I love pumpkin.  I stock up on canned pumpkin in the fall and eat it all year long.  A favorite around here are pumpkin muffins – I sneak oats and whole wheat flour into the batter for an extra dose of nutrition.  It mixes together pretty quickly, and you might have to make a double batch, they go fast!

With pumpkin, oats, and whole wheat plus milk, you can be assured that the kids are getting a wholesome, vitamin and fiber rich breakfast that tastes good and is easily portable.  There are 197 calories per muffin, and 16 g. of refined sugar , or a little more than a tablespoon (plus the amount naturally occurring in the pumpkin.)  Each muffin also has 3.2 g. fiber, more than a bowl of oatmeal.

You can measure the ingredients the night before, just keep the wet and dry separate, then blend together in the morning.  They freeze nicely, just heat in the microwave or leave out overnight to thaw.  You can also make it more Nourishing Traditions style, and soak the oats and flour in the buttermilk; if you do that, add the baking powder, soda, and cinnamon to the wet ingredients quickly stirring before mixing the wet mix into the flour mixture.  Soaked flours may need a little more milk to thin it – just a smidge.  Batter should be about like brownie batter, thicker than pancake or cake batter, and lumpy.  If the batter is so thick it won’t drop from a spoon at all, thin it out a tiny bit.

If you are having a pumpkin shortage, you can make these with mashed bananas, butternut squash, or mashed sweet potatoes.

(Almost) Fat Free Pumpkin Muffins

In a large bowl, mix together:

1 c. all purpose flour

1 c. whole wheat flour

1 c. oats

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tsp. cinnamon, or add spices to your taste (pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, use what your family likes.)

Stir to mix well.  Do you ever actually measure your salt for 1/2 a teaspoon?  I don’t.  I just use the salt shaker. I’m c-c-crazy like that.  You can also use 2 c. whole wheat pastry flour in place of the AP and WW flour.

In a smaller bowl, mix together:

1 c. (half a can) of pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)

1 c. plain yogurt plus 1/2 c. milk, or 1 1/2 c. buttermilk

2 eggs

1 c. sugar

Use a bowl that holds at least 3 cups.  Don’t use your 2 c. pyrex measuring cup because then you might slop it over the edge onto your bare foot and say a word that the children shouldn’t hear first thing in the morning. Ahem.

Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, folding over until blended but do not overmix.  Fill 12 greased or lined muffin cups, bake at 375° for 20-30 minutes.

(Sorry no pics.  The crazed barbarians were trying to make a cat movie and the camera did not survive the feline attack.  And NO we are not keeping him stop asking okay we can name him and I bought cat food.  Signed, Sucker Mama.)

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