Healthy Pumpkin Muffins

I stayed up late last night watching news coverage of Ferguson.  This is such a sad situation anyway you look at it.  I love my city and this is not how we want to be remembered.  I will continue to pray for peace for all those affected.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, which is right around the corner, I felt the need to remember all the things we have to be thankful for despite the rioting, looting and destruction that is happening.  The girls and I got out our Thankful Turkey.  It's time to start filling out the feathers!

I also baked some Healthy Pumpkin Muffins for the holiday and for Ava's school lunches.

Not only are they healthy, but also Ava loves them!  And they fit nicely in our Ziploc Divided Containers. I read that Ziploc discontinued them.  Bummer!  We really love them.  I hope the 10 that I bought last us until Ziploc brings them back!

Enough about that; here's the recipe adapted from 100 Days of Real Food:

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups whole-wheat flour (I used King Arthur's white whole-wheat flour)
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon nutmeg
⅛ teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 eggs
½ cup coconut oil
½ cup honey (I like to use local honey)
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 cup pumpkin puree
½ cup raisins (optional)

½ cup chopped walnuts & pecans (optional)

Instructions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  In a large mixing bowl whisk together the dry ingredients (from the flour down to the salt).
3.  Make a well (hole) in the center and throw in the eggs, oil, honey, and vanilla. Stir together thoroughly with a fork, but do not overmix.
4.  Fold in the pumpkin puree, raisins and nuts (if using).
5.  Generously grease a mini muffin pan (or other pan) and then pour in the batter.
6.  For mini muffins, bake for approximately 15 minutes.  For a loaf, bake for approximately 30 – 40 minutes.  For regular muffins, bake for approximately 18 - 22 minutes. Check for doneness by making sure a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
7.  Let muffins cool completely before storing.  We freeze ours.  Until I'm ready to pack Ava's lunch the night before school.  They are totally thawed by lunchtime the next day!

Yields: 24 mini muffins, 12 muffins or 1 loaf