National Blueberry Month

July is National Blueberry Month and I have been eating a ton of blueberries lately. I love them. I have them every morning in my breakfast (Gluten Free Cereal w/ Blueberries, Almond Milk, and Chia Seeds) and I eat them for snacks, and dessert.
Tonight I decided to experiment in the kitchen and try to make a Gluten Free/Grain Free, Sugar Free, Vegan, Blueberry Muffin.
I came up with a recipe I thought would work, and I divided it to attempt making only one muffin (that way I don't end up wasting ingredients if it doesn't turn out good, and if it does turn out good I won't have a ton of muffins in the house tempting me and making me overeat).

Anyway, before I get to the Experimental Blueberry Muffin Recipe (I am writing this as it bakes and I don't know how it's going to turn out yet) I thought I'd share some of the bentos I have posted lately with Blueberries!!!

Lifes a Beach... Bento

July 4th Star Bento

 

American Flag Oatmeal Bento

 

Summer Fruit Salad Bento

 

Fruit Bento Love

YUM! Looking back at all those Fruity and Blueberry filled bentos has made me want some blueberries even more now! I just took the Experimental Blueberry Muffin out of the oven, and here are the first Pictures. It's clear that I overfilled the muffin cup, and I probably could have made two smaller muffins with the amount of batter I had. Well, I'll make a note in the trial recipe to split it between two muffin cups next time.

First impressions, besides the fact that I overfilled the cup, are that it puffed up a lot during baking and I expect it to fall a lot while cooling. I guess we'll see. Also I'm worried it wont have the set/baked goods texture because of the wetness of the ingredients. Maybe it'll be dense like a spice cake... or maybe I'll have to eat it with a spoon like a pudding. I'm looking forward to finding out.

 Well, I started to peel back the muffin liner but stopped because I realized it was way too soft to be a muffin. So I grabbed a fork...

The first thing I noticed was how the blueberries popped and the juice oozed and mingled with the baked pudding-like texture of the 'muffin'.

 Besides the texture not working out, the taste was very good. And I ate the rest of it like a baked pudding.

MMM, Just change the name from 'Muffin' to 'Pudding' and I have a yummy dessert! The Blueberries definitely pop in this recipe, and the other ingredients make a smooth not overly sweet taste that work well with the blueberries.

Either I can keep tweaking this recipe and try to make a muffin, or I can leave it this way and be happy with the yummy pudding.

I think I might write the recipe as a pudding and be happy with it. There are tons of blueberry muffin recipes out there (and most of them are the same), but how many Blueberry Puddings are out there like mine?

Here are the ingredients I used for this Blueberry 'Pudding' (at 164 Calories, If I had split it in half it would have been 82 calories each)

• Teddie Peanut Butter w/Flaxseed (Smooth, no sugar added)
• Banana (Mashed)
• Applesauce (Unsweetened)
• Blueberries
• Vanilla Extract
• Apple Cider Vinigar
• Baking Soda

Well, I hope you enjoyed my trip through Blueberry Lane, and I also hope you liked seeing a taste of my Kitchen Expierimental process. This is what I do when I come up with a recipe...

• I get an idea for a recipe
• Either search for similar recipes and alter them, or start from scratch
• Cut the recipe down to one or two serving sizes so I don't waste ingredients.
• Try the recipe
• Take notes as I go on what I can tweak, what was good, what wasn't good, how long it took to bake, appearance of final product, texture of final product, taste/smell of final product, Then I Figure out Calories/Nutritional Content of final product.
• If it went well I may try the recipe again without cutting down the servings and ask my fiance (and sometimes friends) to try it and tell me what they think.
• I also may take pictures and write a blog about it.
• Sometimes I try the recipe again with the changes I wrote about in my notes. But usually the recipe sits saved on my computer for another time.