You can easily get extra nutrients and fibre by adding Ansko’s Muesli to your muffin recipe.
Replace few cups of the regurlar flour to muesli, and make the muffins to a healthier snacks or desserts.

Try nice, new flavor combination for muffins;

Ansko’s Pistachio Muesli and bit of vanilla,
Peach & Pecan Muesli with bit of orange,
or Original Muesli with some natural yogurt.

You can also use some gluten free flour mixes with Ansko’s Gluten Free Muesli, and make some delicious gluten free muffins!

If your recipe has lot of oil or butter, you can replace some of that with yogurt or orange juice.
When changing part of the oil in the recipe to equal amount of juice/yogurt, the consisteny of the muffins will stay the same, but you will get waay healthier muffins!

You can make a bigger batch and freeze some of the muffins, then they are ready for quick snacks or even for kid’s lunch boxes.
(let the muffins defrost in room temperature or use regular owen. Microwave can easily make the muffins bit dry)

Enjoyyyy!

Ansko

To bring a radiant, smooth glow to your skin, try this quick, easy, effective and Natural face scrub,

- Mix 1 tbsp of Ansko’s honey, and 2 tbsp of goround coffee (preferrably organic) in a bowl.
- Wet your face and scrub gently but properly with the thick honey & coffee mix
(if needed, you can also add few drops of warm water for smoother consistency)
- Rinse well with warm water and towel dry
- Straight after, apply a moisturizer.  I personally prefer few drops of Organic Rosehip Oil,  or any of Dianne Caine’s great moisturisers  (checkwww.naturallyyours.com.au)

Use the face scrub 2-3 times /week, for few weeks and you will notice a big difference on your skin!

Honey  absorbs impurities from the pores on the skin, making it ideal cleansing agent.

With Ansko’s Porridge mixes you’ll get a great start for the day. They are so quick and convenient to prepare, and very versatile too.  So far we have two flavours  (Apple, Plum & Cinnamon and Pecan & Multigrain), but there will definately be more Porridge Mixes in Ansko’s range in the future.

This morning I had Apple, Plum & Cinnamon porrige cooked with organic soymilk and it made me feel like I was back in Australia (Lucky the deliveries come here to Brazil too!). I cooked the porridge slowly with low heat and ate it with a bit of honey. Soo nice! 
This mix is made with organic brown rice,  so not only being really tasty and healthy, but it’s also naturally wheat and gluten free.

Here I haven’t managed to find any good quality frozen berries yet, but as soon as I do, I’m going to start having my morning porridge with raspberries and blueberries again. Just put the frozen berries in a bowl, pour the hot porridge on the top and mix it through.  The berries will defrost nicely and you will get even more vitamins and antioxidants to your meal.  Blueberries & banana is a nice combination too,  or raspberries & pear.

The Ansko’s Porridge Mixes can easily be cooked with milk of your choice, or just water if you wish.  Couple of minutes is enough, but if you wish for creamier concistency, you can let the porridge simmer longer.If you prefer a cold breakfast or a snack, you can also soak the porridge mixes overnight in a milk/yogurt/juice, and enjoy as a bircher style muesli.

Other one of my favorites is actually the Pecan & Multigrain Porridge Mix  soaked in a plain unsweetened yogurt.  As the pecans are toasted in maple syrup, the flavour will be perfect combined with the unsweetened yogurt.  You can mix it in a container in the evening and then it is ready to take to work for a snack or lunch.

Porridge is definately not only breakfast food.  It’s a perfect snack, lunch, or even a light dinner if you wish. Porridge is also easy to digest and feel nice in a belly.  At schools in Finland we get lunch provided, and when I was at school we used to have at least couple of porridge lunches every month.  It was one of our favorites, always nice and creamy porridge, and it was served with either berries or jam and milk.  I’m pretty sure that even these days the porridge is still on the school’s lunch menu.   (Not saying it was That  long ago I fininshed school… 

Ansko’s Porridge mixes can also be sprinckled on fruit salads, or like my old neighbour used to do, use them as a base for cake and biscuit mixes.  I didn’t ask her for the exact recipes, but if YOU have any different suggestions how to enjoy Ansko’s products, we would obviously love to hear them! 

Winter greetings to Australia, and Happy Summer Holidays to those in Finland!

Ansko

Rio, Brazil

1. People who skip breakfast are more likely to eat more later on during the day.

If you eat a big lunch, you might feel tired or sleepy afterwards. As your body will need to work harder to digest the big meal. Eating late at night can disturb the sleep, and also make it difficult to maintain a healthy weight. So eating a bigger meal in the morning and a smaller meal at night optimizes your daily energy levels.

2. Eating breakfast in the morning will get the metabolism started earlier.

In a whole day, your metabolism will work longer and more efficiently. People who eat breakfast are shown to be more successful at losing weight and sticking to a diet.

3. It is very difficult to get all of your necessary daily nutrients without breakfast.

If you have a healthy and balanced breakfast that is filling, you are less likely to have unhealthy and unnecessary snacks before lunch.

4. People who skip breakfast are less mentally and physically efficient for longer periods during the day.

Skipping breakfast can easily make you feel not only more tired, but also more irritable by late morning.

5. Eating breakfast can increase concentration.

With that in mind, children definitely should be encouraged to eat breakfast regularly. Balanced and nutritious meals in general are a necessity for children’s normal growth and wellbeing.

In Summary

So, eating BREAKFAST, regular meals and snacks, is a key to maintain a healthy weight throughout life and maximizing your energy levels and productivity throughout the days.

Don’t like eating breakfast?

If your usual breakfast is a cup of coffee, start small by incorporating a glass of juice or milk into your morning routine for a week or so, and then gradually build up to a balanced meal. If you think you don’t have time in the morning, consider making breakfast the night before.  Lack of time should not be an excuse for not having breakfast. Those few extra minutes you spend in the morning, you will help during the day with increased levels of energy and productivity.  :)

As a dancer, I always want to feel 100% and full of energy, so there is no way that I would get through a day without breakfast.  For the intense dance training during the days, I need a lot of physical energy and enough nutrients in my body for quick recovery. I also have to be able to focus and concentrate every minute of my dance training.  Lots of new information is given every single day so I cannot afford to miss anything. By having regular, healthy and balanced breakfasts and meals, I am maximizing my body’s ability for the best and fastest results.

~Ansko