Pumpkin-Cranberry Muffins with Sunflower seeds

Pumpkin, while available mostly year round here, always makes me think of autumn.

In the past 40-something years, I've had quite a mix of autumn experiences, actually, from living in places with spectacular autumn color changing trees, with cool, crisp air, to living in places where the seasons barely change, to being in places where autumn seems to start in the summer...

Truthfully, I really like autumn when I don't have to be the one to rake the leaves (um, I'm allergic to trees!)! So for whatever reason, pumpkins and cranberries always brings me into an autumn place for just a few moments, which is a nice thing!

So here are my autumn flavored muffins. I have been eating these all week.
Let me know if you try them out!

Pumpkin-Cranberry Muffins with Sunflower Seeds

Ingredients

2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
1 cup hot water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup oil
1 cup pumpkin puree
2.5 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
dash of cinnamon
dash of ground cloves

Note: if you prefer your muffins with eggs, you can sub 2 eggs + 1-2 tablespoons of water for the flaxseed water combo


Directions

Mix flaxseed with hot water in a large mixing bowl. Allow to stand for 10 minutes, then add vanilla extract, sugar, oil, and pumpkin puree, and mix well. Add flour, baking powder and salt to the bowl, and mix gently till combined. Fold in cranberries, sunflower seeds, and spices.

Fill muffin cups, and bake at 180 C for 25-30 min (check with a toothpick to be sure they are done)

Enjoy your momentary foray into autumn!

Lemon Quick Bread Recipe

We have a lemon tree, and it is producing an amazing number of lemons this year. Probably twice as many as last year! Which is odd, as our orange trees are producing about half as many oranges as last year... strangely opposite cycles, it seems.

I looked at my lemons, and just KNEW I needed to come up with something to make with them.

3 of my 4 children enjoyed this quickbread (which was gone before I took a picture, sorry).

Lemon Quick Bread

2 tablespoons ground flaxseed  
1/4 cup boiling water
1/4 cup oil
2/3 cup sugar
1 package of leben (gil or eshel, whichever. I bought eshel because it was a few agurot less) (if you live in area where leben is hard to find, use 6 oz of plain yogurt instead)
1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon rind
juice of 1/2 lemon (or if your lemons are small, juice a whole lemon)
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Instructions:
Mix flaxseed with water, allow to cool for 10 min.
Add oil, sugar, leben, lemon rind, and lemon juice. Mix well. Add dry ingredients, and mix briefly.
Pour into a baking pan (loaf or cake pan) (I lined mine with parchment paper, I recommend it!). Bake at 350 F / 190 C for 35-45 min.
You could also use this recipe to bake muffins, if you prefer. Muffins bake for a much shorter time (20 minutes or so).

Enjoy the aroma while it bakes, and have a cup of tea with it!

I'd love to hear what you think!

Cinnamon-Maple-Oatmeal Breakfast Bread

I got a whole bunch of requests for the recipe for my not so sweet, but sweet enough breakfast bread.  Here goes:

(I make this vegan. More on my analysis of baking with eggs vs. baking with flaxseed another time.)

4-6 T. ground flaxseed
1 cup whole oats
2.5 cups boiling water
Mix these 3 ingredients together and allow to sit for 10 min.
Add:
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. maple syrup
1/4 c. oil
Mix well.
Add:
3 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oat bran
1.5 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
Mix Well.

The next part is optional, but does add something!

mix together 1 tsp oil, 1/4 c. sugar, 1 tsp. cinnamon, 2 T. ground flaxseed, 2 T. oat bran

This makes two loaf pans. I pour 1/4 of the batter into each loaf pan, sprinkle half the cinn-oatbran-flaxseed mixture on top, then fill the loaf pans with remaining batter, and sprinkle the other half on top. Bake for 1 hour in the center of your oven at 350 F (175 C). Test for doneness...And Enjoy!

Inspired Leftovers?

What do you do when you make too much of something you KNOW will not get eaten as leftovers?

Today, I made a pot of oatmeal for breakfast, but one of the children refused to eat oatmeal this morning, so there was a nice-sized serving left. Needless to say, nobody really eats it after it's been stored and reheated. I've tried turning leftover oatmeal into cookies, but the results were far from impressive. I racked my brain, and finally decided to make a quick bread out of it.

Here's what went into it:

1 - 1.5 c. cooked oatmeal (mine was cooked with milk, plus extra dry milk powder for a nutritional boost and a shake of salt)
1 egg
1/3 c. oil
3/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. whole wheat flour (sifted, as is the custom here in Israel, despite my custom of keeping all flour in the freezer)
1 tsp. baking powder
chopped walnuts
1/4 t. cinnamon.

Combine all ingredients, wet first. Mix well, but don't overmix. Pour into loaf pan(s) and bake at 350 F for about an hour.

My children loved it as a treat this evening. And I made enough that they can have it again tomorrow!