Blueberry Protein Muffins

Good afternoon, everybody! Happy Saturday!

The post I wrote last night about my issues with weight loss and my mom was really hard for me to write. Those feelings had been sitting inside of me for so long, and they needed to come out. This morning my mom and I had a long heart-to-heart about our personal problems when it comes to being overweight. My mom and I have always been very close, and I think that opening up to each other about this brought us even closer. I love her so much.

Even though I already had plans to work out today, our talk made me even more ready to go pump some iron! Like I predicted, my workout yesterday was good but definitely didn’t make my legs as sore as last time. Legs are my least favorite thing to work on, so that’s probably why. Today was arms and chest, which is my favorite, so I was really excited! I used my triceps workout as a base, but this time added other exercises and made it into a circuit, which I liked.

• Pushups (on my knees): 15 reps
• Bicep curls (15lbs): 10 reps (each arm)
• Shoulder press (30lbs total): 10 reps (each arm)
• Pull downs (90lbs): 10 reps
• Front raises (30lbs total): 10 reps
• Side raises (30lbs total): 5 reps
• Upright rows (50lbs total): 10 reps
• Tricep pushups (on my knees): 5 reps
• Tricep kickbacks (15lbs): 10 reps (each arm)
• Crossbody bicep curls (15lbs): 10 reps (each arm)
• Chest press (70lbs): 10 reps
• Leg raises: 5 reps
• Crunches (on the exercise ball): 25 reps

I completed the above circuit twice and was drenched in sweat by the end!

Changing the subject a little bit, I made this muffins two weeks ago that are absolutely amazing. I definitely like cooking a lot more than baking, but for some reason I’ve been doing more baking recently. When I had a huge container of cottage cheese to use up, I was inspired to create a recipe to finish it off. And my Low-Cal Blueberry Protein Muffins were born. Check out the stats at the bottom of the recipe – these things are awesome! I’ve been making huge batches of these muffins and using them to supplement my breakfast, as a snack, or something to grab on my way out the door to eat on the go. The best part about these muffins is how moist they are. The cottage cheese really adds this perfect texture that I’ve never gotten in a muffin before. And you can’t even taste it!

Blueberry Muffins (original)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup fat-free cottage cheese
• 1 egg
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp sugar (or Splenda/Truvia)
• 1/2 cup fat-free milk
• 1 cup frozen blueberries

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425˚F.
• Stir the cottage cheese and egg together until full combined.
• Add in flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar, stirring to combine.
• Add milk and blueberries; mix together.
• Pour batter into a muffin tin with greased muffin cups.
• Bake at 425˚ until the tops of the muffins turn slightly golden brown – about 20 minutes.
• Let sit for 5 minutes before serving… Enjoy!

Each muffin is 140 calories and has 4 grams of protein!