Way Better Pumpkin Muffins

How are they way better?  Um...they have more good-for-you stuff in them.  That means they have less bad-for-you stuff in them.  Oh, yeah, and they taste WAY.  BETTER.

I decided today to venture into the realm of one-armed baking.  Kaia has not been eating much, so I wanted to make pumpkin muffins (one of her favourites), so she would, you know, eat.  I also wanted to pack in as much nutritional value as possible, since she isn't eating as much as she should.

So, I pulled out my old standby pumpkin muffin recipe, and looked over adjustments I had made in the past.  I decided I could do even better.  Use organic flours, sub almond meal for more of the flour than I had before, further reduce the sugar, use almond milk instead of water, use organic, unrefined coconut oil and organic applesauce in place of the whopping 1 cup of vegetable oil called for in the original recipe...

Here's what I came up with.  (Oh, and BTW, I just took the first batch out of the oven and ate one.  They are so tender, sweet, moist and delicious that I had to post this right away.)

INGREDIENTS

    * 1 (15 ounce) can organic pumpkin puree

    * 4 eggs

    * 1/2 cup organic, unrefined coconut oil

    * 1/2 cup organic, unsweetened applesauce

    * 2/3 cup plain almond milk

    * 2 cups organic sugar

    * 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

    * 1 1/4 cups organic whole wheat flour

    * 1 cup organic all-purpose flour

    * 1 cup almond meal

    * 2 teaspoons baking soda

    * 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

    * 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

    * 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

    * 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

    * 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

DIRECTIONS

   1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line muffin tin with paper liners, or grease and flour them.

   2. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, applesauce, almond milk, vanilla and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, almond meal, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.

   3. Bake for about 30 minutes in the preheated oven. 

Now, eat them.  Give them to your loved ones and let them eat them.  Just do it.  Trust me.  (And I don't even usually like muffins.)

BTW:  This makes 24 muffins.  Just for the heck of it, I went and calculated the nutritional information, just FYI.

Nutrition Facts User Entered Recipe   24 Servings Amount Per Serving   Calories 192.3   Total Fat 8.1 g       Saturated Fat 4.5 g       Polyunsaturated Fat 0.9 g       Monounsaturated Fat 2.1 g   Cholesterol 31.0 mg   Sodium 220.5 mg   Potassium 102.6 mg   Total Carbohydrate 28.4 g       Dietary Fiber 2.2 g       Sugars 18.0 g   Protein 3.7 g   Vitamin A 56.5 %   Vitamin B-12 1.3 %   Vitamin B-6 1.6 %   Vitamin C 1.5 %   Vitamin D 2.4 %   Vitamin E 9.0 %   Calcium 3.2 %   Copper 3.9 %   Folate 2.0 %   Iron 4.7 %   Magnesium 4.7 %   Manganese 11.1 %   Niacin 2.7 %   Pantothenic Acid     0.9 %   Phosphorus     4.8 %   Riboflavin 5.7 %   Selenium 0.5 %   Thiamin 2.8 %   Zinc 2.1 % *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Muffins

Apparently, I think everything should taste like chocolate chip cookies.  I mean, the world would be a better place, wouldn't it, if more things tasted like chocolate chip cookies?

The thing is, as a mom, I feel sort of obligated to try to make sure that the things my children eat have some nutritional value.  So, I can't just feed them chocolate chip cookies all the time.  (It's true.  I think it's in my contract.  What?  You didn't get a contract?   hmmm....)

Anyway...

Kaia loves to take muffins in her lunchbox.  Since Kaia doesn't love to take many things in her lunchbox, I try to vary the muffins, and to make them somewhat nutritious.  I like to use whole grain flours and include things like pumpkin, banana, zucchini... Of course, they still have to taste good.  I've found I have to be careful not to go so far over the nutritious line that she won't eat it.  Because food can't be nutritious if they don't eat it.

Well, I have been sick for weeks.  I don't want to waste a lot of time talking about that, but I mention it because it relates directly to my decision to bake muffins today.  I've been sick.  The kids have been getting a lot of their own meals, because the sight of food has kind of pushed me over the edge most days.  Shane has been helping, and they have gotten by all right, on things like veggie burgers and jarred sauce that I prepared when I was well, and an occasional carry-out meal.  Everybody has been pitching in to help with the housework, and they have managed to keep the mess somewhat at bay...somewhat.  I happened to notice last night that there was a fine layer of dust over most of the furniture, and, while the floors were all swept, they could use a good, thorough mopping.  The refrigerator needs to be cleaned.  We're almost out of laundry detergent.  It's time for Mama to try to reemerge from her sickly cocoon.

Now, I won't say I am feeling better yet.  Just...hmmm...well, to be honest, I think I just got tired of sitting around watching the household fall apart around me.  So, last night, I prepared some eggs with potatoes, cheese, crumbled veggie bacon and kale in a muffin tin, so Hallie and Justice can heat them and pop them inside English muffins on busy school mornings for a quick breakfast.  Then, this morning, I got up, had Shane help me rearrange a little furniture to open up the room, swept, dusted, wiped up and cleared away as much of the mess as I could manage, and started a pot of bean soup, because I think I might be able to keep down a spoonful or two.

Since I made the eggs, I had been thinking that I really ought to make something quick and easy for Kaia to grab, too.  She has been doing well getting her own breakfast (usually oatmeal or dry cereal ~ sometimes with a banana, yogurt or milk), so I decided to make some muffins.  They'd make a nice afterschool snack today, and then the kids could put them in their lunches, if they wanted.

We had already designated the one can of organic pumpkin we have to be used in the making of tiny pies, and the bananas aren't quite ripe enough, so I decided to try something new.  I had been thinking for some time that "Chocolate Chip Cookie" would be a great muffin variety.  I looked around on the internet a bit, but none fo the recipes were exactly what I was going for.

I thought, if I just started with a basic muffin recipe, used some brown sugar instead of all regular sugar, replaced some of the flour with almond meal (both for nutrition and for taste), and added chocolate chips, it should taste a lot like chocolate chip cookies.

I decided to fall back on my favourite "Basic Muffins with Milk or Cream" recipe from the Joy of Cooking, and make adjustments.  I knew I wanted to sue whole grain flour, in addition to the other adjustments I was making.  Then, when I was reading over the recipe (which is a wonderful basic muffin recipe, BTW), I noticed that if offers a variation in which yogurt can be substituted for the milk or cream called for in the original recipe.  I wondered if I might be able to use fat free Greek yogurt, thus amping up the nutrition even more than I anticipated.

The muffins mixed up and baked beautifully.  The younger girls just got home from school and gave them an enthusiastic thumbs up, and I anxiously await Justice's review.  I have to admit, due to the dairy, I have not tried them, but I trust my girls.If anyone wants to figure out how to make these dairy free, that would be awesome.  In the meantime, I will make them for the kids.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Muffins

Preheat oven to 400℉ and line 12 muffin cups with paper liners (or grease them)

In a large bowl, whisk together:
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup almond meal
1 TBS baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate morsels

In a separate bowl, whisk together:
2 large eggs
1 cup fat-free Greek yogurt
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
4-8 TBS melted butter or vegetable oil
2 tsps. vanilla extract

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients with a few quick strokes.  Do not overmix.  Batter should not be smooth (and it won't be, with all those chocolate chips, but you know what I mean).  Divide batter between muffin cups and bake for 12-15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in 1 or 2 of the muffins comes out clean.  Let cool for 2-3 minutes in the pan before removing muffins to a wire rack.  Muffins are best right away, but they keep for a few days, and can even be frozen.

Kudos to us! Well...sorta.

Today, Kaia mentioned that she hadn't had a Kudos bar in a long time.  It's true.  I think they are kinda junky, and besides, we like to make our own treats.  So, I thought maybe I could make something similar. ish.  hey really aren;t very similar at all, but they are yummy.  See, I didn't bother to actually look at the ingredients in a Kudos bar, and I haven't eaten many, so I just thought...hmmm...I think they have rice crispies, and chocolate...So, mine have rice crispies and chocolate.  I started with my Peanut Butter Crispie Treat recipe, and thought I would just add chocolate.  I decided to skip the agar agar, since I figured the melted chocolate would bind them well enough (it did), and then I discovered I was out of agave, so I used honey.  It all worked out just fine, and these are ready and waiting to be an afterschool snack for the girls tomorrow.

Here's what is actually in a Kudo's bar:  Milk Chocolate (, Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Chocolate, Milk Skim, Lactose, Milk Fat, Soy Lecithin,Flavor(s) Artificial ), Granola (, Rice Crisp, Oat(s), Wheat Flakes, Malt, Salt ), Corn Syrup,Chocolate Chips Semisweet (Sugar, Chocolate, Cocoa Butter, Soy Lecithin, Vanilla) ,Soybean(s) Oil Partially Hydrogenated, Calcium Carbonate, Glycerine, Sugar Brown (Salt) ,Soy Lecithin, TBHQ, Peanut(s), Almond(s)

Here's how they stack up nutritionally:

• Serving Size: 1 bar
• Servings Per Container: 4

• Amount Per Serving
• Calories 130Calories from Fat 45
• Total Calories 520Total Calories from Fat 180

•  % Daily Value* (DV)Recommended DV
• Total Fat 5 g8%65 g
  • Saturated Fat 2.5 g13%20 g
  • Trans Fat 0 g
• Cholesterol 0 mg0%300 mg
• Sodium 85 mg4%2,400 mg
• Potassium mg0%3,500 mg
• Total Carbohydrate 20 g7%300 g
  • Dietary Fiber 1 g4%25 g
  • Sugars 13 g 
• Protein 1 g 

• Calcium20%
• Iron2%
• Magnesium2%

And here's what I did:

Chocolate Peanut Butter Crispie Bars

1/2 c. peanut butter

1/2 c. honey

2 TBS ground flaxseeds

3 cups crispy brown rice cereal

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Grease a 9x13" pan (I prefer to use glass for this type of recipe).  Place cereal in a large mixing bowl.  In a small sauce pot, over low heat, heat peanut butter and honey, stirring constantly, until hot, evenly mixed and thick.  Really stir this constantly. Do not walk away or it will burn.  When it starts to bubble, stir vigorously and cook 1-2 minutes until it is very thick.  Stir in flaxseeds.  Immediately pour the hot mixture over the cereal and stir well to coat all of the crispies.  Gently but thoroughly stir in chocolate chips, until they are melted and evenly mixed in.  Press mixture firmly into your greased pan.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, until set.  Cut into thin bars (I got 21).  

Some time ago, I found this website, where you can enter a recipe and it have it calculate nutrition information.  If I did this right, I think these look okay, as compared to commercially prepared snack bars.  (I deleted most of the "0%"s, because I felt they were just taking up space on the page.  I think I would like to try adding some oats and almond meal along with the cereal, and I might try subbing agave for the honey, but these sure are tasty just as they are.   

21 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories		96.9
Total Fat		3.9 g
	Saturated Fat	5.1 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	0.0 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	0.0 g
Cholesterol		0.0 mg
Sodium		32.2 mg
Potassium		4.2 mg
Total Carbohydrate		14.7 g
	Dietary Fiber	0.8 g
	Sugars	8.9 g
Protein		2.0 g

Vitamin B-6	0.1 %
Vitamin C	0.1 %
Calcium	0.1 %
Copper	0.1 %
Iron	1.3 %
Manganese	0.3 %
Pantothenic Acid	0.1 %
Riboflavin	0.2 %
Selenium	0.1 %
Zinc	0.1 %

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

You'll notice that mine have more saturated fat and less calcium than the original, but they also have fewer calories, less sugar, carbs and sodium, and more protein and potassium.  I am pretty happy with them, and feel good about giving them to my kids, maybe with a glass of almond milk.  

Back to School, Back to Lunch

Tomorrow marks the start of the 2012-13 schoolyear.  We will send off one 4th grader, one 7th grader and one 10th grader.  That blows my mind.  Seems like yesterday we were shopping around for our very first preschool.  All those people who've said it are right ~ time flies when you're having fun.  we have a lot of fun around here.

This year, we are focussing on getting and staying organized, keeping the house uncluttered and peaceful, and trying to keep stress to a minimum.  Sure, they might get stressed about school (as will we, about work...and maybe about school, too, sometimes), but I feel like, if we can keep from stressing out about things like not being able to find things, not having enough food int he house to pack a lunch, forgetting to sign permission slips, etc., we can at least reduce the level of stress here at home (and probably at school, too).  To that end, we sat down and did some planning.  We reorganized our home, got rid of tons of clutter, and created a quiet area for reading/creating/relaxing.   We also put the kids in charge of what they will eat and wear on school days.

All of the girls have been doing their own laundry for some time, and they have always offered to fix their own lunches, but that has never worked out very well.  We have a tiny little kitchen, and it has just been too busy in the mornings to have three kids in there making lunches.  So, we have decided to have them prepare as much as possible the night before, pack their lunchboxes, and stash them in the fridge.  They have all chosen and laid out all of their outfits for the week, too, and their bookbags are packed and ready to go.  We are hoping all of these changes will take the stress out of our morning routine, and maybe even buy us all a little more sleep time (wouldn't that be dreamy?).  We also made sure to have lots of quick breakfast options available.  For instance, we prepared eggs in muffin cups ~ adding veggies, cheese, soy sausage, rice, etc. to suit different palates ~ to be heated up and tucked inside whole wheat English muffins.  I will keep hardboiled eggs in the fridge for Kaia, who only eats eggs hardboiled, and there is always cereal, oatmeal, yogurt and fruit available.

In oder to make sure that there will always be plenty of choices available to them when they pack their lunches, we created the lists that appeared in my last post.  Also, as has become our tradition, we let the girls choose whatever they wanted for their first-day-of-school lunches.  I feel it gets the year off to a good start, if they get to enjoy a favourite lunch on the first day.  Sort of helps them settle into the school routine, I think.  So, I made sure everything they needed was available (I made pesto and pumpkin muffins, since those were on their lists), and set them to work this evening.  Having each girl pack her own bag worked like a charm.  Below, I have posted pics of the results.  I am so proud of them all.  As you can see, three very different girls pack three very different lunches, but they all made healthy, reasonable choices, with an eye to keeping it nutritionally balanced, which I appreciate.

Look what a great job they did:

This is the way Kaia's lunch looks when it's all packed up and ready to go in to her new lunch bag.  Pumpkin muffin, Super V juice pouch, and a homemade "lunchable."

And here's what's inside that box ~ soy turkey slices, Coastal cheddar (her favourite cheese) and 12-grain crackers.

Here's Hallie's meal, neatly packed in the great new containers I found at Target the other day (Lunch Blox - check 'em out!).  See how the pieces all snap together?  Cool, huh?

Here's what's inside: Two slices of Italian bread, pesto, tomato slices and fresh spinach leaves (she'll assemble these ingredients to make a sandwich at lunch time, but packing them this way keeps them from getting soggy) and a trail mix she threw together with almonds, dried cherries, raisins, pretzels and just a few chocolate chips.

Above is Justice's fare.  She chose coconut water for her beverage, and packed it all up in those neat little containers.

A peek inside reveals gnocchi w/ pesto, ingredients for one of her favourite snacks, ants on a log, and almonds, just in case she needs an extra snack.

While we are on the subject of packing lunches, how stinkin' cute are the new lunch bags?  We love them.  They came in a 3-pack for $9.99 (at Target).  Can't beat that price, and we love things that come in 3-packs.  It's like they saw us coming. (Wow! They're cheaper online!)

Now, the girls are all nestled in their beds, trying to rest, despite the excitement (and jitters) that go along with the first day of school.  Shane and I gave each a bamboo plant in a tiny pot (one blue, one orange & one green), for luck.  Here's to a great year!

Lunchbox Round-up

In an effort get more organized and start the school year on the right foot, the girls and I sat down and made lists of items they like to pack in their lunchboxes.  This year, they will all be packing their own lunches, at their request.  Whenever possible, they will pack it up the night before, so it will be ready to grab and go. Grab and go is a theme for us this year.  We are all desperate for more sleep and less stress in our school mornings, so we are determined to get our act together so mornings can run smoothly and we can get out the door in record time.

Because the girls will be packing their own lunches, my part will be to make sure they have a variety of good healthy foods on hand from which to choose.  When possible, I will separate snacks into individual portions, so they are easy to grab.  We are a busy family, so we need to work together to keep the wheels turning in the right direction.  I plan to post the lists in the kitchen, in case they need inspiration.

We know our lists are works in progress.  Through the year, they will be edited.  We will probably add items as new great ideas strike us.  In the meantime, I will post them here, so you can see what the girls plan to pack this year.  The idea is to pick an item (or two) from each list to put together a healthy, satisfying lunch.  For years, I have kept these lists in my head and run through each as Shane and I tried to throw together 3 lunches first thing in the morning.  I like the new plan so much better.

Lunch Ideas - Justice

Main Dishes

PB & J

Bagel & cream cheese

Gnocchi

Pasta w/ pesto or garlic

Pasta salad

Lentil & Rice

Tortellini/ tomato sauce

Cottage cheese/ pineapple

Sliders

Pita & hummus

Rice & Beans

Homemade Lunchables: Salami or Ham, cheese, trail mix, crackers

Greek Yogurt w/ chocolate or honey

Mac & cheese

Leftover pizza

Cream cheese & jelly sandwich on white

Chili

Letfovers

Snacks:

Pumpkin muffin 

Banana Muffin

Trail mix

Crackers

Luna Bar

Fruit Leather

Grapes

Baby Carrots

Biscuit

Veggies w/ ranch

Hawaiian

Ants on a log

Granola bars

Cookie butter/ pretzel sticks

Banana

Mandarine oranges

Apples

Berries

Cherries

Peaches 

Kiwi

Mango

Pineapple

Drinks:

Gatorade

Water

Coconut water

La Croix

Juice

____________________________________________________________________________

Lunch Ideas - Hallie

Main Dishes:

Caprese

Tomato/spinach/pesto sandwich

Turkey & bread

Pasta w/ pesto or garlic

Greek yogurt w/ chocolate & berries

Quinoa

Leftover pizza

Sliders

Harboiled egg w/ mayonaise, salt & pepper on side

Falafel

Sub

Pasta Salad

Vegetarian rolls

Tortellini/ tomato sauce

Homemade lunchables: turkey, provolone, water crackers

Crispbread, farmer's cheese, mustard

Everything bagel

Snacks:

Pretzels

Trail Mix (almonds, pretzels, dried fruit, chocolate)

Cliff Bar/Z bar

Biscuit

Grapes

Hawaiian rolls

Grape tomatoes

Luna bars

Veggie sticks

Snack cake

Muffins

Cookies

Baby carrots

Peppers

Fruit Leather

Berries

Pineapple

Mango

Mandarin orangess

Drinks:

Water

Chocolate milk

Super V

Juice box 

La Croix

_______________________________________________________________________________

Lunch Ideas - Kaia

Main Dishes:

Homemade Lunchable: soy turkey, coastal cheddar, 12 grain crackers

Hardboiled eggs

Buttered noodles

Nuggets

Rice

Pasta w/ Garlic

Lentils & Rice

Tortellini/ tomato sauce

Beans & Rice

Sliders

Soynut Butter /Rice Cake

Yogurt

"Cold Dog"

Snacks:

Pumpkin muffin

Snack cake

Banana

12 grain crackers

Graham crackers

Goldfish

WW pretzel sticks w/ cookie butter

Chocolate peanut butter

Biscuit

Banana muffin

Cashews (chopped)

Hawaiian roll

Granola Bar

Corn bread muffin

Fig Bar

Cheerios

Cliff bar

Cookies

Drinks:

Water

Chocolate milk

Super V juice

Green juice

Juice box