recipe of the week: oat bran muffins

i was looking for a good fiber-ful muffin once and came across these. i love them! that's all i have to say! mmm.....

oat bran muffins

modified from "oat bran muffins" at allrecipes.com

12 muffins

wouldn't it be fun to wake up to muffins on your windowsill?

1/2 cup brown sugar (or a little less)
1 1/2 cups oat bran (it's a hot cereal, red box, it was hard to find the first time!)
a little less than 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup chilled unsweetened applesauce
4 tablespoons fat free yogurt (i usually use plain or vanilla, but anything should work!)

a dash of cinnamon (optional)

1. preheat oven to 400 degrees f. grease 12 muffin cups.

2. blend together brown sugar, oat bran, flour, baking powder, soda, cinnamon and salt. add eggs, chilled applesauce, and yogurt. mix until well-blended. spoon batter into muffin cups. let stand 10 minutes.
3. bake at 400 degrees f for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

recipe of the week: pumpkin chocolate chip muffins

i totally have a thing for pumpkin this time of year! i don't know what it is, but i crave pumpkin everything during the holidays! and since i'm kind of muffin crazy, here's a fun butter-less, oil-less recipe with no white flour. mmm....

pumpkin chocolate chip muffins

18 muffins

8 oz (fat free or low fat) vanilla yogurt (generic brands are often 8 oz)

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 cup pureed pumpkin

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon all spice

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup oat flour (run oats through your blender!)

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup chocolate chips (you could leave these out, but they are pretty yummy!)

1. cream butter,vanilla and sugar. add eggs and pumpkin and whip until combined.

2. add all dry ingredients and stir until combined.

3. stir in 1/2 cup water until combined. then stir in chocolate chips.

4. pour batter into 18 greased muffin tin spots.

5. bake at 350 about 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

this is my cute daughter eating dinner and posing with the muffins. i love that face!

don't let me catch you with this in your kitchen!

each of you raise your right hand and say - "after reading this post, i promise the skinny bovine that i will rid myself of any and all vegetable oil in my kitchen! yuck!!!"

you promised, now here are the reasons why:

• it has no redeeming nutrional value. it is terrible for you. we all know oil has fat, but vegetable oil has all of the wrong kind of fat.
• you can use olive oil instead for cooking. despite the extra cost, your arteries will thank you later.
• you can use substitutes in baking too. does your brownie, cake or muffin recipe call for 1 cup of oil? be honest with yourself - that is gross. use yogurt or applesauce instead. and yes, your baked goods will still turn out moist and delicious!! if you're one of those who can "taste" applesauce and are opposed to it in baked goods, try yogurt and you won't taste it! i usually use plain, non-fat yogurt, but you could also use vanilla yogurt and use a bit less sugar in your recipe.

i've been on a muffin kick lately - or i guess i should say my husband is on one. my freezer is full of muffins he can take to school with him to snack on. so, here's a yummy one to try - its one of my favorites because it sneaks in a few veggies too!

zucchini carrot muffins

24 muffins

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup oat flour (put oats in the blender and voila! oat flour!)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 eggs
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup plain yogurt
1 cup white sugar (or brown or 1/2 brown, 1/2 white - whatever you prefer!)
3/4 cup honey (if honey is a budget buster right now, use more brown sugar instead)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini
1 1/2 cups shredded carrots

1. preheat oven to 400 degrees. lightly grease 24 muffin cups.
2. In a bowl, sift together the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, oat flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. in a separate bowl, beat together eggs, applesauce, yogurt, sugar, honey, and vanilla. mix the flour mixture into the egg mixture. fold in the zucchini and carrots. scoop into the prepared muffin cups.
3. bake 18 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

zucchini carrot muffins modified from "zucchini yogurt multigrain muffins" from allrecipes.com

recipe of the week: yummy banana muffins

here's another way to apply the principle of "waste not, want not" (see previous post). i love these muffins and they are a great way to use up over-ripe bananas and of course, they don't have any oil or butter in them. if you're not into whole wheat yet, try using 1/2 white flour and 1/2 wheat flour. ease your way in. :)

yummy banana muffins

makes 12 muffins

1 egg (or 1 egg white if you want to eliminate a few more calories)
1 1/3 cups mashed ripe banana
3/4 cup packed brown sugar (a little bit less is still yummy if you want to make them extra healthy)
1/3 heaping cup applesauce (or plain fat free yogurt)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup cooking oats
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (expensive and definitely optional!)

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees F. lightly grease one 12 cup muffin pan.
2. in a large bowl, combine egg, banana, brown sugar, applesauce and vanilla. in a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
3. gently stir flour mixture and oatmeal into banana mixture. fold in walnuts (optional). pour batter into prepared muffin cups.
4. bake in preheated oven or 15 to 20 minutes, or until light brown. remove muffins from pan and place on a wire rack to let cool before serving.

up next - my adventures in cooking for a family of 5 for a week! lots of recipes and just good plain fun (a hilarious 4-year-old, sous-chef was involved - how could it not be fun?)

recipe is a modified version of "seminary muffins" from allrecipes.com. photo is from the same.