Blueberry Muffins

12 glorious, delicious blueberry (well, mixed berry actually) muffins.

I actually baked these for Dallas for his 18th birthday which was yesterday. The lovely recipe courtesy of my new favourite read- Cupcakes and Muffins.

I used mixed berries instead of plain old blueberries because we only had frozen mixed berries. I was a little concerned that they wouldn’t turn out so great because I made a mistake in the recipe, but they turned out great They weren’t so great the next day when they were cold, but they were amazing when they were still hot from the oven.

I find it endlessly amusing how I’ve all of a sudden developed this random passion for cooking and baking. I’ve never been one to enjoy cooking and be inspired by the kitchen, in fact most of the time I’ve detested cooking and found it a drag and nothing more than a pain in the backside whenever the prospect of creating any sort of culinary delights arose. I can know honestly say that baking has become my “happy place”, a place of solitude and therapeutic benefits. I spend more time baking these days than I do anything else in my spare time. They only issue from it is the cost of ingredients… I’ll start focusing more on savoury food because I’m using up all our sweet food ingredients like sugar and butter.

Last night I cooked potato wedges for dinner, glazed in Olive Oil and various different herbs and spices. They tasted so great I believe the satisfaction of knowing you created something delicious also adds to the experience.  I’m planning what I’ll have for dinner tonight… I’d like to try a recipe using Quinoa but so far I can’t think of anything particularly creative to do with it. I think I’ll make something using pumpkin, I’ve still got a pumpkin in the pantry from the other day with the intention of pureeing it for Pumpkin Scones, but maybe pumpkin soup? I do love a good, hearty pumpkin soup

I’ve been doing yoga everyday since I bought the DVD and I think I’ve fallen in love with that too. What makes this trial run of yoga so different from all the others is that I’ve let go of the thoughts that I’m “not doing enough”, that yoga isn’t enough of a workout and that I should be slogging away at the gym for 2 hours to get any real results. I’ve just focused on being relaxed, working towards becoming more supple and achieving the proper movements. I’ve felt myself being more relaxed throughout the day and I think I’ve been handling stressful situations more effectively. EPIC WIN FOR YOGA!

Anyway, I need to clean my room and get my daily dose of yoga in, so I’m outties! Bye!

Homemade Larabars

Tonight I made homemade Larabars using my own recipe, based off one I got off Oh She Glows.

I used the basic proportions although I made a double mix (which ended up being 4 very small bars) and I just changed the ingredients to suit what I had. What I love about Larabars is that they are both raw AND vegan. Each Larabar in the store has a maximum of 3 ingredients, usually just things like Dates and nuts etc, it’s really great to know that what you’re eating isn’t processed crap. Unfortunately however they cost almost $5 per bar and therefore they’re not something I can afford to have on a regular basis. This in mind I jumped at the chance to have a go at making my own!

The ingredients I used were:

• 1/2 cup of chopped dates (I chopped them myself)
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 2/3 cup peanuts
• 2 teaspoons peanut oil

It was so simple, I added 1.5 teaspoons of oil to the coconut and dates in the food processor and then once I’d processed the nuts and added them to the dates and coconut I added a further 1/2 teaspoon.

I was a little disappointed at how little they were despite having made a double-mixture :/ oh well, they should be good for four school lunches. I’m trying to be more creative with my lunches to avoid processed things like spreads, muesli bars etc. I would like to keep it as raw and vegan as I can while I experiment with vegan food. Keep in mind that I am NOT a vegan, I’m still eating meat and dairy products, I just have an interest in veganism and am investigating the foods and how to do veganism properly because I am interested in slowly transitioning to veganism over time.

I haven’t tasted the bars yet, but I don’t think they’ll be very sweet, but that’s ok. Adding sugar and salt to foods that I deem unnecessary additives is something I profusely detest and therefore I shall not be adding any

Anyway, I had a shocking nights sleep last night which I blame on the coffee cupcakes :/ I had A LOT of the mixture and it was quite highly caffeinated.  I was wide awake staring at the roof until 3am to which I had a 6am wake up

Tonight I will hopefully sleep better and wake up early to do some early morning Sun Salutations.

I’m off to bed with some “light” reading Goodnight!

Love Yoga

Today I went to town on a little mission and returned home happily with a new sports bra, a yoga DVD, a cute little notebook to write recipes in and a book on Hot Yoga that I borrowed from the public library.

Also, last night I mentioned I borrowed a yoga/Pilates book from a friend? This is it:

I think I’m pretty much set to embrace yoga 100%!!!

I tried the beginners level of the yoga DVD I bought and it was HARD!! I’m happy I decided to do that level first because level 2 would’ve kicked my butt. Despite how challenging it was I really really enjoyed it. I felt so good and so relaxed the whole time and I really felt as though I’d been pushed to a suitable limit and I was happy with the way my body felt afterwards. It had a good combination of sun salutations and other poses like warrior etc and it was all very free-flowing. Tonight I think I’ll do the level again in the lounge by the fire “hot yoga” style and see if I can get through it without dying!!

I think I’ll keep doing level 1 until it doesn’t hurt and I don’t fall over during some of the more challenging moves. The DVD was a bargain for $7 and I think I’m going to buy a couple more once I’ve mastered this one.

Tonight I’m making tofu burgers for my family for dinner which I’ll photograph and then blog about later with the recipe.

Have a good evening!