If you’ve hung around Paper & Glam for any length of time, then you’ve run into my freebie seasonal living lists: 18 reasons to celebrate every month of the year and their matching planner kits. I love to mark time and celebrate each season of the year with festive traditions. The cyclical nature of our seasons is comforting and reassuring in a world that’s well, not. I remain convinced this is the most wholesome way to stop time for a few minutes, and refuse to allow another day, month, or season to rush by us.
Each monthly list includes a way to celebrate with a seasonal culinary creation, which often begs the question: How do we instill a deep sense of balance alongside celebration, in the way we feed ourselves— without a sense of deprivation or stifling regulation?
As usual, Shauna says it best:
The word that helps me these days is fasting, although I’ll plead permission to use it loosely. I’m using the word fasting these days as an opposite term to feasting — yin and yang, up and down, permission and discipline, necessary slides back and forth along the continuum of how we feed ourselves.
Maybe certain people can develop a food perspective that they maintain seamlessly twelve months a year. Good for them. Maybe that’s something I’ll be able to do when I’m all grown-up and filled with moderation and wisdom. Probably not, though. I think I just might be one of those people who will always need some guardrails along the way.
I love the feasting part of life. I don’t want Thanksgiving without stuffing or Christmas without cookies and champagne. I don’t want to give up our family traditions of [peach cobbler in August and apple pie in September]. But I’m learning that feasting can only exist healthfully — physically, spiritually, and emotionally — in a life that also includes fasting. — Savor, Feasting & Fasting
So how does this feasting and fasting work in my day to day life in LA, city of delights and beach bodies?
After I moved on July 10th, I transitioned to a low-carb lifestyle. What better way to begin a new lifestyle than a move, right? With some give and take, my routine is 5 days of low carb (very little, if any bread, pasta, etc.) and two days of treat yo’ self. Life lived well is a balance of treat yo’ self and summer is coming, amen?
In real-time, this usually works out to strict adherence to low-carb Monday through Wednesday, and widening of the guardrails for a fun dinner out Thursday night, Friday Happy Hour, a Saturday Sabbath, and family dinner on Sunday. It may seem like that’s a lot of lax without much room for progress, but I haven’t found that to be the case. The flexibility bred freedom; and progress came with it.
At the outset of low-carb, one thing was certain, the transition would not omit even one monthly celebration, the enjoyment of seasonal fruit fresh from the Farmer’s Market, Thursdays out on the town, or Sunday dinners with my mom.
In July, our list included “Make a berry treat,” and so my mission to make a low-carb berry treat was born!
Meet the Glam Kitchen: Berry Muffins!
Glam Kitchen - Berry Muffins
Yield: 18 muffins
Serving Size: 2 muffins
Ingredients
1/2 cup Plain Whole Milk Yogurt
2 tbsp Unsalted Butter or Coconut Oil, melted
5 tbsp Xyla <— I use this in everything from cooking to coffee!
1 teaspoon Vanilla Txtract
1/4 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
2 cups Blanched Almond Flour <— This one is best!
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
3 Eggs
1/2 cup Fresh Blueberries, Blackberries, and/or Raspberries
(Frozen will do the job but there’s no comparison to the flavor of fresh!)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and line 8 muffin cups with parchment liners (or grease muffin cups very well).
- Add yogurt, butter, sweetener, vanilla and apple cider vinegar to a blender.
- Then add almond flour, baking soda, and salt on top. Blend on low for 10 to 15 seconds until combined.
- Add eggs and blend on low for another 15 to 20 seconds, then blend on hight for 20 to 30 seconds, until eggs are just incorporated into the batter.
- Add all but 2 tbsp of the frozen berries to blender and stir in by hand (do not blend!).
- Divide batter among prepared muffin cups and then place a few remaining berries in the top of each.
- Bake 18-20 minutes, until slightly golden brown and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Remove and let cool in pan for a few minutes.
Glam Kitchen Notes: Hold half the berries back from the batter to press a few into the top of each muffin so they look berry bountiful. Pour the bulletproof coffee and you’ve got breakfast, or the ready-to-rock snack for glam kitchen on the go. Be sure to enjoy your muffins within 2-3 days, if they last that long!
*This recipe was adapted from Carolyn’s Grab-n-Go Pancake Muffins over at her blog, All Day I Dream About Food.
If you enjoyed this first installment of Glam Kitchen, I’m so glad!
I plan to make low-carb, gluten free versions of all of our monthly treats. While I missed creating a low-carb, gluten-free version of a peach cobbler (the full-sugar, full-fat version was delicious), I’ve already got the September’s apple recipe on lock!
Any low-carb seasonal recipes I need to add to the Glam Kitchen arsenal? I'd love to know in the comments!
Cheers, to feasting and fasting, and enjoying both without regret!
Lisamarie
Happiness is pleasure without regret. — Leo Tolstoy
