Healthy Banana Blueberry Muffins (Yummy Mummy)

Marina of Yummy Mummy blog is one of my favorite food and photography bloggers.  She is such a genuine person and creates beautifully healthy and seasonal food.  She recently posted her healthy banana blueberry muffins and I can't wait to make them.  My son and I both love blueberry muffins and these have only 206 calories and 7 fat grams per serving.  Go HERE for the full post and recipe.

I really think you'll enjoy her recipes.  Let me know if you visit!

Overfeeding and Elevated Insulin

It's commonly accepted in the obesity research community that fat gain causes insulin resistance and an increase in circulating insulin, and that this is a major reason why obese people usually have insulin resistance and high circulating insulin. Part of the rationale is that substantial fat loss by almost any means improves insulin sensitivity and causes circulating insulin to decline, and substantial fat gain from deliberate overfeeding causes insulin sensitivity to decline and circulating insulin to increase.  I recently cited three references to support this contention on another blog, and was challenged, so I decided to revisit these references to make sure I had understood them correctly (1, 2, 3).  Since I took the time to do this, I figured I may as well write it up for my readers, since these studies are quite informative.

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Proscribe Nutrition at Small Fry Blog

My friend Jenna (who helped redesign my home blog, Honey We're Home) is a real inspiration.  She committed last year to losing weight and is now 40 pounds down and looking and feeling great!  She has teamed up with a couple other gals and has a children's lifestyle blog called Small Fry.

They are giving away a 15-day online course to Proscribe Nutrition (a $149 value), a class to help you make healthy changes, kick unhealthy habits and provide you meal plans- go here for a sample post of sample meals.

To enter the giveaway, visit Small Fry blog.  The giveaway ends Sunday!

Have a great weekend!

Food Reward Friday

This week's "winner"... the Heart Attack Grill's Quadruple Bypass Burger!

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Extreme Flu Activity in the US

A friend of mine came down with a nasty flu recently.  I checked Google Flu Trends, and found that flu activity is currently at "intense" levels throughout the US.  This is the highest flu activity Google Flu Trends has recorded in the last six years (image from Google Flu Trends 1/3/12).

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Arugula Salad with Apples, Almonds, & Honey Roasted Onions

Arugula Salad with Apples, Marcona Almonds, and Honey Roasted Cipollini Onions

I'm sure many of us are starting the new year with fresh resolve to eat well and make positive changes to better our health.  In some ways, the holiday sweets are a blessing because I always feel a little in need of sugar detox by January 1st!  You know you need more vegetables when you start craving them and all I could think about when we got back from our holiday travels was a big fresh salad.

I tossed this together with mostly things I had on hand, though I did have to run out for the cipollini onions and some fresh arugula after being away for the past week.  You can be chopping the apples while the onions are roasting and preparing other parts of your meal if you serve this as a side dish.  We had it with a roasted salmon fillet but it would be great with grilled or roasted chicken as well.  It's also got enough going on that it would make a great light supper or a lunch salad.

I'm not a fan of raw onions and have always found the flavor too harsh.  Roasting onions completely changes their taste and you get a golden, complexly sweet little burst of flavor instead.  This is a great way to add the flavor of onions to a salad without feeling like you need to chew a pack of gum afterwards!

Ingredients - makes 4 side salads

12 cipollini onions, ends removed and peeled

4 tbsp. olive oil, divided

2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp. honey

½ tsp. dried thyme

4 handfuls of arugula

1 pink lady apple, cored and cut into thin slices or 1” chunks

¼ c. salted marcona almonds

¼ c. dried cranberries

¼ c. crumbled feta cheese

Cider Vinaigrette (recipe follows)

Preheat the oven to 375º.

Heat 1 tbsp. olive oil in a small, ovenproof sauté pan over medium-high heat.

In a medium bowl, whisk 3 tbsp. olive oil, balsamic vinegar, honey, and thyme.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add onions and toss to coat. 

Add onions and sauce to hot pan and cook about 1 minute.  Place pan in the oven and roast the onions until they’re soft and golden, about 15 minutes.

Place a handful of arugula on each of four salad plates.  Divide the remaining ingredients among the four plates.  Top each salad with three roasted onions.  Drizzle with dressing and serve.

Cider Vinaigrette

This is one of my favorite vinaigrette recipes for a salad that includes fruit, especially apples or pears.  If you can’t get apple cider, substitute apple juice.  I’ll often double the recipe and keep the dressing in the fridge for a few weeks so I can pull it out whenever I want it!

Ingredients

¾ c. cup apple cider or apple juice 

2 tbsp. cider vinegar 

2 tbsp. minced shallots 

2 tsp. Dijon mustard

½ c. extra virgin olive oil

Combine the apple cider, cider vinegar, and shallots in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until the cider is reduced to about ¼ cup. Off the heat, whisk in the dijon, olive oil, ½ tsp. salt, and ¼ tsp.pepper.

*This post was brought to you by contributing author Jennifer from The Chronicles of Home.  Thank you for this recipe Jen- I'm excited to try the salad with the salmon or chicken like you suggested.

To visit Jen's home decor and DIY website, go HERE or click the picture below.

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Workout at Home (Fitness DVDs)

Although I prefer to workout at the gym or go for a jog in the park, I know many people like to work out at home or have no other option.  When I announced I was starting a fitness blog on Honey We're Home, lots of you wrote in and told me about your at-home workouts that you enjoyed and saw results with.

Since I haven't done any fitness DVD's, I can't give a personal review, but I was hoping that you could share in the comments section what DVD's you like and what you had good experiences with.  I think other people could benefit from your knowledge.

Please share!