It was like I had an angel on one side of me and the devil on the other. The angel was saying, “stick to your plan, you are doing great!” The devil side was saying “you’ve been doing so great, just treat yourself, it’s only 1 slice!”
This conversation went on for a good 5 minutes in my head. BUT, in the end, I heated up my soup, which was SO good, ate my banana, and I was fine! Phew!! And of course, I was much happier that I ate something healthy, then a slice of greasy pizza.
********
So it was a busy night last night. I ran home from work, quickly heated up left over pork tenderloin and mashed potatoes for me and my husband and it was off to our local high school for 8th grade parent tour and Q & A.
Now, the weird part is, it’s the same high school my husband and I attended! Our paths didn’t cross in high school, he’s 6 years older than me, but it was very surreal walking around the school with memories flooding back. It’s a huge high school; his freshman class is going to be 850 kids. So, in a school that is 1 million square feet, and a total of 3,600 it can be a little intimidating coming from a smaller middle school to say the least. But I am so excited for him and all the opportunities they offer, I hope he enjoys his time there as much as I did.
My son just thinks it’s cool that Ray Kroc went there (the founder of McDonald’s!)
So, by the time we got home, it was 8:15, time for my daughter to go to bed soon, and I had to make something for birthday/anniversary breakfast for work. Earlier in the day, I was searching for a cranberry bread/muffin and found one that looked good at Blog Chef. I did change a few things; I lessened the amount of sugar, and used orange zest instead of lemon zest, and I used canola oil instead of vegetable oil and skim milk.
They turned out great and thanks to my sister, she figured out the calories for me since I didn’t have time to do that myself.
This recipe makes either 24 muffins, or 12 muffins and a loaf of bread. I made the loaf of bread and 12 muffins. Each muffin is 141 calories, 5.6 grams of fat, 21 grams of carbs, 2 grams of protein and <1 gram of fiber. And if you cut the bread into 12 slices, it would be the same.
Then, I made a simple glaze with powdered sugar mixed with skim milk. Take about ½ a cup of powdered sugar and a tablespoon of milk and whisk together until smooth and pour that over the bread and muffins. SO GOOD!
Here is the recipe. I used fresh cranberries, but you can use frozen ones too, that have been thawed.
2 cups fresh cranberries, chopped
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup of canola oil
½ cup skim milk
2 tsp. lemon or orange zest
2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 eggs
3 cups all purpose flour
½ cup chopped walnuts (I didn’t add those in)
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, mix together the cranberries, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, oil, milk and vanilla extract. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt. Fold in walnuts if you are using those.
Spray the muffin pan or bread pan with cooking spray and for the muffins, I baked them for about 14 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. For the bread, it was about 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. After they have cooled, then you can drizzle with the glaze. If you put the glaze on right away, it just melts.
*******
AND, if you are still reading this, thanks for sticking with me in this long post!
Let’s talk Biggest Loser!!
I did shed a tear when Rebecca was running the half marathon, she looked AMAZING!! It was kind of weird the reason why Rudy voted her off, I had no idea what he was talking about. I thought all of their make-overs turned out great too.
It will be interesting to see who is left standing in the end. Did you catch Jay Leno? It turns out that Rebecca and Daniel are dating! If you missed it, here’s the link.
Great job, Jenn, on making the right choice. I continue to be so proud of you. Wow, you had the parent meeting — can’t believe Paul will be there next year. He and Bree will get to connect again!
The makeovers were so good on the Biggest Loser last night,huh? I thought they all looked great. I can’t believe that Rebecca and Daniel are dating. Never saw that one coming! She looks fab tho.
What yummy muffins! Nice job sticking with your healthy lunch!
Happy Belated Bday to Claire too!
Oh, and I got my juice coupon – thank you!! Can’t wait to use it 🙂
I am hooked on biggest loser this season.
Go you for not giving in!!!
I also had a “huh” moment when Rudy started talking about Rebecca not being trustworthy and all…we’ll never know what really goes on there because the producers have all the control over what we see. Seeing her run the half marathon though reminded me of why I started this journey myself!!
OMG the devil would have won me over, LOL!
Wonderful on making the right choice. Everytime you do that it just gives you more and more confidence in yourself!!
I have only been following BL through other people’s updates! Thanks for yours.
There were only around 1,000 kids in my whole high school! Congrats though on not getting the pizza – and those muffins look yummmmmy!
Having a giveaway on my blog 😀
Ugh – that exact devil/angel situation has been happening to me lately – and a lot more often. Unfortunately i’m not making the good choice like you! Hopefully tomorrow i’ll do better!
I loved this whole post Jennifer! I can’t believe Manda is going to be in high school next year either… and I had no idea their class was going to be so huge! We’ll have to get her and Mark together over the summer sometime so they know each other a bit better before getting there in the fall.
I think I’m going to try your muffins! I was just reading about how in-season cranberries are and was thinking I needed to try some fresh ones, instead of just craisens in trail mix :).
AND, biggest loser… I cried like a baby when Danny’s little girl said she can’t wait to start her own journey! I think of the people left I would definitely prefer he win. I’ve been mad at Rudy since he threw Shay under the bus last week and I didn’t like him any more last night after he said that stuff about Rebecca!
Finally… I see that Noble Pig commented on your posting… jealous! I LOVE all the recipes on that blog!
I haven’t thought of it like the devil and angel sitting on my shoulder before, but you are so right. That is exactly how it seems. The whole inner conversation as we contemplate doing something destructive. Great post!
I always have that inner fight, too! I’m glad you won, that’s always the hard part. Once I get a taste for something it’s hard to shake it.
The muffins look delicious! Very festival and appropriate for the season!