Last night for dinner I welcomed a few things back in my life.

Almost Meatless Sloppy Joes and asparagus! The Almost Meatless Sloppy Joes tend to show up pretty regularly around here. I love them. Peter loves them. Makenzie loves them. They are quick. They are easy. They make leftovers. Basically, they are family dinner gold. Plus a great way to balance out the “I-don’t-eat-beans” man and “I-adore-beans-maybe-too-much” woman relationship. I don’t know why they disappeared from our standard monthly meal rotation for awhile.

I welcomed that bad boy of a sandwich back with open arms. And what about the asparagus?

I had not allowed the green vegetable to touch my plate for a good five or six years after the first fitness competition I trained for way back when. The competition I hired “crazy coach” for and was told to eat tilapia and asparagus day in and day out. The competition I had to pull out of two weeks before show because I royally screwed my blood sugar and was passing out left and right. I learned my lesson and trained myself for the fitness competition I did enter, but still decided to take my hatred of that old training program out on tilapia and asparagus

Then, at the grocery store this past week the tall stalks caught my eye. I paused. I wondered. They looked pretty. They’re a vegetable. I like vegetables. Perhaps I had been too harsh on the little guys. So, I bought a bunch and steamed some up for our dinner.

Then, I took two bites, immediately gagged, and spit it right back out. Asparagus is the one vegetable I loathe. Perhaps even more than my general hatred for cottage cheese. Seriously. What is with that lumpy dairy mess? Give me Greek yogurt any day!

So, it’s official – asparagus = BLECH. Perhaps I should give it another try but with a different cooking method. I tend to prefer my vegetables either raw or roasted.

Raw Veggie Love

• carrots
• tomatoes
• cucumber
• bell peppers
• carrots
• broccoli
• spinach (although I guess that is more technically smoothie veggie love)

Roasted Veggie Love

• brussels
• potatoes
• squash
• zucchini
• eggplant
• cauliflower
• parsnips
• everything because it’s the tried and trued method to make veggies all the more delicious

Nope. I don’t even think roasting asparagus would help. I give up. No more asparagus for me! I’ll just load up on all my other veggie loves.

• Is there a food a certain experience made you just LOATHE it forever?
• Do you have certain veggies you prefer raw or cooked a certain way?

I never officially thanked you all for the prayers, thoughts, and encouragement for my mom and myself. I wish I could send you each a batch of fresh peach muffins to even begin to show my gratitude.

Instead, I will do the best I can manage and type the words “thank you”, hope the feeling  expresses itself well enough, and give you a recipe for the peach muffins instead.

The 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. As a standard in the blog world you should NEVER re-post someone’s recipe in full when subbing out only a few of the ingredients.

Well, this is my own recipe… so I’m reposting even with only a few substitutions. Besides, it might be good to put to use some of the recipe creation tips I learned at Healthy Living Summit. I learned such tips as not breaking a recipe up with pictures, being more specific in the ingredients and recipe details. Note: I also learned I’m a recipe train wreck and thankful I’m not a food blogger in one fell swoop.

I may not share recipes in the most helpful way…and I may not share many of them..but, by golly, you better believe any recipe I put up on this here blog is worth trying! And yes, that “by golly” just happened.

Fresh Peach Muffins

Wholesome, yet light – these muffins make a great item for a quick breakfast or even a grab-and-go snack. Made with whole wheat pastry flour, a high fiber stevia baking blend, and applesauce instead of oil, these muffins taste like their sugar and fat laden counterparts, but satisfy more on taste, quality, and nutrition. You can make many variations of this same recipe using different fruits or yogurts. Also, feel free to use sugar or another form of sweetener instead of stevia or a mix of whole wheat and all purpose flours if you don’t have whole wheat pastry flour. Happy baking!

Servings: 12 muffins
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients
1/2 cup NuNaturals More Fiber Stevia Baking Blend (or sugar/sweetener of choice)
1/2 cup peach flavored Greek yogurt
1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 fresh peach, diced into 1/2” chunks

Step-By-Step
Preheat oven to 400. Coat a muffin tray with non-stick cooking spray. Add the stevia baking blend (or sweetener of choice), yogurt, almond milk, applesauce, egg, and vanilla extract to a mixing bowl. Stir until combined. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until evenly combined. Do not overmix. Gently fold in the diced piece chunks. Spoon batter evenly among the 12 muffin cups. Bake for 15 minutes until tops start to brown.

Yep. I’m definitely not a food/recipe blogger. But I am a food lover…and I love these. Hope you will too!