Tasty Treat Not-Quite Thursday: Pumped Up Pumpkin Muffins

It's been a few days since a decent post, and a WHILE since a food post.  BUT - we've just upgraded to a NEW computer.  And this has CHANGED MY WORLD.

Mainly in that I won't be kept from posting.  Yee haw.

Ok - so onto the food.

A few months ago, I posted a recipe from my sister, Lissabee. The recipe was for these amazingly moist and delicious pumpkin muffins that called for an impossibly small amount of ingredients.  After posting them, I found that they were actually on the healthy side, and many people on Weight Watchers loved them because they were low in points.

Score.

Well, I'm on a journey to Healthify myself. I have baby weight to shed, 2 kids to be an example to, and myself to feel good about (teaser: I'll be sharing the exercise portion journey with you in some upcoming posts about my experience with the local YMCA).  Part of being healthy is making healthy choices when it comes to eating.  Sweet treats are a downfall of mine. I just can't cut them out, but I also can't be indulging in a Dairy Queen blizzard every night (but, oh if I could...). So, I try my best to healthify my snacks and desserts so I can feel good about putting them in my body.

While the pumpkin muffins   comply with being lower in calories and fat, they still lacked a lot of nutritional value.  I didn't want to put empty calories in my body.  So, much like the pancakes recipe I recently shared on the Chester County Moms website, I "pumped up" these muffins as well.


And they turned out AWESOME.

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Tasty Treat

Pumped Up Pumpkin Muffins

makes 24 muffins

1 pkg of Yellow Cake Mix (just the mix - NOT the corresponding ingredients called for on the box)

1 can of canned Pumpkin (I used organic. Make sure to NOT use Pumpkin PIE mix)

1/4 cup of applesauce

1/4 cup of wheat germ

1/4 cup of flaxseed meal (or just whole flaxseeds)

3/4 cup of oats

1/2 cup of almonds, chopped

1 tsp of Cinnamon

1 TBS Pumpkin Pie Spice

1) Preheat oven to 350* and grease 2 muffin tins (or use cupcake liners)

2) Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.  The mixture WILL be super thick.

3) Fill muffin tins 1/2 full (make sure to stretch enough to make 24 muffins - so fill less than 1/2 full if you are coming up short).

4) Bake at 350* for 20-25 minutes (until a knife inserted comes out clean)

5) Enjoy!

Nutritional Info

• Servings Per Recipe: 24
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 118.1

• Total Fat: 3.2 g
• Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
• Sodium: 112.0 mg
• Total Carbs: 21.6 g
• Dietary Fiber: 1.9 g
• Protein: 2.5 g

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These are a treat you can feel GOOD about. And kids LOVE them (without realizing they are healthy!). Have your kids help you throw this tasty treat together, explaining the health benefits of the ingredients as you go!

In my journey to be healthy, I will be on the look out for NEW healthy recipes - so send them my way!  moderndaydonnareed@gmail.com