Monthly Archives: January 2011

Low Fat Pumpkin & Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins

Recently, I’ve been trying to find a good tasting and healthy muffin recipe to make for the kids.  In searching the internet for something tasty and easy, I came across this one from Disneyfamily.com that our family really enjoyed.  Their recipe is a great base recipe and I modified it to add a bit more fiber and to cut out some of the fat and sugar.  I substituted unsweetened applesauce for the oil, replaced half of the all purpose flour with whole wheat pastry flour, and cut down the amount of chocolate chips in the recipe.  Don’t forget to use whole wheat pastry flour and not just plain whole wheat flour because it affects the texture of the muffins.  The muffins turned out moist, light, and delicious!

Again to see the original recipe click on the link, Disneyfamily.com.

Low Fat Pumpkin & Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins

Makes 36 mini muffins

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/4 cup sugar
  • 3/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 3/4 whole wheat pastry flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.   Line your mini muffin tin with mini cupcake cups.

In a bowl mix together the pumpkin puree, apple sauce, eggs, and sugar until well combined.

In another bowl combine the rest of the dry ingredients, with the exception of the chocolate chips.

Add dry ingredients to the wet and mix until just combined. Do not over mix!  Fold in chocolate chips last.

Spoon batter into the muffin tin, filling each cup about 3/4 full.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.  Cool before eating.

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More Bento Contest Information!

Don’t forget to enter Mutual Publishing’s Bento Box contest to win a set of Hawaii’s Bento Box Cookbook and Bento Box 2nd Course.  Mutual has also just informed me that in addition to the two books, they will also be presenting the winner with a Mutual Publishing gift certificate valued at $25!!!

Contest start: January 22, 2011

Contest end: February 28, 2011

Rules/How-to:

1.       Make a bento box (as inspired by Bento Box Cookbook/2nd Edition).

2.       Take a digital photo of the bento box from the top looking down so we get a clear picture of contents.

3.       Email photo of bento box to info@mutualpublishing.com

4.       One winner will be chosen after contest end date. We are looking for best overall. Winner’s bento box will be featured on Mutual Publishing’s website as well as on our facebook page, announced on our Twitter page. Please include your full name in your email.

5.       GOOD LUCK!!!

This was today’s simple Thai inspired bento.  The bento included Thai basil chicken, white and brown mixed Jasmine rice, and a few veggies.

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Bento Contest!

Mutual Publishing is hosting a bento contest in which one winner will receive both Hawaii’s Bento Box Cook Book and Hawaii’s Bento Box Cookbook 2nd Course!  To enter, please visit Hawaii Book Blog for all of the details.  Good luck to you all! :)

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Bunny and Bears Bentos #141

Happy hump day and here’s another bunny bento for the lunar new year!  This one was Sean’s bento which included a heart shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwich on wheat, a mini apple, and a few carrots with dip.  The bunny was made from cheddar and mozzarella cheeses.

This one was Paige’s bento from the other day.  It included two bear onigiri with jewel picks for their noses, chicken karaage, and a few carrots and mandarin oranges.

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Happy New Year! :)

I hope you all had a great holiday season!  My husband was able to take a lengthy vacation for Christmas and New Years- thank you Lynne and everyone who covered for him!!!   So with Paige out of school we got to spend a lot of quality family time together, thus the reason for not posting in such a long time.  Below I posted the bentos that I have done this year so far along with a few pictures of our vacation.

Here is my obligatory bunny bento since this year is officially the year of the rabbit.  The sandwich is filled with turkey and cheese and I also included a mini apple and carrots in the smaller container.

This bento included fried chicken, three mini onigiri, carrots, and Mandarin oranges in the smaller container.

Hanauma Bay- if you ever come to Oahu, it is a must see!

Lots of reefs to snorkel in!

We also went fishing near Sandy beach and checked out the tide pools.

Sean was fascinated with the hermit crabs.

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