Monday, December 30, 2013

Meal Prep Monday - Gluten Free Cranberry Flax Muffins and Slow Cooker Chicken

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. Mine was pretty full with FOUR family Christmas celebrations and four holiday feasts over three days. Lots of fun but I'm definitely looking forward to getting out of holiday mode once New Years is over.



We have a bunch of leftovers and are going away on an overnight ski trip for New Years, but I wanted to make sure to get a good meal prep in anyways to help counteract the puffy, sluggish feeling I have from all this feasting.

Breakfast

I'm almost out of oatmeal so I took a brief break from my baked oatmeal kick this week and made some muffins. I started with this yummy looking Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins recipe from The Lean Green Bean. But I didn't have any almond meal and didn't feel like making a special Whole Foods trip to find some. And then I picked up a bag of fresh cranberries on a whim. So all in all I ended up with a fairly different recipe, but it still turned out pretty great.



Gluten Free Cranberry Flax Muffins

Calories: 120 | Fat: 8 g | Cholest: 54 mg | Sodium: 93 mg | Carbs: 9 g | Fiber: 3 g | Sugars: 4 g | Protein: 3 g


1/2 cup cooked, mashed sweet potato
2/3 cup mashed very ripe banana (about 1 medium banana)
4 tbsp coconut oil
4 eggs
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 cup flax meal
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup fresh cranberries


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix the sweet potato, banana, eggs, oil and maple syrup until there are very few lumps.
Stir in the flax meal, cinnamon and baking soda.
Fold in cranberries
Pour batter into greased muffin tins and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the muffins feel firm and are starting to brown around the edges.
Makes 14 one-muffin servings.



These muffins are dense, moist and rich tasting. The flax meal gives them a nutty flavor and they aren't super sweet, but the tart cranberries give a nice flavor kick. Two of these muffins topped with a little Greek yogurt would make a tasty,nutritious and filling breakfast. If you're looking for more muffin recipes, you can find mine here.

Protein


I kept it light and simple so I made my slow cooker shredded chicken again. It's the easiest meal prep protein to make--just dump 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts in the slow cooker, add spices and enough broth to cover the chicken, and cook on low for 6-8 hours. It's also super versatile. Check out my post here for some ideas on how to use it. 



Sides

Sticking with the easy theme, I cooked up some quinoa and made my normal oven roasted broccoli and squash. This time I also added carrots for variety.





Workouts

I only have a couple days left in my Washington Sports Club LivingSocial deal so I'll be doing a few more group classes and then it's back to my normal free home workout routine.



Monday: WSC Dupont Circle UXF Burn at 6:00pm
Tuesday: NYE Night Ski 
Wednesday: Skiing! 
Thursday: WSC Clarendon BodyPump at 6:00pm
Saturday: Run

5 comments:

  1. Those muffins, wow! They look so delicious. I have a slow cooker and no idea how to use it. I'll definitely have to try to make the shredded chicken, thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Janelle! Highly recommend the shredded chicken as an intro to slow cooker use, it is so easy! Just dump everything in, turn it on, and forget about it (for 6-8 hours. forgetting it forever would probably be bad lol).

      Delete
  2. Much thanks for keep this data. Places you need to visit in 2019. ... Upgrade your travel photos with these lightweight cameras that pack a punch ... Enjoy the world's best places to travel with Things to do.

    ReplyDelete