What’s for Breakfast? | Classic Chicago Magazine

By Kristine Theodore

Many of us are living that hustle life, trying to figure out how to balance all the moving parts, and searching for ways to incorporate a healthy diet into it all. I feel one of the most challenging pieces to this balancing act is what to eat for breakfast. Most of us simply don’t have the time in the morning to properly prepare something healthy. What I have found that works best for me are homemade breakfast muffins, and I bake these on Sundays. They hold me over for many few hours in the morning, while I’m personal training clients back-to-back.

For this muffin recipe, I used a blend of oat flour with all-purpose flour, organic blueberries, fresh orange juice (from a navel orange), pecans, and Greek yogurt to get all 3 macronutrients in (proteins, carbs, and fats). These muffins keep fresh when refrigerated for up to 5 days. If you don’t think the full batch will be eaten, then freeze a few within the first day or two.

INGREDIENTS

DRY:

2 C all-purpose flour

1 C oat flour

¾ C coconut sugar (or cane sugar)

1 TBSP baking powder

½ TSP baking soda

½ TSP sea salt

WET:

2 eggs (room temperature)

1 C 2% Greek yogurt

½ C unsalted butter (melted then cooled) OR ½ C avocado oil

1 large organic orange, zested

½ orange, juiced

ADD-INS:

1 C fresh organic blueberries

½ C chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS👇

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and generously spray a 12-cup muffin tin with avocado oil.
In a large bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients.
In a small bowl, whisk the eggs. Add in yogurt and whisk until just combined. Slowly add in and combine melted butter (OR avocado oil), zest, and orange juice.
Add the wet to the dry and use a spatula to combine.
Fold in blueberries and pecans.
Be careful not to overwork the batter, it will be thick.
Divide batter evenly into the tin and bake for 25-28 minutes. I always test the muffins with a toothpick to make sure the center is done.
Let muffins cool in the tin for about 5 minutes & then transfer to a cooling rack.

One of my morning tricks while I’m getting ready is to pop a muffin in the oven at 350 degrees so it’s warm and ready for me to grab on my way out the door. Just REMEMBER to turn the oven off!

Enjoy this breakfast treat and feel free to email me with any questions to kristine@gravelroadeats.com or follow in IG @Kristine_Theodore.

CARDIO CORNER

With the sun shining, we need to take advantage and soak in the rays, absorb that good Vitamin D, and break a sweat outside. I believe fresh air is healing and calming too. Here is a cardio interval for all levels that can be applied to an outdoor walk or jog.

LEVEL Breakdown

Level One: This is a warm-up or recovery pace

Level Two: This is an uncomfortable but manageable pace where you could talk, but don’t necessarily want to 😉

Level Three: This is your push pace where you are working hard, but only for a short period of time, get as safely uncomfortable as you can