Banana Bran muffins

So I have a bran muffin addiction, and am going to try out new recipes each week. I have yet to taste these, but they baking in the oven as we speak, making my kitchen smell gloriously.

2 cups Fiber One Bran cereal
1 1/4 cups milk (I used Silk light vanilla soy milk)
1/3 cup raisins
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup Splenda
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp ground flax seed
1 egg
1/4 cup applesauce
2 bananas, mashed


 Mmm.. they smell purdy good! Enjoy!

Low-Fat Blueberry Bran Muffins

I'm a sucker for bran muffins, so I had some left over blueberries and thought I'd try this recipe out. I found it on Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups wheat bran
• 1 cup nonfat milk
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 egg
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup blueberries

• Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or use paper muffin liners. Mix together wheat bran and milk, and let stand for 10 minutes.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together applesauce, egg, brown sugar, and vanilla. Beat in bran mixture. Sift together all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir into bran mixture until just blended. Fold in blueberries. Scoop into muffin cups.
  3. Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until tops spring back when lightly tapped.
  
  
  *I used light vanilla soymilk instead of the milk (its all I had), and it cut down on the calories even more. By doing that these bad boys came in at less than 100 calories per muffin. I also used regular Raisin Bran instead of plain bran. Next time I will add in some wheat germ and ground flax seed. All in all, they were SUPER good, and a keeper.

A little help from my friends..

wow, since I've started my fitness journey almost a year ago, I've lost 20 lbs. Granted, I'm not where I thought I would be at this point, but going through a divorce and starting my life over kind of put this journey on hold. But now here I am again, to finish the job I started. Some things I've learned is that you most efficiently lose weight when you have friends and support in this along the way. The biggest help to me so far has been myfitnesspal.com. I've gotten a lot of support, tips, and encouragement from there, and the site is really easy to use.

Recently I purchased an herbal cleanse system from Advocare called the 24 day challenge, and am looking forward to the results and the jumpstart that will give me to get back into the swing of things. I am on day 4 so far and have been feeling really great. I will post some pictures from last year before  I started and current pictures when these 24 days are up.