During my sophomore year of high school, our marching band director organized a trip to Hawaii during our week-long spring break. Bright and early on that particular Saturday, all 250 of us (plus dozens of chaperones!) gathered at the San Francisco airport to board planes for our trip.
We stayed in Waikiki just a block or two away from the beach, but we ended up with very little downtime at our hotel during the week. Our band director scheduled a short parade for us one day, along with a full performance for each of the three concert bands and the two jazz bands.
Throughout the week, he also set up plenty of sightseeing excursions around the island. We spent half a day at Pearl Harbor and the memorials there, soaking in the sobering sights; wove around the city in our five large charter buses for a driving tour, including passing by ‘Iolani Palace, the residence of the final Hawaiian monarchs; walked around the largest mall on the island for an afternoon of souvenir shopping; and headed to a different dinner, luau, banquet, or show every single evening.
I’m sure the nonstop activities were intentional… and probably his way of keeping certain mischievous individuals out of trouble!
Despite the different activities that filled our days, the mornings always started the same way. Our band director had prepaid for all of our breakfasts at a buffet spot located two blocks up the street from our hotel, so we traipsed over there shortly after waking up to grab fuel for our jam-packed days.
Each morning, we found almost the exact same options: chafing dishes filled with hot scrambled eggs, hash browns, sausage, bacon, pancakes, and toast; massive platters piled high with fresh tropical fruit; a made-to-order omelet station alongside a cook cutting thick slices of hot ham; and a half dozen baskets holding warm bagels, croissants, donut holes, and muffins.
As a carb-loving girl even back then, I usually served myself a small spoonful of scrambled eggs… then headed straight for the fruit and pastries to fill the rest of my plate. Once satisfied, I looked around to find a table with my friends to eat my meal.
Towards the middle of the week, I decided to reach for a blueberry muffin instead of my usual lemon poppy seed (the only muffin flavor I’d eat as a little girl!), and after sitting down, I tore off a small piece and popped it into my mouth. As I swallowed, my eyes widened…
It was the best blueberry muffin I had ever tasted! Supremely sweet, so moist with a cupcake-like texture, absolutely bursting with juicy berries… I nearly forgot about the rest of my food on my plate as I hopped up to grab a second, and I ate one every day as part of my breakfast for the rest of the week!
In hindsight, those muffins probably tasted so incredible and dessert-like because they were filled with lots of butter, sugar, and heavy cream…
But these Healthy One-Bowl Blueberry Muffins taste just as amazing — and they’re definitely much healthier! They have no heavy cream, refined flour or sugar… Yet they’re still just as sweet, moist, and cupcake-like as the muffins I ate in Hawaii!
Even better, these healthy blueberry muffins are simple to make. You just need one bowl and a fork. That’s it! And they’re 104 calories!
Continue reading & see the rest! ›› Healthy One-Bowl Blueberry Muffins
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