Vegan Blueberry Buckwheat Muffins.

Hey friends! Happy Wednesday. I hope this finds you doing well.

It seems with all the new recipes and special, themed posts I’ve been sharing lately, I haven’t taken time to just talk about what I’ve been up to.

For starters, John and I had a really fun weekend in Wichita with friends and family celebrating our 1 year wedding anniversary. We even popped open a bottle of our champagne for the special occasion when we got home Sunday evening.

source.

Martini & Rossi, definitely our favorite. Ever tried it?

Every bit of it of our celebration was lovely, mostly because I’ve married an amazing man. I can easily say that I’m looking forward to our second year of marriage even more than the first.

WORKOUTS

My workouts have been looking a little different lately for a couple of reasons.

1) I like to mix things up so I don’t get bored with my routines.

And 2) so my body doesn’t get used to me doing the same workouts over and over, and as a result, adapt and not yield measurable results.

So, what I’ve been doing instead of my typical cardio routines – in which I normally do one exercise like running for 30 minutes straight – is doing multiple forms of cardio, like biking and stair climbing, with more intervals, and varying my exertion level using intervals.

For instance, my last workout looked something like this:

- 10 minutes of walking at an 8 incline and 4.3 pace

- 5 minutes of running at a 2 incline and 6.5 pace

- jump off the treadmill and do a set of back, bicep and shoulder lifts, as well as walking lunges

- back on the treadmill for 10 minutes of walking at an 8 incline and 4.3 pace

- 5 minutes of running at a 2 incline and varying pace between 6.5 and 7

- jump off treadmill and repeat set of lifts and walking lunges

- 10-15 minutes on the stairmill at a level 6

- repeat set of lifts and walking lunges for the last time

And as far as lifting goes, I dropped my dumbbell weight down from 15 to 10 lbs. and increased my rep count to surprise my muscles and shift toward a more cardiovascular focus.

So, for instance, instead of doing a shoulder press for 12 reps with 15 lb. dumbells, I do 15-20 reps with 10 lb. dumbbells.

RECENT EATS

I’ve been seriously loving on breakfast sandwiches on my homemade english muffins.

The recipe I followed was fairly simple and it yielded such moist, delicious english muffins. I think this may be the end of my store-bought muffin days.

I also tried popping my own amaranth cereal recently and it turned out great! I followed Ashley’s instructions on how to properly pop amaranth and it was so much fun.

My cereal turned out airy and light and reminded me a lot of puffed rice cereal.

I tried my first bowl with just a sprinkle of cinnamon, a little sliced banana and almond milk and it was delicious! VERY filling, too. Moreso than any other cereal I’ve tried.

Can’t wait to try more variations, especially the peanut butter one .

NEW RECIPE

I’ve been on a muffin kick lately and decided to try my hand at vegan muffins. I’m a sucker for blueberries, so that’s the route I went.

yields about 9-10 muffins

Ingredients:

1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp. buckwheat flour

1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp. old fashioned oats

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/4 cup almond milk

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 small flax egg (1/2 Tbsp. flaxseed meal mixed with 1 1/2 Tbsp. water)

1 Tbsp. melted coconut oil (or sub canola oil)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. almond extract

1/2 cup frozen blueberries, thawed (or sub fresh)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375* and either grease or line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.

Prepare flax egg by combining flaxseed and water, letting it set for 3-5 minutes, and then whisking to achieve “eggy” texture.

Combine dry ingredients (excluding brown sugar) in a medium bowl.

Combine wet ingredients (and brown sugar), then add to dry ingredients.

Mix until just combined and then fold in blueberries.

Bake for 16-18 minutes.

They turned out moist, extra fruity and delicious, just like I was hoping.

I loved the way the oats gave them a hearty texture, and the brown sugar a subtle sweetness.

I couldn’t resist .

That’s all for me today. Hope you’re having a lovely Wednesday and I’ll see you back tomorrow for a little tutorial on home-roasted coffee.

Questions:

Do you change up your workouts often?

What has been your favorite workout lately?

Is it getting close to spring where you live?