Spring-y Walks, Runs, & Muffins

Posted: March 15, 2011 at 6:57 pm

I love spring. Sometimes i can’t decide whether it or fall wins out as my favorite season of the year. I can’t wait to feel those warmer temperatures. The sense of a fresh start everywhere invigorates me. Getting back outdoors makes me smile. I think the only reason fall may stand as my favorite season is because of all the fun activities and traditions I love about fall. And pumpkin. Of course. Spring still holds a special place in my heart though and there are certainly signs of spring popping up all around here.

We went on a walk yesterday in beautiful 70 degree temperatures where many spring-like sights greeted us along the way.

flowerswalk2 greengrass flowerswalk1IMGP0141 tinawalk

I think Makenzie and Braedon enjoyed the flowers, green grass, blue skies, and lack of jackets as well. Or, I just find any reason to slip in some pictures of their cuteness. 😉

bonwalk monwalk

Today, spring continued..but the nastier side of spring. The showers! We had quite a bit of rain up in here this morning. Thankfully, it cleared out before the afternoon. I was left with just some cloud cover and a slight bit of chill (50s) for my run this afternoon.

Now that I know I can easily cover 30 minutes of running, I’ve honestly kind of scrapped the C25K plan and just go with how I feel and keeping things steady with my runs. Today, I happily jogged along for just under 30 minutes and covered 3.13 miles for a 9:24 pace.

About 2 hours before my run, I fueled with a quick snack – a raspberry Chobani and a lemon raspberry muffin.

chobanimuffin

These little suckers are d-to-the-e-to-the-l-i-c-i-o-u-s. I cooked some up on Sunday, which I healthified and adapted from this recipe. They’re so good, I have happily eaten one a day for a snack. Alongside things like Chobani and green monsters.

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And since I’m such a good friend and all, I will now share this recipe with you. Enjoy!

Springtime Lemon-Raspberry Muffins

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  • 1 lemon
  • 1/2 c sugar
  • 1/2 c Lemon Chobani Greek Yogurt (or plain if preferred)
  • 1/2 c Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze
  • 1/3 c Unsweetened Applesauce
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 c whole wheat pastry flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 c fresh raspberries

Preheat oven to 400. Using a vegetable peeler, peel the zest from a lemon in long strips.

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Add the peeled zest and 1/2 c sugar to a food processor. Pulse until the zest is chopped finely and blended into the sugar.

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Combine the wet ingredients – yogurt, almond milk, applesauce, egg, vanilla – with the lemon sugar mix in a medium bowl. Mix until combined.

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Mix the dry ingredients – flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt – in a large bowl.

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Make a well and pour the wet into the dry.

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Fold together until a thick batter forms. Add the raspberries and fold them in until spread evenly throughout the batter.

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Allow your helper to consume the leftover raspberries in 2 seconds flat.

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Distribute the batter evenly among a 12 muffin pan. Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes.

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Keep an eye on them. When the tops turn golden they are done. Take them out and allow them to cool. Then admire your handiwork.

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These came out better than I could have hoped. They were slightly chewy, moist, and full of flavor. They aren’t overly sweet and have the perfect amount of tang from the lemon. The bursts of raspberry throughout pull it all together for a very “spring-y” muffin.

lrmuffinsi

Now I can’t wait to try a blueberry version of these low-fat, healthy muffins. I hope you give them a try too!

Question of the Evening – What’s a flavor that always reminds you of spring?

 
84 Comments to “Spring-y Walks, Runs, & Muffins”
  1. Yum!! Those sound seriously delicious!! I love all your spring-y pics 🙂

  2. Jen says:

    The way I see it:

    Spring is our reward for getting through a cold, snowy winter. Fall is our reward for getting through an intense, hot summer. Spring and Fall are by far my favorite times of the year 🙂

  3. Caroline says:

    Lemon & raspberry is one of my favorite flavor combos! I wish I wasn’t so lazy about baking because these look delish

  4. Monique says:

    I LOVE spring! The pictures you took prove it, it’s so beautiful 🙂 And so are those kids 🙂 They’re adorable!

  5. Leashieloo says:

    Those pictures are getting me excited for spring! Nothing has been blooming in my neck of the woods 🙁

  6. Kendra says:

    Tina, ha ha ha. I just have to laugh, because while you are enjoying such a BEAUTIFUL spring, I am still sitting by my window looking out at FEET and FEET of snow! I think I have figured out you live in Georgia? Hmmm…must be very different there climate-wise! I live in northern British Columbia! And oh, how I ache for Spring! We can usually wear t-shirts by the end of April, but always have jackets on hand till the end of May…might as well just keep them around right through summer, as ya never know when a brisk wind will come through! Oh well, gotta learn to love it all! 🙂 I’m taking my girlies to go see my parents in Sask. in a couple weeks where the baby calves are going to be hopping around like crazy (I grew up on a cattle ranch), so that’ll be awesome because it’ll feel alot more like spring.
    I’m excited to try your muffin recipe this afternoon with my girls! I love love love muffins! I should give you my recipe for bran muffins! Even my hubby likes the bran muffins! 🙂

  7. The weather has been really wet here. But the rest of the week is suppose to awesome! YAY!!!

  8. What a gorgeous sight… lots of pretty flowers blooming! Beautiful! 🙂

    YUMMY muffins! Thanks for sharing your recipe, I am sure my boys would LOVE to eat them (and make with Mommy also – even if it would be TOTALLY easier for me to make by myself) 😛

    What do you use to make your Green Monster smoothie?

    • Tina says:

      That was one frozen banana, a couple handfuls of spinach, about 1.5 cups of unsweetened vanilla almond breeze, and a handful of frozen strawberries. Delicious!

  9. I am totally making these! But I think I want to try ’em with blueberries. I am currently LOVING the lemon Chobani with blueberries mixed in. 🙂

  10. Tina, these muffins are making my mouth water! I need to go find myself a few cartons of Lemon Chobani! Do you think I could substitute GF baking mix for the WW pastry flour?

    • Tina says:

      Thanks! And I don’t see why not if its something made as a baking substitute. Let me know if you try them and like them!

  11. Fall is my favorite too, but I am definitely digging on some spring weather!!! 🙂

  12. […] stumbled upon these scrumptious just-in-time-for-spring muffins from our friend, and former Featured Blogger, […]

  13. Lisa says:

    hey! just saw this off of the Chobani blog. Those muffins look delish, and healthy too!!

    • Tina says:

      They are really good! If you try them, I hope you love them as much as I do. 🙂

      Thanks for stopping by!

  14. Amy says:

    Do you know nutritional info on these? I’m following the 17 day diet and would like to know how to fit them in. Thanks

    • Tina says:

      I don’t know all the stats, but when making them I did manage to figure that they are about 120 calories each. As for the carb/protein/fat breakdown, I’m not certain. They are low-fat, have a small bit of protein thanks to the Greek yogurt, fiber from the berries/whole wheat flout, etc. You can also use the link below to enter all the ingredients and the # of servings it gets you and it will break it down for you. http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calculator.asp

      Hope this helps!

    • Tina says:

      Actually I just calculated it for us.:) It broke down to

      133 calories
      1.0 g Fat
      27.9 g Carbs
      3.6 g Protein
      10.1 g Sugar (most from berries & yogurt)
      3.9 g Fiber

  15. […] result? They turned out well! I looked at these three recipes for inspiration and here’s what I came up […]

  16. […] with me to eat in an hour or so. I read about these on Courtney’s blog, and she credited Tina’s recipe for these masterpieces. Seriously, I read about them in the morning and made them that afternoon. […]

  17. Tina says:

    If my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe it, I know I can achieve it.

  18. These muffins look great! Can’t wait to bake them up this weekend. I don’t even care that it is going to be 100 degrees today and the oven will heat up the kitchen even more! Thanks for sharing.

  19. […] muffins are basically an adaptation of my Lemon Raspberry Muffins. I followed that recipe but subbed out some things to make them peach instead of lemon and berry. […]

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