Wednesday 23rd April

I was out at a training course all day and knew I'd get hungry. At 11 o clock the usual plate of biscuits and scones came out with the tea. Rather than fall into the trap of nibbling on them for the sake of it, I brought along these muffins as part of my healthy eating plan. Unfortunately, these common mid morning or mid afternoon snacks are filled with sugar and refined carbohydrates, i.e. white flour. These snacks tend to give us a bit of a rush, keep us going for another hour or so, but then result in a serious crash, where we start loosing concentration, feel tired and, worst of all, have us craving sweet foods again.

Regulating your own blood sugar levels, or the amount of sugar going into our blood at the one time, is one of the most important things you can do for your health and healthy eating. These home made muffins are a great alternative. They use whole grain flour and whole fruit as sweeteners, thus the body takes a longer time to break them down, keeping you satisfied for longer! I bet you never realised you could fit so much goodness into a muffin...

Healthy Eating Recipe: Banana and Blueberry Muffins

1 cup of whole grain spelt flour
1 dessert spoon of sunflower seeds
1 dessert spoon of linseeds or other seeds
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 dessert spoon wheat germ and ground linseed (optional)
1 egg
2 very ripe bananas - lightly mashed
1/2 cup blueberries
Dash of vanilla extract
2 teaspoons of maple syrup or honey
A pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 160 oc FAN. Place a little oil on a kitchen towel and wipe down a muffin tray.

Place all of the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl - make sure the flour is well mixed with the baking powder - and add the salt, and whatever seeds you fancy and the wheatgerm and ground linseeds if you are using them.

In another bowl, I use a measuring jug, mash up the bananas with the egg, then adding the vanilla and maple syrup. If you're bananas are not very ripe, they will be hard to use here - you want them quite soft.

Make a hole in the centre of the bowl of dry ingredients and add in the wet, stirring the mixture together well. Then add the blueberries and stir through gently.

Place in the individual muffin holders and place in oven for around 20 mins. Check if they are done by putting a skewer into the centre and it comes out fairly dry (remember you have mashed banana in these so there is often a bit of this left on the skewer. Leave in the tray till they are cool - if you wait that long! Enjoy..

Wheat free, dairy free