It is no secret that I unfortunately put on some weight in my 3.5 months of inactivity and 2 stints on prednisone – if you’re wondering why I wasn’t working out and why I was on prednisone just do a search on hives and you’ll find my many posts complaining about my condition. (I’m still in the clear and have been gradually lowering my dose of antihistamines btw )  Anyway, with that being said, in the past month and a bit, I really started to take charge in the snacking department. When I was not feeling well, I got lazy and started eating way too many pre-packaged granola bars and there’s no doubt in my mind that these also added in the unhealthy weight gain.

One day in October I decided that I would say NO to pre-packaged granola bars as my go-to morning snack at work. It was at that moment when I decided that I would start making some sort of ‘healthified‘ baked good every Sunday to last us for the week.  I’ve been developing and making different versions of different recipes and today I share with you one of my favourites – oatmeal pumpkin muffins. I have made probably 4-5 different versions of this recipe and finally I have found the perfect combination. You can whip up a batch of these in about 5 min and after only 16 minutes of baking time, you are left with 12 individual snacks. Perfect.

I apologize for the less-than-stellar photographs over the next few months..a unfortunate downside to coming home every day in the dark. Please come fast spring!

Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins

What you need:

• 1.5 C of whole wheat flour (I prefer the soft ww pastry flour)
• 1 C rolled oats
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 C brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 C pureed pumpkin
• 3/4 C milk
• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

What you do:

- mix all dry ingredients (flour, oats, salt, baking soda, baking powder, spices) in a large bowl and set aside

- mix all wet ingredients (pumpkin, egg, milk, oil, vanilla) + the brown sugar in a small bowl

- pour wet mixture into the dry and stir until it’s just combined

- now carefully stir in your chocolate chips and walnuts (raisins are also great in this recipe); stir until it’s just combined as you don’t want to over-work the batter

- spoon into a paper-filled muffin tin (if you don’t want to use papers, you could always use a silicone muffin pan to avoid any added oil.. or you’ll have to grease your pan before adding the batter, which will downgrade the health factor)

- Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes

These are hands down a favourite in our house.  I especially love the inclusion of walnuts as they help give the muffins more staying power. On an average day, I will start out with a generous bowl of steel cut oats at 7am only to become hungry just after 10am.  At 10am, I will eat one of these muffins alongside my green tea and it carries me right until lunch time!

They freeze beautifully too!