A Hungry Runner is 1! So, I made pumpkin brownies. :)

Hello!

Happy Sunday! Hope everyone has had a great weekend so far. 🙂

It’s a pretty special day for me. A Hungry Runner is 1 today! Can you believe it?!

I can’t believe I’ve been blogging here for a year! And, to top it off, this is my 200th post!

It’s been an amazing year and I’ve loved every minute of it. 🙂

So, I thought I would share my top 3 most popular posts of the past year – the ones you guys have looked at the most.  This makes me really happy because it means I’m giving you good stuff!  🙂

And, drumroll please…..

1. Blueberries!  First up – blueberry muffins!

2.  Saturday Things. Oatmeal Pancakes!

3.  Green Bay Booyah!

Okay, so, the fact that Green Bay Booyah is one of my top 3 posts on a day that Green Bay ran Booyah all over my Redskins is wrong on so many levels.  Oh, irony, you funny funny thing.

But, I’m stoked (and surprised) that it made the top 3!  It really was delicious and, if you haven’t tried it yet, fall is coming and it’s a PERFECT dish for a cool fall weekend day.  You should definitely try it if you haven’t already!

Speaking of fall, that means PUMPKIN!

Do you love the Pumpkin Spice Lattes from Starbucks?  I’ve never tried one but apparently they are a big deal.

I decided I needed to make some brownies to celebrate today.

Pumpkin Brownies.

Oh yeah.

Pumpkin Brownies

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup canned pumpkin or homemade pumpkin puree
1 whole egg
2 egg whites
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line an 11 x 7 x 1-1/2-inch baking pan with nonstick foil or spray with nonstick spray. I used a smaller pan because I wanted a thicker brownie. Just adjust your cooking time. 🙂

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and salt until combined. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, beat brown sugar, pumpkin, all of the eggs, and oil on medium speed until combined. Reduce mixer to low, add dry ingredients, and beat until well-mixed. Fold in chocolate chips by hand.

4. Pour evenly into prepared pan. Bake 15 to 20 minutes until it tests done in the center with a wooden pick. Cool cocoa pumpkin brownies to room temperature before cutting to serve. Or, don’t. I didn’t. Just don’t burn your mouth. 🙂

5. Gobble them DOWN!

Question: What’s your favorite recipe with pumpkin?

– jennifer

Kitchen Sink Cookie Muffins

Hello!

So, my sister created a recipe last weekend that she called kitchen sink cookie muffins. They actually looked pretty good! She called them that because she put everything but the kitchen sink in them. Pretty cute, huh? 🙂

But, then she made the comment that she would have me take a look at the recipe. Oh – WOOT! – free reign to tweak it, hungry runner style! It’s on!

Here’s her ingredient list:
1 1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 banana
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup pulverized almonds
4 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup raisins
3/4 cup craisins
1 cup peanut butter chips

Aaaannd, her recipe makes about 40 muffins.

Well, the first thing I needed to do was shrink that recipe down. I certainly don’t need 40 muffins! Of course, my sister has 4 hungry, growing, active and busy kids so 40 muffins makes sense. For her. Definitely not for me and possibly not for you.

The second thing that had to happen was cutting down on the butter. Don’t get me wrong – I love butter but it really has limited redeeming health benefits. So, I grabbed my trusty container of plain, nonfat Greek yogurt. Greek yogurt is a great substitute for butter in a recipe because of its consistency (much thicker than regular yogurt) and it adds muscle-building protein that you wouldn’t normally get from butter. Plus, you’re really cutting down on the saturated fat. 🙂

The third thing was to cut out some of that sugar. She added raisins and craisins in addition to both brown AND white sugar. The dried fruit has a lot of sugar in it already. It just seemed to me that eliminating any extra/unnecessary sugar was just the right thing to do. So, I cut the white sugar and added a small amount of raw honey. No, you don’t have to go to a special store for raw honey. I got mine at Wal-Mart. Don’t know anything about raw honey? Read this.

The final big change I made was the addition of some peanut butter – natural, of course, with no extra sugars – in place of the pulverized almonds. Honestly, you can do either. I would have used almond butter but I ate it all already. And I’m too lazy to go to the store. If you opt for the almonds, I would cut it down to about 1/4 to 1/2 cup. It will change the consistency a little but it should be fine.

So, here’s what my recreation looks like.

Um, yes, they do taste as amazing as they look! They are light, moist, and delicious. Sometimes, using only whole wheat flour can really weigh a baked good down but not this time. Don’t be afraid of whole wheat flour! Using yogurt and mashed bananas really helps the muffins stay moist and the dried fruit adds a delightful sweetness without being overly sugary.

These are definitely a win!

Make these. Like now. Now.

Kitchen Sink Cookie Muffins
makes 12 muffins

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup plain, nonfat Greek yogurt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon raw honey
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with foil liners.

2. In large stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter, yogurt, and brown sugar together – mixture will be very liquidy. Add egg, honey, and bananas; mix to combine.

3. In separate bowl, stir flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt with a whisk. Add to banana yogurt mixture and mix until combined. Add oats and peanut butter; mix.

4. Remove bowl from stand and, using spatula, stir in raisins and chocolate chips. Batter will be very thick.

5. Divide batter among 12 muffin cups. It will look like too much but trust me.

6. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of muffin comes out clean. Cool in pan approximately 5 minutes; remove to cooling rack.

7. Gobble them up!

(Per the myfitnesspal app)
Calories 286; Fat 11g (saturated 2.4g, monounsaturated 3.2g, polyunsaturated 1.6g); Carbs 41g (fiber 4.7g, sugars 19.5g); Protein 7.5g

These muffins will make a delicious breakfast paired with some Greek yogurt and fruit. They’ll also make a great portable snack with a piece of fruit. Kids of all ages love portable snacks.

You don’t have to use bittersweet chips if you don’t want to. You could easily use semi-sweet or even milk chocolate. Those will increase the sugar some. Also, adding craisins (if you choose to) will also increase the sugar. Just be careful. Kids with energy can be fun but kids on a sugar high can be … ummm… less than fun. 😉

Question – what are your favorite baking substitions?

– jennifer

I eat ugly cookies & I don’t care

Hello!

How is your weekend going? Are you melting where you are? Good grief, it’s hot!

I got back to business and planned our upcoming week’s worth of meals and hit the grocery store. Of course, they didn’t have the flank steak and short ribs I had on my list so I had to go to another store. Grrr….I hate that! I’d so much rather get it all done at one time.

But, I finally found cinnamon chips!

Now, I just have to decide what I want to make with them!!

Today is chocolate chip day! Interestingly enough, National Chocolate Chip Day is in May (the 15th, I think). Not sure what makes one “National Chocolate Chip Day” and one just plain old “Chocolate Chip Day.” Whatever, EVERY day is chocolate chip day as far as I’m concerned so I also grabbed a bag of dark chocolate chips during my grocery run. 🙂

COOKIES!

Except, something didn’t go quite right. I was testing out a new recipe and, well …

Not the way I want my cookies to turn out. 😦

Still ate them though.

Just because they’re ugly doesn’t make them any less a cookie. Don’t judge me. My momma didn’t raise no cookie snob.

They were delicious.

But, clearly I need to work on the recipe. I’ll post it as soon as I can make them look presentable. 🙂

On my schedule today? Laundry, catching the re-airing of the Crossfit games on ESPN2 and resting my foot so I can get back to it tomorrow morning. Oh, and grilling. Cornish game hens. Haven’t made those in years! Om nom nom!

Enjoy your day!

QUESTIONS:

1. Do you have any favorite recipes that use cinnamon chips? Please share!

2. Have you ever made Cornish game hens?

3. Are you a cookie snob? 🙂

– jennifer