One of my first dates with my boyfriend was to a Justin Bieber concert. Before the concert, he invited me over for one of the best roast beef dinners I’ve ever had. I remember thinking to myself “this guy likes Justin Bieber AND knows how to cook? Jackpot”.

As it turned out, he wasn’t actually a Belieber and doesn’t really cook, but the roast beef recipe is still one of the best. The secret is the addition of coffee to the rub. Just like red wine, coffee is acidic and acts like a spice to enhance the flavor of the meat. The combination is a match made in heaven.

This roast is a show-stopper, and perfect for whomever you’re looking to impress. It reminds us that we should be using our coffee beans in much more than our morning mug. It makes great leftovers too.

On the rare free Saturday night, my boyfriend and I will often go to Walmart. We like to go walk around, pick up some groceries, and get McDonald’s coffee. Don’t ask me why, it’s just something we like to do.

On one such Saturday night, as I stood in the aisle contemplating whether or not to buy McDonald’s Big Mac sauce for the house – it happened. My boyfriend had what I can only describe as a mid-life crisis.  “YOU’RE TRYING TO MAKE ME FAT!” he shouted, drawing attention from all of the other Saturday night Walmart patrons. The rant went on for the next minute or so, and then he took a deep breath and said “okay, so you want to grab some coffees?”

It goes without saying that I didn’t buy the Big Mac sauce that day. Determined to never let an episode like that happen again, I frantically grabbed any reasonably healthy-looking thing I could find on the shelf. The result was a mishmash of items that could not actually form a cohesive meal.

Some good eventually came out of the situation. We started eating healthier at home, trying new recipes. There is one recipe in particular that we make at least once a week – Flax Meal Muffins. Remember that mishmash of items I grabbed from Walmart? A large bag of flax meal was one of them, and on the package was a recipe for some sort of microwave mug muffin. Since we don’t have a microwave at home, I played around with the ratios of ingredients until I got a dozen delicious muffins. (Side note: for the life of me, I cannot remember the brand of flax meal and have not seen it in Walmart since, but if I do, I will be sure to give them the credit they deserve).

The muffins are low carb, no sugar, and low fat, BUT they are so delicious that you wouldn’t suspect it.