mama eats GUEST POST from Bekah @ mylittleloves: Greek Yogurt Heaven!

Sweet Bekah from mylittleloves has been such a dear friend to me. We met in 2009 when she and her husband contacted us to buy our IKEA bed... and made the journey from Auburn to north of Atlanta with little Ocean (who was brand new) to pick it up. :o) We got to talk for a good while while our husbands disassembled and loaded the bed and kept in touch via Facebook and now even more so via blogging. She has been a huge supporter of my blog since I started back up this past September - and has selflessly promoted me which has blessed me beyond belief. We always seem to be on the same wavelength too. I just love her and I am so honored to feature this sweet lady on my blog!

Bekah has two little ones under the age of three, for those of you that don't know her, so she is in the boat with those of us that struggle to eat well during the day while we're juggling chores and babies. Here's Bekah's wonderful Mama Eats guest post - a meal you can make in 5 minutes or less - breakfast edition! 


If you're interested in other recipes featured in the "mama eats" series, click here, here, and here! "mama eats" is a series of recipes for mamas (or anyone) on the go, that take 5-7 minutes to prepare. 

Mornings are not my forte. I honestly have a sense of dread wash over me when I wake up every morning. I am a mother to two girls, Ocean (2) and Luna (5 months). I try and sneak into the kitchen to get breakfast and have some quiet but either A) Ocean is already awake. or B) She wakes up as soon as my feet hit the floor. Its just a lose/lose in that situation. I dread her being up because I am not a morning person (to put it lightly) and she most definitely is. She typically wakes me up, climbing across Marc and I, waking Luna and generally setting my morning off to a sour start.


I then drag my body into the kitchen and scramble around trying to wake up and get Ocean her breakfast. If you are a mom then you know what I mean when I say that most mornings, trading breakfast for the little bit of peace and quiet afforded by my daughter eating hers was worth it. Unfortunately, it became a bad pattern and I can honestly say that until the past month, I have not eaten anything for breakfast consistently. Its pretty sad.

One morning I recognized the fact that I needed to eat something. Not only would it boost my mood it would also help me get to a healthy weight. I realized I should eat something that had a lot of protein to boost my metabolism and keep me feeling full.

According to research, skipping meals, especially breakfast, can actually make weight control more difficult. Breakfast skippers tend to eat more food than usual at the next meal or nibble on high-calorie snacks to stave off hunger. (webmd)

I discovered these little beauties when I was working at Dayspring and they were delicious. I finally decided I had found a food that was quick, yummy and so good for me. Breakfast was going to happen. The only problem with this plan is this little slice of yogurt heaven cost a pretty penny (about $1.79) They also are pretty wasteful being single use items.

Finally, a lightbulb moment.

I bought a huge container of greek yogurt (on sale for $3.50) and a jar of organic peach fruit spread ($1.99).

I dumped about 3 big spoonfuls of yogurt to a spoonful of fruit spread, ate every bite and it was heavenly. 

Trust me. Its easy and oh-so-good. Mix it up. Ocean loves eating it with raspberry jelly. Try sprinkling some cinnamon on it. So many ideas! I should also add that I try and drink a glass of water after eating my yogurt. Hydration is so nice.

So Mamas, promise me you will wake up with renewed determination to eat breakfast EVERY SINGLE MORNING!  You can do it. :)

yeehaw for muffins (two recipes)

Since we've been on a super tight budget over the last month I've learned to really stretch a dollar and when it comes to the food front, it's easy to do when you're not eating out. I love to cook - it's one of my favorite things to do, so making things from scratch, while extremely economical, is always pleasurable.

I have this "Essential Vegetarian" cook book by Diana Shaw (http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Vegetarian-Cookbook-Guide-Foods/dp/051788268X) that I use from time to time. It has an excellent reference for use in cooking of the basic staples of the vegetarian diet (grains, beans, etc) as well as a guide to the many types of grains and vegetables and how to cook them. I love how hearty each dish is - so pure and simple but so good and warming to the soul. Anyway, she has a great muffin recipe in there that I've modified a little bit. I've been making these muffins each week, changing them up each time to keep it interesting. Of course, a hot muffin with butter and a cup of coffee (decaf in my case, since I'm nursing) is hard to beat, especially with the cooler morning temps rolling in with the change of the seasons (come on, Fall!).

So here it is... with my modifications:

Heat oven to 500 degrees... grease a muffin tin. I prefer not to use paper cups because I like how the muffins look when they come out without the paper.

2 cups whole wheat flour (Bob's Red Mill is the best) or 1 cup whole wheat + 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 eggs
1/3 cup flaxseed oil
1 cup buttermilk or whole milk or even plain yogurt
1/3 cup raw sugar, honey or agave nectar (you don't have to use as much honey)
fruit and/or nuts or your choosing (I've used fresh peaches, frozen blueberries, and dried fruit as well as pecans and walnuts - I like roasted nuts best and frozen fruit best)

As simple as it gets: mix the dry ingredients, then mix the wet ingredients including the fruit if you choose to add fruit. DO NOT OVER-MIX... you only want the wet and dry to be barely moistened.

Fill muffin cups almost to full. Pop in the oven and after closing the door, drop oven temp to 400 degrees - this gives the muffins a nice lofty top. Cook for 28 - 30 minutes. Allow to cool in tins for about 5 - 10 minutes before removing from tins. Makes about 9 muffins or so.

Today I tried a new recipe because I just went grocery shopping and bought mixed berries (blackberries, raspberries and blueberries) and wanted to just try some oats and yogurt in a recipe. So I found one online and modified it again to see how it would taste. They turned out pretty good - didn't get the nice muffin top but still delish.

Again, oven @ 500... grease muffin tin...

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups WHOLE oats
1/2 cup raw sugar, agave nectar or honey
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sea salt
1 cup yogurt - I used full fat organic yogurt from Stonyfield Farms
4 TBSP flaxseed oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1+ cups frozen berries

Mix wet, mix dry... put em in your muffin tins and in oven. Drop oven temp to 400 after putting the muffins in the oven. Bake for 28 minutes. Makes 12 muffins.

Yummy!