Best Healthy Muffins

A few months ago, I came across this article that awards The Cheesecake Factory the prize for the “unhealthiest restaurant chain in America.” Now, I promise I’m not a health-obsessed weirdo, but reading articles like this one can get me upset. After listing some jaw-dropping statistics about Cheesecake Factory menu items (Pasta Carbonara: 2,500 calories, 85 grams saturated fat), the author notes,

What’s most striking about the Xtreme Eating Awards is not the calorie count itself — we’d be fools to expect anything less in a land that throws up gems like Arizona’s Heart Attack Grill — it’s the way restaurants have managed to camouflage unhealthy meals as dishes that sound like paragons of healthful deliciousness. Most of us wouldn’t touch a Quarter Pounder with a 10-foot-long fork, but wouldn’t think much of eating P.F. Chang’s Pan Fried Noodles instead (incidentally, 1,820 calories).”

Ugh! I think it’s the deception factor that really killed me while reading this article. I mean, I don’t get upset at cake for being made out of flour, sugar, eggs, and butter. It’s OK to me that french fries are, well… fried. As the article points out, we expect things like Quarter Pounders to be fattening. Many of us eat them anyway, and in moderation, that’s OK. But while eating at some of the chains mentioned in the article (read it, you’ll be surprised), I always thought I was just eating… food. Normal food, with nutritional profiles not totally off the beaten track. When I read “salad” on a menu, I don’t read “STAY AWAY!” But buyer beware: the Tostada Pizza at California Pizza Kitchen — despite the “roasted tomato salsa” and “chilled shredded lettuce” packs 3,300 mg of sodium — in addition to its 1,680 calories (the National Institute of Health recommends that healthy adults limit their sodium intake to 2,300 mg per day). That’s just unreal. People eat that for dinner… and it’s a total assault on their cardiac health!

OK, I’m starting to sound a little strident. But I’m just trying to figure out how any restaurant chain can justify feeding Americans (and the rest of the world!) that amount of fat, calories, and sodium as responsible corporate behavior. I feel a lot of responsibility just for feeding Sean and I — if I don’t cook healthy food, we don’t eat healthy food, and that’s a serious responsibility. But these chains feed thousands of people a year. I think we deserve better.

Whew. End rant.

As a remedy to supersized, deceptively-marketed booby traps at your favorite chain restaurant (oops, now the rant is really over, sorry!), I give you my favorite healthy muffins. Soft, moist, and filling, these little guys are breakfast winners. I was especially impressed with the beautiful rise they achieved in the oven — very fluffy, not heavy like other bran-based muffins. And if you’re interested, they’re 139 calories each. 4 grams of protein, 3 grams of fiber, and less than 2 grams of fat. No sacrifice in taste… just whole grain, berry-rich goodness!

Best Healthy Muffins

Adapted from All Recipes

• 1 ½ cups oat bran
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• ¾ cup packed brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ½  teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ cups applesauce
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 tablespoons buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 ½ cups berries (I used frozen mixed berries — use whatever you like!)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine the oat bran, flours, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. In a separate bowl, blend the applesauce, eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla extract. Fold the applesauce mixture into the flour mixture. Fold in the berries. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups.

Bake 18 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Tagged as: berries, breakfast, muffins