Muffins for the mildly annoyed (or, putting that horde of pumpkin to use)

Today I learned that one should never, under any circumstances check one's work email while still on vacation. Inevitably, there will be something in your inbox that will remind you of how much work you need to catch up on, something that annoys you, or something that just makes you shake your head at the ridiculousness of the situation. Most days I go to the gym and work it all out on the treadmill or with the weights. Unfortunately, today is Sunday, meaning I have a very small window of time to get to the gym. And I'm absolutely exhausted from traveling.

Thankfully, I have another tried and true method for dealing with stress - muffins.

There's something wonderful about a warm, soft muffin. I love the process as much as I love the results.

Now, I realize that it's spring and I should be making lemon muffins or something with strawberries, but while hunting for an obscure ingredient this morning, G begged me to make pumpkin bread. I didn't find the ingredient I was looking for (Where, exactly, does one find baker's ammonia?), but G did provide inspiration.

Normally, I would use my grandmother's pumpkin bread recipe. Her recipe is perfect, but for breakfast muffins it's a little too sweet. We needed something different, with less oil and less sugar.

Here's how it all went down.

For this recipe, you will need:

• 2 Tbsp. flax meal*
• 6 Tbsp. water
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 1/2 c. pumpkin **
• 2/3 c. oat flour***
• 1 c. white whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. allspice
• 1/4 tsp. cloves
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1 c. chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 12 muffin tin, or a 9x5 loaf pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flax meal and water. It'll start to look thick and have the consistency of an egg white. Add the sugar and pumpkin and stir to combine.

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients, excluding the walnuts. Add the pumpkin mixture to the dry ingredients, and stir to combine. Mix in the walnuts.

When making muffins, I use a 1/4 c. measuring cup, scoop out the batter, and plop it into the muffin cups. It portions the batter perfectly for 12 muffins. You could also use a size 16 ice cream scoop (2 oz.). That's one of my upcoming kitchen purchases.

*To make flax meal, I put flax seeds in my blender and let it run until it's ground into flour.
**Don't use pie filling. Solid pack pumpkin will do. Good luck finding it this time of year, even at well-stocked grocery stores. There was a shortage last year (yes, seriously), so I ended up buying 15 cans or so when it was finally in stock. I have five cans left. Clearly, we are some pumpkin eating fools.
***I also use my blender to make oat flour. I buy oats in bulk ($0.89 per pound, that's what I'm talking about!) I keep mine in an airtight container in the freezer. I use oat flour for all kinds of stuff.

Finally!

A brunch place in Columbia. There's always been IHOP and the Awful Waffle, but never a place that had a real brunch menu, i.e. eggs benedict, shrimp and grits and a full bar. I just heard about Thirsty Fellow on the radio like 15 minutes ago and I haven't visited them yet,however, any place with Highland Oatmeal Porter on tap is a winner in my book. The list of stouts is short, only four selections, but you couldn't ask for four better beers (well, Lion Stout isn't on there but I'll let them slide.) I am SO excited. Sunday mornings are often the only mornings my boo and I have together that is a normal morning (third shift will do that to ya) so I'm very eager to try this place out on an easy Sunday morning.