A few years back, I lived in a college house with three other girlfriends. We cooked together often, had friends over for elaborate dinner parties, and pooled all the grocery shopping expenditures together into a collective house fund. Needless to say, this way of sharing food taught me a lot about different eating habits. One that was pointed out to me endlessly was my adventurous way of combining dissimilar ingredients, combined with an innate resourcesfulness.
You see, I enjoy trying new things. I rarely make the same recipe twice, unless I feel it’s got that special something to really warrant eating again. And second, I hate wasting. I’m not a packrat. I just don’t like spending money for no reason. Or wasting something that hours of labor, and resources, and perhaps a farmer’s heart went into.
My dear friends were privy to multiple new creations, some of which they still bring up with fondness or exasperation at my food-pairing ability. And I’d like to think I haven’t changed much—I still employ a lot of creativity in the kitchen.
So here we have Pumpkin & Berry Muffins. Or perhaps, in my case, roasted butternut squash.
It really was the best fall muffin recipe I’ve tried in a while— berry delicious,flavorful, moist, and just healthy enough to satifsy my dislike of sticky-sweet breakfasty things. And the plus side—throw extra in the freezers and defrost as needed, for a quick grab-and-go for busy mornings!
Pumpkin & Berry Muffins Recipe (adapted from Cooking Light) 1/2 cup whole wheat flour 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats 1/3 cup packed brown sugar 1/2 T. wheat germ 1 t. baking soda 1/8 t. salt 1/2 cup plain fat-free yogurt 1/2 cup pumpkin or squash puree 1 large egg 3/4 cup fresh or frozen blackberries 1/2 cup fresh or frozen raspberries 1 1/2 T. ground flaxseed Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place 10 regular muffin liners or 5 jumbo liners in muffin cups. I chose to make jumbo muffins. Combine flours and next 5 ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl; stir with a whisk. Make a well in the center of mixture. Combine yogurt, pumpkin, and egg; add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Fold in berries. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle evenly with flaxseed. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Note: I used leftover roasted squash, pureed in a food processor instead of pumpkin puree.