Don't you love this time of year? The leaves are turning gorgeous shades of gold and red, you get to bust out all of your favourite warm clothing and boots, and delicious pumpkins are in season!!!
Here are some healthier versions of my favourite recipes with a delicious common denominator, pumpkin!
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
1 egg
3/4 cup sugar or sucanat
1 cup buckwheat flour (all purpose flour will also work)
1/4 cup ground flax seed
1/2 cup oat bran
1tbsp baking soda
1 1/2 tbsp baking powder
2 tbsp cinnamon
2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 1/2 cup canned pumpkin pie filling (or fresh pumpkin, which I love using! See below the recipe on how to do this)
2 x 8 oz light cream cheese
1/4 cup chopped pecans
Pre-heat your oven to 350°F & lightly grease your muffin pan.
Mix all your dry ingredients together in a bowl.
Cut your cream cheese into 1/4" thick squares
Add egg, pumpkin pie filling and applesauce to the dry mixture.
Pour batter into muffin cups until about 1/2 full.
Push the cream cheese square into the middle of the muffin until you can only see the top of it.
Top each muffin with a sprinkle of pecans.
Bake muffins for approx. 15 minutes or until done. Makes 12 at approx 145cals per muffin! Just remember that these are a healthy version and aren't going to be the same texture as a normal muffin. They also aren't as sweet, but the pumpkin flavour and contrasting cream cheese are DELICIOUS!
To make your own pie filling, take a smaller pumpkin (sugar pumpkins are the best). Cut the stem off, cut it into quarters and scrape all the guts out. Put the pumpkin pieces cut side up in a microwaveable safe casserole dish with a 1/4 cup of water in the bottom of it and cover. Microwave for about 15min. Check for softness, and keep microwaving in 2min increments until your pumpkin is nice and soft. scoop out the cooked pumpkin into a bowl and puree it. That's your fresh pumpkin filling! You can use this for pumpkin pie, too. YUM!
Oh, and remember to save your seeds for the recipe!
Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies
1 1/4 cups canned or fresh pumpkin
4 egg whites
3/4 cup brown sugar or sucanat
1 1/2 cup buckwheat flour (all purpose will work as well)
3 cups oats (not the instant kind, rolled work best)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp nutmeg
1 tbsp all-spice
1 tbsp ground cloves
1 cup unsweetened dried cranberries
Pre-heat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a cookie sheet or put down parchment paper.
Mix all dry ingredients, including cranberries.
In a separate bowl, combine egg whites, pumpkin, and applesauce.
Mix them all together, and drop tablespoons worth of the mixture onto your cookie sheet.
Bake approx 15 minutes until the cookies are a golden brown colour.
Pumpkin Seeds - A Few Tasty Options
For all the recipes below be sure to rinse your pumpkin seeds thoroughly and lightly pat try. Pre-heat your oven to 375°F and lightly oil the bottom of a baking sheet with extra virgin olive oil.
1. Salty Seeds (easiest recipe):
Spread a layer of pumpkin seeds over your oiled baking pan and lightly sprinkle salt over them. Bake for approx 10min, then stir and flip the seeds. They're done when they've browned a little.
2. Sweet Seeds:
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp nutmeg
1 tbsp cinnamon
Put vanilla into a bowl and add pumpkin seeds. Toss until lightly coated. Spread over a lightly oiled baking sheet & sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Bake 10min and flip. Continue until lightly browned.
2. Spicy Seeds:
1 tbsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp chili powder
1 1/2 tbsp hot sauce or tobasco sauce
Coat seeds in tobasco sauce. Spread over lightly oiled baking sheet. Sprinkle spices overtop and baked for 10min, flipping and continuing until crunchy.
I hope you like these recipes!! If you have any recipes you'd like me to share, just let me know :)
Yours in creative healthy eating,
Jenn
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