What I realized the other day was how I only have a little over a month in Canada before I leave for Sydney, Australia for school! This very thought motivates and super-strengthens me to eat healthy and exercise regularly, in preparation for the new chapter. After all, I don’t have much time before I take my clothes off on a sunny Australian beach. Needless to say, I have a lot of work ahead of me, but it will be summer in January!!! But I was getting tired of Kashi Seven Whole Grain Cereal with skim milk for breakfast, as a part of my new healthy diet plan…
Entonces, I decided to make some low-fat whole-wheat muffin, to “mix” things up a bit (no pun intended) and keep the health box ticked. But ordinary whole-wheat muffins don’t excite me very much, especially when they are low-fat. Luckily, I had some ripe bananas and guavas at home. Exotic enough for me! To top this, again no pun intended, I whipped up a basil yogurt icing with a hint of goat cheese and lemon zest.
So here it is, my Banana Guava Bran Muffin with Basil Yogurt Icing.
Ingredients (make a dozen)
- 2 bags (400 g total) of Dr. Oetker Bran Pouch Muffin Mix, or your favorite muffin mix, enough for 12 muffins
- 2 Eggs
- 4 Tbsp Grape Seed Oil
- 1 cup Water
- 1 cup chopped ripe Guava*, skin peeled, pulp and seeds removed
- 12 Banana discs
- 1 cup fat-free Greek Yogurt, or Pressed Yogurt
- 1/4 cup young Soft-ripened Goat Cheese (the crumbly creamy kind)
- One handful of fresh Basil leaves, minced
- Zest of 1 Lemon
- Pinch of Salt
Method
- For ingredients 1-4, mix batter according to the specific manufacture’s instruction.
- Stir in guava.
- Divide the batter into nonstick muffin tins and slightly press a banana disc into each muffin cup**.
- Bake @ 400F for 18 minutes or according to manufacture’s instruction.
- Meanwhile, combine yogurt and goat cheese in a bowl. Stir until smooth.
- Add the lemon zest and minced basil, plus a pinch of salt, into the yogurt/cheese mixture. Mix well.***
- When the muffins are done baking, let them cool completely before icing.
* The guavas we get in most grocery stores in North America are usually still pretty raw, unfortunately. If you are craving for some ripe and fresh guavas then it’s a good idea to buy some ahead of time and allow them to ripen on your windowsill. A good way to check to see if they are ready is by slightly squeezing them, like you would to an avocado. If they are rock hard, put them back on the windowsill, where they belong. If they give a little bit, they are good to go. A BETTER way to check is to simply smell the guavas. You’ll know!
** I wanted guava to be the star of the muffins, with banana as the sidekick, so to speak. So I opted to only put the banana in the center of the muffin to give a surprise pocket. But feel free to mush up the banana and mix it right in with the batter.
*** If you must, you could also blend in 1/4 cup sugar to sweeten up the icing. But let’s be honest, that’s not doing anybody any good. Simple sugar has no place in a healthy diet.
