Healthy Eating on $7 a day & Great, Healthy Muffins!

Since we, like most young families, are always into finding ways to eat healthier and cheaper, I thought this article was of interest: Healthy Eating on $7 a Day. Not surprisingly, whole wheat pasta, brown rice, and green leafy veggies all make the list. Somewhat surprisingly, many staples from the bulk-bins section were included: oatmeal, cornmeal, and dried beans. Do supermarkets even still have bulk-bin sections? Well, my research shows that Whole Foods does! (Eggs, nuts, potatoes, and tomato sauce--actual tomatoes being too expensive for the $7 a day limit--round out the list.)


And, here's a wonderful recipe to try--these muffins are moist, slightly sweet, and hearty. Even better, they are low in calories, low in fat, and high in fiber. A great breakfast or snack, they are so good my 2 year old calls them "Cake!" No higher praise can be given. Although the ingredient list seems long at first, you really just dump all the dry ingredients together in one bowl, dump all the wet ones together in another bowl, add the bowls together and spoon into a muffin tin. Much easier than it seems!

Applesauce, Bran, and Oatmeal Muffins
From Cooking Light

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup quick-cooking oats
3/4 cup wheat bran
1/2 cup packed brown sugar (I substituted 1/4 cup refined white sugar, because I was out of brown sugar)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup applesauce
1/2 cup fat-free milk (I used whole milk, because that's what I had!)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon light-colored corn syrup
1 large egg
Cooking spray


Preheat oven to 375°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife.
Combine flour and the next 7 ingredients (flour through salt) in a
medium bowl. Stir in raisins; make a well in center of mixture.
Combine applesauce and next 4 ingredients (applesauce through egg);
stir well with a whisk. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until
moist. Spoon the batter into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray.
Bake at 375° for 18 minutes or until the muffins spring back when
touched lightly in center. Remove muffins from pans immediately; cool
on a wire rack.

Note: Before freezing, let the muffins cool completely on a wire rack.
Store them in a heavy-duty zip-top plastic bag in your freezer for up
to a month.

Yield: 1 dozen (serving size: 1 muffin) I used a mini-muffin tin, and put 4 mini-muffins into each baggie to freeze, and that wokred out to a great breakfast at around 340 calories and 4.8 grams of fat.

NUTRITION PER SERVING:
CALORIES 169(13% from fat)
FAT 2.4g (sat 0.5g,mono 0.7g,poly 0.9g)
PROTEIN 4.1g
CHOLESTEROL 19mg
CALCIUM 59mg
SODIUM 186mg
FIBER 3.2g
IRON 1.8mg
CARBOHYDRATE 34.9g