Cake Mix Muffins (Diet-Friendly)

When you are looking to shave off a few calories and add a little bit of filling protein to your breakfast muffins, I found this recipe hack that is simple, yummy, and versatile. With only three ingredients, it doesn't get much easier than that! Enjoy! (You can also use higher calories/lower protein mixes, yogurts, and shakes, if dieting is not your concern and you just want some yummy, easy muffins.)

Cake Mix Muffins (Diet-Friendly)

Ingredients:

• 1 box cake mix, any flavor (preferably Zero Sugar)
• 1 cup yogurt, any flavor (Oikos Triple Zero tends to have the lowest calories for the highest protein)
• 1 protein shake (Core Power also tens to have the lowest calories for the highest protein)
• Optional Mix-ins

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prepare approximately 18 muffin cups (spraying your pan with non-stick spray or using silicone muffin liners).
2. In a large bowl, mix together your cake mix, yogurt and protein shake until just incorporated. Depending on the mix-ins you use, either add them now, or add them to each cup of muffin batter in the next step. 
• I found that mixing blueberries into my lemon muffin batter at this stage made it hard to control how many blueberries ended up in each muffin, so next time I will probably add them individually to each muffin in the next step.
3. Divide your batter evenly between your prepared muffin cups. Add any other mix-ins, like sugar crystals on top.
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool for a minute or two, then remove from muffin pan to prevent sweating.

Each muffin is roughly 100 calories depending on what ingredients you used. To make these lemon blueberry muffins a more protein filled meal, I added two string cheeses to my plate and called it breakfast.