Scrumptious Saturday!

I like anything pumpkin...Wait let me rephrase that I LOVE anything pumpkin. I think that still is not a good enough word...OK I am OBSESSED with anything pumpkin. I mean it is so awesome!! I know a lot of people are really excited when the fall comes because there is pumpkin everywhere, but I am here to tell you friends pumpkin is not just for the fall. I love it all year. I am going to give you all my recipe for my yummy scrumptious pumpkin muffins. I kind of made up the recipe on the fly. My picky 7 year old has gobbled them up since I made them. First before I give you the recipe let's talk pumpkin. So here are some benefits to one of my favorite foods. Seriously pumpkin is amazing!

 

 

So yea pumpkins are awesome!!!!

 

 

 

Ok the first thing I did was make my pumpkin puree. You can use canned, but I like the fresh pumpkin. If I don't use fresh I get the organic pumpkin that is in a carton (at whole foods) not in a can. To puree your pumpkin just cut it in half and scoop out the middle (save your seeds to do roasted pumpkin seeds) and place it down in a dish. I put a little water around my pumpkin. I bake for about 60 minutes. After it has cooled just scoop out the middle and put in a food processor or blender and voila yummy pumpkin puree. Make sure you get the right kind of pumpkin. This is what I use.

 



After making the yummy puree it is muffin time. So finally what you have been waiting for here it is...The pumpkin muffin recipe!!

15oz of pumpkin puree (homemade or carton or canned)
1/2 cup of applesauce (homemade or organic unsweetened)
2 large organic eggs (flax eggs can be used as well, 1tbsp of flax with 3tbsp water= 1 egg)
1tsp organic vanilla
1/2 cup organic coconut sugar (you can also use brown sugar)
1 3/4 cups organic spelt flour (oat, coconut, wheat, or quinoa would work as well)
1tsp baking powder
2 1/2tsp homemade pumpkin pie spice (nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, and ground cloves)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

I always mix all my ingredients together in the order listed. I know every recipe says do dry first in a bowl, and then a separate bowl mix your wet ingredients and then in another bowl mix them all together. Seriously who wants to do that many dishes? I have a Kitchenaid stand mixer and just dump everything in there, and mix.
I used silicone muffin tins, but use whatever you have. If you have paper lightly grease the bottom with a little organic olive oil.
I use an ice cream scooper so I can get roughly the same amount in every tin. Bake them for 30 minutes. With the applesauce they will be a little softer on the inside. You can freeze them to pull out to eat during the week. Let them cool down and then enjoy.

You could add some other ingredients in there if you want. Nuts, chocolate chips, peanut butter, bananas etc... I don't want that other stuff in the way of my yummy pumpkin though. I am a pumpkin purist :)

Scrumptious Saturday!!

Today is the FIRST DAY OF FALL!!!! Yay. My favorite time of the year. I love the decorations, smells, holidays, clothing, leaves, the crisp air, apple picking, foods, and most of all everything PUMPKIN!!!! So today's recipe is pumpkin inspired. This time of year we add pumpkin to everything. I mean it is an amazing food why not right. I love pumpkin soup. I will post that recipe another day, but today I am posting my pumpkin bread. It is delicious and healthy, and guess what even my picky 6 year old son loves it (he calls it my pumpkin cornbread :) ) I used to make a really really unhealthy, fatty version with a box of vanilla pudding mix in it covered in a fatty frosting. I mean don't get me wrong it was delicious, but soooo bad for you. So this is a cleaned up version and it is equally as yummy. I am going to try to come up with a clean frosting recipe for this as well. I know this is not something I will be eating everyday (although I could!!), but we all deserve treats every now and then!! So here is my cleaned up version of pumpkin bread.


Clean eating pumpkin bread

1 1/2c of flour (I used whole wheat, but you can use coconut, oat, rice whatever you have)
1tsp baking powder
2tsp ground cinnamon
1/2tsp baking soda
1/2tsp ground ginger
1/4tsp ground cloves
1 egg beaten (I used a whole cage free brown egg, but you could do 2 egg whites instead if you want or chia seeds with water if you don't eat eggs)
1/4c dark brown sugar
1/2c organic whole cane sugar (you could use coconut sugar here)
3/4c plain non fat Greek yogurt (if you want a vegan recipe replace with silken tofu mixed with lemon juice or you could look for a vegan yogurt)
3/4c pumpkin (you can do a can (be sure to get a can with no added preservatives or sweeteners or fresh pumpkin puree, but be sure to use a sugar pumpkin)
3tbsp oil (canola, sunflower, olive or coconut)
1 1/2tsp pure vanilla
*optional walnuts, pecans dark chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8x4 bread pan with an olive oil spritzer.

In large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, ginger and cloves. Set aside.

In medium bowl mix egg, sugar, yogurt, pumpkin, oil and vanilla until well blended. Add to flour mixture, stirring until just combined. Stir in walnuts, pecans or chocolate if you want. Pour batter into pan.

Bake 60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let it cool for about 10 minutes.

It is so yummy!! Now like I said I do not eat this all the time, but it is definitely less fattening than the other version I used to make. I am thinking of making a few loaves and freezing some (if they last long enough to be frozen they may all be eaten before then :) ). Please comment with any variations you have on your pumpkin bread.