There is something about starting a new year that inspires us to make fresh starts, change habits, improve our diets and so on. New Year’s Resolutions are easily made, less easily acted upon. Or maybe that’s just me? One of my worst habits is snacking. I don’t always snack on ‘bad’ things but I still snack too much. It might be because I didn’t eat enough protein or fats early in the day so my stomach shouts for something later in the evening, trying to balance it out. Or maybe I skipped a meal. Whatever the reason, January 1 is the date around which old habits retire and new, healthier habits will be made.
Starting with breakfast, which is an easy meal to skip because of time or lack of motivation. What I am going to do this year is have breakfast muffins ready to go. Muffins are such an easy fix for breakfast. It’s fairly simple to make a muffin ‘healthy’. Adding a bit more protein and fibre, lowering fats and sugars, and you have breakfast in one hand. Browse the internet and you will find dozens of tried and true recipes for low fat, high protein, low sugar, gluten-free, and still tasty, muffins. Whatever you need to satisfy your dietary requirements, you can find a recipe to bake up into a dozen breakfast or snack muffins.
Which leads us to the muffin pan. Put your hands up if you still use paper muffin liners. Put your hands up if you have switched to silicone liners. And put both hands up if you have a Good Grips Non-Stick Pro Muffin pan. The non-stick coating is ceramic and it releases food beautifully. I’ve had mine for years and use it for muffins, cupcakes, stacked potatoes, egg bakes and more, all without paper or silicone liners. If something does stick (like eggs), using the Bakeware Buddy knife, I gently run it around the outside and the food pops out. Soaking the pan will loosen any residual baked on foods, then hand washing is recommended to preserve the finish. This pan bakes so efficiently, you may have to lower your baking temperature or reduce the baking time.
My other all-time favourite bakeware is Chicago Metallic. The muffin pan is another heavy duty non-stick pan, with slightly smaller cups. It’s a professional line of bakeware, well made and as it has a darker finish than the Good Grips bakeware, your baked goods will have a darker crust.
Plus, there is Meyer, another heavy gauge construction line of bakeware, with even smaller cups than the Chicago Metallic. Tough non-stick finish, perfect for any sticky muffins or eggs, and easy to clean, and a Canadian company.
However you start your 2024, resolutions or not, baking up some muffins is comforting and will satisfy you on several levels. Here’s to a Happy, Healthy and Harmonious New Year!
Did you know? The first muffin recipe was published in 1747, in The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, by Hannah Glasse.
Cathy