Glorious Morning Glory Muffins
Plus where I do my weekly and monthly grocery sourcing and shopping, and exactly how much I spend every month
Colorful chefs - new and old, welcome!! This is where we cook easy, delicious, saucy, colorful meals made from whole, unprocessed foods, and we make it fun, easy, and learn important stuff about metabolic health while doing it. If you are new and you’ve got questions or ideas, or just want to say hey, please head to the chat!👇🏼
In today’s issue:
A glorious recipe for Morning Glory Muffins (but make them nutrient dense and blood sugar friendly)
Where I do my weekly and monthly grocery sourcing and shopping to cook in color… and exactly how much I spend every month (!!)
My new favorite meat sticks …and this is coming from someone who was admittedly meh on the taste/texture of meat sticks relatively recently
Once again, this post got long (aka filled to the brim with goodness!!) so you might need to click “read in app” to view the entire thing pending your email provider.
This week we are making Morning Glory Muffins.
I love a morning on-the-go breakfast item that is nutrient dense, delicious, and won’t send me on a blood sugar rollercoaster. It’s especially important for breakfast (aka breaking your fast… break-fast — the first time I realized that, I was far too old) that you have something nutrient dense and blood sugar friendly because it will prevent you from having the crash that often follows a high-carb or high-sugar breakfast. That blood sugar rollercoaster is what leads to fatigue, irritability, and cravings, or hunger just a few hours later.
You all LOVE my breakfast biscuits (free recipe), so I wanted to develop another sweet-ish + savory bread-y on the go breakfast option that is packed with micronutrients, fiber, and protein. Morning glory muffins are often filled with brown sugar, orange juice, sweetened raisins and other things that are NOT GLORIOUS!
This recipe is primarily sweetened with banana, and it’s got good stuff like zucchini, carrots, walnuts, coconut, flax, and almond flour (can sub coconut flour). These caused me a gentle 10 mg/dL point rise on my continuous glucose monitor (CGM). This muffin gives me cozy fall vibes, and every day this week I genuinely looked forward to getting up and heating one up with a little grass-fed butter or nut butter on top! Each muffin is about 8g of protein, so if I am having this for breakfast I’ll have some greek yogurt or eggs in addition (to get closer to my goal 30g of protein at breakfast). I also love these muffins as a little pre-or post-workout snack. Enjoy and let me know what you think!
This is a Color Club recipe! While I do share a number of free recipes throughout the month through this Substack (and btw I’ve got a big Thanksgiving collab coming soon with a number of free recipes 👀), I share (at least) one colorful, blood sugar friendly, nutrient dense recipe + video each week exclusively for Color Club members. Charging a small fee $5/month enables me to keep doing this ad-free (because no one likes a recipe page cluttered with ads!). A big thanks to all of my founding members, I’m so grateful for you! Keep the feedback coming.
A little preview of the recipe is on IG here.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
One large mixing bowl
Measuring cups/spoons
Grater
Chef’s knife (I love my new Made In knife!)
Mixing spoon
Nut milk bag or paper towel (to squeeze excess water out of zucchini)
INGREDIENTS
…
A few weeks ago, I wrote a post where I shared every single thing in my kitchen (as well as what’s NOT in my kitchen and why). You all seemed to love it, and I got a number of follow up questions along the lines of:
Where do you shop on a weekly or monthly basis?
What food subscriptions do you have?
How much do you spend?
So, I thought I’d share an overview of the weekly and monthly grocery shopping I do to set myself up to COOK IN COLOR.
How I think about my weekly shopping
In my household (2 people, 1 cat), we try to be mindful of costs and buy in bulk where possible or “subscribe and save”, but we do prioritize and optimize for the best possible quality ingredients over cost. While I try to share discount links with you as much as possible, I’m likely not the person (my husband would definitely agree with this) that is going to help you save on your monthly grocery bill 🤣 I share ours below…
To explain why we invest so much in our food, I want to call back to one of my favorite quotes from Dr. Rob Lustig that I’ve shared with you before — “You’ll either pay the doctor or the farmer. But, either way, you’ll pay.” Meaning, you can either choose to pay more for organic food (because unfortunately that’s how our agricultural system and government incentives are set up), or you can eat processed or non-organic and therefore less nutrient dense food and end up with metabolic dysfunction that will lead to medical bills later on. Those are the two options.
One of my guiding principles for weekly and monthly shopping is consuming as much food that was grown as close as possible to our house. My friend, Dr. Casey Means explains beautifully why this is so important in her book, Good Energy.
Our food is being transported over large distances, causing degradation and damage to nutrients. The average distance that produce travels from farm to plate in the United States is approximately fifteen hundred miles. During this journey, some fruits and vegetables can lose up to 77 percent of their vitamin C content, a critical micronutrient for ATP production in the mitochondria and antioxidant activity in the cell. You may have thought that “eating local” or shopping from farmers’ markets is frivolous, but it is actually a critical step to ensure you are getting maximal helpful molecular information in the bites you take to build and instruct your body. - Dr. Casey Means
If you are interested in another book that will inspire you to eat local and organic, I highly recommend What Your Food Ate by David Montgomery and Anne Bikle. It dives into the interconnectedness of soil health, plant nutrition and human health, and it clearly explains how our food’s nutrient density is influenced by the way it’s grown. This book + Good Energy will make you want to source your food as locally as possible.
Okay, let’s get into the primary vendors for my weekly and monthly grocery shopping...and the bill. For some reason, sharing this feels oddly vulnerable? But, I hope it’s helpful!
Monthly shopping breakdown
Right now you probably either thinking 🤯 WOW that’s a lot or 🤔 hmm that’s about what I spend. I fully recognize that this is significantly more than the average American household monthly grocery bill - which for two people is $475 for groceries, and $778 for groceries and dining out. We have lots of work to do to make unprocessed, organic, healthy food more affordable and accessible.
Our grocery bill is high because:
We prioritize buying high quality ingredients, which are more expensive
We eat most of our food at home (3 meals a day for 2 people is about ~170 - 180 meals per month) and we don’t eat out very often
We have people over for dinner a few times a week
I run a recipe club and this Substack which means I’m often making things multiple times to test and perfect them!!!
Grocery vendors described
Let’s dive into each of them:
Earth Matterz: Organic community sponsored agriculture (CSA) from small local farms near LA. I love this because I get a bag of whatever is in season, and it helps me learn to cook with new ingredients (e.g., I had never cooked with agretti before, it was amazing!) and eat seasonally (e.g., this week I got a baby sugar pumpkin, persimmons, collard greens, rainbow carrots, zucchini, romaine lettuce and limes!). This subscription ensures I get nutrient and ingredient diversity into my week! It’s $34/week or $136/month.
FIND A CSA NEAR YOU: Google “CSA farms near “your location” or explore LocalHarvest.org which is a free website where farmers can list their CSA and you can search by zip code or city.
Farmers Market: Since we get our CSA on Saturday, we then go to the farmers market on Sunday to get additional produce to round out the week. We usually get fruit, veggies, and a loaf of 36 hour heritage grain fermented sourdough. We spend about $100 per week / $400 per month.
Seatopia: This is regeneratively farmed seafood, and some of the best available in my opinion and according to my research. Now, wild-caught fish is generally considered better than farmed fish (e.g., wild caught has higher omega-3 levels, lower omega-6 levels, lower pollutant exposure etc.) Most conventionally farmed fish are fed antibiotics hormones, and even artificial colors to mimic the pink color of wild fish. However, there is starting to become a focus on re-generative and sustainable aquaculture (vs. factory farmed fishing) that sets a higher standard in fish farming practices - such as multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA), where multiple species (like fish, seaweed, and shellfish) are farmed together to minimize waste and nutrient pollution. There is also a focus on feeding the fish better diets to mimic an omega-3:omega-6 ratio closer to wild fish. The wild vs. farmed vs. regeneratively farmed is a complex debate with passionate proponents on both sides. If diving deeper into this this is interesting I can do a longer post on it and share some of my research and learnings, but in the meantime I’m sharing a podcast link that does a great job of explaining sustainable aquaculture and Seatopia’s practices. This is almost $300/month for 18 servings. We have salmon ~9x a month.
Primal Pastures: I’ve experimented a ton with our meat sourcing — from grocery store organic, to Butcher Box, to White Oak Pastures, to meat from the farmers market, and more. Where I’ve landed is Primal Pastures is the best quality for the price and it’s the most local to us. All of their meat is pasture raised, fed organic, GMO free, soy free, and corn free. We found that when we bought organic meats from the grocery store, we spent way more in a month vs. when we got the majority of our meat in bulk from Primal Pastures. While Primal Pastures ships nationwide, the best thing you can do is try and find an organic, or even better, regenerative, farm near you. Google is your best friend, and then read the farm’s site and ask questions about how the animals are raised and what they are fed! This is $169/month for ~12-15lbs of meat.
Whole Foods/Grocery Store: Whole Foods rounds out whatever else we need that was not covered by all of the above! We spend on average $120/week at Whole Foods. Some week’s it’s more and some it’s less, but it averages out to $120/week. People always ask if I do my grocery shopping at Erewhon 🤣 (which is a fabulous, but very expensive organic grocery store in LA), and the answer is no! If we go out, 50% of the time it’s to get a meal from the hot bar, but it’s not part of our regular grocery routine.
Costco: We aim to go about once a month to stock up on nuts, organic frozen fruits and veggies, condiments and ad-hoc things. They have an increasing amount of organic items, which makes me overjoyed!! Here is a recap from a recent Costco trip. We spend about $200/month at Costco, sometimes less, sometimes more.
Things not included on this list are some other subscriptions like for Pique Matcha (that link will get you 15% off + a free starter kit which comes with a rechargeable frother and glass beaker) and WeNatal pre-natal and omega-3. I also order ad-hoc from Beanstory for heirloom organic beans, and Maui Nui venison when we are in a venison mood (we usually have venison at least a few times a month).
If you don’t have a ton of great grocery stores near you, I highly recommend Thrive Market to stock up in bulk on quality ingredients for the best possible price.
There are many ways and of course other great vendors to get high quality ingredients from — this is just my current approach. If you have a brand you think I must try, I’d love to know!
That’s it for this week! Let me know your questions, thoughts, and suggestions for topics you’d like to see me cover. 💛
Chef’s Kisses,
Sonja
P.S. I can’t shut up to my friends about these meat sticks!! Some of you may know this already, but in addition to my very important role as the lead home chef in our household, I consult and serve in fractional business roles with health and wellness brands! I just started with a new client this week — Lineage Provisions — and they make the most incredible meat sticks and steak bites I’ve ever had. I’ll be honest, I was not a huge fan of meat sticks a few years ago. They are only something I’ve recently started having on hand for snacks because they are such a great protein source.
I only work with companies or founders I believe in, and I love that Lineage is laser focused on bringing more nutrient-dense, sustainably sourced foods to market. The Lineage products are made with 100% grass-fed beef, and they also include parts of the animal like liver and heart that are packed with extra nutrients (and you really don’t taste it, trust me). Unlike other meat sticks that lose nutrients in high-heat processing, Lineage air dries everything which ensures key vitamins and minerals remain intact. I’m certain I’ll be sharing more about this brand, and about their focus on regeneration and soil health in the future, but if you want to try them out - use code SONJA10 for 10% off! I’m a big fan, and Alex has already gobbled almost all of ours up. Alfie even tried to get into them, but he’s not allowed since the vet said he is “overweight” 😂 , so unfortunately for him we are counting calories…but remember for everyone else, I believe in counting colors not calories.
One of the best ways you can support me and my work is forwarding this newsletter to someone you think would enjoy my recipes or content. My recipes are especially great for someone with pre-diabetes, diabetes, PCOS, or who eats grain-free, gluten free, or just someone who wants to eat whole foods to support their health and better learn what “healthy” actually means.