishes and plastic flutes of champagne at check-in. It's always nice to be greeted so warmly, and we were celebrating being alone together for 48 straight hours! We dropped our bags in our hotel room and headed outdoors for a quick walk along the marina harbor. 

Saturday morning, Andi and I woke up early by L.A. standards (around 7:30am Minnesota time, which felt like sleeping in for an eternity to us). Not wanting to loose the exercise mojo I've got going on these days, I hopped down to the hotel gym and squeezed in a 30-minute workout while Andi mapped out entertainment options for the day. Shortly after I returned, we left the hotel and walked to nearby Venice Beach for breakfast. Andi picked a restaurant called Gjelina and we were seated on an adorably funky outdoor patio amongst a busy breakfast crowd. We ordered coffees, a plate of smoked salmon and toast to share, a side of softly scrambled eggs, and a slice of warm buckwheat banana bread. All the locals around us were wrapped up in chunky sweaters and scarves, but Andi and I thought the temperature was crisp, cool and perfect. Oh, happy day!

After breakfast, we grabbed more coffee at Intelligentsia (bring me alllll the coffee!) and walked along the scenic Venice Beach boardwalk to take in the sights. Andi lived in Southern California for a time, so the eclectic vibe of Venice Beach wasn't new to him, but it was my first time experiencing it. So many walks of life! Skateboarders, basketball players, bicyclists, surfers, bums, hippies, muscle-heads and so much more. The Venice Beach boardwalk is truly a melting pot of people -- so much so, that no one seemed out of place. I could've sat and people-watched for hours. Eventually, Andi and I decided to head back to our hotel in Marina Del Ray to spend a few hours by the pool.

Laying poolside didn't last long before Andi and I grew hungry for lunch. We opted to eat somewhere other than the hotel, so we changed back into regular clothes and cabbed to nearby SugarFish for sushi. This place was amazing (or maybe I was famished?!). Andi and I opted for a sampler menu which included edamame, salmon, scallops, tuna, snapper, yellow tail and blue crab. The fish was fresh and delicious and we devoured every single bite. Afterwards, we capped off our lunches with a small cup of coconut milk frozen yogurt from Pinkberry.  

It was so strange not having an agenda for the day. After lunch, Andi and I walked along the marina harbor for a while before hopping in a cab to Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade. Once there, we wandered around crowded sidewalks filled with shoppers. Somehow, Andi and I always end up in shopping malls on vacation and I have no idea why -- we never buy anything! More specifically, we hate crowds of people! I think Andi and I both felt a little overwhelmed by the masses, so eventually we popped in The Independence for cocktails and sustenance. I ordered the happy hour house red and Andi had the "Doheny" (bourbon, apricot brandy and jerry thomas bitters). We shared french fries and steak bites, and all was right in our worlds again.

After happy hour, we caught an Uber cab back to the hotel to relax for a bit. As a parent, how often do you get the chance to crawl into bed in the middle of the afternoon and watch TV or a take a nap? Never? Heh, you better believe we took advantage. Andi snoozed for a few minutes while I caught the first half of the Nebraska game on television. A while later, we headed south to Manhattan Beach for dinner and a comedy show. Andi picked Manhattan Beach Post for dinner and we shared several small plates -- a salted pretzel, blistering blue lake green beans and a sustainable "never ever" farm-raised steak ribeye. The food was just okay for me (Andi was pleased, however), but the atmosphere and service were fun and energetic.

We'd planned to catch a comedy show at Comedy & Magic Club in Hermosa Beach, but unfortunately missed admittance by three people. Andi said he'd almost purchased advanced tickets at several points earlier in the day, but not wanting to fully commit to plans (as was the theme of our weekend) he didn't buy them. No worries though; instead of seeing a comedy show, we bought more frozen yogurt and walked along the pier before heading back to our hotel in Marina Del Ray.

Andi and I walked over 23,000 steps and covered 10 miles on Saturday, but that didn't stop us from hitting the pavement bright and early Sunday morning. We rented bicycles from our hotel and rode to the Venice Beach area for breakfast. We stopped for breakfast at Flake, a popular corner cafe and ordered coffees, the Super Cro-Jo and the Rad Muffin sandwiches. The food was nothing fancy, but tasty just the same. After breakfast, we biked up the boardwalk to the Santa Monica Pier and walked around there for a bit before biking back to the hotel. I seriously cannot remember the last time I rode a bicycle! It was such a neat way to sight-see.

Not a bad way to spend a weekend morning!

My flight departed L.A. mid-afternoon Sunday, so Andi and I had just enough time to hit the pool one more time and grab dinner at the hotel's restaurant Cast & Plow.

And, just when I was settling in to vacation life!

While our weekend in Los Angeles together was fun and different than the usual, I missed my kiddos terribly and Andi had to get to work. I headed to the airport Sunday afternoon and greeted Tory and Aden when they woke up this morning at home.

So thankful for the opportunity to get away and reconnect with Andi, and to pacify my travel bug with a little weekend getaway. Much needed and very appreciated.

45/52: A Weekly Photo Series

Nothing ages a kid quite like a new haircut.

I took Tory and Aden for haircuts this week. For Aden, it'd only been six weeks (turns out, the rumor of boys' haircuts is true ... their hair grows like weeds!). For Tory, it'd been since summertime and she probably could've lasted longer but her hair started to turn straggly at the ends.

A fresh haircut feels good whether you're (almost!) two, four or 34...

What is it about babies and birthdays? They seem to grow by leaps and bounds in the weeks leading up to their special day. Suddenly, this boy of mine seems very two-years-old. (Weep!)

Tory tells me this is her "school picture smile" ... I can't wait to find out what that really means when her school photos are in next week.  

No teeth? Still cute, just the same.

Can't believe how curly her hair became with the trimming of her ends! Guess there's still a little baby hidden away no matter how much they grow...

Halloween 2015

Halloween, wha?

The world has quickly moved on to Thanksgiving Christmas already (just look around every shopping store and coffee shop!), but I couldn't let the holiday pass by without documenting it here.

The kids and I spent Halloween in Nebraska last weekend. Andi was traveling for work and I figured if we couldn't celebrate with him, going "home" to Nebraska to be with my family was the next best thing. Tory and Aden had such a fun time dressing up to trick-or-treat with their cousins Brooke and Neeley.

Halloween fell on a Saturday this year, so we spent most of the day watching Nebraska football as a family and playing countless rounds of Halloween Bingo. I printed these free Bingo game boards and used mini marshmallows for game pieces, and everyone had such a fun time playing together around the kitchen table. Neeley (age 3) was a little young to grasp the game concept, but she still had fun bopping up to the table every once in a while to steal a few marshmallows to eat. Tory (age 4) and Brooke (age 8) loved the game, and the girls played for hours with my mom, sister and I. Tory insisted on being the caller most of the time, and we all laughed and laughed listening to her yell out the game pieces in her cute little voice.

My mom made homemade chili and cornbread for dinner, and my brother Adam and his girlfriend Carley joined us. Everyone ate together and then hit the streets for trick-or-treating in my parent's neighborhood. My cousin Jes and her husband Merrill stopped by with their daughter Finleigh too.

L to R: Neeley as a butterfly; Brooke as a Nebraska cheerleader, Finleigh as Minnie Mouse, Tory as Princess Aurora and Aden as Elmo. Getting all five of them to look at the camera at once was basically impossible.

The adults were good sports about dressing up, too. Adam and Carley put on some extra props I brought along for Tory and Aden (a cape and superhero mask; a pink tutu and glow-in-the-dark headband). My sister Ashley went as a Publisher's Clearinghouse prize winner and I dressed up as a paper doll that I made out of a cardboard box and wrapping paper.

Ashley is such a character, so she was in full costume all evening. "Hot damn, we won!" she told her husband Jason. He dressed up for Halloween as Joe Dirt. Those two are quite the pair!

My parents let us dress them up, too. My mom went as "Candy Corn" (her first name is Candy) and my dad went as "Al-owl" (his first name is Al). We pinned pictures of an owl and corn to each of their shirts, respectively.

The kiddos trick-or-treated on my parent's street, then we drove across town to my Aunt Cheri's house to spend the remainder of the evening. Halloween is my Uncle Norm's favorite holiday, and he goes all out to celebrate. He dressed up as Superman this year, and handed out glow sticks and king-size boxes of candy to all their trick-or-treaters. He kept track of their visitors by graphing them in 15 minute increments. This year, they had 174 trick-or-treaters before 8:30pm!

Ashley and I took the girls around to a few more houses in Norm and Cheri's neighborhood before calling it a night ourselves. Aden was well over trick-or-treating by this point, so he stayed back at the house with my parents (aka: Elmo had a major meltdown and decided to go back to being regular ol' Aden).

We were home and in bed by 10pm, which is exactly how I prefer celebrating Halloween these days.

The great thing abut traveling for Halloween is, I left all our candy with my sister in Nebraska. We have zero pieces of candy laying around our cupboards at home and while everyone complains about (or delights in) eating their children's candy loot, I'm happily dreaming of Thanksgiving turkey and pumpkin pie.

Bring on the winter holidays!